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Philanthropy
Journal
Schools drive begins 2/11/03.
Wake partnership sets $1M goal.
By Todd Cohen
RALEIGH,
N.C. -- The Wake Education Partnership has kicked off its annual
fund drive with a goal of $1 million, up from $979,138 in cash raised
last year.Money from the drive, chaired by Barry Eveland, IBM state
executive, will support partnerships and community involvement to
boost student achievement and standards in Wake’s public schools.Other
leaders of drive, which lasts until June and will be run by more
than 500 volunteers, include Bob Hatley, president and CEO, Paragon
Commercial Bank, corporate gifts chair; oral surgeon Bob Poteat
and community volunteer Hannah Poteat, reception co-chairs; Walt
Sherlin, associate superintendent of operational services, Wake
County Public Schools, school challenge chair; and community volunteer
Liza Weidle, parent gifts chair.The group also is seeking community
members to give their ideas about the schools in a survey and short
discussions, with results to be announced May 1 at the Wake Education
Summit at the McKimmon Center at N.C. State University. To participate,
contact Cyndi Soter O’Neil at 821-7609 or coneil@wakeedpartnerhsip.org.
Philanthropy
Journal 4/28/2003
Wake Education Partnership in quiet phase of fund drive.
By Todd Cohen
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Wake Education Partnership has begun the quiet
phase of a capital campaign that could total $15 million.The campaign
will seek private funds to support the partnership’s efforts
to provide innovative approaches to improve the quality of public
education.Specifically, the partnership aims to build its endowment,
support its teaching-quality initiative and fund programs and a
home for the leadership academy for teachers, principals and administrators
it runs in partnership with the Wake County public schools.Ann Goodnight,
who is married to SAS Institute chief Jim Goodnight, chairs the
campaign, which has been underway quietly for about a year.The partnership,
which has not set a goal for the campaign, launched the teaching-quality
initiative and leadership academy to address high turnover expected
among Wake teachers, principals and assistant principals, says David
Lane, vice president for development.Launched three years ago and
headed by Joe Peel, retired superintendent of the Pasquotank County
public schools, the academy offers 25 courses and last year involved
more than 8,000 Wake educators.The academy also teamed up last year
with N.C. State University to develop a master’s degree in
school administration, a three-year program offered to Wake teachers
and administrators who have worked in the system for at least four
years and agree to remain for at least four more.The teaching-quality
initiative is developing “career pathways” for teachers
to give them more challenging assignments and opportunities.“For
public education to respond to the needs of its community for changes
in student accountability, for developing leaders that are adaptable,
entrepreneurial and understand how to create vision and goals, and
to drive towards measurable outcomes for student success, additional
private resources need to be invested,” says Lane.The partnership
in January also kicked off its $1 million annual fund drive that
is chaired by Barry Eveland, IBM state executive.
School
Board News, NSBA, 2001. School Foundations on the Rise; Uses of
Funds According to What they Raise.
School foundations
that raise less than $10,000 a year usually provide mini-grants
and scholarships. Foundations that raise $20,000 to $50,00 annually
tend to fund curriculum enrichment programs, teacher training, and
teacher resources. And those that raise more than $100,00 annually
often underwrite teaching positions. (1995 study of school foundations
conducted by Carol Merz, Dean of the School of Education at the
University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA, and Sheldon S. Frankel)
Shrinking tax
revenues, budget cuts, a shift of state funds to poor districts,
a fear of losing students to private schools, and parents’
rising expectations of what their children deserve are factors fueling
the growth of school foundations.
Howie Schaeffer,
a spokesperson for the Public Education Network, based in DC, estimates
that of the 3000 foundations nationally, about 12-15 percent of
schools are served by one.
Iowa Association
of School Boards has 150 school foundations (had 60 in 1997), and
Iowa has 375 school districts.
Innovative
Education Foundations Conference
Rave reviews
and success stories captured the 3rd Annual Conference on Education
Foundations sponsored by the Connecticut Consortium of Education
Foundations (CTCEF) and the Connecticut Association of Boards of
Education (CABE). Ninety people from Connecticut, Westchester County,
Massachusetts, California, and Oregon attended the series of workshops
with the theme "Promoting Innovation in Education."
A large number of school communities that sent representatives wanted
to launch
501 (c)(3) education foundations. Representatives from foundations
in Connecticut reported $10,000 to over $250,000 annually in donations.
Specific successes for Connecticut education foundations were reviewed.
See the Connecticut Policy and Economic Council Web Site for the
CPEC Best Practices Report on Education Foundations (http://cpec.org/page.cfm?section=localeducation).
