Summary
1/19/00 meeting at Marilyn Hawkins office 11:30-1:00

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John Stanford International School at Latona Elementary
Mission:  To Educate and prepare all students to achieve today 
and tomorrow in a global community and economy.
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recorder: Michele Anciaux

PRESENT:  
Marilyn Hawkins, Karen Kodama, Willair St. Vil, Michele Anciaux, 
Chris Nielsen (Happy Birthday to Chris!)
from the Alliance for Education:
Joel Groen, VP Development
Chris Park, Manager of Annual Giving and Events

The main purpose of the meeting was to look at approaches for
the John Stanford International School to create a non-profit
entity so that people can make tax-deductible donations to the
school.  

Joel and Chris from the Alliance for Education came to explain
how the Alliance works with schools in this area.

Basically, the Alliance can provide umbrella 501c3 status
by setting up a school account.  In this case, the Alliance provides
fiscal support at no charge (although interest earned on amounts
up to $25,000 held in the account does go to the Alliance to offset
their costs).  The money (principal, plus interest earned on sums
over $25,000) is controlled by the school, i.e. the principal or
someone designated by the principal.  (Some schools have set
up an advisory committee, but that's not required.)

The money can be accessed at any time with a letter from the principal,
and there is about a 5 day turnaround on checks disbursed.

Some advantages to this approach (from the Alliance brochure):

1.  Long-term stability
(The Alliance will continue managing the funds, while volunteers
in a school may come and go.)

2.  Non-profit Status
(Gifts are tax-deductible.)

3.  Efficient Gift Handling
(The Alliance tracks gifts and donors so that you can more easily
provide acknowledgements, receipts, etc. as well as follow up
on future donations.)

4.  Flexibility of Giving
(The Alliance can also accept non-cash donations, such as stock,
pledges (with follow-up reminders), bequest, etc.)

In addition, the Alliance staff is available to meet with the school
group to help develop fundraising strategies and organize some
aspects of events (such as auction forms).

Currently about 15 elementaries have established foundations
through the Alliance. We looked at a brochure for the
"Friends of Laurelhurst Elementary School Foundation,"
established through the Alliance.  Their brochure targets 
donations in three areas:
* Endowment Fund (goal of raising $2,000,000!)
* Principal Leadership Fund (to support teacher training)
* Computer Initiative (upgrades and wiring)

This shows that there is some flexibility in targeting
fundraising goals to attract different types of donors.

There is a pretty straightforward process for establishing
an account with the Alliance.

In addition to the possibility of establishing the non-profit
entity through the Alliance, the John Stanford Intl School
could set up its own non-profit foundation.  Marilyn thought
this might appeal to one or more of the financial institutions
in the city (where they would provide fiscal support - like
the Alliance - gratis).  In this case, the Foundation would
have its own board of trustees to control the funds.  (In
contrast, the Alliance has one board of trustees to oversee
all the school foundations, and the John Stanford Intl
School would have no control over who those trustees are.)

Karen will be weighing the pluses and minuses of the
two approaches so that we can make a final decision soon
and begin more active fundraising efforts.

If you have a viewpoint you'd like to share, please Email
Karen directly:  KKODAMA@is.ssd.k12.wa.us.

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NOTE: As of January 14, I have resigned from my position as Parent
Involvement Director for the Washington State PTA, although
I'll continue doing some transition work for them over the
next few weeks.  Eventually, my Email anciaux@wastatepta.org
will go away.  Please change your address books to:
Michele_Anciaux@msn.com  (206) 522-0608
Thanks!