Schools

CH-UH District Hires Fundraising Consultant

Cramer & Associates will advise the district on how to raise money from non-profits and foundations to help pay for its plan to renovate or rebuild every building in the district and other initiatives

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District has hired a consultant to study how CH-UH can raise money through philanthropic initiatives to help every school.

The approved hiring Cramer & Associates, of Dublin, OH, to study how the district can network and develop partnerships with non-profits, foundations and philanthropists to help reduce the financial burden of what could be a more than $170 million project from the district and taxpayers.

The consultant was also hired to help the district identify potential curriculum-based partnerships with universities, hospitals and other institutions for its "Pathways of Choice" plan, said Angee Shaker, communications director for the district. The district intends to realign its schools to be associated with one of three pathways — society, discovery and creativity.

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"Sharing space on our campuses and theirs is a win-win for everyone. The more we can put our students in real world experiences, the less we have to devote resources toward trying to simulate those types of experiences," Shaker said by e-mail. "Our students can provide many services for our partners, such as research, writing, and video production, the list goes on and on, we have great kids who like to be challenged.”  

Michelle Cramer, who founded Cramer & Associates about 24 years ago, came to the Dec. 13 meeting to answer questions from the CH-UH School Board, which approved the hire. The district will pay the firm $84,500 for a “Feasibility Study and Strategic Fundraising Plan.” Travel expenses and printing costs will be billed as they occur, according to the proposal from Cramer dated November 2011, and will not exceed $6,500 without the prior written consent of the district.

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Cramer & Associates outlined its process in the proposal. The firm plans to interview two school districts that have successfully completed a renovation project similar to the CH-UH plan, develop a case statement that describes why the district needs to overhaul its school buildings and why it needs community partners, in addition to other research. Then, Cramer will produce findings and recommendations from the study including feasible fundraising goals, who the district could partner with and how to run a successful fundraising campaign, among other recommendations.

"A Community Partnership Study will enable the School District to identify (partners) ... that may consider collaborating with the School District to either purchase the buildings/facilities, or repurpose the buildings/facilities to serve the greater good of the community," Cramer wrote in the proposal. "... the School District is also considering a plan to build a state-of-the-art sports complex. A study will help in identifying potential philanthropic and possibly governmental dollars for the complex."

According to its website, Cramer has worked with several clients in a variety of industries including medical, arts and culture and education. Its clients in education include Columbus State Community College, Lakeland Community College Foundation and Stark State College. Cramer said at the meeting that her firm has worked with one school district other than CH-UH, and her firm has worked with the CH-UH Public Library.

Cramer & Associates’ deadline is March 1.

The hire is part of the district's plan to rebuild or renovate all buildings and bring the district to 21st century standards. 

At the , members approved two contracts to hire companies that will help the district devise a plan and estimate the cost of the construction.

The district hired a group of architectural firms that will work together to create a master plan. Minneapolis-based , Fanning Howey of Dublin, OH, and local firm studioTECHNE will develop a plan and engage the community in the decision-making process.

Cleveland-based Regency Construction will review the plan that the group of companies comes up with and conduct a cost and constructability analysis to estimate approximately the amount of money the district will need to raise to complete the project.

The team of architects will receive $334,840, and the base fee for Regency Construction is $30,000, said Steve Shergalis, director of business services for the district, by email. The Regency payment will be adjusted based on the number of master plans the group analyzes, he said.


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