Top Ten Tips for Donors
- Provide, encourage, and support continuing education and professional training for employees-provide information and incentives to workers to increase their skills-such as paid time off and/or tuition assistance.
- Donate money – literacy programs like Skyline Literacy are often under-funded and have waiting lists of students needing trained volunteers. Financial support helps increase outreach efforts, and makes it possible to train more volunteers and serve more learners.
- Provide in-kind support – donate equipment, materials, office supplies, space, business machines, and technology.
- Donate expertise – take on Skyline Literacy for pro-bono services such as financial or strategic planning, Human Resources, technology, web mastery, or public relations.
- Encourage your employees to share their expertise and provide paid time for them to do so.
- Support family-friendly policies for education – allow employees paid leave to visit their children’s teachers or participate in other education-related activities.
- Encourage employees to volunteer – Skyline Literacy is small and cannot hire all the staff needed. We depend on community involvement for tutors and other expertise. Again, consider some paid leave time for volunteer service.
- Become an advocate – within your own business and within the larger community – speaking out for adult education and literacy. Find as many ways as you can – speaking to business groups, writing letters to the editor, and addressing community forums – to raise literacy awareness.
- Adopt Skyline Literacy – get your business involved in providing ongoing support at all levels and in all areas for your local literacy program. Consider serving on the board and encourage fellow employees to volunteer in a leadership capacity.
- Start a literacy program in your workplace – making training available to your employees is a positive incentive and opportunity to improve skills. Consider bringing in Skyline Literacy’s tutors, partnering to make services available.
