Donations can be designated online or through mail to three different areas – Greatest need, School Facilities, and Scholarships:
- Donations designated for “Greatest need”:
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- Although volunteer Boards direct our initiatives, we utilize an association management firm to help handle the day-to-day needs of the Alumni Foundation and Alumni Association, which includes receiving and tracking donations, database updates and scholarship processing. Along with that, we’ve implemented scholarship software to manage our process of reviewing 100+ student applications and awarding more than $200,000 in scholarships annually. Costs for these services and tools can be as high as $40,000/year, so we need financial support to cover them and help our Alumni Foundation and Alumni Association run smoothly.
- In the past, annual Alumni Association dues payments helped cover administration costs; we now simply ask for donations in lieu of annual dues.
- School programs, including Avenue Scholars.In 2022, our Alumni Foundation applied $85,000 we had in unrestricted funds to start the Avenue Scholars program at EHS, which guides students into immediate jobs and career paths that do not require four-year college degrees. We’ve continued to provide funds that help ensure EHS students enrolled in the program are successful. For more information about Avenue Scholars, visit https://avescholars.org/avenue-scholars-desmoines/
- Although volunteer Boards direct our initiatives, we utilize an association management firm to help handle the day-to-day needs of the Alumni Foundation and Alumni Association, which includes receiving and tracking donations, database updates and scholarship processing. Along with that, we’ve implemented scholarship software to manage our process of reviewing 100+ student applications and awarding more than $200,000 in scholarships annually. Costs for these services and tools can be as high as $40,000/year, so we need financial support to cover them and help our Alumni Foundation and Alumni Association run smoothly.
- Donations designated for “School facilities” go toward:
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- Additional athletic/extracurricular facilities.We recently completed a first-class synthetic field to be used for soccer, marching band and other activities; before that, we upgraded baseball and softball field dugouts and press boxes. Soon, we’ll be renovating the EHS weight room. All of this is a tremendous start to upgrading EHS facilities, but over time, we will need more improvements to simply keep up with natural aging/deterioration. We can all help provide our students opportunities similar to those at suburban schools.
- Donations designated for “Scholarships” go toward:
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- Our tremendous scholarship endowment of almost $4 million. In 2024, we awarded more than $226,000 in scholarships to 68 deserving students, and our total award amount increases each year. We are extremely proud to help alleviate college-loan debt for so many students and families, and two- and four-year education costs continue to rise.
It is important to note that donations designated for “Greatest need” can benefit – at the EHS Alumni Foundation’s discretion – any of these areas. So, as you review options for designating your gift, please consider that. All of this is critical in fulfilling our mission and living our motto, “For the service of humanity.”