Invest in a child. Save Our Schools.
We are Save Our Schools, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Minneapolis, MN, and we are behind the first-ever crowdfunding campaign to benefit students of both Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools (Unsure of what crowdfunding is or how we apply it? Please see bottom of page for details).
We are the only Twin Cities organization that funds programs and resources that are championed by both students and staff, helping our community’s most vulnerable citizens: our at-risk students.
We’re an organization run and operated by Millennials, conceived in a dorm room and powered by our passions, talents and generous donors. SOS has only existed for about a year, but we’ve accomplished a lot in that short amount of time:
- We funded “Pillsbury Pedal Power” – a program that encouraged kids to ride their bikes after school. In certain areas crime rates peak after school, so our program gave students (and chaperones) the opportunity to bike across the city to learn about history, art, science and more. This program was so successful that the City of Minneapolis gave it a “Local Hero” award and several schools are now attempting to implement identical programming.
- We provided programming aimed to decrease suspensions and increase cooperative activity in a school where 99.7% of children live below the poverty line.
- We sent students from low SES backgrounds on the trip of a lifetime to Puerto Rico.
- We helped refugee students who fled to Minnesota ease the struggles of learning a new language in a foreign country.
- And because we know that 95% of brain development occurs by the end of pre-school, we rescued Early Childhood Programs from the chopping block to make sure kids are given a fair shot.
- We sponsored Minneapolis Math League, providing weekly practices, transportation, food and funding for five competitions a year to all Minneapolis High Schools, investing in the future workforce of Minnesota and developing each child’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills.
In this past year, we’ve relied on our amazing donors – companies, individuals, friends and family – to fund these programs.
In the 2014-2015 school year, we have set our goals even higher.
We are going to open up a volunteer pipeline, matching up teachers’ needs with volunteers’ strengths. We are sponsoring a graduation coach program, providing high school students with mentors to help them navigate their post-graduation options. And we want to continue to sponsor the programs that we did last year…and more.
In order to help more students, we need your help.
Your donation will help us keep running. And the stronger we are running, the more students we are helping.
In the Twin Cities, only 59% of students will graduate high school on time. Students who don’t graduate high school are 68x more likely to be incarcerated then their peers.
Your donation will help us keep these students off the streets. It’ll provide them after-school opportunities to help them flourish academically and in their communities. Your money will help us develop our volunteer match program.
It’ll enable us find out what teachers need to better reach their students – and it helps us fulfill that need by providing programs and resources that are conceived by both students and teachers – together.
So why are we asking for $25,000?
Last year we allocated $30,000 to student programs. If we can reach our goal of $25,000 before the school year even starts, we will be in a position to grow our organization, reach more students and magnify our impact.
We operate on a 100% of your donation, 100% of the time model. And by reaching our crowdfunding goal, we can sustain that model in the 2014-2015 school year.
So help us in whatever capacity you can. Invest in a child. Save our schools.
(Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet. With your support of this fundraiser, SOS guarantees 100% of donations in the fall will go to programs and the students they serve)
