Direct Appeal 2023 - GUIDELINE FOR NEW FAMILIES

As a new family at MWE, you did not contribute (financially) to some of the educational supports that your child will receive this year. Those supports were already committed to and paid for in the prior school year in order to secure instructors and programs through LAUSD and district approved vendors. 

Please read below, if you're looking for some guidelines, facts and information to help you decide how much to donate as a new family:

• The PTA spends over $600 on each child. The entirety of what we raise during Direct Appeal goes towards just paying for school services, like the intervention teacher, TAs, psychiatric social worker (to help our kids emotional well being). The amount we spend on school services, every year, exceed what we raise in Direct Appeal, which is why we have additional fun events throughout the year (e.g. Mt. Washington Made, Pancake Breakfast, Halloween Carnival, etc.)
• Our money is well spent - just ask Ms. Morris or Mrs. Barnes, our Intervention Teacher about the improved literacy results. 
• We offer monthly payments. We don't require your donation all at once. You can take the amount of your donation and apply it every month automatically for 8 months.
• Prior to the strikes, 15% of our community was considered socioeconomically disadvantaged. Moreover, the Direct Appeal survey indicates that 32.4% of our community is affected by the strikes. Of those affected, 17.4% have lost their income entirely and 43.5% have lost their income between 50-75%. For those of us not affected by the strikes, I ask that we consider those who are and consider bumping up your donation by 10-20%. #MWEtogether
• Some FAQs answered here: https://www.mwpta.org/directappealfaq
• For the new families who are looking for an exact amount of how exactly how much you should donate, we offer the below sliding scale based on income. To emphasize, the below amounts are just suggestions. Donate what you can. Every dollar is appreciated.
  • Less than $50k/year, suggested donation = $120 or $15/month for 8 months
  • $50 – 100k/year, suggested donation = $400 or $50/month for 8 months
  • $100 – 150k/year, suggested donation = $1,000 or $125/month for 8 months
  • $150 – 200k/year, suggested donation = $2,000 or $250/month for 8 months
  • More than $200k/year, suggested donation = $4,000 or $500/month for 8 months
  • Or, if you’re a new family, and it's within your reach, we would appreciate a donation the equivalent of three month’s preschool tuition.

For a quick crash course on fundraising for public schools in LAUSD, we offer this article.

Lastly, we understand that everyone's financial situation is different. Additionally, whether we like it or not, life happens. Situations just pop-up. Situations that cost money, sometimes a lot of money. We hope that the message is clear that donations are voluntary.

We hope the above has been helpful. If you can, please donate today. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at president@mwpta.org.