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  Q1: The biggest challenge is going to be to get those first few supporters. Once those are solidified, I know the word would spread like wildfire. The next challenge would be legal matters (setting up the organization and legalizing how the funds would be distributed). (0 pieces of advice)

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  by janis2970 

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  11.21.08 | 04:06 PM

  My advice is tell our stories. I am currently a teacher in an area that is considered title one and has almost 100% free and reduced lunch. I have been teaching for 10 years and spend the majority of my life finding new ways to reach my children. I teach regular ed sixth grade. Some of my children come to me with a reading level of third grade and lower. I spend ALL of my time finding ways to teach these children how to read and write and be successful. Most teachers burn out in 5 years in the type of environment I teach in. I still love it. It’s my passion. However, I have a personal problem that is such a heavy burden that it makes a life where I need to be upbeat and positive and motivate a very difficult thing to do.
  I am sitting on 90,000 dollars in students loans. I have used my forbearance and deferment time because the monthly payment is almost as much as my monthly rent. I am currently 4 months behind and have tried everything. I have made a million calls. They will NOT lower the payments. I can’t get any forgiven (although 5,000 doesn’t bring it dow…moren much and the 17,500 is for Science and Special Education only). I can’t get the teacher forbearance that holds it for the life of your teaching because the loan is too old. I can’t get any help as far as hardship goes because on paper they take my gross income and it looks like I make more than I do before taxes and health insurance come out. Even if I do make payments that I can afford once I get 4,000 dollars behind I will default and they will garnish 25 percent of my wages. When I speak to customer service representatives they are sorry but there is nothing they can do to help me. Once I pay my monthly bills that are pretty basic stuff (I live very middle class or maybe lower middle class life style) I still have less left over than they want for a monthly payment.
  Not to mention that I have to renew my license at $200 and I have to get fingerprinted at around $65 every five years not including the expenses of the classes I have to take to recertify. My school pays for the classes but that doesn’t include books and technology fees every five years. I don’t mind this but putting it all into perspective really doesn’t make a lot of sense that I can’t get any help with my student loans. I think it makes a terrible statement of how society treats it’s giving occupations. I just wanted someone to hear my story. If anyone has suggestions please email me janis2970@yahoo.com.
  

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  by kathleenfasanella 

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  05.23.08 | 11:21 PM

  There's a disconnect here. You have an idea you're pitching in a "business" environment but your approach isn't businesslike. By that I mean, we want to buy something from you but you don't want to sell us what we want. In this respect, your idea is no different from a cross section of product ideas from inventors for things that nobody will ever buy.
  
  I'll explain. You would get more support for the project from *Businesses* IF you specialized on forgiving loans to math and science teachers. If existing support for science and math programs were sufficient, we wouldn't have the continuing critical need we do.
  
  You want money. The best place to get money is from business. I realize that as teachers, the system indoctrinates you into thinking money comes from the government. It doesn't. It comes -grudgingly- from taxpayers. If you want us to give it to you gladly, you have to give us what we want, not what suits the average teacher in debt. You are not hearing us. You'd be pretty upset if you ordered a cheeseburger and ended up with a fish sandwich.…more Just imagine if restaurants served customers like schools do. We want math and we want science. That's what we'll pay extra for. Rather than getting a master's, get a math or science degree. As a business owner, I have to do tons of things I don't like or want to do and even things I'm no good at or have any talent for.
  
  Business is very wary of education and educators these days. Other than social work majors, education majors have the lowest GPAs on campus. Education -in general- has very little credibility with the very people most able to subsidize this -businesses. I can't see businesses supporting a project to forgive loans of the "average" teacher. Your criteria for excellence is moot if you're not even specialized in what we care about. Were our money to go to teachers of math, sciences and engineering, well, that could change everything.
  
  As a practical business matter, I don't see why you need the $10,000 to do it if it really mattered to you. Not that it wouldn't help of course. You'd need some money but you could actually incorporate yourself if it came to that. You bootstrap it, just like businesses bootstraps their start up.

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  by DrC 

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  04.22.08 | 05:56 AM

  You need to find start-up money from a foundation that supports education. Do some searches to see which foundations give money in that space. Foundations always have detailed information of specifically what they will and won't give to, and often include a list of previous grants that they have awarded. You can find all of this on their websites. I would suggest you use the $10,000 as seed money to develop a strong grant proposal that meets their criteria. Hire a grant writing specialist as a consultant to help attract the big money you will need for this program.
  
  Also, think about setting up an endowment with the gifts you receive. Donors like a gift that keeps on giving. By setting up the donations in an endowment you only use the earnings from the gifts each year to pay out to teachers.
  
  I would make a giving the awards to teachers a competitive process. Develop criteria, such as community service or their engagement with students beyond the classroom, as how you evaluate each teacher's application.

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  by vb4me66 

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  03.22.08 | 01:32 PM

  Thank you for your comment. Your points are well taken and you are absolutely correct.
  
  A great deal of teachers do leave within five years. This is the reason why my plan is to require three years of service before any grant money can get allocated. After three years, I think a teacher can tell if they are going to "make it" or not. The grant application would require two reference letters from a peer and an administrator attesting to the teachers dedication and commitment to their classroom. This way the money will be allocated to those who currently do a fine job and will most likely stay in the classroom setting.
  
  I did also consider specifically focusing upon those "high need" areas (where there are shortages) but there are so many other scholarship programs and teaching programs that do zero in on those that I wanted to keep this program much more broad. Although, I would definitely consider weighting the grant distribution based upon those shortage area. I will keep that in mind as I tailor the program.
  
  And, thank…more you for your idea about generating funds. If I could just get the ball rolling on this, I will definitely research these.

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  by bdavidson 

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  03.21.08 | 11:33 PM

  I believe I read somewhere that a large percentage of teachers leave teaching within five years of starting. This may be something else that you can add to your argument especially in geographic areas where there is a shortage of teachers. If I remember correctly the shortage is especially acute in math and science, areas where teachers can make a lot more money by working in industry rather than teaching. The costs both in dollars to recruit new teachers and loss of expertise must be staggering and if you can find some way to quantify those costs it may make it easier to attract supporters.
  
  Depending upon the approach you want to take to generate funds you may also want to consider contacting the national or/or local teacher's unions to ask them for support and assistance in promoting your not-for-profit.
  
  And do not forget to search the Internet for grants and foundations that may support your work. Many community and university libraries have resources listing private foundation and government grant programs.
  

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