BISON Scholarship Fund Scholarship Support Initiative

Giving Children a Chance ~ Giving Families a Choice 1

Our Mission

The BISON Scholarship Fund aims to maximize educational opportunity for all children: for those in need by offering tuition assistance in grades K-8 for alternatives to faltering conventional schools and for all children by supporting and cultivating education reform and parental choice efforts.

2

- Founded in 1995, the BISON Scholarship Fund, is a privately funded scholarship program for low-income elementary school children who reside in Western New York;

- BISON has grown from helping 200 children in its first year to 1,810 children this past school year (2011-12). These children attend 78 different independent or

Catholic elementary schools;

- Since inception, BISON has provided in excess of 18,700 scholarships, investing more than $13.5 million of privately raised funds. BISON

began a partnership with the Children’s Scholarship Fund in 1999, which through 2012 will have brought more than $3 million in outside funds into our community.

Our Story

3

Trend of BISON Scholarships and Costs

95-96 96-97 97-98 98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12

221

401 430

598

1,259

1,0381,134

1,4001,273 1,229 1,192 1,149

1,350

1,5101,440

1,350

1,810

$87$175 $203

$308

$726 $595$685

$950$880 $850

$921 $927

$1,082$1,254 $1,243 $1,186

$1,656

# of Scholarships Scholarship $ (000)

4

- In the spring of 1999, the BISON Scholarship Fund commenced a partnership with the Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF), a national foundation established by the late Ted Forstmann (co-founder and senior partner of Forstmann Little & Co.) and the late John Walton (former director of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.). The current grant of $1.4 with CSF started with the 2010-2011 school year and will continue through 2013-14. CSF matches all contributions to BISON ($1 for every $3 contributed);

- BISON remains in the top six of programs nationally that partner with CSF – the other cities include San Francisco, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Omaha and New York City;

- CSF currently has 29 partner programs throughout the United States, funding 25,500 children.

BISON and The Children’s Scholarship Fund

5

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM REVIEW

6

The Scholarship Program Process

-Scholarship applications are available each year, January 1 – April 30. A lottery drawing is held in early May to select new recipients for the upcoming school year. Because of

graduation and general attrition totals each year, BISON awards between 250 and 350 new scholarships each year. Families not selected in the lottery remain on a waiting list, and the list currently has more than

1,000 eligible children;

-When families win a scholarship, we plan to have them in the BISON program until their childgraduates from the 8th grade. Families can grandfather siblings into the program without filling out

another new application;

-The average scholarship award is currently $928/child – an increase of 4% from previous year. The overall tuition change from last year was 2%.

-The “average” tuition amount for children in the program is $2,647. The average contribution per family is $1,504– however, this year the number of families at the “cap” or $1,400 is 27% - an increase of 2% from the previous year.

7

- Of the 1,810 children in the program, 1,633 (91%) attended 55 Catholic schools; 2% attended a Christian school; 2% attend a Jewish school; and the others attend Presbyterian, Lutheran, Islamic, Baptist and independent schools;

- Average family income for families in the BISON program is $32,237 down 1% from last year. The average family income for the inner-city is under $26,000, but areas outside the city impact the average income;

- The greatest number of BISON students are in Kindergarten – 3 rd grade; for this school year, 12% out of the 357 new awards were children entering Kindergarten.

Scholarship Stats for 2011-2012

8

Our Challenge

• 70% of 8th graders are not proficient in reading and most will never catch up;

• Children who live in poverty and read below grade level by 3rd grade are three times as likely to

not graduate from high school as students who have never been poor;

• Only 57% of black and Hispanic students in the class of 2008 graduated on time, compared to 78.4% of white students;

• By the time low-income children reach 4th grade, many are already two to three grades behind their peers from middle and upper-income families;

• Annual education spending per child more than doubled in 35 years, but academic outcomes flat-lined;

• The effects of dropping out of high school are drastic and long-lasting, both to the drop out and to society. A child who does not graduate from high school is 4 times as likely to face unemployment compared to a college graduate. High school dropouts can also expect to earn less than half the average salary of a college graduate, and male high school dropouts are 47 more times likely to end up incarcerated than college graduates. In Buffalo, only 25% of African-American males graduate from high school. 9

Our Results

• A child who finishes 8th grade in private school is twice as likely to graduate form high school and attend and graduate from college. In tracking BISON’s 8 th grade graduates, 95% have gone on to graduate from high school (compared to 54% from Buffalo Public Schools);

• On average, 65% of BISON 8th grade graduates go on to a private high school of choice and 30% of BISON 8th grade graduates attend one of the top performing public or charter high schools;

• BISON believes that a significant majority of BISON graduates entering competitive high schools demonstrates the ultimate success of the BISON initiative. BISON scholarships are always partial, partnering with the family for their child’s education and families must pay a minimum of $500 a year; • BISON scholarships stabilize enrollments at schools that provide a safe and academically sound environment, increasing education options for all;

• BISON supports parental choice and education reform efforts – both private and public – in order to give all children quality education. BISON is a program that works, and works today. It is the only way for thousands of children to have immediate access to safe, quality values-based education.

10

FINANCIAL OVERVIEW

11

Financial Overview2005-2013 Funding Needs

(current year)

BISON Fund Organizational Budget 11-12   12-13 13-14 14-15

Scholarship Awards 1,810   1,800 1,820 1,820

Average Scholarship $ 928   965 1,003 1,043

Scholarship Cost $ 1,649,654 

1,737,000 1,825,460 1,898,260

Administration $ 211,910   222,506 233,631 245,312

Total BISON Fund Need: 1,861,654   1,959,506 2,059,091 2,143,572

12

Donor Segment

Foundations* $1,283,906

Private Family Foundations 292,000

Corporations 42,275

Individuals 271,611

$1,889,792

BISON Donors

*Includes $600,000 from Diocese of Buffalo, $375,000 from Oishei Foundation $308,906 from CSF

13

Our Leverage

BISON

CSF National

CSFParent

1 BISONScholar

All gifts to BISON are matched, first by CSF and then by BISON families, highly leveraging your investment. Every family is required to pay a portion of the tuition each year. The parental contribution is a vital element in the success of the program, as families who must invest their own money for tuition have a stronger stake in their child’s education. Sharing in the direct cost of education is a natural motivator that keeps education a high priority in the home.

BISON focuses on what Stanford’s Caroline Hoxby calls family effects rather than school effects. Both approaches can make a difference, but Prof. Hoxby estimates that a reformthat improved family effects by 5% would probably do more for a student outcomes than a reform that improved school effects by 70%.

14

CHALLENGES AHEAD

15

Program Challenges

• New and broader base of dedicated funders;

• Rising tuition costs – we need to raise more money to maintain the same number of children;

• Economic stresses – for both donors and recipient families;

• Very large waiting list of eligible children

• Increasing the scholarship cap to assist in challenging times. Each $100 raise in the cap costs approximately $45,000 a year.

16

The Great News !

In our 18 year history:

• over 18,700 scholarships awarded

• an economic value of over $13.5 million

• more than $3 million brought in from CSF

• children succeeding after 8th grade – 95 % graduating from high school

• broad base of support

• continually growing Luncheon event

• consistent Board and staff leadership

17