So you're a high school principal?
Word on the street is that you’re sitting on a mountain of gold and you only give it out to the athletic director (and you hate the drama club). Sound familiar? Unfortunately, many parents and kids might feel this way, and sometimes you get an ear full.
The truth is that typically, there is very little money to go around and you generally try to spread the money as far as possible. Everyone wants money - every coach, every teacher and every club. You’re supposed to solve this problem – immediately - like yesterday!
You’re burdened with creating money: even though standardized tests are right around the corner (average scores dropped last year by the way); even though someone tried to break into the school over the weekend, and a door was damaged and needs to be repaired; even though there’s an awards ceremony tonight for the math team – and you need to be there; and even though tonight is senior night for the volleyball them – and you need to be there too. Daily, weekly, quarterly and annual issues are constant worries that need to be addressed – in addition to unforeseen problems that crop up by the minute. Oh, and by the way, the science department needs a new Wimshurst generator (and it wasn’t budgeted). You better get right on that!
Many parents like you and think you’re doing a great job. “Because of Principal Green, our school is one of the best in the county (or state, or nation)!” “Because of Principal Green, our school’s test scores are the best in the . . .” “Because of Principal Green, 99.999999% of the students from our school go to Harvard.” You get the point.
However, let one teacher in the math department go without a smartboard for 26 days because there is no money in the budget – and you, my friend, are going to get hung out to dry. “He only cares about the baseball team, since they won states three years in a row. You know, they got new jerseys for the past 85 years straight!!!”
Again, there are very limited resources for the school, and fundraising is the main life support. Fundraising is a hassle! All aspects are a pain - preparing for them, scheduling them, collecting the money, accounting for the money, distributing the stuff that has been peddled. Everyone wants money, but nobody wants to fundraise – let alone manage a fundraiser. If you’re a seasoned principal, at some point you’ve probably found this kind of email or phone message from an admin in charge of managing fundraising:
“Hey Principal Green, its Mary. We have 13 fundraisers going on, and it seems to be going OK. However, I have 17 checks totaling $732.28 from people and I don’t know what the checks are for. Let me know what you want me to do with them. Further, I have another $825 in cash – from unknown people for an unknown purpose. Let me know how you want me to account for this. Finally, Dave Miller wants to do a fundraiser for a salt water fish tank in the physical education department – he said it shouldn’t be more than $10k. Is this OK with you? As a heads up, Shelly from Chemistry said that if Dave gets a salt water tank for gym, she’s wants to get laptops for her department.”
At CCD, we want to streamline fundraising and make life a little easier for you. Our theory is, if someone wants to raise money, they should: 1) say specifically what they want, 2) say specifically how much it costs, and 3) (most importantly) ask those whom are likely to support the people asking for the money. Further, CCD provides an on-line dashboard to easily manage campaigns and donations, and to easily maintain oversight. Additionally, all accounting information is at the admin’s disposal – downloadable for effortless accounting.
You, or your appointed admin in charge of fundraising, shouldn’t need to deal with cash or checks from random people for unidentified purposes. You shouldn’t have to spend time writing out receipts for donations. You shouldn’t be hassled with the fear of accidentally distributing funds to the wrong person because some of the received cash or checks are vague in their prescribed destination. You know money is fungible right? However, poor or inaccurate distribution may lead to very bad consequences.
With CCD, a single point of contact within your administration is a gateway for fundraising. For example, an appointed admin within the Office. That way, you’re not constantly being personally pestered about fundraising, yet there is oversight to prevent a teacher from fundraising for an unapproved purpose.
CCD establishes this oversight with two additional points of contact, which together provide approval for any proposed fundraiser that has gone through the first point of contact.
For example, you may be a secondary point of contact, in charge of subject matter review of a proposed fundraising campaign. Should the gym teacher be raising funds for a fish tank? An assistant principal may be a tertiary point of contact, in charge of review of the amount of a proposed campaign. Should the science teacher be raising $8000 for a Wimshurst generator? They can be easily seen on the internet for around $80.
As a principal, you could let you’re teachers, administrators and coaches fundraise at CCD to easily and quickly obtain money for what they need - all the while minimizing administrative hassle and providing oversight. In this way, you could truly stay the great principal that everyone likes, while dispelling the myths that you hoard money and only support varsity football . . . or basketball . . . or whatever.
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