We spend at least ten years of our life at school. Our school experience shapes us into the adults we become and it’s one of the most influential factors for the futures of our little ones.

Without wading into the political debate on government funding for schools, this article from the ABC provides a handy outline on how the funding to schools is carved up between the federal and state purse and what the history is of funding across public, private and independent schools.  If you want to see how your local school is faring in terms of Government funding, you can use the School Funding Estimator.

The amount the Government provides is calculated on the basis of the costs to educate children.

Then there’s air conditioning, playgrounds, sporting equipment, musical instruments, covered areas, gardens, halls, special excursions, ethics classes, scripture class, language classes, concerts, dances, athletics and swimming carnivals, libraries and computers. When you start to get into this territory, school fundraising and the community steps in. Now let’s face it – some schools sit within affluent, comfortable areas where the local parents have a bit of change left over at the end of the week that they can throw at the school. Some have a lot, in fact. Other schools sit within communities where parents are economically struggling, time poor and finding it hard to make ends meet at home – let alone for the school.

The additional support goes a long way, and it makes a lot of difference to the experience that children have throughout their formative years. When you consider that schools are the cradle of our future, it makes sense to give back.

How can you support your local school?

If you’re a parent, your school will certainly let you know. Read the newsletter or just ask a teacher or the school office how you can support the school if you’re not sure. If there isn’t a fundraising committee or a Parents & Citizens Association – kick one off. But if there is one, here’s a way you can help whether your children attend the local school or not:

• Building Funds:
  Many schools have building funds, which they use for the acquisition, construction or maintenance of buildings. A basic need for all schools. Ask at the school office, or enquire through your school’s foundation if they have one.
• Election day fetes and fundraisers:
  One of the unintended ways the government supports local schools is by holding an election. Casting your ballot is hungry work and who doesn’t need a snack to get them through the rigours of participating in democracy? Every bacon and egg sarnie, sausage sizzle and cupcake you purchase goes back to the local school. Parents and locals usually sign up to cook, take the cash, set up and take down all the paraphernalia. So whether your kids attend the local school or not, feel free to volunteer. There’s also a movement to rate the local sausage sizzles and get Snagvotes. If your work at the cooker has made hardened football spectators weep with joy in the past, and you know how to get the onions just right, you want to give your local school the edge and score Facebook and Twitter praise with #Snagvotes #DemocracySausage ratings.
• Cooking books, calendars or product sales:
  Some schools get creative in their efforts to fundraise, and sell cooking books, calendars or tea-towels, meaning you get a little something back from your donation.
• Donate your old books or unwanted threads:
  Some schools raise money for charities or schools overseas, and take unwanted items or cash for specific initiatives. You can donate books in good condition to your local school library, donate school uniforms to the uniform shop or ask when they’re doing a Barnados or Stewart House collection. You could help with the bag collection process, or load up a few bags and bring them for the collection.
• Put your green thumb or broom skills to work:
  Gardening costs. So does cleaning. Find out when your local school is doing a gardening drive and help by donating trees and plants, get grubby and help with weeding, or pool the efforts for mowing the lawns with other locals and save the school a few pennies. Help with floor cleaning for the hall, sweep up leaves from quadrangles and corridors, or help with a window cleaning drive.

Still stuck for ideas, or not sure what else to do?

 You can also:

• Set up a Bunnings sausage sizzler for the local school and get local butchers, supermarkets and drinks suppliers to put up the supplies. If you can’t set one up, go and buy that drill bit you’ve been meaning to get your hot little hands on, and buy a sausage sandwich while you’re at it.
• Have a cake sale at work and gather the donations together for the school in your office’s neighbourhood.
• Put up a lemonade stall at local sporting events, but make sure you check with the local club or association first.
• Host a Read-A-Thon with your family or colleagues. Get sponsored to read as many books as you can in six months and donate the proceeds to the local school. Better still, coordinate through the P&C to run one with the kids.

These are ideas on how the grown ups can get motivated to support education, but if you do have kids: get them involved and teach them about the importance of giving!

Can you support education through Workplace Giving?

Yes you can. If your employer provides workplace giving, you can support organisations like Australian Schools Plus. Your local school may have a foundation listed on Good2Give’s online platform, in which case you can search for that by name. You can also support broad initiatives and organisations looking to improve educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy, in rural communities, or for disadvantaged communities. Just some of these organisations include:

• Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation
• Country Education Foundation Australia
• The Daystar Foundation
• Foundation for Young Australians
• The Smith Family
• Teach for Australia
• World Literacy Foundation

To celebrate #GivingTuesday, we are asking Australians to give a little and then share their efforts with a photo or post on Facebook or LinkedIn. All you need to do is tag @good2give  #GivingTuesday with your post.

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