The focus group and online survey aimed to understand teachers' experiences and parents' perspectives on education issues. The focus group found that teachers spend significant personal funds on classroom supplies and work far more than 40 hours per week. Parents surveyed generally supported purchasing supplies for teachers but were unfamiliar with Aid for Educators. Both teachers and parents expressed willingness to support the nonprofit to help educators.

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Jesus Ibarra jesus.ibarra@mavs.uta.edu
Annet Vazquez annet.vazquez@mavs.uta.edu
Georgina Martinez georgina.martinez@mavs.uta.edu
Jazmin Zamarripa jazmin.zamarripa@mavs.uta.edu
A Campaign Plan for: Aid for Educators

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Executive Summary
Aid for Educators strives to help teachers ensure their school year will be a success by equipping
them with the needed supplies for their students. This non-profit invests in the future of students
in the community. Aid for Educators directly gives teachers funds to address each classrooms
individual needs.
Officially launching in 2013, Aid for Educators is known as a 501(C) 3 non-profit organization.
In the first few months some recognition was made but now two years down the road lack of
awareness can be felt with the little-to-no donations being provided.
In efforts to gain insight on the issue, we conducted a focus group and an online survey. The
focus group targeted teachers and the survey focused on parents of school-aged children. Our
finding demonstrated that neither of our targets knew about the existence of Aid for Educators or
its purpose.
Based on the research conducted, we found the ultimate goal our team had was to increase
awareness by educating the community on the positive impact Aid for Educators can have on
students, in hope to increase donations. To reach our goal, we strategically built a campaign plan
to reach awareness.
The following document details and describes a public relations campaign for Aid for Educators.
After research, brainstorming and planning we have composed a creative plan to increase
awareness among our target audience and gain donations.

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Table of Contents:
Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………Page 2
Research…………………………………………………………………………………...Page 4
Campaign Goals…………………………………………………………………………..Page 18
Objectives…………………………………………………………………………………Page 19
Key Publics………………………………………………………………………………..Page 20
Strategies/Messages………………………………………………………………………Page 22
Tactics/ HOW…………………………………………………………………………….Page 23
Schedule…………………………………………………………………………………...Page 25
Budget…………………………………………………………………………………......Page 27
Evaluation…………………………………………………………………………………Page 27
Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………..Page 29

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Research
The Client – Aid for Educators is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping new teachers
and disadvantaged students in various Texas school districts. The organization aims to pursue
partnerships, hold fundraisers, ask for donations and apply for grants. There is no clear mission
statement on the website aid4edu.org. The board of directors consists of five people; Greg Meyer
(executive director), Kathy Meyer, Ed Farmer, Jamie Johanson and Marty Moore. There are no
employees and Greg Meyer is the head decision maker because he is the founder and the person
who seeks donations for the organization. Meyer gets help from his wife and the board of
directors on occasion but according to him he does most of the work on his own. Meyer wants
the organization to be well-known in the Arlington area but at the moment it is not, and there is
little being done aside from Mr. Meyers work to promote and spread the word about Aid for
Educators.
Problems/Opportunities - This non-profit faces both internal and external problems. To start off,
the website needs to be modified with less clutter and more white space. Logo use can be
confusing to anyone who sees the website or business card, so it would be helpful to stay with
one logo for everything under the organizations name. Another problem is that the target
audience should not only focus on donors, but place emphasis on all educators who are not aware
of the free application openings. Gregory Meyer should be more personalized with his
organization by meeting with the teachers who sign up for the donation opportunities giving
them a face to name connection. Instead of mailing all of the gift cards the lucky teacher can
receive the good news with a personal visit and surprise balloons. Social media could work better
if interns are hired to update more frequently and interact instead of having Meyer do all the
work.

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The external challenge that Aid for Educators has to deal with is a lack of supporters. Meyer
depends on the help of his wife, close friends and has partnered with a few companies that help
him bring in some money. Awareness can be exposed to a broader audience with more event
involvement. Staying local and focusing on one county at a time is a great start, before
expanding through the Metroplex and all of Texas. Aid for Educators has a lot of opportunities to
help teachers and students but communication with donors and recipients needs drastic
improvement. One of the strengths is that the cause is very relatable and non-controversial so
once people know about it they will want to help in some way.
History - The organization received it’s 501C3 in Feb. 2013 and since then has awarded 33
teachers supplies and or tablets. In past years Aid for Educators has teamed up with Chili’s,
World of Beer and Canes to fundraise. World of Beer had the most profit and was due to the
existing client base. The organization is losing some traction because it was something new in
2013, but now the funds are no longer coming in due to little or no awareness within the
community. There is not much connection with the community and that is something we strongly
need to work on. The uniqueness of the non-profit is that the funds go directly to the teachers,
not to mention all on the board of directors have ties to the education system. The role of the
organization is to represent and help struggling first year teachers. At the moment there is no
indication on how the community feels about the organization because no one really knows
about it. There is social media presence but not much interaction with audiences which could be
as good as not having online presence.
Relevant Publics – Aid for Educators serves teachers in various Texas school districts such as
Arlington ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Dallas ISD and El Paso ISD. Those who have a stake in the
organization are former or current teachers, public servants and friends of Greg Meyer who

