Parent Fact Sheet
A PDF of this fact sheet can be downloaded here.

A “Free Dress Fundraiser” has been established and will be coordinated by the Sustainable Fundraising Committee to assist Freedom Academy with raising funds toward bringing specialties back!

As a parent, we know this will have an effect on you and your child’s experience at Freedom Academy.  We believe this fundraiser presents a significant opportunity for our children to participate in their own education by doing small things to earn money to donate to our school in order to bring specialties back to Freedom Academy.

When is this happening?
Free Dress Fundraiser days are currently scheduled for the second Friday of each month, beginning December 10th, for the rest of the 2010/11 school year.  Note that, if the event doesn’t go well in terms of student behavior, we will cancel future Free Dress Fundraiser days.

What is this for?
Money generated from this fundraiser will go to help re-fund specialty teachers for the K-6 classes. All money will go to the school’s general fund.*

How will funds be collected?
The school faculty voted on Dec 1st that they wanted to collect the funds personally from their classrooms. Remind your children to bring their minimum $1.00 donation on that morning to give to their teacher at the beginning of the day.

What if a student does not pay?
We expect our students to be responsible, so we will let them learn this.  Some may try to cheat the system, but we expect them otherwise. If, next month (or in a coming month), we find that the students are abusing our leniency, we can decide if it is really worth it to continue.

Appropriate attire:
On Free Dress Fundraiser Days, each student is permitted to dress in casual clothing, provided they abide with all the general clothing provisions of the Dress Code Policy.  On these days, clothing should be neat, well kept, and practical for school.  Free Dress Fundraiser Day policy shall include the following provisions:

  • Tank tops, tube tops, spaghetti straps and bare midriff shirts shall not be worn.
  • Sandals and clogs with heel straps may be worn on Free Dress Fundraiser Day.

Source: http://pfa.cc/fundraising/2010/free-dress-fundraiser-day-clothing-policy.htm

What if students want to pre-pay or donate more than $1.00?
Of course, larger donations are allowed just by your child paying the amount to their teacher, but we currently don’t have a process for pre-paying. Watch for more information forthcoming.

What can I do, as a parent?
We see three critical ways you can help make this a runaway success for your child(ren) and the school:

  • Be Supportive — Try to support your child in finding ways for them to earn this money on their own. Once you get them thinking, they will think of great ideas. For example, “helping with the dishes once a week for 25cents” would get this done!
  • Be Creative — Think of fun ways you could redirect some funds to the school on your child’s behalf.  We are collecting some fun ideas: http://pfa.cc/fundraising/2010/fun-ways-to-help-with-free-dress.htm
  • Be Positive — We know this may not seem ideal to you for any number of reasons, but please be optimistic and speak positively about it. (If you have real grievances, don’t keep them a secret — tell us! http://pfa.cc/fundraising/contact )

Potential earnings:
This is just the tip of the iceberg, but if approximately 80% of our students participate monthly (conservatively 500 students a month) then we will earn $3,000.00 this year with absolutely no overhead cost. This money goes straight to bringing specialties back!*  Also, the fundraising committee has plans in store to help make this and other fundraising projects fun for both the students and rewarding to you, their teacher!

Who is doing this?
The Sustainable Fundraising Committee has two sub-committees. One of them, called the “school level committee” is responsible for events and fundraisers that affect the school and parent-community.  Karla Kay Snow and Trent Schoonmaker are co-chairs of this committee.  Robert Merrill is chairman of the entire committee. More at http://pfa.cc/fundraising/about

Doesn’t the PTO do all the fundraising?
The PTO is responsible for some amazing fundraising, but they are a separate organization from the school. The Sustainable Fundraising Committee is chartered by the Governing Board with the objective to work, in the years to come, to release our school’s dependency on government funds through multi-year, sustainable giving programs.

How can I help!?
We have three messages we’d like you to hear loud and clear:

  1. Free Dress Fundraiser Day is completely optional.  A student may simply wear a uniform on that day and does not have to pay any fee whatsoever.
  2. Encourage the students to earn their own dollar for Free Dress Fundraiser Day. Our children are natural entrepreneurs. If supported, they will come up with creative ways to earn money for their Free Dress Fundraiser day. This is their chance to have an impact on their own education!
  3. Every dollar generated is for “bringing specialties back”*.  Please consdier, and remind your children that $1.00 is the minimum donation. We ask you to open your wallets and be generous!

I have questions or comments. Who can I talk to?
Karla Kay Snow (ksnow@pfa.cc), Trent Schoonmaker (taschoonie@comcast.net), and Robert Merrill (robertmerrill@gmail.com). More information at http://pfa.cc/fundraising/contact

*Note: Though the focus is to re-fund specialties, all donations go to the general fund for unrestricted operating expenses.

 
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