THE GUILFORDABC PROGRAM, Inc.

November, 2007

Greetings. One of the hardest things about managing a non-profit organization such as ours, is the task of asking you, and all our supporters, for money! It is not something I relish doing. But I have to do it. Without the financial support of our community the program would fade away. I am also aware that there are a good number of other worthy groups who are also hoping to be the beneficiaries of your generosity and so my appeal to you is critical to our continuing success.

From the enclosed brochure you will see that our goal is to provide a superior high school education for young women of color to enable them to obtain entry into competitive colleges and universities. The expectation is that they will ultimately become influential leaders in society. While we provide a life-changing opportunity for our students, at the same time we expose the High School student body to a more diverse population than they would otherwise experience. Our over-33 year record of placing students in high quality institutions of higher education continues, with last year’s senior attending Columbia University. Our two juniors are starting to explore their college options and we anticipate another successful outcome when they graduate from Guilford.

I know that how we use the funds that we receive is important to you. Since we are a largely volunteer group with only a paid Resident Director, a part-time cook and a part-time tutor as employees we can assure you that a very high percentage of our funds goes directly to operations with very little spent on the actual fundraising. The cost of this appeal for instance is less than 2% of the annual budget, so that you can appreciate your dollars are not wasted.

During the recent summer vacation period we took advantage of the students’ absence to renovate the communal bathroom. It was many years since this had been renovated, and with inadequate ventilation and heating it was really overdue. The new bathroom, at a cost of $20,000, is a big improvement in quality of life for the students. This order of magnitude of expenditure was only possible because of the continuing financial support of the community.

I hope you will join us in our endeavors by supporting us with a contribution. This is truly a terrific way to help redress some of the inequities that are still with us in the education system in 2007.

“The question is not whether we can afford to invest in every child; it is whether we can afford not to.”

Marian Wright Edelman ((1939-)

The Measure of Our Success (1992)