Case Study: Farms Intermediate School
Organization Profile: Farms Intermediate School, located in Brighton, Michigan, is part of the Hartland Consolidated School System. The 10-year-old school serves approximately 850 fifth-and sixth-grade students. In cooperation with the local community, Farms Intermediate School is committed to meeting the unique intellectual, emotional, social and physical needs of its students, ensuring a safe, positive atmosphere that promotes life-long learning, a respect for diversity, responsibility for self and concern for others.
Summary: Since signing up with SchoolPictures.com in 2006, Farms Intermediate School has increased the amount of money it receives to support student activities and decreased the hassle of school picture day for its teachers and staff. Money donated by SchoolPcitures.com has been used for a variety of purposes, including funding student scholarships, supporting award programs and purchasing classroom supplies. SchoolPictures.com, a student photography company, generates high-quality, easy-to-order photos and yearbooks for Farms Intermediate students while supplementing funding for the school during tight budget seasons.
After three years of working with student portrait company SchoolPictures.com, Keenan Simpson, principal of Farms Intermediate School in Brighton, Michigan, is a believer in the benefits the local company offers his school over larger photography companies.
“Before I went with SchoolPictures.com I was comfortable dealing with a large, national portrait company for many years. I was a bit apprehensive about making the change to a new company. I have to say, though, changing to SchoolPictures.com was the best decision. I have never regretted it, because the company produces high-quality results while greatly increasing our profit margin,” said Simpson.
SchoolPictures.com is a Michigan-based firm that supplements funding for education to improve the academic environment for children, while providing parents and students with high-quality, affordable pictures. Money contributed by SchoolPictures.com is generated from the sales of student portrait packages. In the 13 years since its founding, SchoolPictures.com has donated more than $9 million to schools like Farms Intermediate School all across the state of Michigan.
After beginning to work with the company in fall 2006, Farms Intermediate School had received a total of $24,300 from SchoolPictures.com by spring 2009. Simpson has been able to use the contributions to support a wide variety of purchases and programs that otherwise likely would not receive funding, including:
- Sponsoring student scholarships for field trips and student yearbooks, so all students have an equal opportunity for school involvement
- Purchasing awards to recognize students and teachers for outstanding accomplishments
- Sponsoring staff professional development days to help teachers provide students with the best learning environment possible
- Purchasing media center equipment and essential classroom supplies
“I was initially drawn to SchoolPictures.com by the income potential the company offered,” said Simpson. “As I looked closer, I realized the quality of the company's work was as good or better as the vendors I had worked with in the past and their customer service is great. In the end, it was easy to make the decision to work with SchoolPictures.com once I realized I could provide a better product for my parents and students and, at the same time, more than double the profits for the school.” SchoolPictures.com is able to provide a large return on investment to its customers because it has low processing costs and it takes less of a profit than most portrait companies. Since launching in the fall of 2005, SchoolPictures.com has accepted a fixed fee for each purchased photo package and given the remainder of the cost of these packages directly to the schools it works with.
Beyond the large donation amounts, Simpson said he has also been extremely pleased with the smooth school portrait process, from ordering, to picture day, to final delivery to parents. Parents report immense satisfaction with the cost and quality of their students' photos, while teachers and administrators appreciate the company's effort to minimize the time students spend out of class to have their picture taken.
“The cameras are all digital, and the photographers are very good. They are always careful to get a good shot, which results in very few retakes,” said Simpson. “We begin our school picture days around 9:30 a.m. and SchoolPictures.com is finished, packed up and out the door by 11:45 a.m. That's an impressive feat with 850 students!”