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heard about the cause directly from him. Teachers who have received money in the past from the
organization are very important as well. According to Mr. Meyer the organization wants to
enhance its relationship with any potential donors such as retired people, parents of students in
the surrounding districts, public servants, community organizations to partner with, retired
teachers, small business owners, and large companies with philanthropic programs.
The population we researched with this survey were parents of school-aged children who we
knew. We were primarily trying to find out how parents feel about teachers using their own
money and what they think about donating to classrooms. Parents are potential donors and their
children benefit from organizations like Aid for Educators, so it’s important to understand how
they feel about giving to the cause. We also wanted to know if any parents felt like teachers
should be spending their own money for their children’s needs. Another thing we wanted to
research was if parents had a positive view of teachers, so the last question helped us see that the
majority still believe teachers want to make a difference.
Eight teachers participated in the focus group, five of which have been teaching for less than 5
years. We were trying to find out what it’s like for them as new teachers and the struggles they
go through. It was important for us to understand because there are many misconceptions about
educators and how hard they work. Most importantly we wanted to know if they truly spend a
significant amount of their own money on the classroom or students and how they would feel
about receiving funds or supplies as a donation. We also asked about how familiar they were
with Aid for Educators because the school is not far from AISD so there was a chance they might
have heard of it. The group expressed that teachers would be willing to help each other because
they understand the struggles and relate strongly to the cause.

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Method
Our group decided to target two groups, teachers and parents of school-aged children. We
conducted a focus group to gain insight of the education field and an online survey to capture
parent’s perspective of teachers.
FOCUS GROUP
Our focus group was held in a South Grand Prairie High School (SGPH) classroom on
Wednesday, October 7th at 3:15 p.m. We contacted Georgina’s college roommate, Ms.
Caballero, who began teaching this August at SGPH, to see if she could help us contact teachers.
With her help we were able to reach the principle of the high school via email asking permission
to contact teachers and invite them to our focus group at the school. The email contained an
attached letter detailing who we were and the purpose of the focus group. We were able to get
approval to host the focus group in Ms. Caballero's classroom and she was able to recruit her
peers by word-of-mouth.
Georgina was the moderator and Jesse was the scribe who also recorded the 30 minute
discussion. Before the focus group began we invited the participating teachers to eat pizza and
help themselves to soft drink that we provided as we waited for the rest of the teachers to trickle
in. We arranged the classroom with 8 desks facing each other and at the end of the row we sat
facing the group. We began the group with 7 teachers due to one being held up at another staff
meeting. Before starting the questions Georgina and Jesse introduced themselves to the group
and shared the purpose and the expectations we had for the discussion. We made sure to inform
teachers that even though we were recording the conversation their answers would remain
anonymous and we welcomed all views.

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The group came up with the questions asked at the focus group prior to meeting with the
teachers. As a group we brainstormed several questions and narrowed them down to the 8
questions we felt could answer the questions we had with our target audience. We introduced
each question and listened attentively to the responses given and encouraged the participation of
the participants. We wrote down key points of the discussion and recorded on his phone using
the Voice Memo application found on Apple IPhones and captured back-up video on an Apple
IPad.
As for the demographics of the group we ended up having from first year teachers to another
with 18 years of experience. Our primary target was those who had 1-5 years of experience as
educators because we wanted to tune into the struggles of first time teachers. Mr. Meyers
mentioned this is the group he saw the most need. We did have 3 participants who had been
teaching for more than 5 years but we felt it was also important to hear from those with
experience and see if the stress was less as years went on.
Like mentioned we provided pizza and drinks for the participants and also raffled 2 gift cards to
Starbucks. We knew that by the end of the day teachers would much rather go home after a
hectic day but by having food and raffle prizes this may have encouraged these teachers to attend
the focus group. It was also a sign of appreciation for helping us in our project.
Focus Group questions:
1. How long have you been teaching and what prompted you to start?
2. What are the things you like most about teaching?
3. What are the things you most dislike about teaching?
4. How much personal money did you invest getting ready for the school year?
5. If there is anything you would like parents/guardians to know what would it be?
6. What do you know about Aid for Educators?
7. If a non-profit organization helped you and your class, would you be willing to donate later
on?
8. Of all the things discussed, what is the most important thing for Aid for Educators to know
about motivating others to donate to its cause?

