Categories
Fundraising

Eggcellent Fundraiser

Middle School student, Camilla and her family are donating free range Eggs from Bolinas hens fed with organic grain, organic chicken scratch and organic food scrapes.

All proceeds from the sales will go towards Field Trip Scholarships. 8th grade students raise funds each year to support thier Civil Rights trip to Alabama organized by Champion Middle School teacher Katherine.

This is one of the many field trips that LEAP and your donations and pledges support. Middle School Parents will be coordinating sales along with student volunteers at pick up on Wednesday and Friday starting this week for 1 hour after pick up for the entire month of Feb. Also they’ll be set up at the all-school art show on Feb 16th at the community center.

Eggs are $5 for a 1/2 dozen and $9 for a dozen

The pick up table will be outside the Multi Purpose room on the lower campus.

Categories
Parent Resources

LSD Parenting : What’s the deal with parent groups?

Have you been to a parent meeting in the Lagunitas School District? Do you know when they are? Where they are? Why we have them? Well, here’s some information on the role parent groups play in our school district.

Each of the three programs in the LSD have a PTO, a parent teacher organization.

Categories
Parent Resources

How we got here: District Wide Fundraising

With all of the turbulence of the past few years, it seems that a lot of the knowledge about ‘How we got here’ has been lost. Many long time families have had kids move on to high school and that includes most of the past LEAP board members.

So, I thought it may be helpful to start a series of posts about the way we do things now and the path that lead us here.

Way back, prior to 2017, each program in the Lagunitas School District would raise money for themselves and there was very little crossover. Each program had its annual fundraiser:

  • Montessori – The Fall Fest
  • Middle School – Bingo Night
  • Open – Spaghetti Dinner

Waldorf probably had a fundraiser, too, but I don’t recall what that was. LEAP also had one main fundraiser a year, Valley Visions.

There was something we called the ‘Handshake Agreement’ where each program agreed to have only one fundraiser a year each. The handshake agreement came about because the programs kept throwing fundraisers throughout the year and the parents, kids, vendors, donors, etc… all got sick of being asked for more and more and more. More money, more time, more volunteering, more donations… it really pitted the programs against one another.

During the recession that started around 2008, school budgets were on the chopping block. Property tax revenue fell as house values were being reassessed and taxed at a lower rate, and our district relies heavily on our property taxes. So, to offset these budget cuts, the school board made the difficult decision to cut a significant chunk of funding that had been going to the programs. The amount cut was $25,000 per program. Whoa, now in the face of a recession the programs were going to have to raise $25k more per year per program to keep up our budgets.

As you can imagine, the scramble for funds became more fierce. At the same time, more families were relying on two incomes to make ends meet so volunteerism was falling. In each program there was a small group of parents who took on the lion’s share of fundraising work, and we were getting burned out.

At that time, LEAP was mostly administering fundraising that the programs did on their own. LEAP ran pledge and distributed those funds. LEAP hosted Valley Visions which changed shape over the years but was geared towards getting parents together for some food, booze and (maybe) dancing. LEAP also organized the district wide read-a-thon and book faire.

Several of the program fundraising heavy weights came together on the LEAP board and it seemed obvious that we should pool our resources when it came to fundraising effort. So, the idea of district wide fundraising was floated.

Around that time, our programs really began to struggle with fundraising and budget cuts. One program was flush, another barely scraped by and another was in the hole. LEAP worked with the program parent groups to work out a way that all three programs (Waldorf had closed by then) would be OK for that year at least. Programs shared money and resources, so drastic cuts were avoided. For 2017, at least.

Most importantly, during this difficult time, we realized that all children in the district deserved support regardless of program. We couldn’t move forward with a system that would leave kids without educational enrichment just because of a poor fundraising year.

It became apparent to the people who were doing most of the heavy lifting for fundraising at the time, we would all do better if we worked together. We agreed to consolidate our asking of money from donors (much to Good Earth’s joy, I’m sure) by creating our unified sponsorship program. We agreed to ask all district parents to pledge money instead of leaving it up to programs to solicit for themselves. We agreed that LEAP would over see all fundraisers (the Winter Cafe is an exception since it is run by the kids and the money entirely passes through, not going to the program).

In the years since unified fundraising began, the average annual revenue has been on the upswing (with the exception of the 2020-2021 school year for obvious reasons).

You may have noticed new LEAP banners and signs, a new logo and generally a swell of LEAP activity over the past several months. This is due to a wonderful group of new LEAP board members who are devoted to all the best aspects of our school district! The energy is palpable and the creativity is bubbling at every turn. If you want to be a part of taking our district into the future, please come to one of LEAP’s monthly zoom meetings, help out with an event, or even join the LEAP board.

~ James Sanders, LEAP board member, parent, and Lagunitas School Board Trustee

Categories
Events Fundraising

Tommy Guerrero @ Peri’s

Come see and listen, Tommy Guerrero at Peri’s in Fairfax.

Sunday, February 26 at 7PM

This is a fundraiser for the Valley Skate Club’s skatepark on the Lagunitas School campus.

Categories
Events Fundraising

The Art of Storytelling

The Art of Storytelling :

A discussion with Evan Osnos

Join us for an evening with Pulitzer winning journalist, Evan Osnos for a discussion of modern journalism and the art of storytelling.

Saturday April 8, 2023 

6PM

Little Theater at Archie Williams High School

 1327 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard

Buy tickets before they sell out!

Categories
Events Fundraising

Valley Fest 2023!

