The Foundation for Madison's Public Schools' Board of Directors approved individual school endowment grants in the amount of $24,870 at their November Board meeting. Funds are distributed among 28 Madison schools and support creative and innovative projects as determined by each school.

Forty-one schools were eligible to distribute funds for this school year, with a total of $34,812 available. Thirteen of the schools have opted to carry over their endowment interest to support projects in the 2008-09 school year. Endowment funds must be established for a minimum of four quarters before income is available. All 48 schools will have income to give distributions in the 2009-10 school year.

The $24,870 in individual school endowment grants is being supplemented by other sources (PTO/PTA, fundraising events or endowment income carried over from the previous year) at many schools.

Some of this year's projects include: guest artists; materials to support English Language Learning; curriculum and material to support positive behavior efforts; climbing walls; books to expand multi-cultural book collections; field trips to Overture Center and the MacKenzie Environmental Center; and, books and materials to enhance learning and teaching. Click here for list of all grants.

The Individual School Endowment Initiative (ISEI) was created by a 2003 challenge gift to the Foundation from John and Leslie Taylor and the Madison-based Clay-Price Fund. This gift provided matching funds enabling each Madison public school to establish an endowment of $10,000. Interest from these endowment funds will be an annual resource for each school to provide money for school-initiated projects. As the endowment funds grow, the interest (5% of the fund balance) available for grants will increase.

"Madison's Individual School Endowment Initiative was the first of its kind in the country." said Martha Vukelich-Austin, President, Foundation for Madison's Public Schools. "As the funds grow, the interest generated provides a very important resource to our schools that they can rely on forever."