Hi, I'm Angela, owner of Acton Academy Northwest Austin - it's great to meet you!

The idea for ActonFinder began years ago, sparked by a simple question: What if Austin-area Acton Academy owners joined forces in the increasingly crowded — and often overwhelming — alternative education landscape? With the highest concentration of Acton Academies in the world, two prominent, well-funded copycats, and more than 75 alternative schooling options (not to mention the many traditional public and private schools), Austin had become a noisy marketplace for families seeking something different.

We saw a need: a way to collaborate in attracting the right families without losing our unique identities or sales processes. We needed to share the costs and risks of marketing and enrollment efforts — on both the front and back end — while still preserving what made each of our campuses special.

So, alongside a small group of fellow Acton Academy owners here in Austin who had experienced the same challenges, we created ActonFinder — a simpler, smarter way for families everywhere to discover, explore, and connect with the right Acton Academy for their own Hero’s Journey.

Right now, we're not sure.  We're still in the testing phase. Sign up to get on the Wait List and we'll let you know when we're onboarding in your area.

Long term, assuming it becomes a resource that provides real value for families and Acton owners, having a premium listing will likely cost something.  We are confident that if we get to that point, we will be able to find a business model and cost structure that is self-sustaining and makes sense for everyone :-)  Until then, just know that this isn't a money grab for us - it's a labor of love.

Prospective Parents interact with ActonFinder.org via the following Calls to Acton:

• Find an Acton near you (use the Search) to drill down to their geographic area

• Request an Acton Academy Info Kit - link to a general .pdf with information on the Acton Academy approach + network. (Review it here)

• Take a Quick Quiz - we have 3 quizzes designed to help them gain insight into what type of learner their child is, what type of environment they'll likely thrive and how well their current school is preparing them for the future. (See Quizzes here)

• Contact a School (Premium Listings) - allows the parent to send you a message via our website.  The message is logged in our system, a detailed alert is sent to you and the parent is sent a confirmation email with a soft introduction to you and your school.  At that point, the hand off is complete and you can follow up via their preferred contact method and take it from there. (See Premium School Listing Example and Contact School Example)

• Cluster-Level CTAs

  • Fill out a Quick Contact Form - this is a single form that enables the parent to select multiple AAs in a cluster they want to hear from.  Once submitted, request is logged in our system, a detailed alert is sent to each school that was selected, and the parent is sent a confirmation email informing them that their schools of choice will be reaching out shortly.  At that point, the hand off is complete and you can follow up via their preferred contact method and take it from there. (See the Quick Contact Form on this cluster landing page for an example)

  • Request a Local Guide - If you are part of a cluster that has decided to provide a Local Guide (it's like an Info Kit, but for your cluster), the parent will be emailed a link to a .pdf with information about Acton Academy along with detailed information about each school in the cluster. (See a Local Guide Example here)

TL: DR

Short answer is - everything passes through us.  Think of us as a funnel or a "sorting hat".  We want to help families quickly drill down, find schools in their local area, get key details they need and then send them in your direction as quickly as possible.

As an individual school, you'll be alerted via email when someone submits a message directly to you, or selects your school in the Quick Contact form. That's it for now - we aren't planning on investing any more in setting up any additional reporting until we're able to prove that this works on a fundamental level :-)

As a cluster, it will be possible for us to generate reports showing exactly how many leads (Contact and Quick Contact) were sent to which owner in your cluster, along with Quiz submissions, Acton Academy Info Kit downloads and Local Guide downloads for the target zip codes in your cluster.

Big Picture In A Nutshell: Target a wider audience with shared marketing efforts that send traffic to your Cluster Landing Page. Customers only see 2-5 options at a time and are given multiple ways to contact or be contacted by their locations of choice.

PLEASE NOTE: We do not market or manage ad accounts on behalf of schools or clusters at this time.  We believe that as a cluster, you will know your unique market best and figure out the best way to use your collective resources to cast a wider net that benefits all.  Ideally, clusters should be able to simply point their campaigns to their ActonFinder.org cluster landing page and then follow up with the leads that filter through.

That said, we'll certainly share anything that works for us and hope other clusters will do the same over time.

The cool thing is, on the back end, as a cluster it's possible for you to have visibility into exactly how many leads were sent to which owner in your cluster so you can square up later if needed.  For instance, imagine 5 owners each chip in $100 each into a $500 campaign that generates 100 leads.  Owner A received 43 leads (@ $5/lead = $215 benefit), Owner B, 37 leads (@ $5/lead = $185 benefit), Owner C, 15 leads (@ $5/lead = $75 benefit), Owner D, 5 leads (@ $5/lead = $25 benefit) and Owner E, 0 leads. There are many different ways that the owners in that cluster might decide to re-balance costs - it would be up to them, as part of their cluster agreement.

Right now we're a tiny team, so we will do our best to respond to you within 2 business days and make updates at least once per week.  Submit your request via this form.