Kiddo! Meets $3-Million Goal

Good News! Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation, announced in a press release today it has met both its 2013-14 participation goal and its annual fundraising goal of $3 million with a big thank you to the community.  “We are so grateful for the generous support from families, businesses and the community,” said Bill Lampl, Kiddo! Executive Director.  “We are lucky to live in a wonderful community that places a high value on providing our children with an excellent public school education.”

Along with Annual Campaign contributions from school parents and the community, the $3 million includes a projected $215,000 from the Business Partners Program, $45,000 from shopping programs like eScrip, Mill Valley Market’s Shop & Give, Whole Foods 5% Days & Shopping Bag programs and $163,000 in interest from the Kiddo! Endowment Fund.  

“Despite explosive enrollment growth in the Mill Valley School District and limited state & federal funds, our district is able to preserve educational excellence through a shared solution model of careful district budget planning, parcel & property taxes and fundraising by our PTA's and Kiddo!,” explained Deborah Goldman, Chair of the Kiddo! Board of Directors. “Thanks to exceptional community support we are able to maintain our core arts programs while also providing critically important funding for the district’s P.E. program, classroom and library aides, technology and innovative teacher & leadership grants,” said Goldman.

Large numbers of district families once again contributed to fundraising efforts this year, with 75% of all district families donating to the Annual Campaign.   

Caitlin Smith, Annual Campaign Chair, credited much of the fundraising success to December’s “Swirl Participation Challenge.”  Local frozen yogurt shop, Swirl, generously offered a free 8oz. frozen yogurt to every student if Kiddo! reached its participation goal this year.  “We are happy to announce that with 1,716 donations from district families, we have met our goal of 75% participation!”

In 2013 the Kiddo! Annual Campaign asked parents to contribute $1200 per student to fund art, music, drama, dance, poetry, innovative teacher grants, PE teachers and programs, classroom and library aides, and technology for 3,294 kindergarten through eighth-grade students in Mill Valley’s public schools.