A group of volunteers working on marketing at Culver Community Schools is turning toward the generosity of community members to fund their plans.
The committee working on the marketing component of the Culver Community Schools Corporation’s new strategic plan has launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay for branding work and eventually, ongoing marketing expenses. They say it’s part of an effort to make the corporation look more attractive to families who are now able to choose where to send their children to school. But they say the state’s current funding formula makes it impossible to add marketing costs to the corporation’s budget. Instead, the marketing committee decided to go to the community for help.
Committee member Shelly Schrimsher told the school board last month a good branding strategy helps the corporation take back control of its future, “The more that we understand what school spirit and organized brand does for us and our children, I think it’ll help us to understand why this branding is so important, so we can go in a direction of school camaraderie. It gives children ownership and something to be a part of, and helps them to feel a placement in the world. And we want them to feel that.”
At the heart of that branding strategy is a new logo family. The marketing team has contracted with VIP Branding to create it. The plan is to have three or four options available and then let students, parents, and staff vote for their favorite, before it goes to the school board for final approval. The creation of the new brand is expected to cost $6,000. Any additional money raised would go into purchasing materials with the new logo, as well as paying for ongoing marketing expenses.
Superintendent Vicki McGuire, as well as some school board members, noted that the fundraising effort needs to be handled properly to make sure it follows state regulations. Culver Schools treasurer Casey Howard says the best method is to start a specific fund that would technically be part of the corporation’s budget, “If you want it to go through the school, we’re going to follow all the same rules that we use now. If you want more leeway, then you don’t want it to go through the school, but it should go through the school. It needs to go through the school because then it could hurt you more if it doesn’t.”
Since it would be part of the corporation’s budget, the school board would have to approve donations or expenditures over $500.
For more information about the corporation’s marketing plan or to donate, visit the Culver Schools Marketing GoFundMe page.
