5/20/09 Trailblazer Business Directory It's getting to the end of the school year and we hope its been a fabo year for you and your family. Although summer is almost near, it's still important to remember, our Foundation is already looking into next school year, and well, we need your help. Remember, supporting the Stone Ranch Foundation helps keep certain programs available to your child(ren). Simply put, these budget cuts threaten the existence of PE, music, school counselors and technology support. So what do we do? First you need to understand what the Foundation can do. Stone Ranch Foundation is focused on fund raising. Where raised funds are allocated is determined by listening to teachers, the principal, and other staff. This year Stone Ranch Foundation has raised enough funds to support one position for an entire school year. This position could be a PE teacher, but has not been finalized. Next year we hope to be able to not only support one position, but multiple. This can only happen with financial support from the parents. That means you. It's difficult to allocate funds to all the items our kids need, but understand that if every parent donates a little or a lot, collectively it makes a direct impact to our kids. Think about how much you can give and donate today. 5/2/2009
(1) Like all of you I get asked to donate money all the time. The frequency has increased with the recent shrinkage in our economy. The pitch to give ranges from the low tech version of “brother can you spare a dime” to the multi-million dollar TV, radio, mail, and internet marketing campaigns. Yet, eight out of ten times, I choose to give absolutely nothing to these 501C organizations. What is amazing is how ineffective and inefficient the 501C organizations are as a group! Consider the following data: a. Efficiency: i. 20-20 rule: 20% of 501C organizations give 20 Cent out of every $1 raised to the actual cause. The other 80 Cents feeds the organization! ii. 75% of the 501C organization give only 5 Cents!, the other 95 Cents feeds the organization! Why the race to the bottom? IRS rules state 5% of raised funds must be spent annually. If IRS changes this rule to 1% then they will give 1 Cent. iii. Only 5% of 501C organizations give more than 80 Cents raised to the stated cause for which they are raising funds. iv. Stone Ranch Foundation, which is also a 501C organization, gives 100% of every $1 raised to make this school a better place for our kids. We are a 501C organization in formation, because this will allow our donors tax write off benefits . The up to 13 board members of our 501C organization come from parents at the Stone Ranch School. This board has complete control and accountability over how funds are raised and they are spent. b. Effectiveness: i. Many 501C organizations cannot do what they promise? They cannot change their environment. News papers are full of examples. ii. We at SRF work effectively with our School and PTA. iii. With your help, SRF raised $4K last year and gave $4K to PE (Kim) and Music (Tamara). iv. With your help, SRF has raised more than $16K this year and the 13 member board (6 seated and 7 empty) can decide what to do with it. (2) Why give at SRF? a. We are the most independent, democratic, and the least bureaucratic organization that can change the environment for our kids. b. Democratic: 13 board member volunteers among the school parents decide how to raise and spend funds for the betterment of our children. c. Independence: We the parents (13 board members, 6 are now seated and 7 are open) decide how to raise funds and spend them for the benefit of our kids. d. We do however, work well with School, PTA, and the district to maximize the effect and use of our funds. e. We have 6 board members now. Looking for another 7 parents to come and join us raise and spend funds. 1 person = 1 vote. No electoral system, no over arching parent organization imposing rules and regulations. (3) Economic times are very hard, it has affected our school and will certainly continue to do so in the coming years. So what are the alternatives? a. Do nothing: Let’s pretend that it will all get better on its own. b. Home school you kids: This can be very effective. Plenty of people do it. c. Private school: Pay $10K to $15K per kid per year. Good alternative. d. Give tax deductable Dollars and volunteer some of your time and energy to make Stone Ranch a better place for our kids. i. If everyone gives $200 per kid per year (less than $1 per day) we will have more than $200K to make our school a better place. ii. We need 7 more parents to come and join our board to help fund raising and spending. 4/21/09 Trailblazer Business Directory
Have you looked at the Trailblazer Business Directory yet? You should. This directory includes business owners who have children at Stone Ranch. Their goal like ours is to raise funds to help ensure our kids will have a PE and music teacher next year. Support these businesses like you support the Foundation and we will get closer if not achieve our goal. See you at Open House the first week of May.
