The Planet School in 2025

Our goal is to generate $1 million in combined revenue and donations by the end of 2025. Through business operations, education programs, partnerships, and tax-deductible donations, 2025 will lay the foundation for the Planet School’s sustainable long-term growth.

Keep scrolling to see everything we have already done and what we have planned. If you have not yet read our business plan, including how we intend to turn “tuition-free” into a competitive advantage, please do so here.

Strategic Priorities

Our exclusive focus in 2025 is to turn Wonder into a healthy business with diversified revenue streams.

Planet School academic operations will not begin until we have a healthy financial foundation to build upon. Wonder is the Planet School’s first major endeavor in fulfillment of this goal.

Begin development of Wonder’s winter business in Florida or elsewhere.

Ramp up core Sunset/Charter operations on the Great Lakes during the summer and fall.

Experiment in new Great Lakes program offerings: Haunted Ship, Tall Ships Challenge, sail training, etc.

Launch merchandise and profitable physical education products that augment Wonder’s seasonal voyages.

Drive massive awareness of Wonder within southeastern Michigan through co-branded programs and marketing.

Expand remote engagement opportunities with Wonder during seasonal voyages to drive awareness.

Join Us

Support the first tuition-free experiential high school.

The Planet School is re-writing the business plan for private education. Your support will help us build a school that is financially sustainable—we do not intend to rely on donor support in the future.

Be a part of founding a school that views teens as visionary agents of social change and equips them to build the future they envision.

Our Path To $1 Million

40%

Summer 2025 Wonder Operations (Great Lakes)

Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received from our 200+ guests during our short (<1 month) 2024 season, we see enormous opportunity for growth in 2025 on the Great Lakes. We used our time in Detroit in 2024 to learn about compliance, dockage, and charter logistics, allowing us to hit the ground running in May 2025. Additionally, in 2025 the Tall Ships Challenge will be happening on the Great Lakes, an event that happens every 3 years and provides a solid revenue stream for participating vessels.

25%

Tax-Deductible Contributions

The Planet School is fortunate to have met and worked with a number of people who believe in our mission and want to financially support that mission. As of September 2024, we have partnered with Hack Club for fiscal sponsorship. This allows our backers to receive a tax deduction for their donations while we work towards our own 501(c)3 status. Hack Club is a non-profit that supports teen-led hackathons and we are very excited to be working with them.

15%

Winter 2025 Wonder Operations (Florida)

We expect there to be a learning curve during our first winter season in Florida and forecast that we will not reach full revenue capacity during our first season. However, much of what we learned during our brief 2024 season in Detroit will enable us to get started quickly. Wonder will operate as a charter vessel providing sunset sails and private charters.

10%

Education Kit Sales and IndieGoGo Campaign

We have three education kits that we will begin pre-sales for via an IndieGoGo campaign starting in November 2024. The first kit includes nautical charts, navigation equipment, and a miniature model of Wonder. The kit challenges you to solve a navigation puzzle and locate the lost treasure of the Bloody Pirate, which will teach skills to help plan the annual cruise track of Wonder. The second kit is an oceanography kit that allows you to build a replica of our onboard water sensor array and write Python code to make it work. The final kit includes rope, sail cloth, sail thread, and a real piece of Wonder’s red sails: all the materials needed to construct a sailor’s ditty bag. Kits will ship in March 2025.

5%

Education Programming

Before becoming the Planet School’s sailing school vessel, Wonder had a storied career working with the Boy Scout’s of America’s Seabase program in the Florida Keys. We will continue this partnership as part of our time in Florida during the spring. We will also provide sail training courses aboard Wonder and explore other education partnerships in Florida and the Great Lakes. Programs like our “Haunted Ship” fit in here too.

5%

Parker House Detroit

As part of prototyping the student experience in Detroit, we have remodeled a duplex home in Detroit’s West Village and opened a six bedroom inn. This is an example of the type of work Planet School students will do: studying the needs of a community and transforming rundown properties into vibrant local spaces both residential and commercial.

What We’ve Done in 2024

From acquiring Wonder, our 82’ sailing vessel, to running our first overnight voyage with students, to hiring our first full-time staff, we have many exciting updates to share.

Keep scrolling to read our plans for Q4 2024 and 2025.

  • Acquired BLOODY PIRATE

    WE HAVE A SHIP!! After combing boat listings for close to four years, we found a boat that met our criteria: steel hull, Coast Guard inspected, bunk layout for students (not a yacht), tall ship look and feel, diverse sail plan, and reasonably priced.

  • Renamed WONDER & Ship Upgrades

    We are moving swiftly towards making WONDER an example of top-notch seamanship. We have re-painted the hull, patched sails, added new running rigging, installed a refrigerator, replaced batteries, updated our inverter, upgraded safety gear, and more.

  • Passed First Coast Guard Inspection

    Part of why we purchased WONDER is because it had a valid Certificate of Inspection. Nevertheless, we needed a fresh inspection for the Great Lakes, a new body of water for the ship. We have established a very positive relationship with our local Coast Guard sector as partners in ensuring ship safety.

  • Sailed From Key Largo, FL to Detroit

    We got to know WONDER very well over the course of 2000+ nautical miles, including taking down and re-assembling the entire rigging. This ship is capable of making successful long distance voyages, a key component of its role at the Planet School.

  • First Overnight Student Voyage

    It's one thing to meet students after school and quite another to bring them overnight on a ship. We successfully hosted a student intern from the Nueva School from Key Largo to New York City, a student from Southport, NC to Cleveland, and four students from Cleveland to Detroit.

