In 2003, we set out on our mission to bring Waldorf Education to lower Fairfield County. With your encouragement and participation, our dream has become a reality in 2009. Now is the time we need your financial support!

The Clover Hill School is a recognized 501 (c) (3) organization. We achieved a major objective last September when we opened our fully licensed Mixed-Age Kindergarten at our new campus in Norwalk, CT. We are delighted with the newly refurbished classroom and lovely play yard. Establishing such a presence and program in Norwalk has long been a key part of our Strategic Plan, and it is already yielding positive results. We are experiencing growing interest from the community and enrollment has doubled. Furthermore, our on-going efforts to build awareness of the School and Waldorf Education can now have full effect because they have a base from which to grow.

Unfortunately, we are confronted by the absence of financial reserves due to two nonrecurring factors. First was the costly and time consuming process required for zoning approval, building permits, construction, the Certificate of Occupancy, and licensing by the State Department of Public Health. More than $70,000 and almost 1% years was spent to achieve what started as a simple matter of adapting an existing but unused classroom and play yard. We were determined to create a first class facility that would last, and we are proud of the result. However, unexpected but necessary expenses increased the cost to almost 3 times our budget. And the delays meant we lost a school year of enrollment building and tuition income.

Next came the recession which eliminated virtually all of the budget that our long time foundation backer, FRIC (Foundation for the Redevelopment of Individual Character), had allocated for Clover Hill for this year. FRIC has supported Clover Hill since our inception in 2003, and it provided $110,000 in the 2008-09 school year alone. However, it is severely limited in its ability to fund 2009-10. Other major donors have helped in the past, and we hope they will step forward again. Some have already done so. Nonetheless, making up for this loss in effect doubles our fundraising task.

Now that we are fully licensed with finished facilities, we are at the point in the life of a new school when we would normally begin the full range of fundraising activities to fund operations, enable growth, and achieve stability through an endowment. That we will do. However, for now we are entirely focused on the requirement for $100,000 to ensure our ability to operate through the 2009-10 school year and transition to 2010-2011.

Accordingly, we have launched the Clover Hill School Annual Fund Drive for 2009-10, our very first drive! We realize that the $100,000 goal is quite ambitious, particularly given current economic conditions. Everyone, foundations, institutions, businesses and individuals alike, has been affected by the recession.

But our spirits have not been dampened. We are confident of success because we are proud of what has been achieved, and we are excited about what we have to offer. And once we surmount the obstacles for the current school year, we have realistic expectations of reaching breakeven during the 2010-11 school year, only our second full year of operations.

Foundation grants and corporate donations are important parts of the Drive. However, one fact is clear. High participation rates among the Clover Hill community and friends will be essential.

The Board and Faculty as well as the Parents and members of the Michaelic Anthroposophical Group of CT got us off to an impressive start with a 100% participation rate! Thanks to their leadership gifts plus two Foundation grants, we reached 27% of our goal during the first two months of the Drive!

Now comes the hard part...the other 73%! We urge everyone who receives this message to consider making the most generous donation possible. You can also help by providing the names and addresses of other potential donors that we can add to our prospect list.

Please choose one of the following five levels of giving as your total gift or pledge:

Queen Bee	$1,000+
Honey Bee	$500-$999
Worker Bee	$250-$499
Beekeeper	$100-$249
Clover Flower	Up to $100

Here are two payment choices:

• You can send a check today for the full amount of your gift...or
• You can pledge the full amount today and plan to make four equal payments:
  #1 - Today;
  #2 - by December 31, 2009 (so it's deductible this year);
  #3 - by February 28, 2010; and
  #4 - by April 30, 2010. The school year and our fiscal year end in June.
  

Special Notes:

• Gifts can be timed to take advantage of both the 2009 and 2010 tax years
• Gifts of stock or bonds are most welcome.
• See if your employer will match your gift

Please click here to download, print and complete the confirmation form. Return it with your check representing your total gift or the first payment of your pledge.

Checks should be payable to:
The Clover Hill School, Inc.
P.O. Box 206
Riverside, CT 06878-0206.

We will send an acknowledgement of your tax deductible contribution for 2009 to the name and address you provide. Acknowledgements for 2010 payments will be sent during 2010.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please call Brian Moran at 203-661-6484.

THANK YOU FOR HELPING US REACH OUR $100,000 GOAL!