The Right Brain Initiative, an arts education program of the Regional Arts &Culture Council, has been awarded a significant matching challenge grant from the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund. This grant incentivizes program staff and stakeholders to raise $25,000 through individual gifts of $250 and higher by June 2013.
Ready to meet this challenge, Right Brain today launches the Imagination Fund campaign. Upon the successful procurement of $25,000, all contributions will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund. This match challenge is the first of a three-year commitment of $75,000 to energize and enhance the Initiative’s individual giving program.
“Our five-year-old program has only a modest history of engaging individual donors,” said Marna Stalcup, The Right Brain Initiative program manager. “This grant will be instrumental in helping us build our foundation of donors. We look forward to rallying the community in support of children’s access to creativity.”
The Right Brain Initiative is a unique and collaborative community effort to make the arts a basic part of every child’s education in the Portland metropolitan area. The program currently serves over 11,000 K-8 students. Right Brain works with teaching artists and teachers to design classroom experiences that integrate the arts with other areas of the curriculum. Right Brain also serves nearly 300 school staff through professional arts training each year. The Imagination Fund will directly support the program’s growth, particularly to high-need schools in the region.
In support of the Imagination Fund campaign, Right Brain has developed a mechanism for individuals to give through automatic monthly donations. Right Brain invites arts education advocates to donate online.
The Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund joins other major Right Brain funding partners including the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, the Collins Foundation, KeyBank, JPMorgan Chase, the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, The Standard, the PGE Foundation, and US Bank/US Bancorp Foundation. Private funders currently make up just over 50% of the program’s $800,000 budget. Find a full list of both public and private stakeholders at TheRightBrainInitiative.org/funding.