Executive Director Beth Harbinson celebrates this important milestone and shares how important donors are to CSFB, especially the Fund the Future donors, and the CSFB students and families who benefit from school choice in Baltimore.
It is said that the phrase “It takes a village to raise a child” is attributed to an Igbo and Yoruba proverb. Some people believe the saying originated in an ancient African proverb; others believe it came from a Native American tribe. Regardless of the origin, I believe this to be true.
CSFB supports our parents’ right to choose the school that will be best for their children. The commitment these parents make, both financially and through the required volunteerism that many of the private schools require, is tremendous.
Likewise, our donors and funders also contribute to the funding of this choice. Teachers in the wide range of schools our scholars attend work countless hours, often at a lower salary than their public school counterparts.
And because we support our scholars for up to eight years, we are truly part of the village, offering parents a sustainable, reliable component to funding the education of their children.
Giving Tuesday was a great success this year — we raised $6,794, $794 beyond our $6,000 goal, thanks to a generous gift from the Williams Charitable Fund and the efforts of our trustees.
This month, we received two significant gifts which enabled us to exceed our $1 million goal to Fund the Future.
Throughout our 20-year tenure of providing kindergarten-8th grade scholarships to low-income Baltimore City students, CSFB has been forced to make commitments to our families before we secured funding. Some years, we delayed scholarship decisions to ensure that enough funding was available. This placed an immense burden on our families.
Now that we have reached our goal, a seamless financial transition will occur annually. Fund the Future resources will support scholarships for the current school year. CSFB’s annual efforts are now focused on raising funds for the following school year.
This funding enables CSFB to forecast earlier and more accurately the number of available scholarships and allow us to take new students off our waitlist sooner. Earlier notification allows our families more time to select their school of choice, secure the remaining funding needed for tuition, and purchase uniforms and school supplies.
We are grateful to our co-chairs, Tom Kelso and Dori Bishop and to all the funders that made this campaign a success!
And we are grateful to all our donors who support the “village:”
Foundation and Corporate Donors
Anonymous
Baltimore Next Generation Investing Event
Clayton Baker Trust
CSF
Davis Family Foundation
DLA Piper
Fancy Hill Foundation
France-Merrick Foundation
Friends of CSFB
Huether McClelland Foundation
Klein Family Trust
Lockhart Vaughan Foundation
Sun Trust Foundation
WPW Foundation
Individuals
Chaim Amster
Howard Baetjer, Jr.
F. Barry Bilson
Ed and Barbara Brody
Carl Buhlman
Renee Guckert Carter
Rick Corcoran, Jr.
Laura and Parker Davis
Charles Gamper
Kyle and Paula Gore
Gary and Missy Gill
Beth Hehir
William and Maureen Jones
Frank Kelly
Colleen Pleasant Kline
Eaton Lattman
Gary and Sonia Mangum
Sophia Marquez
John and Joanne Phelps
John and Susan Powell
Kate and David Powell
Tom Kelso and Dori Bishop
Wendy Osefo
John and Nancy Sandbower
William and Pamela Schlott
Mark Terranova
Matt Wyskiel