July 2008
Dear Supporter of the FCDSN,
The annual Buddy Walk, out biggest event of the year, is fast approaching. This event is affiliated with the National Down Syndrome Society and celebrates October as the National Down syndrome awareness month. Our Buddy Walk is scheduled for Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 2:00 pm at North Ponds Park in Webster NY. Registration begins at 12:00 noon with numerous family activities held both before and after the walk. A complete itinerary will be found on the website (www.FCDSN.com) and in our brochure ~ both of which will be available by the beginning of August. -- Registration Form Here --
The main purpose of the Buddy Walk is two-fold: to get as many people together in one place who support individuals with Down syndrome as well as to raise the funds needed to support the families under our organization’s umbrella.
How much do we want to raise? As much as possible!
- 10% of our net proceeds will be sent to the NDSS to support their efforts in advocacy, research and education.
- We currently need between $40,000 - $50,000 annually to fund all the services and administration costs for our organization.
- We hope to hire Admin Support staff for 2009 to help improve our responsiveness, grow and improve our programs and reach out to more families.
- We want to grow our Endowment fund at least 10x over the next few years. This will ensure the fiscal viability of the FCDSN as well as give us enough steady income to support a paid staff person.
Lofty goals to be sure….but it doesn’t hurt to dream BIG!
How can you help? Put the Internet to good use and start your fundraising now, using Firstgiving.com. This company is widely used by organizations large and small to facilitate donations to non-profit organizations. Only Non-profits are allowed to use this site and all of us are carefully screened before we can sign up.
The FCDSN has made it easy to create a Fundraising page to get started. Simply go to our FCDSN Start Page [www.firstgiving.com/fcdsn] and click on the button “Get Started”. You will be prompted for a few pieces of information and you will be set up automatically. All you’ll need is a cute photo of your child or family, a personal message about why you are fundraising, a personal Thank you message and a list of email addresses to send your page to and you are ready.
The whole activity should only take about 15 minutes of your time. Once set up, you will be able to visit the main FCDSN page [www.firstgiving.com/fcdsn] anytime to see how well we are doing as a group as well as how well all of your friends are doing.
Firstgiving is a secure site, easy to use, that will automatically send all donators a Thank you from you as well as us and a confirmation for the donators records. The money raised is also automatically deposited into the FCDSN bank account – no dealing with cash or checks, no asking for donations in person. It’s fast, easy and effective.
Need help getting started? Firstgiving has extensive HELP support either through their FAQ section, email HELP [support@firstgiving.com] or via telephone [1-617-591-2121 opt #3].
The FCDSN is working hard to try to grow our organization, but we need your help. Please consider taking this one easy step to support us so we can support you.
More information about the Buddy Walk will be coming soon….so mark your calendars now. This is a fun, family day filled with fellowship and entertainment. The Buddy Walk is free to all, unless you want extra T-shirts (above the 4 per registered family that will be no charge) or you want to take part in the Chicken BBQ. However, we hope that all families who are supported by this organization help us to raise funds so we can continue to improve and grow.
Thanks so much.
Sincerely
Susan Accapezzato, President FCDSN
FCDSN Officers
FCDSN Board of Directors