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ONLINE SURVEY
The second target audience we selected was parents of school-aged children. Our purpose for
surveying this group was to capture the parent's perspective about teachers. We figured the best
way to reach this group was via social media specifically Facebook. The group realized we had
numerous friends who were parents that could help us with our research.
Survey Monkey was the online website we used to format our 5 question survey using the Likert
Scale. Like with the focus group question each member brainstormed questions and we then
narrowed down those we felt would best answer our question, “What are parent’s thoughts about
teachers?” It was crucial to limit the number of questions to ensure the maximum number of
responses. We knew the longer the survey the less willing those on Facebook would be to
complete it. The group decided to use the Likert Scale with close-ended questions so parents
could answer the questions accordingly and it would easier to interpret the data.
Before we posted the link on Facebook we all became friends so that way we could like each
other’s link to the survey and this way our link would stay on the timeline for our friends to see.
Georgina also tagged her friends who had kids on the post along with telling her friends and
family to share the post. Midweek we posted the link for a second time to prevent the survey
from being forgotten. The survey was live for seven days and shared on Facebook so that way
we could reach parents on social media without the hassle of having to take too much of their
time. We figured if the survey was short and easily available the outcome would be favorable.
Survey questions: Likert Scale
 Name, what grades are your kids in?
 I believe in purchasing supplies required from my child's teacher
 Teachers should purchase supplies out of their own pocket for my child's need
 I would consider donating supplies to classrooms
 I believe educators go into teaching to make a difference in a child's life

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Focus Group Transcript:
8 Members
 J.C. (Spanish) – teaching since August
 V.M. (Spanish) – 2nd year teaching
 V.G. – 6th year teaching
 T.L. (biology) – 9th year teaching
 R.C. (athletics) – 1 month teaching
 P.B. (Spanish) – 18th year teaching
 I.J. (algebra) – 2nd year teaching
 A.B. (geography) – 1st year teaching
What do you like about teaching?
 Get to see kids grow up and you can see the light go off as they learn new things (T).
 You see something new every day and you can truly make a difference in people’s lives
as a teacher (I).
 You can be very creative and teach things in new ways. You have freedom over how to
teach the lesson (P).
What don’t you like?
 Everyone in the group said they don’t like waking up extremely early and going to bed
pretty late.
 You work a lot of hours both in and outside of school (V).
 There is no overtime pay even though all teachers do overtime work on a regular basis
(R).
 Work a lot of hours outside of school (V, V).
 It is difficult to have a set of kids for only one year because you can’t get to know them
as much as you would like and they move on (V).
Do you spend money out of your own pocket for the class?

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 Everyone in the group expressed that they spend their own money all the time for
classroom materials
 Sometimes students don’t have the necessary supplies or they can’t afford certain things
so you buy it for them if you can (J).
 If you want to change up the lesson plan or something and do an interesting activity, then
you most likely will go out and buy the materials with your own money (V).
 A teacher she knows just bought 16 headphones for her class and another bought 3-4
chrome book laptops for her class. On average teachers probably spend around $500 a
year out of their own pocket (V).
 Teachers probably spend the most money in their first year of teaching because they have
nothing to work with and need to fill an empty classroom (I).
What do you want parents and guardians to know?
 It takes more than just the teacher to ensure the child’s success. Parents and the kids
themselves need to be responsible and understand the importance of teachers and
education (I).
 Everyone said that teachers aren’t babysitters
 Your child doesn’t act the same way at school than he does at home (T).
Do teachers work only 40 hrs?
 I work over 40 hours every single week (A).
 If you increase pay some teachers might start doing it just for the money so I’m kind of
happy that we don’t get paid a lot more (A).
 We do get holidays off but the work hours are mentally exhausting (T).

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 I don’t have a family but if I did I would be upset because teaching would definitely take
away from my family time and kids (I).
 My family feels the effects of me working so many hours, I have three kids and a
husband (V).
 The state often changes the curriculum so that makes teachers come up with whole new
plans and kills and routines we might have had before (V).
 We work for more than nine months and we don’t even technically have summers off
because they involve a lot of planning and research (V).
Do you know of Aid for Educators?
 No one had heard of it.
 They know of similar kind of things such as Kickstarter, Gofundme and DonorsChoose.
Would you be willing to donate if they helped you?
 Everyone said they would definitely be willing to donate.
 We understand how difficult it can be sometimes so we would definitely want to help if
we could (J).
 Teachers really care about helping each other (V)
 You can pass on knowledge to other teachers and even supplies in many cases (I).
What should Aid for Educators know?
 Teachers don’t have a lot of time
 You have to know the teacher and have a personal connection with them in order to really
want to help them out (I).
 The best way is for people to come to classrooms and see how hard the teachers work
(A).

