Many of you financially supported our Forward Education project last year. Here’s an update on what we’ve been doing with that money.

Here (April 2007) and here (December 2008) are updates explaning some of the structural changes that came about this year since Forward Education's inception late 2006, including the addition of an after-school program. To summarize, Forward Education has gone amazingly well. Of our six bridging program students, it looks very likely that all six will be enrolled in either college or university by mid-January. A few are still waiting on their upgraded test results for official acceptance…so we’ll keep you posted as soon we find out.

But we want you to know what we’ve done with all your money. Of course it was a shock to us (as most of you remember) that we actually raised the $140,000 we had sought to raise to run Forward Education for one year and to give these amazing students scholarships to cover their costs.

As it turns out, that money’s going to get us farther than we thought. Because a number of South African organizations recognized the program this year, we were able to tap into several South African scholarship programs to cover part of each student’s education costs. Forward Education prepares its students for university success in a way that’s been very attractive to scholarship providers. By continuing to invest in the program operation, we will continue to access those outside scholarships.

With the help of these outside scholarships, we will be able to run the program for the next 3 years, covering operating costs of the program, as well as scholarships for each student. Below is a breakdown of the funds.

The costs of operating the program grow each year as more students are added to the program, in 2007 we’ll have 6 bridging class students, 30 after-school students and the operating budget is $17,500; in 2008 we’ll have 7 bridging class students, 50 after-school students and the budget is $22,000; in 2009 we’ll have 9 bridging class students, 80 after-school students and the budget is $28,500

That leaves $70,000 to distribute in scholarships to the students over the next 3 years to add to the additional scholarships we access in South Africa. That money will be distributed among the Forward Education bridging program students each year according to student needs.

Here’s the simplified operating budget:

2007

Reaching:      6 bridging class students
                    30 after-school students

Classroom Operation	$    4000
Community Component	$    4000
Student Resources	$    500
Curriculum Development	$    1000
General & Administrative	$    1000
Academic Upgrading	$    2000
Afterschool Program	$    5000
Total	$    17,500

 

2008

Reaching:      7 bridging class students
                    50 after-school students

Classroom Operation	$    4000
Community Component	$    5000
Student Resources	$    1000
Curriculum Development	$    500
General & Administrative	$    1500
Academic Upgrading	$    3000
Afterschool Program	$    7000
Total	$    22,000

 

2009

Reaching:      9 bridging class students
                    80 after-school students

Classroom Operation	$    4800
Community Component	$    5200
Student Resources	$    1000
Curriculum Development	$    500
General & Administrative	$    2000
Academic Upgrading	$    3000
Afterschool Program	$    12,000
Total	$    28,500

DONATE

Canadian donors can support Forward Education by donating to the Forward Education fund held by Westside King's Church in Calgary. 100% of the funds get to Forward Education. Contact Westside King's Church at missions@wkc.org telling them you want to support Forward Education. Donors outside Canada should contact us to be directed to the appropriate national tax-reciepting body.