Save the date for the Valley’s biggest party! Saturday May 20.

This is LEAP’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Music, food, games, crafts and so much more. Details will be posted as they become clear.

Categories
Fundraising Ways to Give

Parent Pledge

Pledge today!

We ask that every family contributes something financially to enrich their child’s education. This type of donation is known as pledge because it is usually given as an automatic recurring monthly donation which is pledged by the family. Of course, pledge can be given annually or on a one time only basis. 

Pledge directly supports your child’s education. Every dollar goes into our classrooms, and our parent groups decide how to spend the money. Enrichment activities like Spanish, music, art, garden, field trips and instructional classroom aides are all paid for with pledge

Parent pledge is the single most important part of our annual fundraising. How much should each family pledge? Truth is, any amount helps! This year, we are aiming for a high level of participation to support our shared value of community here at Lagunitas. Even $5 or $10 a month counts! Based on our annual budget, here are suggested pledge levels and what they cover:

Pledge Level A, $100 per month/$1200 per year: Level A covers the cost of art, music, Spanish, field trips, some aide time and other enrichment for one student over the course of one school year, it helps subsidize students whose families cannot afford to pledge and it funds LEAP’s administrative costs and long-term goals.

Pledge Level B, $70 per month/$840 per year: Level B covers the basic cost of art, music, Spanish, field trips, some aide time and other enrichment for one student in one school year, but does not cover organizational costs. 

Pledge Level C, $40 per month/$480 per year: Level C covers some of the cost per student to fund art, music, Spanish, field trips, and other enrichment and is subsidized by Pledge Level A, plus donations, sponsorships, and events.

If you wish to make your pledge with a credit or debit card, please push the ‘DONATE’ button above!   If you prefer to send a check, please send it to:

LEAP
P.O. Box 268
San Geronimo CA 94963

LEAP is a 501(c)3 organization, and all donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Our tax ID is 94-2778798.

We ask that every family contributes something financially to enrich their child’s education. This type of donation is known as pledge because it is usually given as an automatic recurring monthly donation which is pledged by the family. Of course, pledge can be given annually or on a one time only basis. 

Pledge directly supports your child’s education. Every dollar goes into our classrooms, and our parent groups decide how to spend the money. Enrichment activities like Spanish, music, art, garden, field trips and instructional classroom aides are all paid for with pledge

Parent pledge is the single most important part of our annual fundraising. How much should each family pledge? Truth is, any amount helps! This year, we are aiming for a high level of participation to support our shared value of community here at Lagunitas. Even $5 or $10 a month counts! Based on our annual budget, here are suggested pledge levels and what they cover:

Pledge Level A, $100 per month/$1200 per year: Level A covers the cost of art, music, Spanish, field trips, some aide time and other enrichment for one student over the course of one school year, it helps subsidize students whose families cannot afford to pledge and it funds LEAP’s administrative costs and long-term goals.

Pledge Level B, $70 per month/$840 per year: Level B covers the basic cost of art, music, Spanish, field trips, some aide time and other enrichment for one student in one school year, but does not cover organizational costs. 

Pledge Level C, $40 per month/$480 per year: Level C covers some of the cost per student to fund art, music, Spanish, field trips, and other enrichment and is subsidized by Pledge Level A, plus donations, sponsorships, and events.

Pledge online:

Or pledge by mailing a check:

LEAP,  PO Box 268, San Geronimo, CA 94963

It’s helpful if you would include your child (or children’s) name with your donation, but if you prefer to keep that private it is totally fine.

Categories
Fundraising Ways to Give

Donate Today

Donate Today!

Your generous one time or recurring donation will help support educational enrichment for all children in the Lagunitas School District. Parents choose what to fund for their school, whether it be Art, Music, Spanish Instruction, Technology Tools, Field Trips or Classroom Aides, parents choose what’s best for the current generation of kids.

Categories
Fundraising

A little pat on the back

Back in May, we announced that a donor advised fund with the Marin Community Foundation would generously match all donations to LEAP dollar for dollar up to $10,000 until the end of the school year.

Thanks to YOU Lagunitas families, as well as generous local businesses and organizations, to date we raised over $20,000 ($10,000 of which will be matched!) for critical enrichment for all of our kids. 

Thanks to you and our sponsors, we bridged our budget gap of $30K to continue to fund programs for our kids, including: 

  • Spanish
  • Art 
  • Music
  • Teacher aides
  • Teacher supplies 
  • Field trips 
  • Middle School P.E.

A heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone who donated towards this campaign and volunteered their time to help spread the word. It was a rough year, but we are heartened by our amazing community who rallied to ensure our kids get the best education possible. Thank you so much for helping us end the year strong! 

As you know, LEAP bridges the gap where government funding falls short. We fundraise for the educational enrichment of all children in the Lagunitas School District. And remember, parents decide how to spend the money. So, we encourage you to get involved in the parent groups for Montessori, Open and Middle School, so your voice is heard.

Categories
Fundraising Ways to Give

Donate in Honor Of…

Is there someone whom you would like to honor? Maybe a loved one passed who shared values with our community and district? Someone who valued Art, Music, Civil Rights, Social Justice, Social Emotional Education…

LEAP gratefully accepts donations In Honor Of / In Memory Of anyone you love and respect. Former students, staff, faculty, parents, community members… So many people are touched by what our school offers to students. Please visit http://leap4education.org/donate-in-honor-of-or-in-memory-of  to make a tax deductible gift.