Policies

• CASH & GIFT MANAGEMENT POLICY
  It is the policy of the A+ Foundation for West Aurora Schools that:

  • All cash receipts will be deposited into one of A+ Foundation funds at the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley.
  • If a gift is accepted with a donor designated restriction, the restricted use of the gift will be honored.
  • Appropriate operating procedures are in place and are being followed so as to ensure that all assets of the A+ Foundation are accounted for and used for their intended purpose.

  The following cash and gift management procedures have been implemented to ensure that the policies set forth above are achieved. 

  A+ FOUNDATION CHECKING ACCOUNT
  The A+ Foundation’s checking account will operate as an inprest account with a balance of $5,000.

  • All receipts coming to the A+ Foundation for West Aurora Schools will be transferred to the Community Foundation to be placed into the appropriate A+ Fund at the Community Foundation.  Documents accompanying the transfer will contain sufficient information so that Community Foundation records will reflect the activity for which the funds were initially received. 
  • Periodically, but at least quarterly, a request for reimbursement for any expenditures from this account will be submitted to the Community Foundation.  This request will be supported by all necessary detail so as to meet Community Foundation’s requirements for distribution from the appropriate A+ fund in the Community Foundation.
  • The Secretary is responsible for maintaining the checkbook.
  • The Treasurer will receive the monthly bank statement directly from the bank and is responsible for reconciling the account each month.

  The benefit of these procedures being that all A+ Foundation cash receipts and disbursements will flow through the Community Foundation and are therefore subject to Audit by the Community Foundation’s auditor.

  DESIGNATED GIFT MONITORING

  • Unless a donor directs that their gift to the A+ Foundation is to be placed into one of our endowed funds, all gifts to the A+ Foundation will be deposited into the A+ Foundation for West Aurora Schools Fund at the Community Foundation.
  • Using the Community Foundation’s transaction report for the A+ Foundation for West Aurora Schools Fund, records will be maintained reflecting Receipts and Disbursements for each activity of the A+ Foundation as well as for unrestricted gifts.
  • As part of the wrap-up of all events, the A+ Board, on recommendation of the event committee, will determine how the balance generated by the event is to be used. 

• GRANT REQUEST POLICIES AND PROCEDURES 

  The goals of the A+ Foundation for West Aurora Schools (A+ Foundation) are to enrich the curriculum, inspire excellence in students and staff, expand opportunities for community involvement and foster alumni connections.  It is the intent of the A+ Foundation to provide funds for the enhancement and enrichment of educational programs for Pre K through 12 students in all buildings of the West Aurora Public Schools.  Applicants for A+ Foundation funding will find it helpful to review the A+ Foundation’s Grant Request Policies and Procedures.

  COMPLETION OF THE FUND-A-NEED PROPOSAL FORM:

  The description portion of the proposal should include: 

  1. A description of the proposed program that includes clear indication as to how the proposed program will enhance and enrich the underlying educational program provided by the district.
  2. Information as to how many students will be involved in the program.
  3. If applicable, how student leadership, character, community involvement, respect for others and other life skills are to be developed as part of the proposed program.
  4. Information on other known sources of funding available to underwrite a portion of the cost of the proposed program.
  5. The plan for evaluating the success of the proposed program, to include the type of data that will be gathered throughout the program.

  The budget detail portion of the proposal should include the cost of:

  1. Equipment that will be needed.
  2. Supplies that will be needed.
  3. Other items required to support the proposed program.

  WHAT WILL BE FUNDED?

  In keeping with the philosophy and goals of the A+ Foundation, the foundation will approve programs for funding that will enhance and enrich educational opportunities for Pre K – 12 students in all buildings of West Aurora Public Schools.  The following criteria will serve as selection and funding guidelines:

  What the A+ Foundation will not fund:

  1. Programs that are part of the district’s operating budget.
  2. The purchase of textbooks, operational supplies and materials to be used in support of the district’s regular curriculum offerings.
  3. Compensation

  What the A+ Foundation will fund:

  3. • Computer assisted instruction.
     • Programs that will enhance and enrich any regular curriculum offering.
     • After school and summer programs.
     • Club programs that will enhance and enrich the club experience.
     • Artist in Residence programs to enhance and enrich any regular curriculum offering.
     • Tutoring and mentoring programs.
     • Student leadership, character and life skill development programs.
     • Programs that bring the community into the classroom.
     • Other innovative programs and activities that support approved classroom learning.