Giving Factors
The most efficient
approach for fundraising is personal face to face solicitations,
although direct mail, phonathons and events support the goal. A
personal touch the day after a gift is received is when the donor
receives a phone call. Also a foundation staffer can sign his/her
name on charitable receipts and add a personal note.
(as reported by Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University;
AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy, Giving USA Update, April 2002)
High school alumni should be asked to include in their class reunion
plans a committee for class gifts. If 100 alumni from a graduating
class gave $100 each as part of the class reunion plan, the gift
to the education foundation would be $10,000.
Giving and volunteering
are likely to be greater among adults who started volunteering as
youth, and among persons with ties to a formal religious organization,
says the Giving
& Volunteering in the United States 2001, a report published
every two years by Independent
Sector. Philanthropy Journal, November 5, 2002.
Households which
gave in 2001 when asked contributed an average of nearly $2,000
for the year, compared to $1,000 from households that gave without
being asked. Philanthropy Journal, November 5, 2002.
The average
amount raised by most school foundations is about 3 percent of a
typical school district's budget. (Merz & Frankel, 1997)
Giving
Trend for Nonprofits is Uncertain for 2002
Many nonprofit organizations worry that charitable giving in 2002
will decline for the second year in a row, as the uncertain economic
climate and falling stock market values continue to take a toll
on their fundraising efforts, the Associated Press reports. (Chicago
Tribune, October 6, 2002)
According to
an annual survey conducted by Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy
(http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/),
charitable giving in 2001 totaled $212 billion, up 0.5 percent from
a year earlier. However, giving fell 2.3 percent when adjusted for
inflation -- a decline that would have been worse without donations
to charities raising money for victims of the September 11 terrorist
attacks.
Individuals,
who account for 75 percent of all charitable giving in the United
States, are also giving less due to stagnant wages, reduced savings,
and lost jobs.
Clendenning,
Alan. "Lean Times Thinning Charities' Coffers as Service Needs
Grow." Associated Press 10/06/02.
Schools' Fundraising Affected by Economy in 2002
Schools in 2002 are feeling the pinch from the economic downturn.
Donors seem to be making smaller contributions as well as holding
their gifts for a longer time.
A private grades
6-12 high school in the East which accepts contributions through
its foundation and also directly indicates that in 2002 the experience
is a 37 percent lapsed-individual-donor rate. This same high school
did, however, receive recently a $500,000 annuity endowment. (p.
29)
"Schooling
Students, Alumni, and Educational Donors," Advancing Philanthropy,
September-October 2002, pp. 28-31.
Research
on Raising Money for Educational Foundations
The average
amount of itemized charitable contributions grew 6% in 2000. (AAFRC
Trust for Philanthropy Press Release, August 20, 2002).
Carol Merz and Sheldon S. Frankel, reported in AASA, January 1997:
The Michigan-based
Educational Foundation Consultants suggested that although we do
not know how many foundations exist, or how much money they raise,
nearly 18 percent of the nation’s public schools benefit from
funds raised by associated tax-exempt foundations.
School district administrators, superintendents are identified most
often as responsible for establishing foundations.
Most foundations
were formed to accomplish defined goals, although more than half
the fundraising groups in California, Illinois, Oregon and Washington
were created to compensate for declining revenue.
Fundraising
amounts raised ranged from $200 to $1 million among 219 education
funds surveyed. Twenty percent reported raising less than $10,000;
twenty-eight percent reported raising between $10,000 and $40,000.
Seven percent said they raised $100,000 plus. More than half indicated
their funds steadily increased.
Most foundations
use mail or phone solicitations. Average amount raised by foundations
using direct solicitation is $40, 908. Those not using direct solicitation
raised $25,702.
New
Study Shows Americans Rank Education as Their Most Important Priority
— A Great Opportunity to Build Support
A new study, a report of findings from focus groups
and a nationwide survey, published in Action for All: The Public’s
Responsibility for Public Education, indicates there is broad support
among the public for public education.
For example,
96% of voters expect “all communities to have quality public
schools and 91 percent of Americans are willing to guarantee a quality
public education to every child in America.”
The survey indicated
that Americans say their highest priority for improving education
is improving teacher quality (30 percent). Information that most
concerns Americans about public education today focuses on teacher
quality and test scores.
The survey indicated
that Americans trust teachers most for information on the schools.
These studies
indicate for boards of education that there remains great support
for our public schools.
More information
on the survey can be found at http://www.publiceducation.org.
The full report of another recent study by Public Agenda, Just Waiting
to be Asked? The full report from Just Waiting can be accessed at
http://www.publicagenda.org.
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