2/9/09 Upcoming Family Night Out
Check out the Upcoming Events section for the latest information on our next Family Night Out. These FNO's are a great fundraiser source for the SR Foundation, not to mention it's a great time to visit with other families attending Stone Ranch. The kids love seeing their classmates and teachers outside of the school! Even if you don't have a full meal...just get dessert or an appetizer...10-15% of your purchase goes directly to our SR Foundation. See you up at the 4S Commons area on February 25th!
2/5/2009 Safety for our Kids
It is important to ensure that our kids are safe when they are not under our supervision. The following are some basic tips taken from Take 25, Safety Tips:
1. Make sure your kids know all their contact information, address, your full name, cell phone numbers, closest relative phone number, etc.
2. Teach your kids about calling 911.
3. Tell your kids to always check that the garage is closed and doors are locked.
4. Explain to your kids who they can go to for help in the neighborhood.
5. Play a "what if" game with your kids to make sure they know what to do in different situations.
6. Always remind your kids not to talk to strangers. We think they know, but it's a good idea to remind them!
Visit the Take 25 website for more Safety Tips.
1/30/09 Check out our first Trailblazer Business Directory just published....
 1/30/09 Some of you are not aware of what the Stone Ranch Foundation does for our school. Below are some of the projects were are working on or have already completed….
July 22, 2008
Dear Parents,
Welcome back. We hope you enjoyed the summer and are looking forward to a great school year. Teachers, students, and parents are all excited to be back to school and we are no exception. Our foundation has some plans for this year , but first let's talk about things that SRF has already accomplished:
It sure took a lot of energy and resources to pull it all together. I can't thank the board members, parents, teachers, school staff, PTA, and our principal enough. It truly took a lot of coordination and collaboration to achieve the above results. I am grateful and thankful to each and every person that stepped up and helped. Most of all I am thankful to everyone who attended our events and contributed to our success. None of these would have been possible without your support.
Of course, the only way to thank all who have supported us, is to put donated funds to good use. In this area, we at SRF can not be more proud. All the funds raised have been put towards paying salaries of two very good part time teachers in the areas of athletics and music. So our kids will continue to benefit from them.
Looking at what have been accomplished, I started thinking about future plans and what else can be done. As impressed and grateful as I am to every one that has helped, I do not see how these results can scale up significantly! If we work twice, three, or four times as hard, then we will raise two, three, or four times as much funds.
I have looked around and seen how other schools handle similar problems and address the same issues we at Stone Ranch do. I now know very well that every school is in the same position that we are with respect to needing funds for various programs.
I was shocked to learn that other schools regularly raise $200K to $300K. One well positioned school in an affluent area has raised almost $700K this year alone. All of these schools have substantial programs in Science, Athletics, Music, and the Arts. They enable their schools to hire 3 to 5 staff members in each of these areas. That is what our kids at Stone Ranch deserve. How do these schools do it?
I meet with their foundation presidents and asked them how they did it? I also meet with some of the parents in those school districts. I learned that every school runs programs and events exactly as we do. They also raise similar type of funds as we do. These community activity and events are actually useful, but are not the source of funds needed to form and operate the school foundation. Neither are grants from fortune 500 or local companies. The major sources of funds are YOU, the parents whose children attend Stone Ranch.
Registration packages at all these schools include a letter which outlines the foundation activities and requests that each parent donate $200 or more per child who attends the school. Imagine what kind of Science, Athletics, Music, and Art programs we can start and support if every child attending our school donated $200, which is around $1 per school day! We will actually be able to raise $200K for our school. That will allow us to offer some amazing programs, instead of just part time (16 hours) of music and athletics that is shared among all 1000 kids like we do now.
Believe me, I did not want to ask parents to donate funds when I first took over this position. And this is one of the areas I was mistaken about and have been schooled in. My original thought was to leave the parents alone and simply approach large corporations to get donated funds. It is not that large corporations do not provide or support; they do. However, they most often provide matching funds and equipment for programs that have other alternative sources of funds. In this way, they will ensure that there is enough community support to make the programs successful.