  GENERAL OPERATING GUIDELINES:

  1.      All recommendations of the Grant Committee must be approved by the Board of the A+ Foundation before they become official.

  2.      All publicity of an accepted proposal must carry the statement: “This project is made possible by the A+ Foundation for West Aurora Schools” and should include the A+ Foundation’s logo.

  3.      All Fund-A-Need donors should be appropriately acknowledged and thanked as part of the program.

  4.      The Board of the A+ Foundation has the responsibility for determining the dollar amount of A+ Foundation funds that will be available each year to underwrite Fund-A-Need programs that are not fully underwritten by community donors.  

  5.      While the A+ Foundation’s mission is to support District 129 programs, it is not, however, the intent of the A+ Foundation to fund any program in perpetuity.  All programs, even those which have been funded previously by the A+ Foundation, must reapply each year for consideration of funding.

  6.      The Grant Request Policies and Procedures document will be reviewed annually by the Grant Committee.  Any suggested changes to the document are to be given to the A+ Foundation’s board for approval.

  THE APPROVAL PROCESS:

  Date specific timelines will be developed for each grant cycle.  It is anticipated that there will be two grant cycles each year, one for programs which will take place between September and December and a second for those programs taking place between January and May.

  1.      The completed Propose a Fund-A-Need form will be submitted electronically to the A+ Foundation.

  2.      The proposal will be logged and forwarded to the respective building principal and the Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning in the district office.

  3.      The person submitting a proposal that is declined by either central administration or the building principal will be notified that their proposal will not be funded by the building principal or central administration.  The rejection will be recorded on the A+ Foundation’s log.

  4.      Proposals accepted by both the building principal and central administration will be returned to the A+ Foundation for evaluation by the Grant Committee. The evaluation process may include asking the individual making the request for project funding to make a presentation to either the Grant Committee or the Board of the A+ Foundation.  The evaluation process will culminate in the determination if the proposal is to be funded and the amount of the funding.

  5.      The person making the proposal will be notified that their proposal has been approved, subject to funding.

  6.      Approved proposals will be entered into the Fund-A- Need website seeking community funding support.

  7.      Fund-A-Need proposals that receive 75% level of community funding support will be fully funded with the use of A+ Foundation resources.  If 75% is not reached the donor/s will be contacted suggesting an alternative use for the donation.

  8.      Funding of approved projects will be made after A+ Foundation board action is made.  A check for the grant will be sent to the building administrator.  Appropriate documentation will be submitted to A+ Foundation at the conclusion of the project.

  9.      Upon completion of the approved program, a summary and evaluation of the program will be submitted to the Grant Committee for their review. 

 

 The A+ Foundation for West Aurora Schools is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization committed to respecting the privacy of our donors. Your confidence in us is essential to the work we do on behalf of the West Aurora school community. We take your right to privacy very seriously and understand that your providing personal information to us is an act of trust.

We have created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm and continuing commitment to the privacy of personal information provided by those visiting and interacting with this website. We hold the privacy of your personal information in the highest regard. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this website. We recognize the importance of protecting your privacy and our policy is designed to assist you in understanding how we collect, use and safeguard the personal information you provide to us and to assist you in making informed decisions when using our site. This policy will be continuously assessed against new technologies, business practices and the needs of our customers.

 

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
When you visit this website you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis and website use information collected on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our website.

HOW DO WE USE THE INFORMATION THAT YOU PROVIDE TO US?
Broadly speaking, we use personal information for purposes of administering our business activities, providing the products and services you requested, to monitor the use of the service, our marketing and promotional efforts and improve our content and service offerings, and customize the site content, layout, services and for other lawful purposes. These uses improve our site and better tailor it to meet your needs. Furthermore, such information may be shared with others on an aggregate basis. Personally identifiable information or business information will not be shared with parties except as required by law.

