Why Have a Foundation?
Like many schools in Cobb County and across the country, our non-profit association was formed in order to help secure private and government grants, as well as to encourage parent and community contributions to the school’s 501(c)(3) organization. Addison’s Foundation has a very specific and narrow set of objectives—to secure financial support and use that funding to support a variety of programs and resources that go above and beyond what is available from the Cobb County School District. Without a Foundation, there are very few avenues available to obtain necessary funding for additional resources for the school.

Why do we need a Foundation and a PTA?
The Foundation was established in 2008 to work hand-in-hand with the PTA and the school staff for Addison students. The PTA provides people/volunteers and programs, but national PTA guidelines limit how the PTA can spend funds. The AESF can utilize funds for salaries, capital improvements, supplies, equipment, and other school needs.

Our strong PTA allows Addison to have various programs, volunteers, and support for our teachers. The Foundation is designed to complement the PTA in supporting our students. The PTA focuses on people (i.e. volunteers) and programs designed to build a sense of community at Addison. The AESF is focused on providing funding for enrichment programs that help strengthen academics.

A strong Foundation will give us the ability to secure funding to supplement the educational opportunities that are not currently being funded by the state or county budgets. Many of these programs cannot be funded through PTA either because they are subject to pre-designated restrictions and National guidelines that limit how our PTA can spend its money. For example, PTA can fund a Cultural Arts Day program but the Foundation can hire Science, Technologies, or Foreign Language instructors.

The role of PTA to provide additional educational opportunities is limited by their National PTA Guidelines.

How the AESF Raises Money

• Memberships (100% of membership dollars are used to fund programs at Addison)
• Fall fundraiser (Entertainment coupon books & Sally Foster)
• Spring fundraiser (Boosterthon)

AESF’s Current Goals

• Establish a grant application committee and begin applying for grants
• Increase communication between the AESF, teachers, PTA and parents by using our website, meetings and the Addison Antics to keep all stakeholders engaged and informed
• Develop future plans for supporting academic excellence at Addison

How You Can Help

• Become a member
• Double your donation by asking your employer about a Matching Gift
• Donate supplies for the science lab
• Support our fundraisers
• Volunteer! Help us with our fundraisers or spend some time in the science lab.

Is the AESF only going to support science programs?

Based on research conducted on other nearby elementary school foundations and the programs they provide to their students, we noticed the science, foreign language and performing arts were three key areas of support. We conducted a membership survey in 2008 to help us determine which area we should focus on first – science became our priority. After two years of fundraising efforts, we were able to open the Foundation Science Lab on April 22, 2010.
The standards for meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP*) by the State of Georgia were recently amended and our science scores on the CRCT are now the second indicator used to determine if we meet AYP. Having the Foundation Science Lab as a resource to provide energy and focus on science is key to being able to help support our teachers and students.
As the Foundation grows and is able to increase our funds, we will begin to look for additional ways to support academics at Addison. By working closely with Mrs. Crowder and the staff, we will identify other key areas that will allow Addison students to be well-prepared for middle school and beyond.

*AYP is one of the cornerstones of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). It is an annual measure of student participation and achievement of statewide assessments and other academic indicators. AYP requires schools to meet standards in three areas: Test Participation (for both Mathematics and Reading/English Language Arts), Academic Performance (for both Mathematics and Reading/English Language Arts), and a Second Indicator.