USC Band Parents --Fundraisers

USC Band Fundraisers

2009-2010 Fundraisers, Incentives & Subsidies - How It Works

Every Instrumental Music Program[1] student has the opportunity to fundraise in order to begin accruing funds for the trips they are eligible to take part in. We urge you to take advantage of these opportunities. Your entire trip can be paid for through fundraising! Your student can accumulate money in their Incentive Account by selling tickets (Band Festival), products (Hoagies, Pizza, Citrus, etc.) and working at events (Luminaria, Citrus, etc.). For most fundraising events, 80% of your student’s profits are credited to him/her in their current year Incentive Account. The other 20% of those profits are deposited in the Major Trip Fund.

The student’s portion of their fundraising activities stays in their Incentive Account while they are in high school. Amounts not spent on the current year’s trip will carry forward as a credit towards the cost of future year trips. At the beginning of each school year, your student will receive a fundraising target letter for that year based on the estimated cost of the next trip that they are eligible to participate in (trips are looked at on a 2 year basis). That fundraising target is used as a basis for determining future potential subsidies in a Major Trip year. These fundraising targets are recalculated each year. Each year that your student goes on a trip, regardless of the fundraising target, you are responsible for the entire cost of their trip (in a Major Trip year that would equal the cost of the trip less any potential subsidy that you might earn). Your out-of-pocket payment towards the trip cost can be $0 if your student raises enough money through fundraising!

Every four years, the Music Department has sponsored a Major Trip to Orlando, Florida. Historically, the cost of this trip has been about double the trip cost of the other non-Major Trip years. Therefore, it is in that year that the Major Trip Fund is distributed to the students in the form of a subsidy based on their fundraising activities over their time in the program, be it one year or four. In 2006, the trip cost to Florida was $960 per student, and each student’s fundraising target was equal to 50% of the trip or $480. The students’ share of that year’s subsidy ranged from $120 to $480.

When each student’s fundraising average is calculated to determine how much subsidy from the Major Trip Fund they may receive, it is based on only those years in which the student has actually participated in the music program:

· Subsidies for freshmen who are in a group that is eligible for the trip in the Major Trip Year are based on that current year’s success: For example, if your student is a freshman in the Major Trip Year and meets their fundraising target for that year, they may share in the Major Trip Fund with the full subsidy available. Then over their next three years in the program, they replace the subsidy received to the Major Trip Fund through their fundraising activities.

· Subsidies for sophomores, juniors and seniors are generally based on their 2, 3 and 4 year history, respectively (including the current year). For example, if your student is a senior in the Major Trip Year and meets their fundraising target each year, they may share in the Major Trip Fund with the full subsidy available.

· Subsidies for students who transferred in, or who joined after their freshman year, are based on the year(s) of actual participation in the program. For example, a student who has joined an Auxiliary unit of the Marching Band after their freshman year would have their subsidy calculation based on only the year(s) in the Auxiliary unit.

· Subsidies for students who were only in Concert Band as freshman and then continue on in other groups that are eligible to go on trips in future years will have their freshmen year fundraising included in their subsidy calculation, based on the rotation of the trips. If you receive a letter with a fundraising target in your freshman year as a Concert Band-only student, that year’s fundraising will be included in your Major Trip Year subsidy calculation. Concert Band-only students do not participate in a trip their freshman year.

· In summary, your student may share in the Major Trip Fund subsidy in a Major Trip Year based upon his/her fundraising activity.

Money remaining at graduation may be passed to a sibling who will be in the program during the following school year. Otherwise, the money reverts to the Major Trip Fund according to the by-laws of the Band Parents Association. The bylaws are available for viewing on the Band Parents Association website Bylaws

To see an example of a subsidy calculation, click HERE.

[1]Groups that are included in the Instrumental Music Program include Marching Band Instrumentalists and Auxiliary (Pantherettes, Color Guard & Majorettes), Band Managers, Concert Band, Wind Symphony, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Lab, Jazz Ensemble 2, Jazz Ensemble 1, Orchestra.

[1] Groups that are included in the Instrumental Music Program include Marching Band Instrumentalists and Auxiliary (Pantherettes, Color Guard & Majorettes), Band Managers, Concert Band, Wind Symphony, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Lab, Jazz Ensemble 2, Jazz Ensemble 1, Orchestra.