Torch: U.S. LXXIV Spring 2025 | Page 13

FROM THE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE · Spring 2025 · Torch: U.S.

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DEVELOPMENT

from the

COMMITTEE

The Development Committee consists of 12 people: Lilia AitSahlia (NJCL President), Kevin Ballestrini, Stefanie Gigante, Ian Hochberg (Chair), Sherwin Little (ACL Executive Director), Jennie Luongo (ACL President), David Pellegrino, Jake Presson (NSCL President), Michelle Ramahlo, Generosa Sangco-Jackson, Jeremy Walker (ACL Board of Governors at-large member), and Todd Wegenhart (NJCL Chair).

The committee has undertaken many concurrent projects which include running an annual giving campaign, creating giving clubs and societies, planning for a JCL Alumni Association, exploring grant opportunities, and working toward an Endowment Campaign, to name a few.

The annual giving campaign started officially on October 13, though gifts were arriving already because of ACL President Jennie Luongo's emails to the ACL membership in which she discussed the ACL’s finances and asked people to consider donating. One goal of the campaign is to reach a wide base of potential donors including ACL members, JCL alumni, JCL parents, SCL, and friends of ACL. The Development Committee created two letters on letterhead (one to ACL members and one to parents of JCL and JCLers).

Donors can mail a check to the ACL office or pay online via QR codes that link to a donations page for members and to Venmo for non-members. Venmo is a stopgap measure until a more permanent two click process is set up. We are trying to avoid the need for registering in the system, but at the same time we want to collect information about who our donors are as well as how best to reach them in the future. Many universities and organizations have models for this, which we have looked at. 

JCLers and their parents can donate by mailing a check to the ACL office at 860 NW Washington Blvd, Suite A, Hamilton OH 45013 or by donating on the ACL website (https://bit.ly/4en0CsI) or via Venmo (https://bit.ly/3UR4Y4l).

Generosa Sangco-Jackson and I coordinated social media posts to go out every Tuesday from mid October through giving Tuesday on December 3. They focused on “Empowering Teachers”, “Enriching the Experience of Learners”, and “Preserving our Community”, which were the three goals of the annual giving campaign. I asked all ACL Board of Governors members to donate or pledge to donate by Thanksgiving. All did! We announced this to launch a $10,000 matching grant campaign in late November through the day after Giving Tuesday (December 4). We raised more than $10,000 to match the grant. Lilia AitSahlia created a video montage to reinvigorate the campaign in January.

The campaign ends April 1st because of the end of the ACL's fiscal year. Donations can still be made after this date, but they will be recorded as annual giving donations for the next fiscal year. We are hoping to capitalize on spring JCL state conventions as an opportunity to invite JCL students and parents as well as sponsors to contribute to the annual giving campaign.

Virginia's state convention in the fall offered us a test run at making an appeal on a local level. NJCL Communications Coordinator Reesey Lai helped organize an appeal from VJCL state officers, and Sue Robertson (ACL Secretary) and I spoke at the sponsors' meeting and the chaperones' meeting. Jennie Luongo, Sue Robertson, and I met with JCL State Chairs in January on Zoom to remind them of the annual campaign and ask for their help in appealing to students, parents, and teachers at their respective state conventions.

We hope that those of you reading this article will contribute to the annual giving campaign to empower teachers, enrich the experience of learners, and preserve our community. Please give today!

Sincerely,

Ian Hochberg

ACL Development Committee Chair