Dear Pierce Families,

As we headed into the 2007/08 school year, the PTO spent a significant amount of time reflecting on issues surrounding Pierce’s fiscal budget, spending and fundraising. Our goal was to ensure that the money being raised is being spent in a thoughtful manner, as well as review how we fundraise to sustain our annual budget.

Fortunately, this school year Pierce was in a comfortable position financially, due largely to the success of last year’s Teacher Appreciation Dinner & Auction. We were able to scale back some of the smaller fundraising efforts, such as Sally Foster going on-line. We introduced FitFest, which proved to be a great way to kick off the school year and build community. So far, eighty-two families have responded to the annual fund drive. These families contributed a total of $15430, or approximately one-third of our annual operating budget.

Traditionally Pierce has hosted an annual spring auction. However, due to the lack of volunteer support we will not pursue the auction this year. We hope that perhaps it can be moved to an every other year model, which would give our parent volunteers time to re-group and hopefully encourage more people to get involved. The auction is a huge effort and requires great volunteer support. Without the manpower required to undertake such an event, we will need to look at other fundraising options for the future and plan to discuss this at the February 13th PTO meeting; this meeting is open to all.

That said, we will continue our fund drive through March 1st. We hope to double the dollars we have already received and reach a goal of $30K. We thank those of you who have already donated to the Fund Drive. For those of you who normally contribute at the auction, please consider a direct donation now. These funds will help ensure that we are fiscally secure going into the next school year.

Our mission for the remainder of the year will be to continue to develop a thoughtful spending budget, assess ways to fundraise without draining our parent resources, and to continue to offer events that bring the community together. We welcome and encourage your input and feedback on any of these issues at any time.

With sincere wishes for a great 2008,

The PTO Board: Dr. Pipier Smith-Mumford, Joshua Frank, Nicole Lapidus, Charlie Walsh, Eileen Regis, Ellen Rottersmann, Rhodinne Wang