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 Teachers need more appreciation, parents need to take more responsibility.
Application/Interpretation
The focus group questions were chosen based on a specific target audience, first year to 18 year
educators. A closed ended survey was also conducted via surveymonkey.com focusing on parent
opinions. In both research methods we decided to keep the questions simple. We will begin with
the group survey results, followed by our focus group questions and interpretation.
Survey Group Questions/Responses
1. Name, what grades are your kids in?
a. The majority of the kids were in the elementary grade levels except for, one in the head
start program, and nine who attend middle school or high school.
2. I believe in purchasing supplies required from my child’s teacher:
a. Approximately 53.6% (22) people strongly agreed, 29.27% (12) Agree, 9.76% (4) were
Neutral, 4.88% (2) Disagree, and 2.44% (1) strongly disagreed.
i. What we can take from this question is, most of the parents strongly agree to follow the
school supply list provided by teachers. The neutral group might feel only some school supplies
are not necessary, while the small percent might not like purchasing any school supplies at all.
ii. We can take this into consideration when aiming to alternate parent’s idea on school
supply lists.
3. Teachers should purchase supplies out of their own pocket for my child’s need:
a. Surprisingly the majority of parents strongly disagreed by 51.22% (21) and 4.88% (2)
strongly agreed teachers should purchase supplies out of their own pocket.

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i. This indicates there is hope parents will be helpful when it comes to donating to Aid for
Educators.
ii. For the 4.88% of people who agreed teachers should purchase supplies out of pocket,
the data gives us an insight on the small percent of parents who feel educators need to be
responsible for providing supplies to their children.
4. I would consider donating supplies to classrooms:
a. On this question there was no one who disagreed, although there was a 4.88% who
strongly disagreed to donating.
i. Around 12% of 41 parents felt neutral, demonstrating some parents would not be
interested in donating which can be a problem when asking for small donations.
ii. On the bright side there was 46.34% willing to donate to their children’s classrooms,
letting us know there are parents who do care about helping teachers.
5. I believe educators go into teaching to make a difference in a child’s life:
a. This question in particular had the highest percentage of 60.98% who strongly agree.
i. Teaching is a passion and commitment. So many parents can relate to the difficulties
teachers go through.
ii. The high percentage shows that perhaps parents feel teachers have made a positive
impact on their lives in the past or in their own children’s life.
Focus Group Responses/Interpretation
1. What do you like about teaching?
a. Out of all eight members three teachers answered the question.
i. One teacher spoke about the creativity and joys he had teaching lessons in different
new ways.

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ii. Terrance Lofton, biology teacher mentioned he sees a light bulb go off when a kid
learns something new.
iii. Ivory James, algebra teacher has only been teaching for two years, but knew her
career path could make a difference in people’s lives as a teacher.
2. What don’t you like?
a. More teachers had negative opinions also more teachers answered this particular
question instead of the positive one before it.
i. Everyone who answered the question agreed they did not like going to bed late and
waking up extremely early.
ii. They don’t like the fact that they are working extra hours in and outside of school with
no overtime pay.
iii. One teacher found it difficult to have a good relationship with her students for just one
year. It was not enough time to interact with the kids like she had hoped.
3. Do you spend money out of your own pocket for the class?
a. All teachers participating state they have spent out of their own money for classroom
materials.
i. After hearing all teachers had pitched out of their own pocket, it helped us understand
more and gave us the opportunity to hear them vent out their frustrations.
ii. Reasons for buying the supplies out of their money were for a variety of reasons. If a
student could not afford them, an interesting activity, or simply because they needed to fill the
empty space and have something to work with. Decorations are not supplied from the school
district.

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iii. These findings demonstrate teachers go into their new classrooms without the right
amount of supplies. A lot of the supplies provided are either minimal or very outdated.
iv. Teachers go in the field aware they will be spending their own money to prepare their
classroom and students.
4. What do you want parents and guardians to know?
a. The message received for this question was simple, they’re not babysitters. There is
only so much they can do for the children.
i. Ivory James indicated it is the parents and the kid’s responsibility to understand the
importance of education.
ii. We chose to ask this question to hear how teachers felt towards parents and if they had
a chance to express a personal opinion what it would be.
iii. What we can conclude about this question is, teachers need parents to understand
everything they do at school is to educate their kids intellectually but they are responsible for the
rest.
iv. Communication is lacking between parents and teachers.
5. Do teachers work only 40 hours?
a. When it came to discussing the amount of hours and workload involved, almost half of
the participants had something bad to say. All teachers take their work home leaving short
amount of time for family.
i. One teacher, Alicia, said she worked more than 40 hours a week. She was also okay
with her pay, she thinks people would not go into the field if they did it only for the money.
ii. Two teachers mentioned the hours to be so exhausting it left them little time to spend
with family.

