Mission and Programs

Mission

Crayons to Computer''s mission is "to serve the educational and imaginative needs of children in the greater Cincinnati area by providing a unique means to transfer donated, value purchased, and created product from businesses and individuals free to teachers for use in their classrooms and schools."

Programs

Crayons to Computers operates a 5,000 square foot teacher's free store when school is in session. Teachers from 220 schools where a high percentage of its students participate in the free/reduced price lunch program can "shop" once every four weeks to obtain free school supplies for their classrooms and students. (Teachers from an additional 170 schools may shop after volunteering 3 hours at our store.) Since opening in 1997, C2C has distributed over $53 million worth of critical educational tools to needy Tri-State children.
In collaboration with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, our "Crafts with Conviction" program engages volunteer inmates, at 20 facilities in Ohio, who manufacture educational tools and incentive items for teachers and children. Volunteer inmates have crafted flashcards, journals, bookbags, and hundreds of other items from truckloads of donated recyclable materials. Since 1998, over $10 million worth of educational products have been produced through Crafts with Conviction.

Program / Activities (NTEE Code)

Primary/Elementary Schools
Secondary/High School
Kindergarten, Nursery Schools, Preschool, Early Admissions

Accomplishments for Fiscal Year Ending 06/30/2008

1. C2C distributed $8.6 million worth of school supplies to 95,000 Tri-State children, preschool through grade 12, at no cost to teachers or their schools.
2. C2C distributed over 500 "Early Learning Tools" kits to families of preschool children. These kits are designed to be used at home as a supplement to school.
3. 1,214 volunteers gave 21,240 hours of time to the store.

1. To identify product donors who can help stock the shelves at our free store with traditional school supplies and non-traditional items that can be used as incentives for students.
2. To reach out to teachers who have not utilized our services in the past.

C2C tracks "sales" or product donations by calculating the value of supplies that teachers take back to their classrooms and students, and then entering this information into our teacher tracking database, which we update daily.

We track financial donations and donor relations information daily through a separate donor database.

C2C also utilizes teacher satisfaction surveys to guage our effectiveness in the classroom.

Our monthly report cards to sponsors and our annual report provide key information to our product and financial donors.

Chief Executive Profile

Shannon Carter has had over 35 years of retail experience that allows her to oversee this remarkably successful teacher's free store. She envisioned a network of similar resource centers around the country and has been the catalyst for several start up operations. Her leadership has won the organization many local, state and national awards, including recognition by the Peter F. Drucker Foundation 2002 (now the Leader to Leader Institute) and the 2000 Presidential Service Award.

Additional Comments

Since our founding eleven years ago, C2C has been the model for 30 similar resource centers nationally.

C2C was the overall 2008 ONE Award winner, which recognizes best practices among Cincinnati-area nonprofits. C2C was also named 2008 Nonprofit of the Year by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, and was honored with the 2008 Nonprofit Excellence Award from the Ohio Association of Non-profit Organizations for our innovative "Crafts with Conviction" program.

We are a member of the BBB's Wise Giving Alliance, which indicates that C2C meets all BBB Standards for Charitable Accountability. These standards were developed by a national committee of charities, businesses, attorneys, accountants, and grant makers to provide a single set of guidelines for charities that want to foster the public's trust in philanthropy.

C2C won the 2002 Peter F. Drucker Award for Non-Profit Innovation for our "Crafts with Conviction" program, recognized for changing people and society.

Financial Data
From the organization's FORM 990

Revenue and Expenses: Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2008

Revenue			Expenses
Contributions $10,237,361 Government Grants $0 Program Services $0 Investments $290,438 Special Events $0 Sales $0 Other $0			Program Services $8,907,341 Administration $136,499 Other $126,259 Total Expenditures $9,170,099
Total Revenue	$10,527,799		NET GAIN/LOSS	$1,357,700

Balance Sheet: Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2008

Notes
The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot long survive, but the types of assets and liabilities also must be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.

Assets	Jul 1, 2007	Jun 30, 2008	Change
Cash & Equivalent	$162,926	$126,381	$(36,545)
Accounts Receivable	$0	$0	$0
Pledges & Grants Receivable	$137,592	$140,308	$2,716
Receivables/Other	$0	$0	$0
Inventories for Sale or Use	$130,791	$6,267,294	$6,136,503
Investments/Securities	$0	$0	$0
Investments/Other	$3,959,024	$4,067,777	$108,753
Fixed Assets	$1,465,353	$1,403,042	$(62,311)
Other	$92,013	$0	$(92,013)
Total Assets	$5,947,699	$12,004,802	$6,057,103
Liabilities	Jul 1, 2007	Jun 30, 2008	Change
Accounts Payable	$73,659	$12,856	$(60,803)
Grants Payable	$0	$0	$0
Deferred Revenue	$0	$0	$0
Loans and Notes	$0	$0	$0
Tax-Exempt Bond Liabilities	$0	$0	$0
Other	$0	$0	$0
Total Liabilities	$73,659	$12,856	$(60,803)
FUND BALANCE	$5,874,040	$11,991,946	$6,117,906

Comments from the organization
C2C is strictly disciplined about our annual budget. Our COO, with staff input, prepares a detailed yearly budget which is reviewed by our Finance Committee and approved by our Board of Trustees.

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