Thanks to a solidarity fund, families with modest incomes are awarded scholarships covering all or part of their school fees.
The aim of the solidarity fund system is to remove the economic disincentive that prevents some families from being fully free in their choice of education for their children, because they are unable to afford the full cost of tuition at an alternative private school.
This opening to new families will indirectly support the school, which will see its enrolment strengthened.
Children may be eligible for a bursary from a school's solidarity fund if their parents can prove that theyare financially or personally unable to pay the tuition fees for the school of their choice on their own.
This financial situation may be structural (modest income) or cyclical following an accident in life (job loss, short-time working, etc.). On a personal level, illness, separation or divorce, widowhood, a disabled child, etc. are all situations that may, on a case-by-case basis, justify the award of a bursary.
For each school year, parents are asked to compile a file containing an information sheet, a letter of application explaining their situation and both parents' tax returns. Additional proof of their situation may be requested at a later date.
The schools collect the applications and forward them to the fund, but only the fund has the final say in awarding grants from the solidarity funds. This tax-compliant procedure also has the advantage of relieving the school principal of any responsibility for the decision.
As administrators of an educational structure, you play a central role in the successful implementation of your solidarity fund.
It's important to understand that almost all donations - and this applies to all projects - are made by sponsors who have a more or less direct link with the beneficiary organization. The fund-raising campaign is above all a communication campaign. The school needs to know how to communicate about its fund-raising campaign.
The schools that have been the most successful in bringing their solidarity funds to life have also shown us the vital importance of ensuring thestrong and effective involvement of the parent community in this collection. Parents have a vested interest in their children's access to the school, not just in terms of human resources: full classes ensure that the burden is shared as widely as possible.
Get in touch with other schools that have experimented with this system by contacting the Fonds Éducations Plurielles. See here the report on an inter-school meeting on the theme of the solidarity fund organized by the Fonds Éducations Plurielles link.
