Buy a house, help a local school or charity

By Rob Kuznia Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2013 03:31:57 PM PST
Updated: 01/14/2013 10:51:19 AM PST

Dave and Gloria Vega of Torrance had kicked around the idea of buying a new
house.
But what really set their quest in motion was an unusual flier in a packet
from the principal of their children's school. The flier urged parents who
are in the market for buying or selling a home to solicit the services of a
real estate agent named Edward Kim.

Some might have viewed the pitch as an advertisement, but the flier explained
why the school was recommending Kim: He would donate 20 percent of his
commission on any sale back to Arnold Elementary. The Vegas were sold. Using
Kim as their real estate agent, they bought a house a few blocks from the
school for $660,000.

Fast forward to Friday morning. At an Arnold Elementary assembly with
Torrance Unified's top school leaders on hand, hundreds of elementary
students cheered as Kim -- also a parent at the school -- made good on that
promise, handing their principal an oversized check for $2,625.

Generous as it is, a check for a couple thousand bucks might not sound like
quite enough to warrant such an occasion. But the event's behind-the-scenes
organizers believe they have hit upon a new way of raising money for public
schools -- one that combines philanthropy with pure capitalism.

The event was put on by a group whose name -- Community Funding Solutions --
could easily be mistaken for a thousand other well-meaning nonprofit groups.
But this outfit is unapologetically for-profit.

"It's

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a for-profit, philanthropic organization," explained Bennett Liss, one of the
co-founders. "If every person chose a Realtor through this program, there
would be no more shortfalls in our schools."
Real-estate deals, he added, are the largest transactions that happen in
society.

"How many doughnut sales do you need to do to make $2,600?"

Community Funding Solutions boils down to this: a list of real estate agents
in Southern California - numbering 90 so far - who have agreed to donate 20
percent of their commissions to every home-buyer's charity of choice.

Liss' company charges the agents an annual fee of $3,000 to $5,000 to be the
featured agent for a specific charity.

Any given charity can have no more than one agent, but any given agent is
free to take on more than one charity - for an additional fee.

In return, Community Funding Solutions sees to it that the featured agents
are marketed heavily by the schools (and other charities) that have signed
up.

"The schools do not want to become commercialized," said Liss, a 55-year-old
Woodland Hills resident. "So this has to become like a PBS kind of
sponsorship. Very classy."

Kim is the featured agent for Arnold Elementary and four other schools in
Torrance: Walteria, Riviera and Seaside elementary schools and South High.
His annual fee to Community Funding Solutions thus came to around $20,000.

That has purchased him exclusive advertising rights on the websites and
principal-penned newsletters of all those schools.

"In any business, there's an investment you gotta make," Kim said. "You could
call it a risk. I just saw it as an opportunity."

It might sound like a lot of money, but Kim has already recouped about half
of his investment with the sale to the Vega family.

But he also likes the idea of making a contribution to the school that two of
his own children attend. (He has an older child at Calle Mayor Middle
School.)

"I feel very proud to be a part of it," he said.

In addition to Kim's five schools in Torrance, the list of schools
benefitting from the Community Funding Solutions model includes 73 more in
Capistrano, Moorpark and Huntington Beach. Also on the list are several
charities, including Angels Way, a maternity home in Woodland Hills, and Big
Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County.

Does it work? Tough to say: After a couple years of planning, the
organization is fresh out of the oven. Friday's check presentation marked the
first of its kind for a school. (The only other charity to benefit so far is
the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County, which recently received a
check for $1,500.) On Tuesday, the group will cut a $4,000 check to Agoura
High School near Thousand Oaks.

The creators of the concept are an accomplished - and colorful - cast of
characters.

Liss is the inventor of the reverse 911 system that schools use to call
parents in the event of an emergency. His company -- PACE Communications --
was bought out by software company Blackboard Inc. Now his technology is a
staple of school districts across the nation.

The other co-founder, Jamie Alcroft, is a comedian with plenty of "Tonight
Show" credits to his name (both Johnny Carson and Jay Leno). Back in the
1980s, Alcroft was also one-half of the comedic duo featured in the
syndicated show "Comedy Break" with Mack Dryden.

And then there's David Pollock, the company's director of education funding.

His left-brain credentials are impressive: school board member in Moorpark,
market planner for Boeing, senior director for program development with the
California School Boards Association, MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of
Management.

Among Pollock's right-brain credentials is his claim to fame: He portrayed
Rudi Stein, the nerdy pitcher in the original "Bad News Bears" movie.

Liss himself has acting credentials. Before his invention, he landed
supporting roles on TV shows such as Columbo, Matlock and CHiPs. He also
acted in several Broadway plays.

During Friday morning's check presentation, Liss -- who wore a hoodie to the
event and still had bed head -- crept around the crowded blacktop, aiming his
smart phone this way and that, capturing the event on video.

As for the Vegas, they can't say enough good things about their real-estate
agent - and fellow Arnold Elementary parent.

"I want the readers to know: Not only was Ed a fantastic real-estate agent,
he's an amazing person for giving back part of his commission," said Gloria.

Creative marketing strategy means you know where to market your products or services correctly. Choosing ideal places that is related to what you provided is a must and school are one of the great places to start up. Houses in Philippines

Good idea, but it is always better to promote releted product like books.

Those are great ideas to market your business! As a matter of fact, a new business in my area is marketing their frozen yogurt business very assertively towards schools. Those kids and teenagers then bring along their parents. That's a very clever and indirect way of marketing their new business towards two different demographics. Marketing a new business or opening a business

Schools are indeed almost always overlooked, but they are the perfect arena for marketing,and for adding value to the educational system.

Lots of good food for thought! thanks for the post.

Good article, I liked the part of the announcement on bulletin boards. This post was edited to remove a link. Please review our Community Best Practices for more information about how best to participate in our online discussions. Thank you.

Nice article, helped me a lot.