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iii. The state change curriculum forcing them to change any lesson plans they had before
and coming up with new material in a short amount of time.
iv. After hearing how much work and hours teachers input a year, we realize why
teachers feel so much pressure. Several of the participants who answered the question work
regular school hours, weekends, and summers planning for the whole year.
v. This particular question continues to indicate teachers are mentally exhausted and
overworked. Assistance from parents and anyone who’s willing to make a difference in kids’
lives would be appreciated.
6. Do you know of Aid for Educators?
a. All of the teachers participating had no idea what Aid for Educators did or what it was.
i. There were three names they heard of: Kickstarter, DonorsChoose, and Gofundme
ii. This question was one of the most important questions asked, the results were not
positive but they were expected. The teachers who participated were from different grade levels
and from the Grand Prairie area.
iii. No one was aware there was a charity besides the three mentioned above.
iv. Aid for Educators has not been successful in reaching out to teachers. It does not have
enough awareness like the other three organizations mentioned.
v. The lack of the charity awareness needs to be a motivation throughout our campaign.
We will need to emphasize everything about the charity during our event and proposal letter
project.
7. Would you be willing to donate if they helped you?
a. After hearing of Aid for Educators, all of the teachers said they would be willing to
help by passing knowledge to other teachers (word of mouth), donations, and anything else.

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i. It demonstrates teachers are happy to see other teachers help each other, and supporting
Aid for Educators would be a benefit for the kids and teachers all around.
8. What should Aid for Educators know?
a. During this question the participants openly suggested their opinions for the charity to
become a success.
i. They wanted to make it clear teachers do not have a lot of time in the day to get
involved with other activities. If it helped out their students or teachers in general, they would be
willing to make the time.
ii. Another great way to create awareness and help out teachers is to interact with them
personally, making that personal connection with teachers can be very helpful to our client.
Every teacher has different needs and getting to know them individually would be a good start.
iii. Getting teachers to become aware of Aid for Educators is only part of one of the
glitches our client faces. We can determine from the findings in questions 3 and 4, parents also
need to play a big role in the student’s education.
Campaign Goals
Aid for Educators helps teachers directly with small donations to reduce the load of spending out
of their own pocket for their classroom. The charity has awarded many teachers in local areas
such as, Arlington, Dallas, and Fort Worth Texas. Aid for Educators would like to help out more
teachers and students locally, but will need assistance with donations.
For the charity to become successful in receiving more donations, it needs to begin by creating
awareness among important target audiences such as; teachers, parents, and small business
owners. Becoming friendly and having a face-to- face interaction can be a great start. Once

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awareness has been implemented locally to all of the target audiences above, the possibility of
more donations will increase.
To increase awareness and donations for Aid for Educators, we have come up with campaign
goals:
 To increase awareness among teachers, parents, and small local businesses.
 To increase more local business sponsors for example: Walmart, Target, Cici’s
Pizza, Chuckie Cheese, and family owned restaurants.
 To increase donations from parents, sponsors, and local small businesses.
 To get more people passionate about helping educators.
 Increase social media exposure: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat.
 To get more teachers involved with Aid for Educators charity events.
 Make those involved feel important and personally fulfilled.
Objectives
People are not yet aware of Aid for Educators, the awareness is absent for many educators and
parents. During our surveys, parents and teachers were asked if they were aware of Aid for
Educators, and nobody had a clue. Our campaign plan can achieve manageable and detailed
objectives:
 To increase Aid for Educators awareness among 25% of new teachers in the
Arlington, Dallas, and Fort Worth areas by August 1, 2016.
 To increase donations by 15% among small local businesses owners by August 1,
2016.
 To increase Aid for Educators donations by 15% among parents by August 1,
2016.

