As part of our 40th Anniversary celebration year, The Wooden Floor is launching a special fundraising campaign, Step Forward. This campaign is specifically designed to further grow The Wooden Floor’s Endowment Fund to ensure future generations of students have the opportunity to reach their fullest opportunity to reach their fullest potential in school and in life.
WATCH NOW: Impact of The Wooden Floor Endowment
WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF ENDOWMENT RESOURCES TO THE WOODEN FLOOR?
- Serve hundreds more students each year through our community engagement efforts
- Reach those students least likely to be able to afford the programs and services we offer
- Maintain our connected-campus model plus potential new spaces, and so much more.
WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF ENDOWMENT RESOURCES TO THE WOODEN FLOOR?
- Serve hundreds more students each year through our community engagement efforts
- Reach those students least likely to be able to afford the programs and services we offer
- Maintain our connected-campus model plus potential new spaces, and so much more.
Why now? The past three+ years of the pandemic have shined a light on the increased significance The Wooden Floor has had in the lives of our students and families and in our community. We had to pause our efforts to build upon the Endowment Fund, as our organization worked tirelessly to ensure that even in the midst of the pandemic and its aftermath, our students will have the social, emotional, and academic well-being to propel their lives forward and towards their big dreams for higher education and beyond. Now it is time to take the next step forward to meet the growing needs of our students:
- 100% of the students who graduate from The Wooden Floor enroll in higher education. Our goal is to give even more children in low-income communities the same inspiration through the expansion of programming, including increased academic, social, and emotional wellness support to remediate pandemic learning losses.
- The Wooden Floor graduation class sizes are growing, which will require more staffing and financial resources. Our goal is to support the transitions between high school to higher education through increased mentorship, career exploration, workforce development and scholarship awards.
- The Endowment Fund will help us to sustain the high impact and quality programs and services that we are known for by our students, our families, and our community. When a student makes a commitment to The Wooden Floor, we need to be prepared to make a 10-year financial commitment to their journey towards higher education and beyond. Our goal is to provide long-term financial sustainability for today, and future generations of students to come.
“I want to go into computer engineering because I really like coding. Dance taught me to be creative, so I didn’t want a job where I couldn’t be creative, and engineering allows you to do that. I coded my own website, and I want to be able to create technologies because tech can help society. The Wooden Floor showed me that there was help everywhere, and now that I’m older, I look for help when I need it. If I have a challenge, I look for who can help me. I also try to look for ways to help others.”
Daniela Salazar, Class of 2021, is attending Northeastern University with a double major in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
“I want to go into computer engineering because I really like coding. Dance taught me to be creative, so I didn’t want a job where I couldn’t be creative, and engineering allows you to do that. I coded my own website, and I want to be able to create technologies because tech can help society. The Wooden Floor showed me that there was help everywhere, and now that I’m older, I look for help when I need it. If I have a challenge, I look for who can help me. I also try to look for ways to help others.”
Daniela Salazar, Class of 2021, is attending Northeastern University with a double major in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
ENDOWMENT FUND
OPPORTUNITIES
There are three main areas of focus where gifts to the endowment can make an impact. For those supporters interested in honoring a loved one, or leaving a special legacy, permanently named funds can be established for gifts above $100,000.
The Wooden Floor Endowment
(in support of greatest need)
Contributions to The Wooden Floor’s Endowment Fund create a legacy of your support and ensure the strength of the organization for years to come. The Wooden Floor Endowment supports areas of greatest need such as inventive artistic and performance opportunities; strategically integrated wrap-around services including increased mental health support, academic tutoring, and technology; college and career readiness; individualized mentoring beginning as early as 6th grade; family support services, and much more.
The Wooden Floor Scholarship Endowment
Since 2000, The Wooden Floor has provided $1.8M in college/university scholarship awards to our graduates. Today, the organization has over 120 alumni in colleges and universities across the nation, and its graduation class sizes are growing each year. Direct gifts or planned gifts towards The Wooden Floor’s Scholarship Endowment create long-term sustainability for the College Scholarship Awards program, to support more tailored college scholarship awards to keep pace with students’ access to higher education and help ensure our students graduate. The Wooden Floor alumni graduate with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree at rate of 55 percent, as compared to 12 percent* of their socioeconomic peers.
*Postsecondary National Policy Institute 2020
Build Upon the Future Endowment
Direct gifts or planned gifts in support of The Wooden Floor campus locations will ensure that we will be able to grow prudently with our focus on financial sustainability; support the infrastructure and staffing required to sustain services; and update and improve upon our beautiful facilities for our students, such as building maintenance, and technology upgrades including personal laptop computers.
JOIN US IN CELEBRATING
Please consider joining The Wooden Floor in celebrating our 40th Anniversary with a gift to our Step Forward Endowment Campaign, which aims to strengthen The Wooden Floor’s important mission to inspire and transform the lives of young people through the power of dance and access to higher education. We are happy to share more and discuss your thoughts on how you can make a difference today with a direct gift, and/or through your estate planning as part of The Wooden Floor Legacy Society. Please contact CEO Dawn S. Reese at 714-541-8314 or at Info@TheWoodenFloor.org. With you walking by our side, we will step forward together.
JOIN US IN CELEBRATING
Please consider joining The Wooden Floor in celebrating our 40th Anniversary with a gift to our Step Forward Endowment Campaign, which aims to strengthen The Wooden Floor’s important mission to inspire and transform the lives of young people through the power of dance and access to higher education. We are happy to share more and discuss your thoughts on how you can make a difference today with a direct gift, and/or through your estate planning as part of The Wooden Floor Legacy Society. Please contact CEO Dawn S. Reese at 714-541-8314 or at Info@TheWoodenFloor.org. With you walking by our side, we will step forward together.