FirstRoot School Fund
ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Dear friends,
It is with great pleasure that I share the first annual report of the FirstRoot School Fund! The FirstRoot School Fund promotes Participatory Budgeting by making targeted grants to schools to help them initiate Participatory Budgeting programs.
In 2021 we raised $10,000 via contributions from individuals and FirstRoot. We hope to expand this over time with contributions from corporations, non-profits, and NGOs. So far, we have distributed $6,297.18 to the following schools:
- $2,000.00 to Fremont High School · Sunnyvale, CA
- $2,297.18 to Academy of American Studies · Queens, NY
- $1,000.00 to Huegel Elementary School · Madison, WI
- $600.00 to Marshall High School · Rochester, MN
- $300.00 to Muskegon High School · Muskegon, MI
- $100.00 to Crossland High School · Fort Washington, MD
FirstRoot has also secured $21,000.00 in sponsorships from individuals and corporations to sponsor PB programs in the following schools:
- $3,000.00 for Hillsdale High School · San Mateo, CA
- $2,000.00 for Quincy Elementary School · Topeka, KS
- $2,000.00 for College Prep · Topeka, KS
- $2,000.00 for French Middle School · Topeka, KS
- $12,000.00 for Highland Park High School · Topeka, KS
Our near-term goal is finding additional schools to sponsor with our program funds and initiating additional fundraising campaigns to fund more schools and Participatory Budgeting programs.
As FirstRoot heads into our second full year of operations, we remain thankful for your help in promoting financial literacy and civic engagement through Participatory Budgeting in schools. While we know that our schools will face continued to challenges in 2022, we are confident that working together we will be able to overcome these challenges and create a brighter future.
Thank you for all that you do.
—
LUKE HOHMANN
FOUNDER AND CEO
FirstRoot, Inc.
ABOUT FIRSTROOT
We empower young people to take control of their financial lives.
FirstRoot is a Benefit Corp that supports schools teaching financial literacy and civics through Participatory Budgeting (PB for short), an egalitarian process in which students are given real money to collaboratively invest in their school.
With our PB app, and our Financial Literacy & Civics curriculum we help schools promote PB programs as project-based learning experiences for both teachers and students.
PB is democracy in action, is about making a real impact, bringing students closer to their community, and developing core life skills.
FirstRoot School Fund
Our purpose is to promote Participatory Budgeting by making targeted grants to schools to help them initiate programs. Our one condition is that students are in control of these funds. The FirstRoot School Fund enables us to further our corporate mission while promoting equity.
FINANCIALS
| REVENUES | |
|---|---|
| 2020 GoFundMe campaign | $3,265.00 |
| Contribution from equity crowdfunding | $9,000.00 |
| FirstRoot bonus contribution | $1,000.00 |
| TOTAL | $13,265.00 |
| Remaining Budget | $6,864.42 |
| EXPENSES (Grants) | |
|---|---|
| Fremont High School | $2,000.00 |
| The Academy of American Studies | $2,297.18 |
| Huegel Elementary | $1,000.00 |
| John Marshall High School | $600.00 |
| Muskegon High School | $300.00 |
| Crossland High School | $100.00 |
| GoFundMe Expenses* | $103.40 |
| TOTAL | $6,400.58 |
INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS
MERIT SCHOLARS ($200 – $999) – Verne Harnish, Jesse Fewell, Brett Frazer, Ellen Enstrom, Steve Willson, Todd M Girvin.
HONOR ROLL ($5 – $199) – Adam Stephenson, Brent Barton, Brian Hackerson, Jason Tanner, Konstantin Popov, Laura Caldie, Lisa Hammond, Michael Zabramski, Richard Knaster, Sean Barry, Traci Arieli, Michael Cartsonis, Rahul K Mukherjee, Rune Christensen, Kesavan Narayan, Rebecca Davis, Luke Hohmann.
PRIVATE CONTRIBUTORS
WE THANK YOU!
FREMONT HIGH SCHOOL
fhs.fuhsd.org
Fremont High School, located in Sunnyvale, CA produced a PB program with the student leader team. With a budget of $2,000, the students purchased two indoor/outdoor bulletin boards from School Outfitters for $348.33 and an additional table for outdoor lunch seating from Outdoor School Furniture for an estimated $1,000.68 with shipping and surface mounting brackets. The leftover funds were used as seed funding for a currently running program.
HUEGEL ELEMENTARY
huegel.madison.k12.wi.us
Huegel Elementary School, located in Madison, WI produced a PB program with a budget of $1,500, the students decided to invest in planting a tree which ended up being donated by a student’ parent. Other winning projects included getting a dedication plaque for the tree, graduation caps, soccer goal and more. Iris Paterson shared her experience of leading the program in this video.
ACADEMY OF AMERICAN STUDIES
academyofamericanstudies.com
The Academy of American Studies, located in Long Island City, Queens, NY produced a PB program with a budget of $2,000, students decided to invest in a free hygiene feminine products dispenser, a 3D printer, new science lab equipment and SAT resources for students. Elizabeth Dudley shared her experience leading their Participatory Budgeting program in this video.
THE 5D’S OF PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING
DISCOVER
DREAM
DESIGN
DECIDE
DO
$1K – 1M – $1B
It’s FirstRoot’s BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Thank you, @Jim Collins).
We want to put $1K into 1M schools globally and watch what happens when students can control $1B in capital to make their schools — and our world — a better place. Our BHAG motivates some nifty behaviors and an even cooler corporate culture.
We HAVE to be global, because there are only 130,000 K-12 schools in the US
We HAVE to be great engineers, because we need all the awesome stuff you expect from modern, global, SaaS companies. (Scaling a solution to hundreds of millions of students will require more than that just buying hosting services at Amazon.)
We HAVE to be inclusive, because we want all students to participate.
We cannot realize our BHAG without lots of help from people who share our values and our goal of promoting financial literacy and positive civic engagement through PB.
We hope you will join us by contributing to the FirstRoot School Fund today.
CURRENT FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGNS
FREMONT HIGH SCHOOL PB
Sunnyvale, CA – Fremont is in the midst of its second PB program. The initial budget is $3,400.99, which includes a $2,000 donation from the Sunnyvale Rotary, $750 from the Fremont Union High School District Foundation, and $650.99 remaining from their first program. Join our fundraising campaign to push this to $5,000 – or more!
