Support a Special Project
Working together we can make a big difference.
Investments by partners are critical to our success in changing the lives of children. Whether through a grant, sponsorship, or in-kind donation, we are grateful for the opportunities to work with others to help scale our reach and impact. Each year public funding covers around 50% of our annual operating expenses. We depend on individual donors, foundations, and corporate sponsors to cover everything else from salaries to technology, to staff training, to rent and supplies. These investments fuel our ability to scale our programs and reach more kids.
Like any successful venture, we need investors who share our values, believe in our mission, and support our model for growth. We can’t offer stock options, but instead, your ROI is measured by the number of kids who are set to soar through school and life.
Here we highlight opportunities to support special projects – investments in the future of WINGS and in the future of the communities and kids we serve. Together, we can break the cycle of high school dropout and poverty. All kids deserve the opportunity to succeed.
Special Project Giving Opportunities
Provide a Scholarship
Every child who attends WINGS Afterschool does so at NO COST to them or their families. Participating students are required to commit to full-time attendance and receive nearly 500 hours of dedicated programming each year. Instead of going home to an empty apartment or the temptations of the streets, a scholarship means one more child will find smiling faces and a healthy snack after school. One more child will be surrounded by caring role models who provide constant encouragement. One more child will learn to understand their emotions, behave responsibly, build rewarding relationships, and make good decisions – skills that will last a lifetime. Change a child’s life with an annual investment of $3,600 or a monthly gift of $300.
Provide a Scholarship
Sponsor an Enrichment Program
Enrichment opportunities enable children from financially challenged backgrounds to have a more level playing field with their more prosperous peers. The children of affluent parents generally get exposed to arts enrichment, sports, or participate in character-developing clubs outside of school. Low-income children do not get these opportunities. You can help provide important enrichment programs at one of our schools by sponsoring one of these programs:
Choice Time
Each semester the kids who attend WINGS participate in an enrichment activity twice a week. We bring in community partners to provide programs like dance, soccer, lacrosse, and music. Our Choice Time Partners generously discount their fees but providing programming twice a week for more than 1,000 kids is a significant cost. Current annual budget: $10,000 per school. With additional funding we could provide more options like art, cooking, STEM, or drum corps (this one is most requested by our kids!)
Field TripS
Field trips are used to expose our kids to museums, parks, and other local attractions to supplement our curriculum and support the overall learning objectives. Field trips provide meaningful opportunities they may otherwise never experience. The cost of a field trip can add up quickly – particularly admission tickets and bus transportation. Current annual budget: $1,500 per school which only covers a trip to a free location like a public park or the beach. With additional funding we could expose our kids to an aquarium, a museum, or a sporting event.
Invest in Capacity and Growth
Supporting our organizational capacity helps improve our effectiveness, financial stability, program quality, and program research and development. An investment in our organizational capacity can underwrite training, fund a position, or help us expand to a new area as we work to spread our WINGS Across America!
WINGS Leader Training
College students are recruited as mentors to a small groups of kids in the program. The 130 college students we hire each year are important role models of educational success for our kids who may not have someone in their life pursuing higher education. We place a premium on recruiting members from the geographic and demographic communities where we operate.
WINGS Leaders are highly trained so they can model positive social and emotional skills and teach effectively. Each WINGS Leader receives an initial 85 hours of training plus additional training and coaching throughout the year. Training topics include: positive communication with kids, positive reinforcement, empowering kids in poverty, using behavior techniques with empathy, child development stages, active listening, and implementing social emotional skill building through teachable moments. Annual cost for WINGS Leader training: $130,000. An investment in this training directly benefits the kids we serve but is also an extraordinary investment in future educators and leaders as the WINGS Leaders will carry their new skills and work experience into their work after college.
Partner ProjectS
We are committed to spreading our WINGS Across America by working in partnership with others to reach as many kids as possible with high-quality social emotional learning. Project costs: $20,000-50,000 a year per site depending on the scope of the project. With additional funding we can bring WINGS to new areas and schools.
Contact Us
To learn more about these giving opportunities please get in touch at donate@wingsforkids.org or donate now using our secure credit card form.