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 To increase donations from current sponsors (Kroger, Amazon, etc.) by 10%
through August 1, 2016.
 To maintain current sponsors and make at least 5 new ones by August 1, 2016.
 To increase attendance for any awareness events by 20%, within the community
the event is located at, by August 1, 2016.
 To increase the number of followers in all social media platforms to at least 500
by August 1, 2016.
 To increase awareness by 50% among all Aid for Educators possible target
audiences, on how to donate and access the website by August 1, 2016.
Key Publics
Our group targets several audiences for Aid of Educators including currents teachers, parents of
school-aged children, retired teachers, business owners and students going into the teaching
field. In our plan we focus on teachers, parents, retired teachers and business owners. In hopes to
reach our goal of increasing awareness and donations we first have to reach our audience and
educate them on the benefits the organization and also shining light on classroom needs that in
most cases teachers cover out of their own pocket. Once that is accomplished we can then expect
a positive change in behaviors and thus increase donations.
All targets are important but teachers are the reason Aid for Educators exists. Our research
showed that teachers didn't know about the non-profit and as result makes them the latent public.
Teachers obviously experience first-hand the struggle of the lack of resources but had no idea
Aid for Educators offers help. This group can serve as personal testimonies that they do in fact
spend their own personal money to ensure their students have the supplies needed to succeed.
Not to mention this is the group that gives Aid for Educators a face and a personal tie with

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potential donors. No matter who you are, most people have had a positive impact from a teacher
at one point in our lives. This group is extremely busy from working extensive hours before and
after school and have a tendency to give. With that said email may be the best way to reach this
group and upon retirement they may also may be willing to donate to the organization later on.
Parents of school-aged children could potentially be great donors if they fully understood that
teachers invest personal time and money to help their kids. Some of this group may be latent as
well in understanding the lack of resources but most are not which is why spreading the reality of
teachers is important. Only after parents are fully aware of the issue and familiar with Aid for
Educators will they support the organization by means of donating time or money. After parents
find out the benefits of the non-profit helping their children's educational experience they will be
more willing to support the cause. Parents are also a very busy target audience and as our group
has seen like to use social media platforms to communicate with other parents and organizations.
We would target this group through social media and hosting family-driven events to
educate families.
The third group we would pinpoint is retired teachers. This group is the aware public, by
knowing the issue but not knowing how to help. By exposing Aid for Educators and educating
retired teachers about the non-profit and with a little persuasion this group could really be a great
source for donations. Retired teachers also have great connections with other individuals who
may also be retired and looking for places to donate money and time. Because they were teachers
like previously mentioned, share the characteristic of being givers. The demographic of this
target group is older in age and typically stick to traditional media channels. We would reach out
to this group by reaching out to various retirement associations.

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The last group the campaign focuses on is business owners. Local establishments tend to help
their communities by giving back. Our group would emphasize the business' contribution to the
cause and also show them how this may resonate well with their consumers. Targeting this group
is crucial and once obtained can ensure donations. Business owners are all about making the
most out of their valuable time, contacting business owners face to face is important and
providing hard facts and figures is crucial to capturing this group attention.
Strategies/Messages
Our goal for the organization is to position Aid for Educators as an organization that will benefit
teachers, students and the community as a whole. We considered the aspect of financial
difficulties for teachers. This information was found during our focus group discussions.
Teachers, especially the first year teachers showed concern with providing their students with
supplies and materials needed to be able to educate them efficiently. Also we found from our
surveys that most parents would be willing to donate supplies to teachers if they knew more
information about it. We want to engage people with the organization because our research
indicates that parents are willing to donate and have a positive view of teachers. It’s important to
actively communicate with target audiences so that they stay involved and understand that Aid
for Educators is constantly looking to raise funds. The mission of the organization needs to be
clearly stated and past cases should be highlighted. Potential donors need to feel like an
important part of the organization so they continue giving and can actually see the help provided
by the organization. Aid for Educators should make the donating experience enjoyable by
staying in touch with donors via email or social media.

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Tactics:HOW
To meet our end goal of increased awareness and therefore donations, the following tactics and
communication tools will be implemented. These tactics will reach our target audiences teachers,
parents of school-aged children, retired teachers and business owners.
Objective 1:
To increase Aid for Educators awareness among 25% of new teachers in the Arlington, Dallas,
and Fort Worth areas by August 1, 2016.
Tactic: Visit local schools during PTA meetings and increase the profile of Aid for Educators by
networking, having key talking points and handing out take-always, such as the bracelets with
organization name.
Tactic: Use recipients of awards as advocates amongst other teachers. Ask teachers who have
received award to post on social media platforms the impact the non-profit has made on their
classrooms/students serving a testimonial strategy.
Tactic: Partner with local colleges and ask to speak to education majors about the organization
and how they can benefit once they start their new careers.
Objective 2:
To increase donations by 15% among small local businesses owners by August 1, 2016.
Tactic: Draft a template grant letter that can be used to give to business owners detailing cause,
needs and the benefit they could receive.
Tactic: Get the Board of Directors attend network events with local business members and
discussing impact of nonprofit.
Objective 3:
To increase Aid for Educators donations by 15% among parents and sponsors by August 1, 2016.

