How is being a member of the Peace Maker Foundation different than applying for a grant?
What schools can become affiliated with the Peace Maker Foundation?
How can schools use the contributions they receive?
What projects do not receive Peace Maker Foundation support?
How can a school become affiliated with the Peace Maker Foundation?
What incentives are there for a school to help the Foundation raise funds for its work?
How have other schools helped the Peace Maker Foundation to solicit funds?
Is there a maximum on how much a school can receive?
How does Peace Maker Foundation raise funds for its Partner Schools?
Is there a deadline for sending in a Statement of Interest Form?
When does a school receive funding?
What determines how much funding a Partner School receives?
How is being a member of the Peace Maker Foundation different than applying for a grant?
Schools need to be committed to working in an on-going partnership to help their students learn to be peacemakers. Peace Maker Foundation does not make one-time grants. Schools commit to creating a safe learning environment and teaching kids conflict resolutions skills year after year. Schools provide Peace Maker Foundation with annual reports on its violence prevention efforts.
For our part, we will raise funds on your behalf with the information you provide us. Also, if you would like, we will support the efforts of your staff, parents, students and alumni to raise funds for your violence prevention work. Our goal is to develop enough local community support to fully fund the violence prevention efforts of each of our Partner Schools.
What schools can become affiliated with the Peace Maker Foundation?
Any K - 12 public or private school located in Minnesota is eligible to become a member of the Peace Maker Foundation federation as a Partner School. Peace Maker Foundation does not enter into partnerships with pre-schools.
How can schools use the contributions they receive?
Schools may use the funds they receive to teach students one or more of the following topics:
|
Anger management |
Biographies of peacemakers |
Fairness |
|
Bullying prevention |
Causes of war or genocide |
Listening-communication |
|
Dispute-Conflict resolution |
Civil Rights Movement |
Respect |
|
Restorative justice |
Cooperation |
Tolerance |
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Peer mediation |
Empathy |
|
The most common topics taught by the schools we support are bullying prevention, peer mediation, anger management, and biographies of peacemakers. Schools most often use the financial assistance they receive to buy a curriculum, books, videos or other classroom teaching materials. The second most common use of funds is to send teachers or students to trainings, for example on peer mediation. Schools also use the funds they receive to bring in outside consultants or organizations to teach one of the peacemaking topics above. In some cases, funding is used to go on a field trip like to the Nobel Peace Prize Festival or to pay for a school event such as a commemoration of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
What projects do not receive Peace Maker Foundation support?
Peace Maker Foundation does not support character development, ethics / values education, mentoring, or service learning projects. We prefer to support the ongoing implementation of violence prevention curriculums (purchase of curriculums, teacher trainings, additional classroom materials, etc.).
How can a school become affiliated with the Peace Maker Foundation?
The first step is for the school
principal to complete, sign and mail in the Statement of Interest form stating
that she or he wants to enter the school into an ongoing partnership with the
Foundation. Please note that faxed or emailed Statement of Interest forms are
not accepted.
Second, Peace Maker Foundation will evaluate the proposed school project to see if it fits with our focus of preventing violence. To be eligible for funding the project needs to have a direct connection to teaching kids conflict resolution skills or creating a safe learning environment at school.
The third step is for the Peace Maker Foundation to receive $500 or more in contributions that can be applied to the school. Until funding has been secured, we will include the school on a listing that shows which schools are waiting for funding.
Once funding has been secured, the Peace Maker Foundation will send the principal of the school a Partnership Agreement. The Agreement commits the school to providing reports on its violence prevention work and the Peace Maker Foundation to raising contributions for the school.
Lastly, after receiving the signed Partnership Agreement, the school will receive Peace Maker Foundation funding in September for the start of the next school year.
What incentives are there for a school to help the Foundation raise funds for its work?
For schools that help Peace Maker Foundation to raise funds, we provide matching money to encourage the people they know to contribute to our shared mission.
