HEC Policy Explainer

Curious how the Heartwood Educational Collaborative operates?  We’ll lay it out for you in plain English!

1. Our annual “fundraising year” starts in July and ends in June.

2. At the start of every fundraising year, the Heartwood School Board gives us an annual fundraising target or range (e.g. it was $60-90K in the 2024/2025 fundraising year).

3. Over the course of the next 12 months, we try to hit that target by raising money through all of our various programs.

4. At the end of the year, we write a single lump sum check for everything we’ve raised minus operating expenses.  If we don’t hit our target, some programs may be impacted.  If we go over our target, we save the overage as a buffer in case we fail to hit our target in a subsequent year.

5. Throughout the year, the school may occasionally request us to reimburse the school or a parent for an incidental expense that the school otherwise can’t cover (more on that below).  These are treated as an exception and generally approved, but note that the request must come from the school itself.

So what does the school spend all that money on?  Ultimately, it’s up to the school’s final discretion, but it is generally used for one of the following items:

• School Field Trips like Lassen, Rite of Passage, or the Shakespeare Festival.

• Enrichment Class Expenses like high-quality Waldorf music or art supplies.

• Festival Expenses like strawberry shortcake at Mayfaire.

• Rent to the Girl Scouts for the exceptional Bothin Campus.

• Small improvements to the Bothin classrooms and Campus like new carpets or cubbies.

• Teacher appreciation gifts/care.

But why work this way?  Why let the school decide on how to use the funds?  Why make a lump sum payment?  Why treat incidentals like an exception and why does the school have to make the request?  In the end, it all comes down to a handful of common principles:

1. We trust the school to know where it needs the money most.  Every year is different and the school is constantly balancing a larger budget across a changing landscape.  Keeping them in the driver’s seat lets them optimize things as much as possible.  Further, it’s essential that the school demonstrate to the state and auditors that the school administration has oversight over the proper spending of all funds associated with the school.  

2. We know that for certain expenses the school can only use donated funds, e.g. teacher appreciation or food at festivals.  The school actually can’t spend government funds on these items, so it’s essential that they have donated funds to cover these items.

3. We need to keep things simple.  We’re a tiny, parent volunteer-run non-profit, and the Heartwood school administrative staff is deliberately kept lean so we can spend more money on our program.  Any sort of more involved earmarking of certain donations for specific expenses or causes skyrockets bookkeeping on both our ends.

4. But we understand there needs to be some flexibility for unforeseen exceptions.  Sometimes it’s critically expedient for the school (or parents at the school’s request) to make a purchase and get reimbursed after the fact.

And that’s about it!  If you have any feedback or questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to questions@heartwoodcollaborative.org or just grab your local HEC board member!  Thanks!

Appendix: But what about “classroom funds” where the parents directly pool money to buy critical items for their class or gift items to the classroom?  Is this OK?  How should parents balance their donations between “official” donations to the HEC vs grassroots donations to classroom funds?

Ideally, parents should never manage grassroots classroom funds like this, and it’s counter to official school policy.  It’s confusing from a tax standpoint, it has weird DEI ramifications (should grade X get nicer things than grade Y just because parents in grade X have more disposable income?), and it competes with official HEC donations (which can be deployed across the whole school wherever they’re needed most, including on things that can’t be covered by public funding).  But most importantly, it can put the school at risk!  If an auditor decides that the school is not able to demonstrate compliant oversight of its spending, it can have serious repercussions.  The school has already requested that the faculty not seek or accept any direct donations of money or goods to the classroom.

But that’s OK, because the school is now able to cover a broad set of expenses with fast turnaround time!  Just identify what your classroom needs, and have your teacher ask the administration!