RAISE We raise money primarily through individual, family, and business donations. Some people donate via credit card or e-check on a monthly basis; others make one or two larger contributions. Secure online donation is available directly on our website; contributions can also be mailed to our local address or dropped off in any school office. To allow school principals and departments to plan their courses and schedules for the following school year, we must raise money before summer break so that teaching positions and programs can be included in the District’s fall budget. Therefore, the major fundraising activity takes place in the spring, with a citywide brochure drop and phonathon to school families. Each year our message is simple: Support the people who support our kids.
ENGAGE Each spring the schools provide SchoolCARE with a prioritized wish list for the coming year, and fundraising continues through the early summer in order to fund as many of those items as possible. We work with the schools to look at additional funding sources, to maximize revenue to cover the greatest number of priorities possible. For example, PTAs and SchoolCARE might combine funds to provide enrichment during the school day. SchoolCARE does not directly allocate funds to sites or give grants, but pledges to the District to pay for allocated items/positions.
UNDERSTAND SchoolCARE conducts an annual district-wide survey of families, and works with each school site to survey teachers, students, and administrators to examine the needs and priorities at each site, in order to ensure that the entire Albany community has a say in how the money we raise is allocated.
RESPOND SchoolCARE operates on a principal of equitable funding for all schools. The level of funding support for elementary, middle, and high school generally reflects the percentage share of the student population at those levels. SchoolCARE allocates all available resources to fund positions and programs from the schools’ site-created wish lists.
