Funding for Piedmont Schools: The PEF Endowment Fund

Building a permanent Endowment Fund is the best way to protect the investment we have made – and continue to make – in educational excellence. It ensures that we can continue to offer the widest possible range of educational opportunities for our children, despite the ongoing fluctuation and mandated restrictions in state funding. It secures a stable source of income to the school district.

In 2000, the Piedmont Educational Foundation launched a campaign to build the Endowment Fund to $5 million in order to generate a significant, stable source of income for our schools. To date, Endowment donors have given and pledged approximately $3.85 million. At June 30, 2011, the Endowment was valued at just over $4.2 million.

As these funds are invested, they generate annual income. Distributions from the Endowment Fund have increased from $47,000 in 2002 to almost $169,000 for the 2011-2012 school year. This is a sustained record of substantial support the district can count on, year after year, to help bridge the gap between our share of state funding and what’s needed for great schools. Income from the Endowment Fund is used to meet local priorities each year as established in conjunction with the district and the School Board. In some years, it has helped support elective offerings at the secondary level and counseling services district-wide. In other years, it has been used to provide general program support throughout the district.

We are fortunate to have the finest school system in our area, and one acknowledged as being among the best in the state. Each gift to the Endowment Fund brings us closer to our goal of ensuring the continuing excellence of Piedmont’s schools in perpetuity.

Click here to give to the Endowment Fund. Gifts to the Endowment Fund can be made as a current pledge (cash, charge, or securities) or as a deferred gift (bequest or trust). Donations can also be made as a tribute to honor those you value or in memory of a special individual.