Community Support for Voyager

As a public charter school, Voyager receives a per-pupil allocation to fund operations of the school. Unfortunately, this allocation falls short of funding the full and true educational needs of Voyager students. In addition, Hawaii charter schools receive no financial assistance to fund the cost of leasing or acquiring facilities, so facilities expenses put a further strain on the operating funds of the school.

Fundraising is a key component of the Voyager program. Financial support, in-kind contributions of services, equipment and supplies, and volunteer assistance all help provide the resources Voyager needs to fund its programs.

Foundation Support

Foundation support is vital to the long-term success of Voyager. Voyager’s financial strategy includes an active grant-writing program. Voyager seeks local and national foundations that have identified strengthening our education system as a priority or focus area. Voyager appeals to a wide range of foundation interests, including systemic educational reform, visual and performing arts in education, acquisition of additional languages, programs for disabled and/or disadvantaged persons, cultural programs, interdisciplinary programs, acquisition of cognitive skills, innovative curriculum approaches, public school choice, and other related areas.

Corporate Sponsorship

Voyager actively seeks the support of the many businesses that understand the vital link between education and the economic growth and vitality of our community. Most large corporations with employees in Hawaii provide financial and/or in-kind assistance to support the non-profit community, including education. Voyager offers an opportunity for these companies to make a unique, multi-level contribution to the improvement of our system of education.

At the broadest level, corporate support for Voyager encourages development of charter schools in Hawaii as schools of choice within the public school system. Narrowing the focus slightly, corporations interested in supporting Voyager’s approach (arts, languages, quality learning, cognitive development, etc.) will provide support in order to assure that Voyager fulfills its mission of being an “incubator for systemic change.” In other cases, corporations may have a particular focus area (see Foundation Support) emphasized by Voyager that attracts their support. Finally, Voyager’s students come from families whose parents often work in these same corporations. So by supporting Voyager, these companies can provided vital assistance to their employees.

Companies located in Kaka’ako have a special interest in the success of Voyager. The master plan for Kaka’ako includes a strong educational component that, until Voyager, was unmet at the K-8 level.

Individual Sponsorship

People of all ages and backgrounds love children and want to see them have an opportunity to achieve their highest potential. Voyager’s “developer”, the Trust for Emergent Education, is a donor choice option of the Aloha United Way. In addition, contributions can be made directly to Voyager. Individuals may make contributions to support Voyager operations generally, or they may want to designate that their contributions support some specific aspect of Voyager’s program.