Nyack, NY – July 15, 2008 The Space Frontier Foundation and Teach Kids About Science announced today a joint science education program called Scope 101 which will test a revolutionary approach to producing non-profit, community based science education events.
“Scope 101 is a pilot program which applies the lessons of entrepreneurial philanthropy to non-profit, community based science education programs in order to ensure their sustainability and success,” says John Wright, executive director of Teach Kids About Science. “We’re very excited to work with Foundation Executive Director Will Watson and his team because the Space Frontier Foundation was founded to encourage and inspire the entrepreneurial spirit in the space community.”
“We’ve worked with John on a number of projects in the past and so we’re excited to work with him and his new organization because they are so dedicated to entrepreneurship in community based science education,” states Watson. “Scope 101 is a unique experiment and, with it’s success, it will change the model of community based science education events in the future.”
Scope 101 will do that because it focuses equally on science educational programming and the sustainability of the event. Too many times a great local science education program happens once, the team gets burned out or runs out of money, and there is no second event. Or, worse yet, the second year is a smaller event and the team loses money.
Scope 101 is designed to not only pay for itself, but also have enough money remaining to pay small salaries to critical staff and reserve facilities for the next event. In addition, our plans call for the remaining money to pay for the entire marketing effort to attract students for next time.
This assures the economic viability of future events and keeps the dedicated volunteers happy, less stressed out, and, therefore, less likely to become burnt out.
The more science education events you have, the more prominent the program becomes and the more students it attracts. A track record of success is what every large sponsor is looking for and they will find Scope 101 a great opportunity to invest in science education and, ultimately, in their future workforce.
A groundswell of support has erupted in the non-profit space advocacy and science education community as the most important organizations in the space community have joined the Space Frontier Foundation in support of Scope 101. They include The Planetary Society, International Space University, Astronomers Without Borders, World Space Week, and the National Space Society.
Telescopes and optical equipment for Scope 101 is graciously provided by Orion Telescopes, www.telescope.com.
Scope 101 will be among the topics discussed at the Foundation’s NewSpace 2008 Conference, in Washington D.C., from Thursday, July 17 to Saturday, July 19th.
