At this time, WLA seeks adult volunteers and students to help coordinate group fundraising efforts. As the program continues to become a tradition and part of the WLA experience, we hope to gain increased support from the broader school and community. We welcome any new fundraising ideas and will try to work with eager parents and students to get them implemented. We do not have a paid staff person in charge of fundraising, so we really need parents and students to come forward to lead these efforts.

We have a few different categories of current fundraisers:

1. Participation Fund (This is money raised by WLA fundraising events that parents organize and worked by students.) The Fundraising Committee will track all of the money raised for the Participation Fund in a specified time period and the amount of hours each student (or parent, in certain cases) works during that time period. Then a per-hour dollar amount will be attributed to each student based on the total dollar amount raised in the defined time period divided by total amount of hours contributed by all students in that defined time period.

Then the per-hour amount will be multiplied by the hours earned by each student in that period. One hour can be either earned by: one hour spent by a parent organizing an event or contributing time on a pre-approved activity that a student cannot do (like picking up food, preparing food at home for sale) or one hour spent by a student actively participating at a fundraising event. Students cannot earn extra hours with additional family members helping at the same event, but it sure would be nice if they wanted to help and the fundraising may be more successful.

The hours will be rounded down to the nearest half hour. Any money raised after the final time period ends will roll over for the next year’s seventh grade students. In a nutshell, the student will receive money based on total profits made divided by the number of students (or parents) who worked and their recorded hours.
Examples of events that would fall into this category include:
• Flock of flamingos
• International spring festival booth
• Parent nights where food is sold
• Costa Rican dinner night

2. Per Student Fund (e.g., corporate sponsorships, certain fundraisers that can’t be attributed to specific hours or students) Money will be attributed to each student in the final time period based on total amount raised in the Student Fund divided by number of students actually going on the trip. Any money raised after the final time period ends will roll over for the next year’s students.
Examples:
• Kick-a-thon
• Skate country WLA night
• Chuck E Cheese’s WLA night

3. Individual Sales Some fundraisers may depend on individual students selling items and getting credit for number of items sold by that student.
Examples:
• Bake sales

4. Scholarship Fund: Money specifically donated for the purpose of helping students join the trip based on need, as identified by WLA administration.

5. Students are encouraged to explore their own ways to raise money. Some have written personal letters to family members and friends, soliciting financial support. Others have spoken to different groups and clubs or agreed to speak upon their return for financial support (churches, rotary clubs, etc.). Others have gone to local businesses to ask for donations. We encourage the students to get creative. Some have used the GoFundMe website, but please note that they take 8% of each donation total.

6. We encourage families to consider setting aside Costa Rica study abroad funds when their child begins school. You can see with the chart below, how affordable the experience is when one starts saving early on.