Prémisses d'un nouveau modèle de consommation responsable

Jane Von Trapp : We started to pay attention to social networking site especially for alumni.
When I had to make the budget for this year, last year, we went to something called 0-base
budgeting which means that you start from 0. Rather than looking last year’s budget, just
because there is inflation, I just add 2 or 3 % to it and keep it in the budget for next year, we
go back to 0, really looking what it was going to cost next year to do the same thing and start
again, just don’t add money to it from year to year. I think a lot of business and school went
on this direction and it’s very smart to look into each item individually and ask you if you
really need it, can we do it in a different way etc…
Our total fundraising went down around 20 %, which was better some other School. Nobody
was horrified by that. Parents participation went down around 10%, 70% to 60% that
percentage is pretty low in compare to other American school but again it could have been a
lot worth.
Jane Von Trapp : That’s been the hardest choir this year that is to build back the
participation levels although monetary we are ahead from last year, the participation level
has not build back up so what that says is people are giving more money, new people are
giving money and maybe some people dripped out. But there is not the right spread support
that we will like to see across the board. And I think some of it has to do culturally. If people
just have 10 dollars to give they think it’s so insignificant that it won’t make an impact, that
it’s embarrassing to them, they will be judged. Although we do offer an anonymous status to
them for our annual report. We try to get that message across through our volunteers that it
really doesn’t matter how much you give, it’s really the participation. And that’s key because
it impact when we go to foundation or corporation, they want to know the percentage or
participation of teachers, alumni, parents, etc and it impact how much money they will give
to us because if we are not supported by people who are directly affected by the services of
our school then why should they support us. That’s been a big deal that we try to get that
message across.
Giving is an habit so that’s why we try to get alums to give when they are young even if it’s
only 5$ because then you are an habit of it and it’s become something that you do.
Jane Von Trapp : People who pay for private School are generally have a different ethic
when it comes to giving and they feel that it’s a priority in their live. But it’s a very American
cultural thing. One of the thing that we have here, for instance in our school is the
community service hours, it’s a huge part of our educational process with our kids, whether
it’s public or private school. They go out and do thing for their community and they give
themselves, volunteer hours, it’s just part of our culture. Giving sort of goes behind that. And
there is a lot of advertisement on TV about giving to organizations.
4. The impact was still huge and it felt particularly for us because the School has just
beginning this momento, we were on the track, we were growing by lips down.
Jane Von Trapp : We’ll be at a million dollars for the annual fund. One area that we
definitely noticed it too was on corporate and foundation side. The companies wee very
struggling. Our parents are very focus in working in banks, alcohol and luxury, so it’s the 3
areas that were very struggled last year. Company had donate $30 000 to annual fund the
year before and last year we get $0 from them. And the Gala for 2009 we didn’t have the
corporate support that we have this year, and corporate money is a lot of money. And the
Gala is half of our annual fund. That was huge. We also has a lot of parents’ company who
167