Darlington Parents & Community Association: October 2013

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Virtual Chocolate

Check out the amazing design parent Suzy Pickles did for the virtual chocolate bars!

You can print this out as a flyer to hand out or letterbox:
Chocolate Flyer in Word
Chocolate Flyer in pdf

Saturday, October 26, 2013

91% of the way!

Wow! It's amazing to see pledges for our online fundraiser rise in one week from from 33% of our goal to 91%! There are some incredibly generous supporters helping us out (see full list).

In Thursday's Daily Telegraph an opinion piece by Education journalist Maralyn Parker mentioned our school fundraiser! The link to the online version is here : "Upsides and downsides with the new funding model for schools"

How you can still help
We've still got a bit of a way to go to reach the goal, so please continue to spread the word. Some ideas:
• Drop flyers in letterboxes around the neighbourhood
• Talk to local businesses about supporting the school fundraiser
• Put up posters or hand out flyers at local events, such as the Redfern Now screening

You can download images, posters & flyers here - or you & your kids can make your own!

Help Darlo Go Digital
Let’s be honest – while reaching the $5K goal will be fantastic, wouldn't it be even better if we could raise twice that for the school?

The school needs 34 notebooks to create a mobile computer lab, tablets for special needs students, and more computers and tablets in classrooms so that students and teachers are able to meet the new Australian curriculum requirements that include proficiency in Information & Communication Technology skills.

Please don’t ease off just because we've almost reached the $5,000 goal. We have 20 more days till the fundraiser ends - let’s raise as much as we can for these kids!

Friday, October 18, 2013

One third of the way to our goal!

Darlington Public School's online fundraiser has been running about a week now, and we've just hit the 33% mark towards our goal!

This is a fantastic milestone to reach! Many thanks to everyone who has chipped in so far and helped to spread the word.

All or nothing goal

This type of online fundraiser means that pledges will only be processed into real payments IF we reach our goal. We have 28 more days to hit the $5000 goal or we'll get nothing. Yup, that's right, we'll lose those pledges ($1654 so far) if we don't hit the goal. That's why it's called "All-Or-Nothing."

(Conversely, that means that if you have pledged to the fundraiser, if the goal is not met, no money will be taken from your account).

Help Darlo reach the goal

So what I need you to do - if you haven't already - is help us get to the goal.

1) Pledge as little as $2 to score a virtual chocolate bar (designed by Suzy Pickles).

If you haven't yet paid the voluntary school contribution, consider pledging it into the fundraiser.

2) Ask people who care about your child's education if they can support the fundraiser. Can the grandparents chip in $2? How about aunts, uncles or family friends?

If Darlington parents do these two things, we will reach the goal without a problem - and be able to supply more computers to the school.

For more ideas on how to help the fundraiser read the post Help Darlo Go Digital

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Help Darlo Go Digital!

Online School Fundraiser

We've just launched our first online fundraiser "Help Darlo Go Digital" to raise money for computers for Darlington Public School.

Why an online school fundraiser?

An online fundraiser allows parents to share the link to family and friends who may live far away, who wouldn't be able to get involved in one of our barbeques, bake sales, or raffles.

It also makes it easier to share with organisations and people who care about getting more computers into public schools and might be able to spread the word to a bigger group of people who might be able to help. This type of fundraiser has been used to raise up to millions of dollars by tapping into people who care.

Three ways you can help us reach our goal

Visit the fundraiser online, watch the video, read the details : Link
Pledge your support. Every dollar helps! There are some great rewards for giving your support.
Share: Tell some of your friends and family about it and give them the link, whether by phone, email, social media or in person.

Spreading the word is just as important as pledging money - so even if you can't give financially please think about helping us reach our goal in other ways.

More ways you can help:

Put up a poster at your workplace, on a community noticeboard, on electricity poles, or in local cafes.
Letter box your neighbourhood with flyers
Blog about it
Ask local businesses to chip in
If you have media contacts, ask them to mention it or do a story.
Get your kids involved in saying "Thank You" to fundraiser supporters (more info below).

Saying Thank You to Supporters

The rewards being offered to supporters are mostly ways of saying "Thank You" for their help. We are getting students involved in this as we think it's important that they be part of the process. Children will participate in saying "Thank You" by either writing an email, making a card, certificate of appreciation, or video.

If your child is at Darlington Public School, please fill out a consent form and return it to the Front Desk so your child can participate.

Four ways you can help us say thank you to supporters:

Complete and return the consent form to the school:
View the "backers" list on the fundraiser, and say thank you either in the comments section, by social media, or if you know them personally by email, phone, or in-person.
Help your child make a reward for us to give to a supporter*
Help a group of kids at school to make rewards for supporters*

*Contact us to co-ordinate this.