The Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation (SMMEF) announced last week that they are the recipients of an anonymous matching grant worth up to $100,000, and they are hoping Malibu parents step up to the plate to contribute.
“We had a very lovely person step forward — they wanted to remain anonymous — but they really liked the idea of incentivising our families in our community to give, so they gave us $100,000, and it’s dependent on matching,” SMMEF Director Linda Greenberg explained.
The grant stipulates that money raised toward the fund between Sept. 28 and Oct. 9 will be matched dollar for dollar up to $100,000, meaning SMMEF could be looking at a good chunk of change this fall — that is, if parents are willing to part with the dough.
Malibu parents have not been sheepish to decry the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) policy of districtwide fundraising, which was enacted in 2011. Since that time, Malibu families have claimed districtwide fundraising takes money from Malibu kids and hands it over to Santa Monica, leaving parents with no options to directly improve their children’s educations.
The fundraising campaign, which runs from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, has raised nearly $1.5 million so far — up 17 percent from where it was this time last year. However, while 16.4 percent of families with students attending Santa Monica schools have pledged, a dismal 2.4 percent of Malibu school families have done the same.
The highest percentage of contributing families attends Point Dume Marine Science School, at 5.3 percent. Behind that are Webster Elementary families (4.5 percent), Juan Cabrillo Elementary families (2.4 percent) and finally Malibu High School families, with fewer than two out of every 100 families participating (1.7 percent).
The matching grant, Greenberg said, will help to benefit schools throughout the district.
“The money received during pledge days will support … every school in the district by providing instructional aides and funding of arts programs, and it supports unique enrichment grants to every school site,” Greenberg said.
SMMEF administrators this year have implemented a new fundraising program called “pledge days” in an attempt to remind parents to pledge by focusing efforts on one or two days of the school year. Most of these days fall in the critical window of the matching grant:
Juan Cabrillo: Sept. 28-30, during drop-off
Point Dume: Oct. 8, during drop-off and pick-up
Webster: Sept. 28 & Oct. 2, during drop-off
According to the SMMEF website, one donor from each elementary school in the SMMUSD will win a family pass for four to Pacific Park.