  • First Overnight Student Residential Program in Detroit

    In addition to voyaging with students from the Nueva School, we hosted them in the Parker House on our prototype Detroit campus. They built raised bed gardens, oversaw meal prep, and got to know a new city thousands of miles from home.

  • Built Student-Designed Oceanographic Sensor Arrays

    Two of the sensor arrays that we will install on WONDER for our voyage south were built by Nueva School students during their Planet School internship. Another example of authentic student leadership.

  • Partnered with Hack Club for 501(c)3 Fiscal Sponsorship

    After speaking with several non-profits offering fiscal sponsorship and combing through dozens online, we connected with the teen-led mission of Hack Club. We can now offer tax deductions to our donors.

  • Hired Our First Full-Time Staff

    We have found two absolutely phenomenal outdoor educators who exemplify Planet School ideals and are helping to establish a school culture of excellence from the beginning. One is a former student from a 2016 voyage with Thane as part of Proctor Academy's Ocean Classroom program.

  • Launched a Sunset Sail and Charter Business in Detroit

    In less than a month of operations, we have hosted 200+ guests for sunset sails. We did very little marketing while we focused on getting the experience dialed in. Read our 100% 5 star reviews and see what guests have said.

Timeline

Oct-Dec 2024

Goal: $80,000 Total Generated

We will kick off our fundraising drive just before we begin our voyage south to Florida on October 14, 2024 from Detroit. This will consist of seeking private donations and launching our IndieGoGo campaign. We expect that the majority of these funds will come from private donations. These funds will be used to:

  • Pay Planet School staff including temporary voyage crew.

  • Cover monthly mortgage and insurance payments on Wonder.

  • Create a cash reserve for unexpected voyage expenses (e.g. engine repair).

  • Continued Wonder updates and upgrades to support our mission, such as improving our electrical system, adding Internet connectivity, and building out our science capabilities.

Jan-Mar 2025

Goal: $150,000 Total Generated

After our first push of fundraising in Q4 2024 within our friends, family, and supporter network, we expect contributions to slow. During Q1 2025, we will shift focus to kit fulfillment and our winter operations in Florida. These funds will be used to:

  • Reduced Planet School staff footprint during a non-voyage phase.

  • Ongoing monthly mortgage and insurance payments on Wonder.

  • Hauling Wonder out of the water, painting the bottom of her hull, and completing other projects in time for our annual Coast Guard inspection in February.

  • Marketing and additional curriculum development in advance of our April voyage north to the Great Lakes.

  • If we exceed our fundraising goals and our cash reserve is comfortable, we will seek to hire a Director of Development to seek institutional funding. Our primary strategy is financial sustainability through the strength of our business operations. Nevertheless, our work cultivating teen leadership, experiential learning, oceanographic and climate education, and STEM projects puts us within the giving mandates of numerous funders that we would be wise to pursue.

Apr-Jun 2025

Goal: $300,000 Total Generated

Q2 2025 will consist of preparation for our voyage north along the US East Coast, likely via the St. Lawrence Seaway instead of the Erie Canal, which we transited in 2024. The 2025 transit north may include opportunistic sunset sails in ports along the way, but this is subject to Wonder’s Certificate of Inspection having its navigable waters expanded from Great Lakes and Coastal Florida. This expansion is further subject to us meeting our prior fundraising goals and adding upgrades to the ship to safely take on passengers. Once in Detroit, we will aim to begin charter operations by Memorial Day. Usage of funds during this phase include:

  • Expanded Planet School staff footprint during a voyage phase. We will also look to take on additional crew to support a more rigorous charter offering once in Detroit. Additionally, the charter demands of the Tall Ship Challenge will require extra crew, who we may wish to train during the transit north.

  • Ongoing monthly mortgage and insurance payments on Wonder.

  • We will begin searching for a relief captain during this phase. During the course of 2025, we envision that primary captaining duties of Wonder will begin to shift from Thane Richard, our Head of School, to this additional captain. The ideal candidate will posses at least a 100 ton Near Coastal Master credential.

  • Finding shop/retail/office space in the city of Detroit will become desirable during this phase. We have found that it is useful to provide full-time crew a means to live off of Wonder for periods of time. Additionally, we will begin looking to expand our Detroit campus footprint beyond the Parker House, including a space where the public can come to learn about the ship and the Planet School, purchase merchandise, and experience our brand off the ship.

Jul-Sep 2025

Goal: $600,000 Total Generated

We will be fully immersed in charter operations. The Tall Ship Challenge will begin in Duluth, MN on July 10 and conclude in Erie, PA on August 24. Wonder will carry paying passengers on board between cities and participate in the day sails and sunset sails organized by Tall Ships America in each port stop. We expect that our bandwidth will be fully consumed by ship operations during this phase as we seek to maximize the Great Lakes business opportunity and lay the foundation for future years. We want people across the lakes to know Wonder.

Oct-Dec 2025

Goal: $1,000,000 Total Generated

Having completed a full year of stewardship of the tall ship Wonder and three transit voyages, we will seek to begin our fourth transit voyage with strong educational partnerships to increase the reach of our Ocean Pi project to a record number of students. This will include outreach to schools and classrooms, involvement of teachers, and more fleshed out curriculum plans to make participation easier.

Since we are looking to solidify our ship-based business model before expanding Planet School operations, the expense profile during Q4 2025 will not look significantly different from Q4 2024. Key differences will likely include having 2-3 full-time roles: Director of Development, Relief Captain (transitioning to full captain), and potentially a Curriculum Coordinator and Marketing Coordinator.