Volunteer
Some of the major areas we could use help are: operations (e.g., book cataloguing, post-class cleanup), recruiting additional students (helping with publicity and fundraisers, networking), and raising funds (identifying and approaching potential donors, writing proposals). The Academy has always been a real community effort. Donors have been very generous to us, giving more than $80,274 in goods (including more than 3,000 books) as well as over $75,711 in cash, and $26,948 services. Added to this are the 8.5 full-time-equivalent years of unpaid service by director Lou Ellen Kay and board members Vincent and David Gutschick. We know that you all have your own work and need your family time, but any time you can spare with us will be deeply appreciated.
If you can help us, please contact us. You can email us or phone us using the information on our contact page. Thanks for any consideration. We have a special need in our capital campaign for volunteers who can make personal contacts with potential donors; we offer training in professional standards of fundraising for our volunteers. You can view some details here.
We have begun with modest funding and will be in significant, though manageable, debt for several years. As a volunteer, you can help us with many tasks that would otherwise burden us financially; your presence also enriches us personally. We appreciate a wide variety of help - bookkeeping, minor building maintenance, finding local donors, helping at fundraising events, developing advertising, writing grant proposals, and more.
We're happy with the way the students are learning and with the enthusiasm of students and teachers alike. We want to keep all this going through the startup years, when we are in the red financially, so we do need help. Currently, we charge only 1/3 to 1/2 of what private schools do nationally, and only as much as the local religious schools that have larger classes and that get much support from their churches. Three of us, including the director, are working full-time unpaid, as a labor of love, and we've invested a good deal up front in mostly non-recoverable costs such as renovations to our rented space. That said, our business plan has us solvent in the long term, so, if your child is enrolled, don't worry about the continuation of your child's education.
Soon, we will need help with a capital campaign for the expansion onto a permanent site. If you have any experience in a campaign like this, we would especially appreciate your help. Again, if you can help us, please contact us. You can email us or phone us using the information on our contact page. Many thanks!