Making fundraising F-U-N

Are you looking for a way to put FUN back into your fundraising? Consider what Quincy High School just did.

Quincy High School (QHS) Counselor and Haas Educator Ambassador Program (HEAP) member Rod Luce and graduating senior Christian Medina raised over $4,300 with a simple idea of taking a jug around at soccer games, community meetings, etc. that grew into a community wide fundraiser which was made successful by the involvement and support of 13 other faculty members, QHS students, Quincy residents and many area businesses.

The method was simple. Each time students raised money up to a certain level another faculty member got to paint their hair the school colors “green and gold”.  The starting price was $1000.

Luce and Medina recognized there was a need within their school to raise additional funds to disburse through QHS’s Haas account after he allocated $2500 to students during the 2006-2007 school year, with only $800 coming from a Haas Foundation August grant. A chain of events put Luce on his way to holding a very successful fundraiser.

Luce quit shaving for his involvement in the plays Man of La Mancha and Jesus Christ Superstar. Once the normally clean shaven and military buzzed Luce started looking more like the Innkeeper and one of the Priests, a random suggestion of a fundraiser to color his hair the QHS colors was put into action. The Senior culminating project began by passing a jug around at soccer games in hopes of raising donations from the attendees.

This fundraiser quickly escalated to the placement of six, three pound coffee cans at various businesses in downtown Quincy and one in the neighboring city of George. Each can was labeled with the fundraising purpose and a mock-up picture of the colored hair that Luce would be wearing.

After a QHS faculty member wrote an article for the local newspaper about the fundraiser checks just started showing up. As the fundraiser grew it became less about the Haas Foundation and more about the green and gold hair and how to get the next faculty members have their hair painted. Luce found himself having to recruit more staff to join in!  As excitement rose other faculty members were asked to put prices on their hair. In the end 14 faculty members were committed to revealing their new do’s at a Q.H.S. assembly.

The day of the assembly the 14 faculty members including Luce had their hair colored in the QHS colors and marched into the gym in numeric order of fundraising levels with brown paper bags on their heads. At the assembly the bags were taken off to reveal the green and gold hair of the 14 faculty members who generously put price tags on their hair. (see photos below)  Community contributors were honored at the assembly for their support of the Haas fund.

The fundraiser could not have been nearly as successful without the support of the Quincy community. Donations were made by students and their parents, teachers, the school board, a district administrator, a local realty, tree nursery, grocery store and pharmacy, as well as by other community members.

For any school interested in raising money, which can be used for matching funds through the Haas Foundation, Luce suggests anything silly that gets interest up. He says just spread the word and gain support. He advises schools to aim high with their goals.

“I can’t believe how high we hit,” reflected Luce on QHS’s very successful fundraiser.

Rod Luce after his green and gold transformation.

This chart was used to track the fundraising progress.

Participating faculty members wore paper bags on their heads to keep their new do’s a secret until the big reveal.

These faculty members revealed their new do’s at an assembly

This fundraiser would have been nothing without the support of community members and local businesses.

New Fundraising Opportunity for Schools

Washington school online auction, is a new way for schools to earn additional matching funds for their school and raise money for the Haas Foundation.

It is a quarterly fundraiser in which the schools to provide the items, promote the site to potential bidders and deliver or ship the item out to the winning bidder. The Haas Foundation will facilitate the auction and provide support by taking care of all of the technical work.

The net proceeds will be spent 50-50% between the school and the Haas foundation unless previously negotiated.

To get your school started go to the Haas website and click Washington school online auction. This will redirect you to the Haas foundation Washington School online auction. Here you will need to click register and create a user name and password. Next you will click donate items and sign in.

Finally you will need to provide some information about the item you would like to donate, along with any digital pictures of the item if you have any. Also if you would like us to use any special graphics or logos please let us know so we can utilize our graphic artists. The auction committee will contact you after the submitted information has been reviewed for final confirmation.

Tell your friends, family, and community. Let the bidding begin!

It’s our 45th anniversary! Our vision is inspired by our founders as follows:

“…to help promising your people at critical times in their lives. To

do that which otherwise would not be timely done.” ~Saul Haas

Stacy Helton

Edward R. Murrow Symposium and the Haas Foundation: 28 Years

Saul Haas and the Washington born  journalist Edward R. Murrow became friends in Europe when Saul was reporting on the events surrounding VE day and postwar Europe. From that acquaintance a rich and deep legacy was born. The Saul and Dayee G. Haas Foundation has been proud to sponsor the Edward R. Murrow Symposium for 28 consectutive years, and over that time the foundation has become Murrow’s single largest sponsor. Held yearly at Murrow’s alma mater, Washington State University, this year’s Murrow gathering educated students and bestowed the annual Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award on Don Hewitt, the founder and longtime director of 60 Minutes, the single highest rated show in television history.

