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Save Our Schools
Date: 06/01/2010 - 09/30/2010
Save Our Schools “SOS”
Save Our Schools is an ongoing philanthropic initiative operated and managed by a local civic organization and a collaboration of community stakeholders for the purpose of providing emergency funds and resources to schools.
The fiscal challenge facing our nation is having a significant impact on North Carolina Schools. The impact we are experiencing in the marketplace has trickled down to a reduction in public services.
Our schools are now being forced to make dramatic changes in their budgets, which will result in deferred maintenance, a deficiency in teaching resources, and the loss of educators. In the end, we are hurting our children. While there are parents, individuals, and organizations who are working hard to support our schools, it is clear that there is a need for more.
Recently, an alliance of community leaders and socially responsible companies committed to launch a unified effort to “Save our Schools”. This effort will utilize entrepreneurial creativity and proven strategies to deliver emergency funds to our NC Schools.
Facts:
• NC ranks 42 in the Nation in the amount of money we spend on our students (2007-2008). We are facing another 16% decrease.
• 2009-2011 report shows a loss of 16,253 paid positions in NC public schools
• If we don’t rally as a community to achieve new strategies and solutions, our course of action will be dictated by someone else.
Goals
• Funding: To utilize creative strategies and assist NC Schools by raising funds that will help subsidize school budgets.
• Volunteers: To organize volunteers from the community to help schools and teachers accomplish their goals.
• Government: To communicate with the State and local government as to where we can direct funds and resources to best serve our NC Education System
• Educate: To provide every child the same opportunity to receive an education and graduate from North Carolina Schools.
This coalition has partnered with a banking institution and a non-profit to assure all monies are accounted for and properly distributed. 100% of all donations are distributed to schools and are tax deductible.
This coalition will begin this initiative with 3 components.
1) Save Our Schools Bucket- The “SOS” Bucket is a solicitation for donations and major gifts. A bank account has been established to receive and distribute all donations. Donations may be earmarked for a specific school. 100% of all monies donated are distributed to the schools and are tax deductible.
2) Save Our Schools FunCard- The “SOS” FunCard was derived by utilizing one of the most popular and familiar fundraising products, a recurring discount/incentive card. The SOS FunCard will be redeemable at thousands of locations on every visit for a 12 month period. 100% of all monies for FunCards are distributed to the schools and are tax deductible. www.adoptaschoolfuncard.com /
3) “Adopt a School”-”Adopt a School” programs are community initiatives that provide solutions to local schools and have a positive impact on the “whole” community. Resources provided include: Mentoring, Tutoring, Sports & Recreation, Leadership & Character Education, Food & clothing distribution, Internships, and Job placement. www.adoptaschool.us
There are opportunities for anyone to participate with the Save Our Schools campaign.
June 15 thru September 2010 business development, Partner and media recruitment
More information on “The Save our Schools Bucket” and “Adopt a School” can be found at www.generouscommunity.net and www.adoptaschool.us
Description and Plan of Action for SOS FunCard below:
The SOS Funcard™ is the “Where to go and what to do” discount card. An SOS Funcard™ is a fundamental bond between education, business and the community.
The mission of the SOS “Funcard” Project™ is to provide schools with an easy, profitable, and ongoing source of funding where the “school” retains 100% of all monies. The “Funcard” project improves the opportunity to make up for the shortfalls of local and state funding. The FunCard project also bypasses the worries and other non-traditional revenue “profit-share” campaigns associated with typical fundraisers.
*SOS FunCard - A recurring discount/incentive card redeemable at thousands of locations on every visit for a 12 month period. Cards are sold for $20 each. Participating schools retain total $20.
Here’s how The Ideal SOS FunCard Fundraiser works:
*SOS “ Funcards” (look and function like a typical grocery store loyalty card) and provides card holders with valuable discounts & incentives on their everyday purchases to hundreds of businesses each visit. (example: Buy One Get One Free Pizza, $5 off Oil Change, Free Kids meal, 20% off Dry Cleaning, Carwash, Car Rentals, Movies, Grocery Store Coupons, etc). There will be 20 business discounts on the back of the card that represent businesses in the cardholder’s immediate community. Card-holders also have thousands of discounts and incentives available to you locally and across the United States
FunCards costs $20 a year
Schools receive all $20 and incur no costs.
Cards can be purchased: online, participating schools, and business and organization “distribution partners”.
Campaign Example:
Average 1,000 students (or parents, local organizations, and businesses) per school participate:
Each student or community partner sells 5 Funcards each @ $20 ($100)
Min. raised is $100,000.00 per school
All monies raised are distributed to school of card-buyers choice.
On behalf of the school, SOS sends each FunCard holder a monthly Thank you message, a free gift, and a list of new business participants that offer discounts and incentives. (This strategy fosters a “relationship” between the school and the FunCard Holder). On the 12 month we send a renewal notice to the card holder allowing them to renew instantaneously. In a perfect world this will net the school $100,000.00 before they begin their next FunCard campaign. Our guestimate is the renewal rate will be approximately 40% or $40,000.00
Year 2, estimated $40,000 renewals and $80,000 new sales (4 cards ea) $120k.
Project Needs: a) Businesses to provide incentives b) Media to promote campaign, c) Admin Volunteers, d) Community Leaders to help spread the word.
SOS FunCard www.adoptaschoolfuncard.com .
Strategies:
1) By 2015, to secure a $20 (FunCard) sponsorship per student in NC school. We will encourage partnerships from local media, businesses, community leaders, parents, organizations, and churches to sponsor and promote to sponsor every child in our NC schools by purchasing 1 FunCard per child. This effort would allow us to inject $50M per year in our NC schools.
2) By 2020, to establish a community Adopt a School program for every NC school. Alleviating a minimum expenditure of $10,000 per year per school, by allowing volunteers to assist schools in mentoring, tutoring, student services, job placement programs, school resources, and assistance with the grounds and maintenance. This effort would allow us to save from the States budget $23M per year in our NC Schools
3) By 2020 to secure a minimum of $10,000 per year per school from corporate and small business donations and sponsorships. This effort would allow us to inject $23M per year in our NC schools.
About Generous Community:
Vision: To change lives through generosity
Mission: To transform cities by encouraging and developing individuals to positively impact their families, communities and the marketplace
Values: Generosity, Collaboration, Integrity, Entrepreneurial Creativity & Faith
A Short description of Generous Community
Generous Community is an organization that creates sustainable solutions which enable communities to break longstanding cycles of poverty, inadequate schools, job loss, and a confused marketplace. Collaboration is always at the core of our work. By collaborating with diverse public- and private-sector partners, we help provide strategies and solutions that change the way people think and act. Partnerships with businesses are a critical and unique element of our approach. These cooperative efforts provide resources that can be used for public good and solutions that stand on their own, for the long haul to improve the health and welfare of our communities at large.
More than 3,000 Generous Community volunteers have participated with the donation and distribution of food, clothing, and supplies to our local citizens. This group has also provided housing for the poor and serves our at risk children through establishing mentoring and tutoring programs for schools and youth service organizations.
We will continue to make updates to this project as we progress.
Location: United States
Address: Pilot program North Carolina North Carolina allWebsite: http://generouscommunity.net/index.php?do=/save-our-schools/
E-mail: sos@generouscommunity.net
Contact Name: Jayson Parrish
Phone: 919-210-9443
