Online donation platform launches for faith-based schools

For years, public schools have had a couple of options for collecting online donations for specific classroom needs, such as http://www.DonorsChoose.com and http://www.AdoptaClassroom.org. Unfortunately, Christian schools are not allowed to use these platforms because both sites focus solely on public school needs.

There is a great need for outside donations for Christian schools to help with classroom supplies and activities. The majority of religious schools function on a limited budget and receive no government funding. Parents must budget beyond taxes to pay for tuition and supplies. There is also a gap in teachers’ pay from a Christian school verses a public school because the salary relies on the tuition cost and number of kids attending to pay for the teachers. John-Paul and Ingrid Lake, former Tehachapi residents and current Bakersfield residents, saw this need from sending their own children to private schools.

Teaming up with a Fresno based company, Shift3 Technologies, John-Paul and Ingrid launched the faith-based donation platform, Beyond Measure (www.gobeyondmeasure.org), on Nov. 6. Heritage Oak School of Tehachapi was selected to be one of the first schools to beta test the website and was invited to the recent launch in Bakersfield.

This is exciting for our local faculty members, but also other Christian teachers across the country, because for the first time they have a platform to post classroom needs online and receive funding from outside donations from anyone in the U.S. All donations are tax deductible for those that give since the schools involved are nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations.

Heritage Oak has already seen great success using Beyond Measure. Mr. Evan, a 5th grade teacher, received full funding for his classroom microscope request and 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Anderline, received full funding in only three weeks for her classroom library for students to check out books.

Head of School, Amy Walker, sees the great potential of this platform because it can reach a broader audience of donors.

“I encourage everyone to visit Beyond Measure and pray about making a classroom donation. Besides blessing the teacher and the students, those contributing can know they are investing in our future community and church leaders,” she said.