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News and information for staff members and the Madison community

Vol. II No. 3 - December 22, 2006

New incentives to fuel 2007 Foundation employee giving campaign

by Howard Landsman, Grants & Fund Development Coordinator

The Foundation for Madison's Public Schools is pleased to announce its expansion of the incentive gift program that sparked a substantial increase in giving during last year's MMSD employee giving campaign, to more than 700 donors and over $72,000. This year, the Foundation will offer $4,500 through an array of incentive gifts to individual school endowment funds in each of the following three categories and in each of two groups: "large school" (i.e., our four large high schools) and "small school" (the other 44 schools):

• Schools with the greatest percentage of staff who make a gift ($500 for first place, and $250 for second place);
• Schools with the greatest percentage increase in the number of staff making a gift vs. the number last year ($500 for first place, and $250 for second place); and
• Schools with the greatest percentage of donors from last year's campaign who give again in the 2007 campaign ($500 for first place, and $250 for second place).

These incentive gifts are in addition to the Madison Community Foundation's recent challenge gift that will give an additional 50 cents for every one of the first $3,750 raised — from all sources — for each school's endowment fund. All gifts made to these school endowment funds during the 2007 employee campaign, up to the $3,750 per school limit, will count toward this challenge. And, schools are eligible to win multiple gifts within their size category.

The annual employee giving campaign is now entering its seventh year. Over this time of growing economic uncertainty and job insecurity, MMSD staff have given roughly $350,000 to the Foundation and this incredible show of generosity has gained notice in our community. Foundation board members and staff often mention how moved their donor prospects are when learning that school and other staff have given so much. By and large, community residents really do know that most district staff are people of fairly modest means. Our show of support for the Foundation has proven to be a very powerful challenge, as the rest of our community has stepped up to match staff giving by more than 10 times over!

This year's employee campaign kicks off officially on Monday, January 29, 2007 and will run for 5 weeks. Your building captain will be distributing pledge forms and the booklet that explains this year's giving options. Please consider including a gift to the Foundation in your charitable giving plans for 2007. Thank you.

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Last Updated: Tue Jan 16 10:27:11 2007
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