Purposeful Giving at Pingree

Every year at Pingree our students, faculty, staff and parents hear about opportunities to donate items, time, talents and money to a host of organizations. While some of these “asks” are based on school-wide efforts (such as the Backpack Drive, annual rummage sale, and “Super Food” drive), many more come from individual students who seek to support organizations with whom they have a long-standing and personal relationship. 

These requests are all worthy, and yet sometimes we feel asked (and obligated) to give more than we are able. Additionally, giving money to a charitable organization (often in exchange for a “dress down” day) does not necessarily push our students to engage meaningfully with that organization or its mission. In other words, in an effort to move Pingree into a model of service learning, asking for and giving money requires neither service nor learning.

Pingree’s Purposeful Giving Fund was established last year with money raised from our first annual rummage sale. The goals in creating this fund were to allow Pingree students to apply for resources that they will donate to organizations with which they have build relationships, to reduce financial asks of community members, and to give students experience in grant writing. This fund is also entirely student generated, meaning that all students are capable of giving to outside organizations simply by volunteering their time to the rummage sale. It is, in essence, a closed loop.

Students are welcome to request funding for a variety of giving opportunities. Some examples are:

·      Sponsorship for a walk or run

·      Donation to an annual drive

·      Purchase of items requested by an organization

·      Sponsorship of an activity for an organization

After applying for (and receiving funds) students will be asked to “report back” to the Pingree Community on how the funds were used. We encourage creative reporting – perhaps a TED Talk, a short movie, a poem read at Coffee House, an online photo exhibit, etc.

The funds will be allocated by the Purposeful Giving Committee, a group of self-appointed students and faculty who will have the pleasure of reading and discussing all of the applications.

For more information or to view an application, please visit the Purposeful Giving page of this blog (tab above.)

Thank you!