Kate Simkowiak

pledge

CPA Spring 2011 Pledge Drive

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Dear Challenge Program Families,

The Challenge Parents Association (CPA) welcomes you to a new semester! Our primary role is to support gifted education at Terrace Park School. As parents of Challenge Program children, you are already members of CPA. There is no membership fee. We advocate for and support highly capable students, their families and teachers. Our main goals for the 2010-2011 school year are:

Communicate

We aim to keep you informed about events and changes you may not hear about through usual channels. We regularly update the Challenge Spot,www.challengeparents.org with news and information of interest to our Challenge Program families.  Please make sure you are subscribed by email or RSS feed to stay informed.

Participate

Your participation in your child’s education happens on many levels. There will be opportunities for you to help out in the classroom, on field trips, around school, and at the district and state levels, and participate in discussions at our meetings. Please become as involved as you can.

Advocate

CPA advocates for the needs of gifted children at the school, district, and state levels. We invite you to attend CPA general and board meetings, the Edmonds School District board meetings, and Gifted Education Day in Olympia. The students need programs that meet their unique needs, and you can help to keep funding in place and continued critical legislative support by letting your voice be heard. Call, email, or write to your District Officials, Edmonds School Board members, and your local, state, and federal representatives.

We’re all in this together!! As parents and primary advocates of highly capable children, we need to be more involved socially, politically, and financially in the support of our gifted learners’ needs.

It is essential that we work to ensure the continued success of our Challenge Program.

We know every family’s budget is unique, so we’d like to offer you flexibility in how frequently and how much you contribute to CPA. We’ve had a suggested donation of $90 per semester ($180 per year) for families with one student in Challenge and $150 per semester ($300 per year) for families with two or more Challenge students. But, we appreciate any amount your family can contribute. We also are happy to accept your donations annually, each semester, monthly or whenever is convenient for you. We will send out a donation form each semester but you can pay what you can, whenever you can. You will receive a tax receipt from CPA in January of your total donations from the previous calendar year. Every bit counts! We will keep you informed of how your dollars are being spent to enrich your child’s educational experience.

Our fund drive goal for 2010-2011 school year is $10,000, and ask for your support to reach our goal.

If your employer matches donations, use this opportunity to double your contribution to CPA!


Be a part of the challenge!


Thank you! Please visit the website to download the Spring 2011 Pledge Form and return to your child’s teacher or send in your donation to:

Challenge Parents Association

P.O. Box 3371

Lynnwood, WA  98046-3371


Final CPA Fund Drive of the Year!

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We are currently conducting our final fund drive of the 2010-2011 school year. Funds donated to CPA are tax deductible, and may be eligible for employer matching fund donations. Money raised is used throughout the school year to support our students, their families, and the Challenge classrooms to provide support and specialized curriculum options.

If you are on the three-part annual donation plan, or you have not had the opportunity to contribute yet this year, please download a copy of the Spring 2010 Fund Drive form and send it in with your contribution by May 21st. If you have made your full contribution for this school year, we thank you for your generous support!

Good News! CPA Can Now Accept Company Matching Donations

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As many of you know, we’ve been working with the IRS and the state of WA over the last two years on name change issues, as well as other misunderstandings between the state and the IRS.  As such, we had not been able to accept company matching donations, even though individual donations have always been tax deductible.  We finally received our affirmation letter from the IRS that states that Challenge Parents Association (instead of the former name, Challenge Parents Booster Club) is recognized as an exempt organization under section 501(c)(3), and has been since March 1979.

So, that raises the question… Does your company match your donations?  If so,and you made a donation during the fall pledge drive, it still shouldn’t be too late for CPA to receive those matching funds.  Please send the matching gift form from your company to school with your child, or drop it off in the CPA lock box in the office.

If you were waiting to make your fall pledge drive donation until this issue was resolved, now is the time to do that.  The pledge form can be found on our website at http://www.challengeparents.org/about-the-cpa-board/fundraising/.  Please send the pledge form, your matching gift form and your check to school with your child, place it in the CPA lock box in the office, or mail it to CPA at this address:

Challenge Parents Association
P.O. Box 3371
Lynnwood, WA  98046-3371

Thank you for your continued support!

CPA Board