Partnership Benefits

Fundraising

RemmoSpace is 100 percent funded by members of the general public who receive subsidized tutoring. All RemmoSpace tutors are volunteers, and are required to spend half their time tutoring members of the general public who are not members of the partner organizations. This tutoring is not free, and those individuals who receive it are encouraged to make a suggested minimum donation of $10 per session. Those donations need not be made directly to RemmoSpace, donors can optionally make donations directly to partner organizations (or split the donation so RemmoSpace gets just part of it). Those donations are facilitated by a donation search feature: location (of partner organization), type of services provided, population type (type of members supported), funding sources. Clicking on a search result displays a Donate button, a summary of the services provided by the partner organization, and a link to its website.

Networking

RemmoSpace includes a wide variety of forums, which are called spaces. Tutors and managers who supervise them can use these forums for networking. Forums exist for every subject: math, fractions, long division, calculus, all sorts of software applications such as MS Word and Excel, and more. Filters can be used to filter by student or tutor. So tutors can turn on the tutor filter to only display messages posted by tutors and their managers. Every partner organization can have their own forum, divided into public, staff, and private areas. The staff area is accessible to employees of other non-profit organizations. Forums exist which are specific to types of services provided by the organizations, and different population types, and these forums are accessible to employees of multiple organizations. Forums also exist for members of the organizations, which is (at least initially) a burden on the partner organizations since volunteer moderators must be hired. Eventually, if RemmoSpace grows to serve hundreds of partner organizations, it will be able to afford paid staff to recruit and oversee the volunteer moderators, lessening the burden on the partner organizations.

Numbers

RemmoSpace can increase the number of members who receive free tutoring, as well as the number of volunteer tutors available. Some tutors and students face barriers to having to be at a specific location at a specific time, due to mental health issues and other factors. These individuals would be less likely to cancel their appointment if they can interact with the other party remotely using the Seecreen remote desktop sharing app used for most RemmoSpace tutoring sessions. Any given partner organization can link up tutors and students who live far away. All of this translates into more students being served, which can often result in more funding dollars flowing to the partner organizations.

Beta Testing

West Neighbourhood House will be the first organization to be approached by Mike, the RemmoSpace founder, whereby a request is made to WNH to be a guinea pig for RemmoSpace. In other words, WNH would be the first beta tester of the RemmoSpace website after it's up and running. Progress Place will be the second organization (and beta tester). As first beta tester, WNH would be responsible for the following items:

• All computers in Bang The Drum are modified by installing Seecreen, which is free Java-based remote desktop sharing software which supports audio conversations, no installer is needed. To launch it you open the root Java .class file, which can be facilitated with a shortcut icon on the desktop. Mike can perform this task if the tech guy gives him the permissions, or the tech guy can do just one computer with Mike's assistance and then Mike can do the rest of the computers.
• Mike will supply a headset with a microphone, so one student at a time can use Seecreen.
• Every Bang The Drum tutor will be encouraged to teach at least one Seecreen session to one of the students they are currently assigned to. The tutors work at home. Mike and at least one other tutor will each be assigned a student whose first 12 sessions use Seecreen (these remote sessions are called remmos).
• After the math board functionality is completed approximately one year after the website is up and running, WNH has the option of once again being a beta tester, for math tutoring instead of Bang The Drum tutoring.