SEND A CHILD TO SCHOOL

The first thing we did was get a tax ID number and open a bank account for the charity. As I mentioned, my brother and I used our own money the first year for the first three kids. After that, we created all of our marketing materials using photos of our kids that were sent from the school (we send down a disposable camera to the principal). Then we started raising money, mostly by sending a letter and a brochure to everyone we knew. We feel that we are well organized now and our action plan is to file for a 501(c)3, which we will need money to pay for. This way people who donate can get credit for it on their taxes. My Dad has an attorney who will donate his time, but we still need the money to pay for the filing fees. We just finished our web site, so that is ready and just need some finishing touches. We also want to increase awareness. My high school just wrote a big article about SEND A CHILD TO SCHOOL so our community will learn about it. We also made a nice display and set it up at report card night and we plan to do more of that. Our big donations come from mailing letters to friends and family asking for $120 or less. Two of my friends have just joined our team and they have lots of names from their parents so we are increasing our mailing list. My brother is going to add Paypal on our donation page of our website so people will have the ability to safely pay on line. We also are investigating grant opportunities because that money can be such a big help. I just missed winning $1,000 for my charity. I was awarded Distinguished Finalist for the Prudential Spirit of Community Award. Although I was disappointed not to send that $1,000 to the kids in India, I realize the value of the publicity I received from winning that medal. Because of that, a lot more people in my community are aware of SEND A CHILD TO SCHOOL. Lastly, some day, I would like to go to the school and spend time with the kids we sponsor, but that is so expensive that it will have to wait until after college when I have a good job. I especially want to meet Mallesh, our poster child. He seems like such a great kid and he is so poor. He is in the photo that I downloaded on this form. That little hut is what he lives in with his parents, young aunt and little sister. It is hard to believe that people live like that. I am so glad to be helping put him through school. We have sent some money for Mallesh to have school lunch. I would like to have more funds to do more regularly.