We are kind of like the Swiss Army Knife of digital fundraising for school systems and school foundations! We provide school systems/foundations multiple ways to raise funding and gather community support. Each school system/foundation gets to select which LeanStream Features and Programs would best meet their needs. These include:
From playgrounds to ball fields, school districts have big dreams. So we built a place that they could be shared and funds raised to make them come true. The System Wide Feature Need gets a special spot on the site – front and center – special recognition and logos for business donors, transaction-fee-less pledging (so big donors can still pay with big checks with no fee) and the ability to associate a gift with schools, clubs or classrooms. All the built-in functionality of the LeanStream platform is still there – tracking, accounting, donor information and reporting – so major project fundraising does not become a major headache on the back end. We call it the hybrid approach, a marriage of traditional and next generation fundraising, ultimately designed to help do big things for students.
The WiFi On The Go Program
Looking for a fresh take on fundraising? To increase the fundraising pie? To give donors something useful and cool in return for their support (no, we are not talking t-shirts or bracelets although those are pretty cool)? Want to give access to something that they can’t get anywhere else? And offer something that will help families, students and employees while supporting the school system? If your answer is YES (and why wouldn’t it be?), then we give you the WiFi on the Go Program!
Give eligible families and employees the power of unlimited portable 4G/LTE internet access through an included hotspot when they sign up for monthly recurring donations. LeanStream manages everything from sign up to shipping to troubleshooting. You just message it like you would any fundraising campaign and we do the rest. Families will love to stay connected. It’s the king of “value add” programs, fun and edgy while potentially raising major funds for your school system. We call that a win-win!
Needs Gallery
Our take on crowdfunding, the Needs Gallery gives your community a “one stop shop” for all of your school system needs and gives you the control and accountability that you need. Simple and easy, teachers, student clubs, PTOs, booster clubs, school or other support organizations can post a fundraising project in less than five minutes. Add a photo, a goal, a snappy description and submit it for approval. Once the school and the district approve it, it appears in the school system’s Needs Gallery, ready for supporters to give to with the click of a button. Publish to social media quickly and easily, track fundraising goals through the progress bar and thank donors when they give (and encourage more giving) though automated customizable emails. The funds go straight from the giver to the school system and can be used to purchase whatever the district allows and from whomever the district wants. After all, it is YOUR Needs Gallery and your money – and LeanStream will not take one penny of those donations because we don’t charge a transaction fee or a commission.
Support For Offline Giving
Ok, so we know that all this technology stuff is really cool but some of us (Mom – hope you don’t see this…) are just wondering, “what is wrong with a good old fashioned check?” Nothing – that is if you can find your checkbook, find a pen, have the time to fill it out, deliver it and then hope that someone responsible will keep up with it….All kidding aside, even though we think we are a hip 21st century technology company, we do realize that there is still a place for checks in this world so we broke down and built the LeanStream platform to account for entered checks as well. Big donations made online can have big transaction fees and we can avoid that by accepting BIG checks instead. That means more money for kids and that is a winner to us.
Corporate Matching
We wanted to give community businesses a way to get in on the action too. So we built a Corporate Matching feature where YOUR community businesses can give with a click just like other donors. Corporate Matching gifts will be used to match the donations of individuals to Needs, doubling the impact of each donation. Each time a gift is matched, the business name and logo will appear next to the matched donation. It is a special way of recognizing – and thanking – our business partners. The more that is given, the more that is matched and the more matches, the more times the logos appear. It is sort of like banners on the baseball field fence but sort of not…ok, maybe like the 21st century version. We really like this feature and think your community will too.
Fees Portal
While not exactly fundraising, we realized that while we were at it, we might as well build a place where school systems could collect fees, from classroom level fees to PTA dues to athletic spirit pack payments. We wanted to make it simple and fresh and familiar so we built it with a shopping cart. It is designed for easy access by parents, simple and direct, with no logins and no struggle to find the right fee for the right student. It provides for an easy import into most school system financial software and because of the way we set LeanStream up, all funds go straight from the person paying to the school district. And like with the Needs Gallery, there are no LeanStream fees on fees (see what we did with that?) – only processing fees that are paid to PayPal.
The Marketplace is our version of the electronic canteen, concession stand or country store. Maybe even like a flea market…It provides an electronic space for schools, booster clubs, PTAs, or other support organizations to sell whatever they want to help raise money. T Shirts? Of course. Hats? Absolutely. Baseball field signs and program ads? Yep. It even has a bullt in inventory system so you will know exactly how many or much is left “in stock.” Supporting schools is not just about dollars and cents – it is also about wearing that school shirt, hat or other swag with pride. With the Marketplace, we make that easy too.