24. 24
Tactic: Create family-based social gatherings like a movie night, charging admittance fee and
having concession stand selling popcorn, chips, drinks, pickles and candy hosted at the February
recipient teacher’s school. The day of the event the teacher can be presented with award and
there can be a screening of a Valentine’s Day movie for the family to watch.
Tactic: Hosting family sports tournaments during the summer and charge fee per team/family.
Tactic: During holiday season initiate an "Adopt a Classroom" program where parents/sponsors
can give to a classroom in need.
Objective 4:
To maintain current sponsors and make at least 5 new ones by August 1, 2016.
Tactic: Sending out quarterly articles, highlighting business who are donating, recipients of
awards, following up with previous teachers who received funds, upcoming and recap of events.
Tactic: Give plaques to sponsors for continued support to showcase in places of business.
Objective 5:
To increase attendance for any awareness events by 20%, within the community the event is
located at, by August 1, 2016.
Tactic:
Objective 6:
Increase followers on all social media platforms listed on goals by 35% among educators,
students, sponsors, and businesses by August 1, 2016.
Tactic: Post success stories of recipients on all platforms.
Tactic: To reveal recipient of funds use social media to post clues throughout the week of who
the winner may be. This will keep audience engaged.
Tactic: Use #ThankaTeach for all things related to Aid for Educators

25. 25
Provide engaging content – social media is about help, not hype. So tips for parents when it
comes to homework, testing, working with kids.
Objective 7:
To increase awareness by 50% among all Aid for Educators possible target audiences, on how to
donate and access the website by August 1, 2016.
Tactic: Redesign an easier to navigate website
Tactic: Use social media to direct traffic flow to home site by posting blurbs/videos or interesting
posts on social media and posting full length story, videos or information on website.
Schedule
January 2016
2nd- Send out emails via surveymonkey.com to all of past award winners and ask if they
can welcome Aid for Educators founder into their staff/PTA meetings to talk about non-
profit.
4 -8th- Visit local elementary schools and talk to teachers about Aid for Educators. Ask
teachers and staff to mention the non-profit on their social media platforms.
25-29th- Visit local community colleges and Universities to partner up with their
Education Department. Ask to speak to future educators about Aid for Educators and how
they can benefit from the non-profit.
February 2016
8th- Send out grant letter to local business owners around Arlington area. (Preferably
businesses near schools).
13 and 14th- Family and Couple’s movie night event at a park or local recreation center.
Charge admission fee and have a concession stand. (Link event to Valentine’s Day)

26. 26
March 2016
7th- Team up with the board of directors and go door-to- door and meet with local
business owners. (Coffee Meet’s, attend corporate events, and connect with old
colleagues).
25th- Host family sports tournament at a local school (Field Day).
April 2016
11-22nd- “Adopt a Classroom” project, have drop boxes outside classrooms for parents to
donate school supplies.
May 2016
3rd- National Teacher Day! Post success stories and struggling stories of recipients on all
social media platforms.
20th- Give plaques to loyal sponsors
June 2016
1st- Send out quarterly articles
6- 11th - Post clues throughout the week on social media, of who the lucky recipient may
be.
**Use #ThankaTeach for all things related to Aid for Educators on social media**
July 2016
11-22nd- Redesign an easier to navigate website
23rd- Advertise new redesigned website to all sponsors, teachers on email list, and
followers on social media.
August 2016

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12th- Direct traffic flow to home site by posting: short videos or interesting pictures on
social media (with non-profit information).
22-31st- Meet and Greet: Kids are back in school, time to meet new teachers and students.
(Create more awareness)
Budget
To become a successful non-profit organization, partnerships with sponsors are needed to
provide financial as well as awareness support for Aid 4 Educators. We would suggest local
small business owners as well as retired teachers. We would also recommend partnerships with
colleges or high schools for internship opportunities to provide help and assistance for the
organization. Partnerships with local business to provide gift baskets or gift cards for silent
auction items would also be beneficial to the budget of Aid 4 Educators and in turn would add
more profit. The tactics that we have proposed are mostly cost-free because of the situation of
Aid for Educators.
Evaluation
To evaluate results a recommended tool to measure the successes would be to use charts and
tables, calculate subscriber clicks through Mailchimp, and calculate “Likes” on Facebook and
calculating the dollar amount of each task used to determine which is receiving the most profit.
For example, the partnerships with Kroger and Amazon. For these, a excel spreadsheet database
should be created and monthly sales and profit should registered in. This will determine which
partnership is actually benefiting Aid 4 Educators. This will also help determine which months
are peak in profits for the organization. Which in turn could lead to other ideas in terms of what
months people are more willing to donate. During events attendance should be calculated by

28. 28
providing sign-in sheets this will also serve as an opportunity to receive email contacts to be
added to the mass email subscription. Surveys can also be made to request attendee’s opinion on
the events. To determine the increase or decrease in parent donations a database should be
created. It is recommended that it be categorized by grade level of their child and ethnicity of
parent. This will help determine which audiences are needed to be reached to increase donation.