This is why this year we have the goal of raising $200K for our school foundation. The purpose is to use these funds to hire specialist that can help teach Science, Art, Athletics, and Music. So please do yourself and our community a favor and Take the $1 per day Challenge.
May 1, 2008
My name is Bijan Arbab and I have the pleasure of serving as the president of the Stone Ranch Elementary School Foundation (SRF). I got involved in this role about December of 2007 when Cindy Venolia, our school principal, asked me to help re-activate and wake up the foundation from its two year hibernation.
During the past six months we have formed a completely new board, started and sponsored a number of activities like Family Night Outs, Trail Blazer Treats, and Family Baseball game. These were meant as small fundraiser and re-introduction of the SRF to the community.
The past six months have also been an incredibly new learning experience for me. My eyes have been opened to many new things. I would like to share them with you and also ask for your help and support in any form you can give it. Donation of money, volunteer time, or both.
What do you mean school district do not have enough money to pay for Athletic or Music teachers in the elementary schools?
When I first heard this from Cindy my jaw dropped. You are kidding right? Ha ha that is funny, good one Cindy! No she was not kidding or joking. She started to explain all the reason why school district funds are limited and because they are so limited, are not used to pay for Athletic or Music teachers in elementary schools. This was true even before all the budget cuts from the Governor.
As Cindy was talking my mind started to drift back in time to when I was a school kid in Iran, a third world country. Athletic teachers yelling at me, “36, 37, you can do it, 38, two more to 40 and you are done,” so went the daily chin push-up routine. Playing ping-pong was my favorite, and I had to run tracks too. How I hated basketball, always got hit in the head or face with it; do you have to pass the ball so hard? Maybe it wasn’t their fault, I was always daydreaming. But there were plenty of P.E. and music programs of all kinds.
“… and that is why district funds do not provide for these program,” as Cindy finished her last sentence my mind had to rush back to the present time and follow the unwritten social rules demanding that I nod my head up and down and say “Ohhhh yes, yes, I understand now.” But I don’t understand how our schools are so under funded that they cannot support these programs.
In case you are wondering, I did check, and no school gets these programs directly supported from the district. Not Del Mar, not Solana Beach, not La Jolla, etc. I was thinking maybe I should just sell my house here and move there. But found out it is the same way every place. Some schools, however, have all these programs. But they do not get the funding from the district. It comes from their foundations. Read on for what else I found out.
What is the role of Foundation, what is PTA, and where do all the taxes I pay go?
As I looked in all schools, I found out that all the good ones have both organizations active and working collaboratively. There is both a PTA and a Foundation. There are some differences between PTA and Foundations, namely in four areas: (1) Foundations can roll funds year after year, PTAs can not. (2) Foundations can purchase durable goods, PTAs can not. (3) Foundations can write grants and solicit funds for various goals. PTAs can not. (4) Foundations can run events off campus, PTAs can not. There are of course plenty of other activities that PTA do engage in that Foundations should not.
The bottom line is that in order to run a good school you will need both. Put yourself in the principal’s shoes and let’s say you want to hire the best Music, Athletic, and Science teacher you can. If you only have PTA money, what will you tell them at the end of the year? Do they have a job next year or not? PTA money, you see must be spent all in one year, and can not roll over year after year. Except for $2,500.
So you will need Foundation money which can be rolled over year after year and will allow you to plan, budget, and recruit the best.
The bottom line is that Mello-Roos taxes we pay go toward constructing the schools, not running them.
I already give to PTA, why should I give to foundation too?
Every good school has both, believe me I checked! PTA funds pay for a lot of great things at our school, from regular supplies to various items that our school teachers need to operate. The main distinction between PTA and Foundation is that all PTA funds must be spent in a year, except $2500 that can be rolled over. There’s nothing wrong with that. Except for when it comes to multi-year budgeting and the need to hire and maintain good teaching talent in these extra-curricular areas. There is no buffer? There is no certainty for planning. Good teachers, like most of you, want to know there is certain amount of job security for continuation into next year.