Hewett spoke of the changes in journalism with the benefit of over a half century of experience, and joins other Murrow distinguished awards winners David Fanning, Tom Brokaw and Daniel Schorr.

Pathways to Parity and Fellowship

The 2^nd annual Pathways to Parity breakfast repeated last year’s combination of information, good food, and excellent company. Once people made their way through registration, they enjoyed a scrumptious buffet in an environment that both reflected and paid tribute to the Haas mission.The floral centerpieces on each table were created and donated by agricultural students at Columbia High, and the “thank you” frame was executive director Bonnie Hilory’s own contribution, as was the beautiful photograph of a sea turtle.

Although the breakfast began on of 7:00 a.m. on a Friday, sprits were high. Board members, staff, volunteers and interns greeted each other and welcomed new faces. Once everyone made their way through the tasty breakfast line, Bob Ratliffe gave the official welcome. Roger Percy, followed him by updating everyone on how they year has been going here at Haas.

One of the best parts of the morning was having a current Haas recipient tell us his story. A student from Quincy took center stage and shared the story of how Haas has helped him complete projects and plan for the future.

People with little or no knowledge of Haas got to learn about the foundation in a new light. Staff and volunteers were happy that everything went smoothly . It is clear that everyone had a good time and will be looking forward to next year’s Pathways to Parity breakfast.

Haas Awarded Phi Beta Kappa’s Pathfinder

The Saul and Dayee G. Haas Foundation will receive the Puget Sound Association of Phi Beta Kappa’s Pathfinder Award, and is to be among the groups and individuals recognized at the organization’s annual Spring Luncheon on May 1st, 2008.

The Puget Sound Association of Phi Beta Kappa promotes and recognizes superior scholarship in the liberal arts and sciences. The Pathfinder Award is given to those who “encourage others to seek new worlds to discover, pathways to explore , and untouched destinations to reach.”

We are honored indeed.

Looking to What’s Next

The Saul and Dayee G. Haas Foundation concentrates on delivering timely help in a timely fashion, but just occasionally we like to feature something that for some Haas beneficiaries will certainly become an issue sooner rather than later:

The program comes from the Northwest Education Loan Association (NELA), a not-for-profit guaranty agency that began in 1978 and have headquarters in Seattle. NELA works in partnership with schools, banks and other lending institutions to help students further their education Loans are guaranteed against fault, and this guarantee allows commercial lenders to make loans to students, who often have no collateral or credit history. NELA understands that most of these college-bound students are first time borrowers, so they make sure they provide the students with informational publications, resources and counseling services to help simplify complex student aid information. In addition, NELA assists schools and lenders by providing training, technical support, electronic services and educational publications.

Pathways to Parity Breakfast

Save the date!

The Saul and Dayee Haas foundation will be holding their 2nd annual Pathways to Parity breakfast celebration this March, and you are invited. The Haas Foundation is a non-profit organization that is committed to improving the quality of life among needy students in communities throughout the state of Washington. They distribute grants, provide funds and promote philanthropy among secondary private and public schools in Washington. The Pathways to Parity breakfast is a great way to learn more about these and many other generous services the Haas Foundation offers.

The Pathways to Parity breakfast is a growing tradition in its second year. At the event you will hear uplifting stories about how students’ lives have been dramatically changed through Haas Foundation support. There will be a wonderful complimentary breakfast buffet available, however, donations are always accepted. For those who have contributed $250 or more in the last 12 months will receive a complimentary copy of the 1st edition book of the Haas Foundations success stories.

The breakfast will take place on Friday, March 14th at the Seattle Aquarium. Check-in, “meet and greet” and breakfast will start at about 7:00 a.m. The program will begin at 7:30 and run about an hour. Please consider bringing a friend to learn about the Haas Foundation’s mission. RSVP the executive director of the foundation, Bonnie Hilory, at 206 352-1199 or email at bhilory@haasfoundation.org. Please visit www.haasfoundation.org or www.seattleaquarium.org for further information.

