March 8, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Big Time Fundraising for Today’s Schools
by Stanley Levenson
Parents, school districts, and individual public schools must respond to budget shortfalls by establishing a development office and learning to solicit large grants and donations, argues Stanley Levenson, a former public-school teacher and principal and currently a fund-raising consultant.
‘While bake sales, candy sales, carnivals, and car washes create a sense of community for a school or district, these labor-intensive, time-consuming fund-raising activitiesÊÑ used so effectively for more than 100 yearsÊÑ can no longer carry the burden for our financially strapped schools,” he writes.
Mr. Levenson acknowledges the criticisms of stepped-up fund raising: that people in affluent areas can raise more than people in poor neighborhoods, thereby increasing inequities; and that private donations reduce the government’s responsibility.
But even if people agree with those arguments, he says, children will be better off if private fund-raising groups enhance educational opportunities.
Mr. Levenson offers instructions on how to set up a school foundation, ask for big gifts, run capital campaigns, apply for corporate or foundation grants, and perform other tasks to help public schools solicit large amounts of money.
The appendix includes four sections: The first provides examples of available grants, the second offers sample employment advertisements for director of development and other important jobs, the third shows a sample cover letter for a grant application, and the last section offers a glossary of fund-raising terms.
Publisher: Corwin Press, 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, Calif. 91320; (800) 233-9936; fax (800) 417-2466; http://www.corwinpress.com; 208 pages; $34.95; ISBN 1-4129-3916-X.
