Crowdfunding best practices - CASBOresources, crowdfunding sites should designate that the school,...

Crowdfunding best practices

Helping your educators get the classroom resources they need

PPT-00213 (May 18)

Partnerships

• Partner with national and state associations to support and

recognize contributions of educators

• Sponsor DonorsChoose.org to help teachers fund out-of-

pocket classroom expenses

Horace Mann’s commitment

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About Horace Mann

Founded in 1945, Horace Mann is the largest financial services company

focused on providing America’s school teachers and employees with

affordable auto, home and life insurance, as well as retirement solutions.

This is a school fundraiser

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This is also a school fundraiser

Every single teacher on a

crowdfunding site just got

their wishes fulfilled

By AJ Willingham, CNN

(CNN) When it comes to

educating America’s children,

how much of a difference could

$29 million make? Could it send

a second grader on a school trip

to the museum, or provide

updated equipment to a class of

budding scientists? It can. In fact,

it can do it 35,647 times.

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How to know which crowdfunding sites to trust

How can school district leaders

leverage additional funding that

crowdfunding sites offer —

while making sure they’re

maintaining existing internal

controls and student

protections?

Factors to consider

• Financial accountability

• Ownership of materials and

supplies

• Safety and privacy

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Financial accountability

• Materials, not cash Trust the sites that purchase and send

resources directly to verified schools,

instead of depositing cash into

teachers’ personal bank accounts.

• Transparency at every step Make sure the sites publicly display

details about every item funded and

provide clear explanations of

overhead costs.

• Capturing impact The sites should require teachers to

report on how the resources were

used in the classroom and how

students benefit.

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Controls over materials and supplies

• School ownership of funded

materials While teachers should be given

discretion over the use of funded

resources, crowdfunding sites should

designate that the school, rather than

the teacher, ultimately owns the

funded resources.

• District visibility and

reporting Reputable crowdfunding sites notify

principals when items are being

shipped to schools and provide line-

by-line reporting of every item to

districts upon request.

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Safety and privacy

• Student protection Trusted crowdfunding sites used by

teachers should have mechanisms for

protecting student privacy, as well as

a privacy policy tailored to the unique

needs of students in public schools.

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Questions to ask yourself

• Does the site meet all the

criteria we just covered?

• Is the site focused on K-12

education?

• Is the site run by a nonprofit

organization?

• Does the site connect

teachers to donors from

beyond their network and to

funding from companies and

foundations?

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Smart crowdfunding guidance

• Provide clarity to teachers

on the types of technology,

devices and platforms the

district will support

• Encourage teachers to

leverage crowdfunding to

support strategic district

priorities

• Help teachers seek out the

websites that you know to

be trustworthy

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How DonorsChoose.org works

• Teachers at verified schools request specific items.

• DonorsChoose.org vets every single project that teachers post.

• Donors, corporations, and foundations contribute to these requests.

• DonorsChoose.org orders the items and ships them to the school.

• DonorsChoose.org notifies the school in advance of every shipment.

• Every district can be set up with automated reporting and technology guidelines

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Impact to date

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Find up-to-the-minute stats at

donorschoose.org/impact

Project Funding

$734,000,000

Projects funded

1,200,000

Students helped

29,900,000 Schools participating

79,600

Teachers with projects funded

455,000 Supporters

3,400,000

Case studies

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Chico Unified School District

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Project Funding

$275,468

Projects funded

622

Students helped

18,660 Schools participating

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Teachers with projects funded

283 Supporters

2,101

Redding School District

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Project Funding

$7,676

Projects funded

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Students helped

540 Schools participating

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Teachers with projects funded

13 Supporters

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How Horace Mann helps

• Horace Mann representatives

around the country have

brought the DonorsChoose.org

story to the schools they serve.

• Horace Mann and our

representatives have donated

more than $4 million since

2011. More than 44,000

projects funded, impacting

more than 1.5 million students.

• Schools served by Horace

Mann representatives have

received more than $250

million in funding to date.

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$60,000 DonorsChoose.org Fall into Funding Sweepstakes

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Now through Nov. 30, Horace Mann is giving away up to $60,000 in DonorsChoose.org funding.

Administrators, principals and teachers are all eligible to win!

• 40 winners will receive up to $250 in DonorsChoose.org funding

o 10 winners per month, now through November

• 10 grand-prize winners will receive up to $5,000 in DonorsChose.org funding

o Winners will be announced in December

There will be 50 winners. One of them could easily be you!

Q&A

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Information about how Horace Mann can help

Jack Danielson, Regional Executive, Northern California

Jack.Danielson@horacemann.com

Brenda Truelove, Regional Executive, Southern California

Brenda.Truelove@horacemann.com

Information about crowdfunding

DonorsChoose.org/administrators