THE founders of a business that aims to take the pain out of school fundraising hope an appearance on the CBC reality show Dragons' Den will bring their startup to the next level.
West Vancouver dad Darryl Davis hopes his Oct. 24 appearance on the show will generate some buzz for Wealthy School Revolution, the business he started with his wife Sarah in 2010. With two children in elementary school, Davis said the idea for the site came out of his own frustrating experiences with bake sales and bottle drives.
"Parents that make up the PAC committee are all of a sudden responsible for helping schools raise money, and yet they don't have any of the tools or the resources available to do so," said Davis. "And they typically don't offer parents a product selection that most parents want."
On Wealthy School Revolution's website, parents can shop for groceries, school supplies and health and beauty products, with 15 per cent of the sales going directly to the family's school. Every two weeks, parents pick up their order from the school.
Davis used his background in food manufacturing and distribution to develop the system, which he says simply "replaces the retailer." By buying products from the same distributors that stock grocery store shelves, the online business keeps prices the same as in grocery stores.
"The retailer is out there soliciting people, (they have) a building, traffic flow and are making the transaction," said Davis. "All we're doing is telling parents that if we shift a portion of that everyday spend over to the school, which is a building, which is a community, which has traffic flow, then we can take that profit . . . to the school."
Wealthy School Revolution also provides schools and parents with social media tools - an online "dashboard" where members can post notes about fundraising updates and school events and upload documents and forms.
"We saw how schools typically communicate with parents," said Davis. "It's usually an eight-page email attachment that most parents don't take the time to read."
Wealthy School Revolution now has 105 schools participating across the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. The company would like to expand across Canada and the United States, and that's where Dragons' Den comes in.
After friends encouraged the Davises to audition for the show, they made the trek out to Abbotsford in April to make their case to the show's producers.
"Two days later we received the call asking us to come to Toronto for the taping," said Davis.
While Davis couldn't reveal whether the Dragons liked Wealthy Schools enough to invest in the business, he said the exposure gained from appearing on the national television show was worth it.
"We expect an influx of requests" after the show airs, he said.
The biggest hurdle to overcome now is to get more schools and parents using the system. Fundraising amounts so far have been modest. Last school year, Westcot elementary in West Vancouver raised $,1000 to go towards a new playground. Strathcona elementary, near Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, raised a few hundred dollars for much-needed food programs.
Davis said the potential for fundraising is there.
"If 75 parents shifted just $16 of their monthly grocery spend, whether it be on groceries, health and beauty items, books, some labels, school supplies . . . they would raise over $10,000."
