2012-2013 Fundraising Campaign
Whether you’re a current PS 9 parent, a prospective parent, or a Prospect Heights community member, we need you to pitch in! A great public school benefits us all. For the text of our brochure on why we love PS 9 and why you should support it, click here.
The PS 9 Parent Teacher Organization is a 501(c)3 charity, so any donations you make are tax-deductible. And from now until December 31, 2012, first-time donors will have their donations doubled, thanks to a $10,000 Challenge Grant. For more info, see the article on our Holiday Fundraising Challenge.
If you don’t have money to spare (or even if you do!), please consider donating your time. Non-monetary support is also incredibly valuable to the school. For volunteer opportunities, click here.
Donate Online. Consider Making It Monthly.
Make a one-time gift or set up a recurring tax-deductible monthly donation, whether it be $5, $50, $500 or more.
TO MAKE AN ONLINE DONATION, CLICK HERE.
How to figure out what to give per month? For a few ways that PS 9 families calculate their share, click here.
If each PS 9 student’s family donated JUST $12.50 A MONTH, we’d make up the rest of our Title I funding loss.
$25/month ($1.67 per school day) per student would permanently restore our 2011-2012 funding level—the principal could hire more classroom teachers and get the math and literacy coaches back to coaching.
$25/week ($117/month) would pay for most everything on our wish list, including hiring teacher’s aides for every classroom, cutting the student-teacher ratio in half. That’s only $7.75 per school day, but what a difference that little bit of money would make. It adds up!
Make a One-Time Donation Using PayPal
Do you prefer to use your PayPal account? Then use this button to donate. Please note that if your company offers a matching program, you will have to get the paperwork and send it in yourself if you use PayPal. (And we definitely need those matching donations!) With NY Charities (the link above) they help you with the corporate matching programs, as well as offering the option of automatic monthly donations.
A Bit of Perspective
Here are some monthly costs to think about—things you may be paying for, like an occasional soda, or not having to pay for, like daycare—and what your tax-deductible monthly donation in that amount could buy PS 9 in one year:
Can of soda 5 days a week: $30/month (9 cases of copy paper—45,000 sheets)
Starbucks latte 5 days a week: $60/month (5 microscopes for the science lab)
Buying a $6 lunch 5 days a week: $120/month (7 laptops for classroom use)
Spending $50 on dinner once a week: $200/month (ballroom dancing program)
Local Catholic school: $465/month (2 SMART Boards with projectors)
Full-time daycare: $1,200/month (soundproof the cafeteria)
Full-time babysitter: $2,000/month (2 recess supervisors/activity directors)
Local private school: $3,000/month (one full-time classroom aide)
(Approximate costs gathered from outside sources; figures do not reflect actual salaries of existing or past PS 9 employees)
To set up a monthly donation online, click here.
Write a Check
Checks can be made out to “PS 9 PTO” and sent to:
PS 9 PTO
80 Underhill Ave
Room 132A
Brooklyn, NY 11238
If your company offers corporate matching funds, please make sure that they are aware of your donation to PS 9.
Why Does PS 9 Need My Help?
Donations are more important now than ever. PS 9 has lost about $500 per student due to the massive budget cuts of the past few years. And on June 19, 2012, a new challenge arose: The school found out that it has lost its $360,000 in Title I funding, because the school population is now only 59.1 percent high-poverty, just below the 60 percent required to qualify for funds. The net loss was about $250 per student. (Read about it here.) The total loss to PS 9′s annual budget in recent years is about $750 per student.
Why Should I Pay for Public School?
It’s just a reality: A great education takes money. Private schools in the area do fundraising to supplement their budgets, even though they charge more than $3,000 a month per student. Top-rated public schools raise a lot of money, too: PS 321 in Park Slope, for example, raises about $500,000 a year to supplement its DOE budget, according to the Village Voice. PS 6 in Manhattan has suggested a per-student donation of $1,000 (about $20 a week; $83.33 a month for a year).
We know that many parents can’t afford that—and that some can afford much more. As a result, we don’t ask for a specific amount, but we hope that everyone will pitch in at a donation level that works for their family. PS 9 does an excellent job educating its students, but academic excellence is a lot easier to achieve when there are adequate finances. The PTO relies on financial and volunteer support from the parents and community to carry out many of the projects that make PS 9 a dynamic, wonderful school. Please help us if you can!
Where Does the Money Go?
Your tax-deductible donations to the PTO support large projects such as PS 9′s arts programming, our new Playworks fitness and conflict-resolution program, and the recent PS 9 library and playground renovations, as well as small, but equally crucial projects such as providing needed classroom tools and supplies. Your donations are the reason we haven’t had to cut our arts programs like the Noel Pointer music program or the Guggenheim museum art instruction. But there’s so much more that’s needed.
With student-teacher ratios approaching 30:1, do you think we should have more teacher’s aides? (about $40k) A dance teacher, like we had before, so the kids can get more exercise and take advantage of our beautiful dance studio? (about $40-$45k) Better soundproofing in the cafeteria? ($13k) More laptop computers in the classroom? ($200 each) Donate!
For a list of PS 9 programs and objectives that depend on donated money, click here.
To see exactly where donated money goes, come to a PTO meeting or contact the PTO office and ask for a financial report. And stick around: We’d love your help in raising money and in deciding how to spend it to enhance our school!
Here are a few other ways you can help:
Check Out Donors Choose
Donors Choose allows parents to directly support classroom projects that individual PS 9 teachers have requested. Click here to see the current PS 9 projects!
Volunteer
There are many volunteer opportunities at PS 9. See the volunteer page for more details.
Buy PS 9 Merchandise
PS 9 Merchandise: T-shirts, stickers, mugs and more… Show your school spirit!
I Love PS 9 kids T-shirt. Show your support for PS 9 Brooklyn!
Think of how chic you and your child will look in PS 9 T-shirts. Imagine how much better your coffee or tea will taste in a PS 9 mug—supporting public education with every sip!
A percentage of the proceeds from every sale of PS 9 merchandise will be donated to programs at our school. Our merchandise is available from Cafe Press, which handles order fulfillment and shipping.
Collect Box Tops
You can raise money for our school by clipping box tops, through the Box
Tops for Education program. PS 9 gets 10 cents per box top. It adds up.
There’s a box to collect them that is located outside the door of the main
office.
For a printable list of all the brands that participate, click here.
Please check it out. Even if you don’t buy breakfast cereal, you may buy
granola bars, trash bags, flushable wipes or Brita filters.
If you want to take it further, you can go to
http://www.boxtops4education.com and officially enroll in Box Tops for
Education (it’s free). You can get coupons and also earn “e-box tops” when
you go through their site to shop online at stores like Boden, Children’s
Place, Old Navy, Expedia, Land’s End, Target, Barnes & Noble and more.
Click here for the list of participating merchants.
Shop at Amazon Through Our Link
Also, remember, if you shop at Amazon.com, please use the link at lower left and we get a percentage of your purchase. (Note that PS 9 only gets a percentage of things you shop for in that session. If you buy things that were in your cart previous to your search using the PS 9 link, the school does not get the 4 percent.) And use GoodSearch link (upper right) to do web searches, and we get a penny a search! Thanks for your support!