Other schools in Del Mar raise $200K to $300K per year for their foundations. This allows them to get good programs in music, science, and athletics. You want the same for your kids? You can have it without having to sell your house here and move there.
I asked some of the parents there, how do you feel having to give so deeply to the foundation? Some said, “We pay the minimum amount Foundations ask, our name goes on the board in small letters. Others who can pay $3K to $5K and get their names in bold letters.” This is good advertisement for small local business as well. But they all give.
One parent put it to me this way, “I had my two kids in private school, paying $12K per year. The private school still asked for foundation donations! So nothing’s different here.”
Why should I donate any money at all?
Like you I get asked to donate money every place. At work, school, on the internet, late night T.V., on the phone and always exactly as we sit down for dinner, people knocking on my door at home on weekends, in my mail, flyers on my car, in the mall, even when I am walking to or from a place in downtown San Diego. No shortage of people in need and good causes. 9 out of 10 times, I give absolutely nothing! So if I give nothing, why am I asking you to do so?
As low as 20% to as high as 95% of all funds raised by a lot of charities and tax deductible organizations go to “administration” fees. This is why I most often choose to give nothing. I simply do not want to pay for some high level executive’s limousine to and from office or even the disaster place they want to visit.
SRF is different: 100% of all your money goes towards programs for your kids at Stone Ranch Elementary School.
There is no “administration” overhead. No, you are not paying for my time, coffee, computer, etc. as I write this note. In fact, the company I work for, Intel Corporation, gives money to our school for every hour I spend volunteering on these activities. All these funds go to our foundation in support of programs for our kids.
Yes, I am the foundation president. It’s a big title and comes with a lot of responsibilities. But the job comes with $0 in pay and $0 in benefits. It demands a lot of time and interaction. You must report to and are held accountable to the toughest bosses in the world, your kids. The job, however, has big emotional rewards and satisfaction of knowing we are doing the right things.
No board member gets paid for anything, either. Every board member is generously donating their time, energy and resources. Some of them normally bill each hour rate of $450. Others have secretaries managing every minute of their work time and screening their emails so they do not waste time. The teacher and principal on the board don’t go home after working 12 to 14 hours a day, they stay and meet with us starting at 6:30 p.m.
All of us show up every other Wednesday morning and stand behind desks and serve coffee, juice, and half a muffin for $1. Why? Because we want to build a better school for our kids and community for ourselves.
At SRF, we have an open book policy. Come and examine the books any time you want. At SRF we believe that everyone should see every thing all the time. Sunshine is the best disinfectant! Openness is the best way to assure that the foundation funds is actually working for benefit of our kids, school, and community. No special interest.
Are you always going to raise money just from parents?
No. We will use the funds raised by the foundation to get matching grant funds from local companies that want and can help build a better community. Frankly, they would not want to be the sole source of funding for our any program, no matter how good. If we do not care to raise seed funds they will not do it for us.
Large companies will add another log on the fire, but will not start it. We need to have base funds and start meaningful programs, then local companies will match and help. So we have to come up with ways to help ourselves first, then ask for some helping hand from others.
O.K., How much do you want and what for?
We suggest ~$1 per school day per kid. This comes to $200 per year school year per kid. Yes, it is completely tax deductible. So depending on your tax bracket, between $30 to $100 comes back to you when you file your tax returns.
What for? We need to continue to hire music teachers and grow a music program. We need to continue to hire athletic teachers and grow our athletic program. And we need to do these in meaningful ways, not just put a Band-Aid on a broken leg! Today we have one part time teacher (16 hours per week) that is trying to teach ~1000 kids at our school. We need to grow these programs, and help create a science program with a dedicated science teacher.
But the good news is that we have solid ideas, plans, and budgets, to address these issues. More importantly, we have a solid school administration and teachers with the enthusiasm and the energy to bring these programs to life So please help us build a better school and community for our kids. Go to the Donation tab and Donate what you can. And please look and see if your company matches your donations, you can easily double your impact.
Please contact us if you have any questions and/or feedback. |
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