For school districts that allow their employees to make payroll deducted contributions directly to Peace Maker Foundation, we match payroll contributions 3 to 1. All other contributions that parents, employees or students help us to raise, we match 2 to 1.
In other words, if a school can facilitate $167 in employee payroll deducted contributions made directly to Peace Maker Foundation, the Foundation will allocate $501 (167 x 3) to the school and be able to enter into a partnership with it.
If a school raised $250 in non-payroll deducted contributions for the Peace Maker Foundation, the Foundation will allocate $500 ($250 x 2) for the school.
How have other schools helped the Peace Maker Foundation to solicit funds?
Please view the How Schools
Have Raised Funding to see how other schools have helped the Foundation to
connect with donors interested in their work. 
Is there a maximum on how much a school can receive?
So long as funding is used for violence prevention efforts, there is no maximum on how much a school can receive.
What information can a principal use to help district administration decide to include Peace Maker Foundation as a payroll giving option for its employees?
We recommend following a four-point strategy:
1. Communicate the need to strengthen the violence prevention efforts at your school.
2. Describe the value that your program will bring to students and your school.
3.
Show them the attached Did You Know
document that explains that the Peace Maker Foundation is willing to contribute
to the schools of your district three times the amount that we receive
from your employee fund drive. Emphasize that the only cost to your school
district for giving your employees the option to contribute Peace Maker
Foundation is the time spent on payroll processing. We understand that for
schools using an accounting system like Skyward that it is only a couple of
button clicks to set up a payroll deduction account. There is not an annual
membership fee to become a part of the Peace Maker Foundation federation.
Even if a school can not help the Foundation identify donors in our area, does it make sense for us to complete a Statement of Interest Form?
Yes, just by adding your school to our waiting list of schools interested in entering into a partnership with us, we may be able to find a donor that would like to fund your work.
How does Peace Maker Foundation raise funds for its Partner Schools?
The largest single way that we raise contributions is through workplace employee fund drives. People working for the employers listed below all have the option to making a payroll deducted gift to Peace Maker Foundation and requesting that their funds be applied to any of our Partner Schools.
We will match the money that a school helps us raise through these campaigns – not charge a processing fee to direct contributions to a particular school. We are continuously working to gain entry into more workplace campaigns for the benefit of our Partner Schools.
The State Of Minnesota
Ramsey County
Dakota County
City of Saint Paul
League of Minnesota Cities
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
Mounds View Public Schools
Stillwater Public Schools
Hamline University
We also recruit volunteers to raise funds for individual schools or for a group of schools from one community. Often times these are college students or recent graduates who want to develop their marketing, communications, community organizing and public relations skills.
Lastly, we employ typical fundraising methods such as email and mail solicitations, grant requests, personal visits, etc. Midland Information Systems puts on an annual golf tournament to benefit our schools.
Is there a deadline for sending in a Statement of Interest Form?
Statement of Interest forms may be submitted at any time. There are no application deadlines.
When does a school receive funding?
Peace Maker Partner Schools receive funding in September of each year so long as they adequately complete a report on their previous school-year’s work. The report, following a Peace Maker Foundation format is due on June 15 of each year.
What determines how much funding a Partner School receives?
The amount of funding a school receives in September is based on the amount of contributions raised for the particular school or contributed by donors interested in the school or its comunity during the previous calendar year.
In other words, how much a school helps the Foundation raise and how much the Foundation raises this calendar year for a specific school, or for schools from its community, will determine the amount of funding a school receives next year. School employee payroll deducted contributions made directly to Peace Maker Foundation will be matched 3 to 1. All other contributions that people associated with a school help us to raise will be matched 2 to 1.
SPECIAL NOTICE: Matching money may still be available for the 2009 – 2010 school year. Until we meet our 2009 school distribution target, any funds that a school helps Peace Maker Foundation raise will be matched and paid to the school during 2009 and then matched again for the 2010 – 2011 school year. Please contact the Foundation to learn if matching funds are still available for the 2009 – 2010 school year.
Updated 4-20-09
