Fundraising Proposal: Katherine Cleland, CVPO Fundraising Coordinator, presented a proposal called the “CV Excellence Campaig

Fundraising Proposal: Katherine Cleland, CVPO Fundraising Coordinator, presented a proposal called the “CV Excellence Campaign” that she developed with fellow parent Rhonda Simpson and Fred Kane, Executive Director, Corvallis Public Schools Foundation.

The proposal is “Have a new group “CV Excellence Team” , under the auspices of the CVPO, sponsor a n annual fundraising campaign via the 509J foundation  remove , providing education, pledge cards,  and referrals to the 509J    foundation pledge web site and training to fundraising coordinators (parent volunteers who act as treasurers or fundraisers for organizations) and teachers on how to work with the foundation to access the funds raised .” The goal is to raise $25,000 by Nov. 2008.

Katherine pointed out that CV is one of the least developed schools in 509J with respect to use of the foundation for financial support and has raised less than 2/3 of the amount CHS has raised through the foundation so far this year.

Katherine identified four meetings needed before moving ahead:
1.    Activities and athletics directors to identify areas of need for funds.
2.    Denise Purdy, CV bookkeeper.
3.    CVPO for support and communication.
4.    Fundraising chairs which Katherine will identify and contact.

Discussion ensued covering many areas including these concerning the Corvallis Public Schools Foundation:
1.    Legal issues with single designation. - can you clarify? I heard questions about legal issues regarding tax deductibility for contributions, and whether those contributions would require the CVPO to do additional reporting.- the answer I am getting to this is no-- since the contributions are to the foundation, not the CVPO, the Foundation will report them and manage the funds...the CVPO would merely act as the group designating where the funds are spent.  The foundation would also provide all receipts for donors for tax purposes.
2.    Accounting and oversight. the conversation included:  Can the foundation handle the contributions?, How would the disbursement of funds be managed, and how would their use be reported. Katherine indicated that the team would work on answering these questions, but directionally she felt that maximum transparency was important, and that annual or semi annual reporting on the specific 8 funds on the left would need to be coordinated by the CV Excellence Campaign Team, all other funds would have to have information available via the foundation or the treasurer/coach of that sport/activity.
3.    How much money is donated the CV outside of the foundation now ?  Perhaps Denise could provide a figure. another question was: Do we really need foundation donations does it just create an additional burden?   Katherine believes that creating a one stop form that works via the foundation, and focus on core need areas for the school will actually streamline things for donors, make getting receipts easier, and work better than the committee expects, as the foundation has made major improvements in their systems and processes last summer.
4.    Katherine  indicated that there  may be donors available who want to give to CV but need a focus. She, the Excellence Campaign Team, and the foundation will work to identify donors among parents, past parents, alumni, and interested community members who are in touch with the foundation. (not businesses).
5.     Questions were raised about The effect on the CVPO’s tax exempt status. - Katherine will get a response from the Foundation, but believes that since the donations will be to the foundation, it will have no impact on the CVPO's tax status in any way (since confirmed).
6.    Special interest groups are moving wide and deep, and away from the foundation, and in danger of being lost. - I don't know what this means or why it is here...can you rephrase to clarify.  Was this Julie G's Point about business fundraising?

There were also questions and concerns about the “Possible Donor Sheet” which lists targeted donation areas. Does it include everything (no- not possible) and does it bias giving to one area or another?  Katherine responded that the areas targeted for donation are the priorities that have been expressed by the CV site council and the CV administration, and can be rotated on a regular basis, as appropriate. The goal is to meet the broader needs of the school, with funds administered in a way that can help balance priorities, but allow donors to fund their "interests". But these are merely recommendations to donors, No restrictions of designated giving are suggested, and there are many categories, as well as a write in space.

Another area of discussion was whether the CVPO should be the overseeing organization for the CV Excellence Campaign effort given the concerns. The consensus was not to sponsor this campaign (no vote called or taken), and the CVPO recommended that this effort should be done independently of the CVPO. Katherine agreed to move forward with it without the CVPO support or oversight.

Additionally, one of the 8 general areas of funding need is “CVPO Fund-Teacher Grants.” It was generally concluded that the CVPO would not oversee (I didn't take this away...does this mean if we can raise tax free dollars (that do not increase CVPO reporting requirements), the CVPO grants committee would decline to allocate the money to teachers?-- I took away that we could designate the raised $ to the CVPO grants, as long as the funds received didn't create another level of report to the IRS (per Debbie Cassidy's point) I am moving forward based on this assumption, and keeping a designated fund in the campaign for Teacher Grants-Administered by the CVPO. the last thing I want to do is create another body at CV that would evaluate and fill teacher grant requests...).

In the end, the CVPO decided that their contribution to this effort would be to have Susie Zaremba be a CVPO representative on the “CV Excellence Campaign Team.” , in addition to Katherine Cleland.

The original proposal document, which is in draft form, is attached. If you would like a more updated version, have any questions or suggestions or would like to participate in the CV Excellence Campaign, please contact Katherine Cleland at 231-4445 or at tkcleland@yahoo.com.