29. 29
Appendix
0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00%
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
I believe in purchasing supplies required
from my child's teacher
I believe in purchasing supplies
required from my child's
teacher
0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00%
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
Teachers should purchase supplies out of
their own pocket for my child's need
Teachers should purchase
supplies out of their own pocket
for my child's need

30. 30
0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00%
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
I would consider donating supplies to
classrooms
I would consider donating
supplies to classrooms
0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00%
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
I believe educators go into teaching to make a
differencein a childs life
I believe educators go into
teaching to make a difference in
a childs life

31. 31
Q1
Q2
0 5 10 15 20
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
7th - 12th
4th - 6th
Pre K - 3rd
0 5 10 15 20 25
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
7th - 12th
4th - 6th
Pre K -3rd

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Q3
Q4
0 5 10 15
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
7th - 12th
4th - 6th
Pre K - 3rd
0 5 10 15 20 25
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
7th - 12th
4th - 6th
Pre K - 3rd

33. 33
Grant Letter example:
Aid for Educators
6001 Abbermare
Arlington, TX 76001
817-888-5878
admin@aid4edu.org
www.aid4edu.org
Dear ,
This letter has been prepared by Aid for Educators organization to announce our intention to
apply for Grant. Aid for Educators is a non-profit organization focused on
providing aid to teachers primarily in their first through fifth year of teaching. The mission of our
organization is to help teachers and students in underfunded schools or districts in the state of
Texas and hopefully, with your help, more states in the future.
The purpose of applying for Grant is to help non-profit organizations develop
long-term sustainability plans.
Your generous support will help Aid for Educators reach more teachers and students in the areas
where they need the most aid. These teachers need aid for basic materials and additional items
that make the learning experience better for children. Please send an application and any
additional materials to Aid for Educators at the address listed above. We look forward to
speaking with you in more detail about our organization.
Sincerely,

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Slogan:
“Thank a Teach” #ThankATeach
Key Speaking Points: College Students
1. Engage your audience by asking them to think of a teacher they admire or remember
making an impact in their lives.
2. Brief 2-3 minute background on how you become so passionate about the cause.
a. Talk about wife and her teaching background
b. How you also had experience in education field
c. Once retired, you wanted to make a difference
3. Get into message and key points:
 Message: Teachers express the need for assistance the first few years of their teaching
career.
 Talking Point: “Non-profits, like Aid for Educators strive to help first year teachers fund
classroom needs.
 Message: First year teachers invest personal money to fund school projects.
 Talking Point: Aid for Educators provides gift cards to office supplies stores that help
students gain the most out of hands on projects.
 Message: Teachers are giving people
 Talking Point: Later on once established in classroom and in career those recipient
teachers can also give to other teachers continuing to support and donate to the non-
profit.
4. Open floor for questions or comments. Anticipate possible negative questions, such as
such as the low awareness level and the low number of current supports and brainstorm
responses.
5. Leave on an inspiring note. Read a testimony from recipient of award and share an
updated story of teacher and classroom, make sure to include photo!

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Business Networking Events found on the City Chamber’s Page
Example: http://www.arlingtontx.com
Chamber Orientation Luncheon: held monthly
Business Over Breakfast: held monthly
http://arlingtontx.com/site/breakfast
Chamber After Hours: held monthly
http://arlingtontx.com/site/afterhours
Plaque Info:
https://www.crownawards.com/StoreFront/YVZ.Etched_Plaques.cat
Range from 4.95-50.00
Use the etch: You make a difference and include business info.
Aid for Educators

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6001 Abbermare Arlington, TX 76011  817-888-5878  admin@aid4edu.ort  www.aid4edu.org
01/01/2016
To Whom It May Concern,
Aid for Educators, 501(C) 3 non-profit organization, strives to help teachers ensure their school
year will be a success by equipping them with the needed supplies for their students. The
mission of our organization is to help teachers and students in underfunded schools or districts in
the state of Texas and hopefully, with your help, more states in the future.
We partner with local business to strengthen our community. Your generous support will help
Aid for Educators reach more teachers and students in the areas where they need the most aid.
Any and all support is greatly appreciated. We hope that our partnership also helps and promotes
the growth of your business within the community.
We look forward to speaking with you in more detail about our organization.
In advance thanks,
_________________________
Executive Director
Grey Meyer
“Help us help our teachers”