Sponsor-A-School
Our Sponsor-A-School program is one of the most effective ways to sign classrooms up for our interactive, science-based environmental education programs. Sponsorship support can help bring Sierra Club BC to your community for up to two weeks of school programs!
Why bring Sierra Club BC’s Education Team to your school?
Sierra Club BC is one of the oldest and leading providers of environmental education programs in British Columbia. Each of our programs is curriculum-linked with the B.C. Ministry of Education’s Prescribed Learning Outcomes and facilitated by professional educators. After receiving a Sierra Club BC program, our goal is that students will feel empowered to take environmental action in their home communities. Click here for a description of our programs.
- Photo: Paula Steele
We believe environmental education should be accessible to all students, and although program and transportation costs have risen over the past 14 years, Sierra Club BC has maintained a no-cost policy since 1998 (our suggested donation is $50.00 per classroom). Each year we assess our budget and plan our schedule according to program costs and our capacity. Often this means we are unable to visit a large number of schools throughout the province. Sponsor-A-School helps address this need.
Sponsorship details
The majority of our K-8 school programs are two-part visits led by two educators. Going Wild! includes one 90-minute visit with one educator (in the case of the Kootenays, Okanagan and Cariboo regions, two educators will be sent). The Sustainable High Schools programs are one classroom visit and facilitated by one educator (in the case of the Kootenays, Okanagan and Cariboo regions, two educators will be sent).
What your sponsorship includes
A sponsorship involves of the following for up to 15 classrooms in a school:
- A series of in-class visits (1-2 per classroom depending on the program) from trained program delivery staff
- A Pre-Program Package (outlines Curriculum Connections, Visit Preparation Checklist, Warm Up Activities, Key Words, Ecosystem Background Information) for each teacher
- All supplies for the program are provided
- Continuous follow-up and support with students’ action projects throughout the school-year
- The chance for students to enter our Take Action! Contest
- Web and e-mail-based support for each teacher, including our Education E-newsletter.
Interested in Sponsor-A-School?
Sponsors have the choice of sponsoring their own community, or choosing from the many eager classrooms on our waitlist. Our sponsorship needs are specific to each region of B.C. and interested sponsors should contact us for fundraising tips and support. Our sponsorship needs are not set in stone; please contact us with what is possible for you and we will try to work out an option that satisfies everyone.
When determining our sponsorship needs, many factors are considered. These include:
- Teaching and travel time for our professional environmental educators
- Travel costs while on the road for an extended period of time (Sierra Club BC is based in Victoria)
- Program registration, preparation, and materials
- Evaluation procedures and constant revision/training to ensure our programs reflect up to date science and knowledge
We’ve organized our sponsorship needs into geographic regions with a generalized program schedule. There are easy ways to help reduce costs (by providing billets for our educators, partnering with other schools in your district for delivery, etc). We encourage you to call us as soon as you have decided to fundraise for your community so that we can help support you in your goal.
To make a request for Sponsor-A-School, please contact:
Meg Banavage (Elementary and Middle School Programs Coordinator):
schoolprograms@sierraclub.bc.ca; 250.386.5255 ext 245
