How do we prepare the next generation for a world where the only constant will be change? A world where the jobs they will hold consist of skills that haven’t been invented yet; in which they will have to re-tool many times in their adult lives to adjust to the changing needs of society? We teach them to love learning. Thats what we do at One Spark Academy, and thats why Geist Interactive is a proud to be major supporter.

tldr – One Spark is doing great, but we still need  your help on Giving Tuesday.

5 years ago my wife, Lori Peters, and I founded One Spark Academy, a non profit learning center for middle school aged kids in Thousand Oaks, California. We believed that many kids in our community we not doing well in the standardized approach to education that years of government command and control had foisted on to the local school systems. We thought we had a better way.

It wasn’t just a theory. Lori had years of experience in alternative education. We knew what worked. We just needed the freedom of a non profit private learning center to make it happen. One Spark Academy was born.

5 years later we are still going strong. Lots of kids have come through our program. The earliest ones are getting ready to head off to college now. It’s been a wonderful experience that I have enjoyed sharing with people in the FileMaker Community. Not a DevCon goes by that people don’t ask me about how the school is doing.

Cost

One of our goals is to keep One Spark affordable. Its a challenge. It cost a lot of money to provide the services we do. Since we are a private non-profit we don’t get any government funding. But we believe that One Spark should be available to as many kids as possible, so we ask the community for help in the form of a tax deductible donation. All donations go directly to keeping our fees as low as can be.

FileMaker Community – Doing its Part

Over the years, we have received generous support from many people in the FileMaker community through direct donations. Also a very significant portion of every dollar you spend with Geist Interactive makes its way to One Spark. We want to thank everyone for your donations to One Spark, and your patronage of Geist Interactive. Every little bit matters.

You Can Still Help

For those of you who haven’t yet decided what to give for Giving Tuesday, here is your chance. Please consider giving to our year end campaign.

http://igg.me/at/OSA2015/x

Thank you so much for your continued support.

Todd Geist

Founder – Geist Interactive
Founder – One Spark Foundation