Haas Foundation Keeps Local Students From Falling Through the Cracks

Through the discreet use of their funds by secondary schools, the Saul and Dayee G. Haas Foundation encourages character development and increased self-esteem in student recipients.

For the last 45 years, the Haas Foundation has been a generous contributor to needy students throughout the state of Washington. During the last school year, 370 junior-high and high school students received funding in the Tri Cities/ESD 123 area. The money helps students do whatever is needed to help students stay involved in school or school activities.

Recently the Haas Foundation has assisted students in the ESD 123 area to purchase such necessities as P.E. uniforms, summer school classes and student activity cards. Other contributions may go to helping students with transportation and health care costs.

The purchase of a student activity card for a Dayton High School student enabled her to attend all sporting events and become eligible for co-curricular club membership. “Sometimes just the sense of belonging and being part of peer activities is a major success for a student,” said a spokesperson for Dayton High School.

In the 2006-2007 school year, the Haas Foundation provided over $514,000.00 dollars to 646 public and private schools in Washington state, benefiting over 14,000 students.

Bid for Good and Do Well

Those of you who have visited the Saul and Dayee G. Haas Foundation’s front page recently may have noticed the new Bidding for Good button. These two buttons are the gateway into Haas’ new Bidding for Good program, an exciting innovation that provides schools with new ways to put up items for online auction 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. People who want to make a difference are also bargain hunters, and Bidding for Good provides them with a way to do well.

The Saul and Dayee G. Haas Foundation provides funding for over 690 secondary schools across Washington State, and the new service allows those schools to raise funds as by putting items and event opportunities up for auction. Haas keeps 50 % of the net proceeds and the schools keep the 50 % ,so it’s a great way to raise funds 24 X 7, all year long.

Donating items and putting them online for auction is simple and quick. And the best part is that Haas’ portion of the money keeps working for schools long after any individual item has already raised money for a school and found a new home.

That’s because the Haas percentage goes into furthering the mission of the organization by expanding the number of secondary schools funded by Haas through direct and matching grants. So rather than paying for other online auction sites, schools are able to keep their “overhead” where it belongs- funding for more schools, and more students.

Don’t think you have anything to put up for auction? No problem. Here are some good ideas that don’t involve things at all- they are services and community events. These “auction-able “opportunities are often just what schools always do, recast and imagined differently.

* Reserved seating for Graduation and other events
* Reserved parking for school events
* Tutoring sessions
* Baseball and other sports clinics
* Principal for the Day

Items already up for bidding include a Mariner’s baseball, two Crystal Mountain Lift tickets, and two MP3 players (and if you are even slightly acquainted with a loss -prone teenager, you know two of those is the minimum!).

Auctioning can be fun and profitable, and the Saul and Dayee G. Haas Foundation is proud to provide this infrastructure to help secondary schools raise money in session and out. And for the purchasers, what could be better than to bid on the prosperity of Washington’s secondary schools? That’s something we all understand. Truly, we are bidding on something we believe in- and thanks to Bidding for Good, so can you.

And one more word to the wise: one of those MP3 player will go in exactly 12 hours and 8 minutes, and the opening bid is a mere $15.00!

Learn more about the nuts and bolts of Bidding for Good and cMarket

M. Riggs

Grants Opportunity: Charity Channel Lists Haas Foundation

CharityChannel’s Donald A. Greismann has posted an article detailing the goals and objectives of the Saul and Dayee G. Haas Foundation. The listing cites the mission and vision of the Haas Foundation, and the article is included in the widely read and valued Don Griesmann’s Grant Opportunities section of the site. Bonnie Hilory, Haas’s Executive Director, supplied the information . The article notes that Haas is currently seeking another 30-40 secondary schools to apply for grants funding.

CharityChannel is all about the communication of opportunities and the use of the Internet to propagate knowledge of good causes. Its mission is to connect nonprofits and organizers through collecting information , packaging it in the form of listed opportunities, book reviews, online Forums, newsletters, expert opinions and analysis, and product/service listings- and then “channeling” that information back to the nonprofit community of donors and recipients.

Don M. Griesmann, Esq. has made it his personal mission to “provide and broker information about grants, grant writing, manangement, human resources, data and resources for leaders of nonprofit, community-based organizations, educators, and governments.” His section of the site is handy, informative, and best of all , searchable.

In addition , the CharityChannel hosts informative news wires covering events in various sectors of the nonprofit community, a service useful to donor and recipient alike.