About Us
Vision
The FAB foundation’s vision is to establish a perpetual funding stream which will support scholarship opportunities for special education students to pursue post educational and/or career training upon graduation.
Mission
Our mission is to award financial scholarships to graduating special education seniors from Staten Island high schools to be used for further educational pursuits and/or career training programs. Our end goal is to award at least one scholarship to each high school in Staten Island that has a special education program.
How We Work
The Board of Directors is responsible for developing and implementing an effective fundraising plan which will solicit contributions through a variety of ways (direct mail; personal contacts; e-mails; web-site; special events)to help build the endowment that will support the mission of the foundation. The scholarship recipients are selected through a process of review and recommendation conducted by school personnel with approval from the Board. The school-based team consists of the principal, the assistant principal of instructional support, the assistant principal of guidance, the college coordinator and instructional support teachers. Candidates selected for scholarships will be based on the following: high-school academic achievement; overcoming adversity; perseverance; leadership qualities and school and community service participation. After selection, the foundation’s board will approve the scholarship awards which will be presented at the end of each school year during the senior awards ceremony.
Board of Directors
Robert Bennett
Ryan Bennett
Courtney Bennett
The Board responsibilities include: development of a fundraising plan; establishment of the budget; oversight of the selection process for scholarship awards; and the awarding of the scholarships to the students. Each Board member volunteers their skills and time to conduct these functions without any compensation. The annual report of payments for each student scholarship will be recorded in the foundation’s annual 990 report and is available to the public.
Future Plans
We have had eight gala fundraisers over the past 9 years that were great successes. All proceeds above the cost of running the function were deposited directly into the foundation’s business account. The Board determines the scholarship awards and the amounts. Over the past 10 years, we have given scholarship awards to high school students in Staten Island, valued at over $130,000. In 2018, we presented 12 students with scholarships, each in the amount of $2,000. All remaining funds will remain in the account and will be earmarked for subsequent scholarship awards over time.
The Board keeps an annual record of the scholarship winners with basic demographic information (address, phone numbers, etc.) and with how they plan to use their funds (college, career training programs) and for what purpose (tuition, books, transportation, etc). The Board plans to monitor the success of our scholarship recipients so that we may share with our supporters and funders the outcomes achieved. We will continually review and evaluate our achievements and make any necessary modifications and adjustments that may lead to even higher standards and substantive outcomes for our students and for our community.
