Help Me – Help You!

Update (7/30): We have raised $290 (as of 7/30/12) with $2610 to go to reach my goal. Remember, that all funds go towards YOU — the counselors/educators. If we reach the goal, we fund a Pro-D workshop for a district — if we fall short, we fund registrations for ASCA 2013 in Philadelphia. Please share and consider donating if you are able.

I decided I wanted to make a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). I want to offer something back to you, the counselors and educators. I know that funding for professional development is tight and many of you simply cannot afford to seek it out yourselves. That is where I want to help with the help of others.

I recently found Indiegogo.com and liked what I saw (see the awesome community contributions towards Karen!). You may have heard of another site similar to Indiegogo, Kickstarter – more focused on helping start-up companies or bands find funding in return for goods/services or perks. I want to do an experiment using Indiegogo.

So here it is — in 75 days, I want to raise $2900 (or more) for two reasons. First and a small part of the BHAG, is to get a custom domain name for this blog (www.thecounselinggeek.com sound good?) and a small amount towards promoting via advertisements to drive some traffic and gain a follower base. (Cost: ~$150-200). The main part of the goal is this: I want to give a scholarship to a school or district to have an ASCA sponsored professional development 1-day workshop come to your site. I selected two offerings that the school can choose from: Data Boot Camp for School Counselors and Administrators or Cyber-bullying and Internet Safety. 

Both workshops cost $2500 for the full day and are presented by leaders in their fields.

Any funding raised beyond the $2900 will go into scholarships towards the 2013 ASCA National Conference. There currently are not any scholarships for people (especially student members) who have a hard time affording the registration fee or travel costs. I was in that boat for the 2011 conference in Seattle, but luckily I was able to get some costs covered by a local community agency so I was able to make it happen. Others are not so lucky.

If we are not able to reach these goals, I will use the funds to meet goal #1 and then put the rest into scholarships towards ASCA 2013.

What can you do? First, if you are able – donate. Any amount is welcome and will go towards these goals. If you are not able or interested in donating, please share this with your contacts, Twitter followers, Facebook friends, and colleagues — they may want to help! Through the power of community, we can do this.

Thank you!

The blog author, Jeffrey Ream M.S, PPS, writes for The Counseling Geek. Connect with Jeff via email, Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.