Donations & Sponsors

Hi Parents,

The Westwood Debate & Speech Team is one of the best programs in the country. Each year, our students excel at regional, state, and national tournaments. This is not possible without our booster group and actively involved parents. As they say, “it takes a village to grow a child” and looks like our village has been doing a wonderful job at nurturing students in their aspirations with the Debate and Speech program Please continue reading for information on our program’s funding, how funds are used, and how you can maximize your generous contribution with donation matching benefits from your employer.

Westwood HS Debate & Speech program is run by the director. We are very fortunate to have Dominic Henderson with 25+ years of experience as our director for the Debate program. Our Debate & Speech program goes above and beyond to maintain excellence. We have pre-school and post-school club activities where students are very actively preparing for various tournaments. Throughout the year, our students have the opportunity to compete in at least 46 tournaments. Preparation for competition and the logistics involved in competing -- including professional consultants who are available to coach all Westwood Debate & Speech students, transportation, hotel accommodation, meals, and director travel -- are costly.

The Westwood Debate & Speech Team is made up of many talented and hardworking students. All who qualify for the highest levels of competition should be able to participate, regardless of financial circumstances. Some tournaments are fully financed by RRISD, but those funds are limited mostly to local and regional tournaments. Our students frequently qualify for regional and national level tournaments that are ineligible for RRISD funding, and this funding shortfall must be covered through contributions. Also, for each tournament, students work with professional consultants who are best in their fields. The cost to hire such consultants adds up to thousands and turns out to be the biggest expense item.

In 2007-08, Westwood parents established the non-profit (501c3) Westwood Debate & Speech Boosters (WDSB) to support aspiring students. With oversight from a board of directors comprised of parent volunteers, WDSB actively works with the Westwood Debate & Speech program director to provide financial and logistical assistance in various forms. WDSB benefits all students on the Westwood Debate & Speech Team. WDSB raises funds from many avenues such as membership dues, parent donations, corporate matching donations, fundraisers, and University Interscholastic League (UIL) events, etc.

Since WDSB is a non-profit organization and is completely dependent on parents for the success of our mission, we believe in providing total transparency. The following table provides insight into how WDSB has historically raised funds and how those funds are used to benefit our students throughout each year.

During the Y2023-24 school year, RRISD has made a few changes to how funding is provided for the Debate and Speech program. As you may have read in the Handbook, all membership dues (now called team dues) eventually go to RRISD. Parents have a choice of sending team dues to RRISD via the online portal or check or pay to WDSB. You could help us amplify the impact of your dues by paying dues through an employer matching program. Please consult your employer for specific details on their corporate matching program. Though not all-encompassing, we have gathered information about a few local companies that provide corporate matching benefits to their employees. If you or a family member works for one of these organizations, please consider donating through the company’s matching program. If your employer has such a corporate matching program and is not listed in this table, please email us at treasurer@WestwoodDebate.com and we will add them to the table to share with other parents. Don’t let this impactful employee benefit go to waste! Without such funding, our students will limited in resources they will get to participate in various tournaments.

WDSB 501(c)(3) is registered with Benevity.org, CyberGrants.com, and NPOconnect. When you make your donation through one of these portals, your corporation will seamlessly make a matching donation. Some companies require employees to first make a donation to WDSB and then provide documentation of the donation before the company matches the contribution. In that case, please send your donation via Zelle to treasurer@WestwoodDebate.com or use the following QR code.  If you decide to make a corporate matching donation of team dues, please inform Mr. Henderson about your plans. If you or your employer needs an organization name or EIN# to match your donation, our EIN# is 61-1531801 and our organization name is Westwood Debate and Speech Boosters. More information may be found at https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/.

Many parents have already donated their student dues to WDSB using the corporate match program and we request you to do the same. If you have any questions, please contact treasurer@WestwoodDebate.com.