Student-Initiated Fundraising Policy

WSA encourages students to take leadership in educating the community about particular needs and to create opportunities for community members to learn about or support organizations addressing those needs. However, as the school grows, so does the number of individual fundraising initiatives. As such, in order for an individual fundraising effort to be promoted by WSA to the WSA community, the Board of Trustees now requires that any individual fundraising initiative be reviewed and approved by both the Head of School and the CAS Coordinator.

Any proposed initiative must also meet the following criteria:

• Initiated by a student or group of students

• Related to a CAS project that has been planned by those students

• The beneficiary of the initiative must be in alignment with WSA’s mission

• An Individual Fundraising Initiative Form must be completed and submitted to both the Head of School and CAS Coordinator by September 30 for an event taking place before January 30th, and by January 30 for an event taking place before the end of the school year.  

• The timing of events must not directly conflict with previously scheduled fundraising events that take place at certain blocks of time in the year. The Head of School or CAS Coordinator will make suggestions for appropriate timing.

• Does not involve political initiatives, campaigns, or faith-based proselytizing

• The Initiative may not be a direct ask for money but must be in the form of an event such as a rummage or bake sale or other planned and organized event in order to reinforce the goal of developing a student’s organizational, collaborative, financial, and leadership skills

Student fundraising initiatives that are approved by the Head of School and CAS Coordinator must be completed within the time frame allotted by the Administration.   Students also must complete their CAS reflections on the initiative by the end of the next grading period following the completion of the initiative. The student’s advisor will verify on-time completion. Students who do not complete their CAS reflections for the event on time will not be eligible to submit a new initiative.  Students undertaking an individual fundraising initiative that is not targeted to the WSA community do not require WSA promotion and do not use WSA resources to promote, do not have to be submitted for approval.

This policy does not prohibit WSA from acting as a sponsor (defined as an organization that contributes financial or in-kind donations) for a mission-appropriate community fundraising event with the approval of the Board of Trustees. However, these events must take place off-campus and be marketed by the beneficiary toward the general public and not just WSA families.