WHAT ARE COOKIES?
A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a website, the server asks your computer for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites. Browsers are usually set to accept cookies. However, if you would prefer not to receive cookies, you may alter the configuration of your browser to refuse cookies. If you choose to have your browser refuse cookies, it is possible that some areas of our site will not function as effectively when viewed by the users. A cookie cannot retrieve any other data from your hard drive or pass on computer viruses.

HOW DO WE USE INFORMATION WE COLLECT FROM COOKIES?
As you visit and browse our website, the site uses cookies to differentiate you from other users. In some cases, we also use cookies to prevent you from having to log in more than is necessary for security. Cookies, in conjunction with the log files of our Web server, allow us to calculate the aggregate number of people visiting our website and which parts of the site are most popular. This helps us gather feedback to constantly improve our website and better serve our clients. Cookies do not allow us to gather any personal information about you and we do not intentionally store any personal information that your browser provided to us in your cookies.

IP ADDRESSES
IP addresses are used by your computer every time you are connected to the Internet. Your IP address is a number that is used by computers on the network to identify your computer. IP addresses are automatically collected by our Web server as part of demographic and profile data known as traffic data so that data (such as the pages you request) can be sent to you.

SHARING AND SELLING INFORMATION
We do not share, sell, lend or lease any of the information that uniquely identify a subscriber (such as email addresses or personal details) with anyone except to the extent it is necessary to process transactions or provide services that you have requested.

HOW CAN YOU ACCESS AND CORRECT YOUR INFORMATION?
You may request access to all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain in our database by emailing us.

HOW DO I OPT OUT OF BEING CONTACTED?
You may request that we refrain from contacting you in the future by sending your name, address and email address toinfo@aplusfoundation.org. Please be aware that by placing your name on our Do Not Contact list your name and address will not be made available to your classmates organizing reunions or attempting to contact classmates for class activity purposes. Also, please be aware that through this request you are only opting out from communications from the A+ Foundation for West Aurora Schools and does not include communications from the school district and other district related groups that maintain their own data base of names and addresses.

WHAT ABOUT LEGALLY COMPELLED DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION?
We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights. We may also disclose account information when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be violating our Terms of Service or to protect the safety of our users and the Public.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER WEBSITES LINKED TO OUR WEBSITE?
We are not responsible for the practices employed by websites linked to or from our website or the information or content contained therein. Often links to other websites are provided solely as pointers to information on topics that may be useful to the users of our website. Please remember that when you use a link to go from our website to another website, our Privacy Policy is no longer in effect. Your browsing and interaction on any other website, including websites that have a link on our website, is subject to the rules and policies of that website. Please read over those rules and policies before proceeding.

YOUR CONSENT
By using our website you consent to our collection and use of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. We reserve the right to amend this privacy policy at any time with or without notice.

OUR COMMITMENT TO DATA SECURITY:
Please note that your information will be stored and processed on our computers in the United States. The laws on holding personal data in the United States may be less stringent than the laws of your Country of residence or citizenship. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

A SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT CHILDREN
Children are not eligible to use our services unsupervised and we ask that children (under the age of 14) do not submit any personal information to us. If you are a minor, you can use this service only in conjunction with permission and guidance from your parents or guardians.

ACQUISITION OR CHANGES IN OWNERSHIP
In the event that the website (or a substantial portion of its assets) is acquired, your information would be considered part of those assets, and may be part of those assets that are transferred.

POLICY MODIFICATIONS
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If/when changes are made to this privacy policy, we will email users who have given us permission to do so. We will post any changes here, so be sure to check back periodically. However, please be assured that if the Privacy Policy changes in the future, we will not use the personal information you have submitted to us under this Privacy Policy in a manner that is materially inconsistent with this Privacy Policy, without your prior consent.

1. Personal Information You Choose to Provide Email Information If you choose to correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received by mail and telephone.
2. Website Use Information Similar to other commercial websites, our website utilizes a standard technology called "cookies" (see explanation below, "What Are Cookies?") and Web server log files to collect information about how our website is used. Information gathered through cookies and Web server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our website, and the websites visited just before and just after our website.