News and information for staff members and the Madison community
Vol. I No. 2 - December 19, 2005
FOUNDATION LANDS CHALLENGE GIFT TO
EXPAND
ANNUAL GRANTMAKING PROGRAM
The Foundation for Madison's Public Schools just landed a $125,000 challenge gift from an anonymous private donor. If this gift is matched by March 31, 2006, it will stabilize and grow the endowment fund that supports the Foundation's annual district-wide grantmaking program. Every dollar given by any donor before this deadline to the Foundation's unrestricted grants endowment or unrestricted grants passthrough fund will count toward meeting this challenge. This includes all such gifts made by MMSD staff during the 2006 employee giving campaign that begins on January 30th as well as gifts from parents, businesses, alumni, and other friends of public education in our community. Stay tuned for updates on the Foundation's progress toward meeting this challenge.
2006 FOUNDATION GIVING CAMPAIGN
OFFERS
INCENTIVE GIFTS TO SCHOOLS
The Foundation for Madison's Public Schools will make a $1,000 gift to each
of two schools at the close of this year's employee giving campaign. These gifts will honor the school that has
the highest percentage of staff
contributing to the Foundation and the highest percentage increase in # of staff giving compared with the
2005 campaign. (Note: To qualify for the
latter gift, a school will need to have at least a modest minimum number of
donors, to be announced by the start of the campaign.) Gifts made by staff prior to and during the
2006 employee giving campaign (up through the campaign's close on March 3rd)
will count toward determination of the winning schools.
Each
of these incentive gifts will go to the school's endowment fund, and all schools
– even those yet to reach the $10,000 level needed to establish their endowment
– are eligible to receive one of these gifts.
Indeed, such a school could count this award toward the Clay-Price
challenge that has so far granted 39 schools a $5,000 matching gift to help
establish or grow their endowment funds.
At the start of this year's campaign, your building captain will have
information on the number of staff donors from the 2005 campaign, so each
school will know at the outset where they stand in this incentive program.
2006 FOUNDATION GIVING CAMPAIGN
OFFERS
NEW GIVING OPTIONS TO STAFF
Each year, generous donors in our community come forward with at least $10,000 to launch a new "field of interest" endowment fund in program areas that have special meaning to them. 2006 marks the arrival of four such funds that will appear for the first time as giving options on the campaign pledge form. These new "field of interest" endowments include:
The Glover fund is a great example of how these endowments come to be, and how our giving can help bring dreams to life. A former MMSD student, Shelley Glover was a member of the US Ski Team, an Olympic Development Team soccer player, and a former Shorewood swimmer. She died tragically in May 2004, at age 17, following a ski training accident. Her dream of providing after-school and summer access to athletics for all children was apparent as early as her elementary school days at Lincoln. Her family created this memorial fund to honor Shelley's dream, with a goal of building it to $500,000. The income from this fund will be used to provide swimming lessons and develop a swim team at the new Goodman Community Swimming Pool, so children who couldn't otherwise afford to participate can learn to swim, be safe in the water, and enjoy these enriching experiences.
FOUNDATION GRANT DEADLINE: JANUARY 23, 2006
In its first five years, the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools has given over $300,000 back to district staff and students through grants for creative and innovative programs and projects that would not have been possible through the district's operating budget. Foundation grants have been awarded for projects in a single classroom all the way up to projects with district-wide reach, and for student-initiated projects as well as those designed and conducted by staff and those involving community partners.
Most of these grants have come through the annual unrestricted fund competition, in amounts ranging from $100-$10,000. Applications for this year's round of unrestricted grants are due on Monday, January 23, 2006. Application instructions and forms can be downloaded from the MMSD Grants Office website at www.madison.k12.wi.us/grants/opportunities.htm or the Foundation's website at www.foundationmadisonschools.com/grants/index.html. This grant opportunity is in addition to the grants that all schools with individual endowment funds can receive each and every year, forever.
CONGRATULATIONS TO SCHOOL ENDOWMENT GRANTMAKERS
As
of early December, 39 Madison
schools had been able to reach the $10,000 fundraising milestone needed establish
their individual endowment fund, with 18 of them having begun to make grants
from their fund. The Foundation has now set
November as the time for the annual round of grantmaking from each school
endowment fund. School endowment grant
decisions are made by a local team that typically includes school staff,
parents and other community members.
Congratulations
to Chavez, East, Falk, Hawthorne, Lincoln, Mendota
and Midvale, November 2005's round
of school endowment grantmakers. Their
grants ranged from $74 for purchase of magnetic words at Mendota's Literacy Center to $1,394 for a journalism project at East, and totaled over
$5,200. This amount will grow
substantially as each school's endowment "principal" grows, via long-term
investment through the Foundation and additional fundraising.
Last Updated: Tue Mar 28 12:17:36 2006
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