A Gift For Teaching Inc

A Gift for Teaching is working hard to achieve its long-term goal of ensuring that every child has the tools and experiences to succeed in school and life. Nearly 131,000 students in Orange County alone qualify for free or reduced lunch at their schools, indicating their economic vulnerability. We have recycled more than 17 million pounds of surplus materials in the community to make sure those students are equipped with the pencils, notebooks, crayons, books, and even hygiene items required for a successful school day. We build the workforce and local economy by empowering teachers and activating children's potential by providing the basic access for students to have everything they need to dream, create, and experience success in school and in life. It's hard to become an engineer if you don't have the paper, pencil, and protractor to practice with. Professional development and art supplies for art teachers through AGFT's School SmARTS Program facilitates new approaches to creative education in Central Florida. A Gift for Music (AGFM) generates emotional intelligence, creative intuition, and artistic expression through open access to musical education. AGFM facilitates lifelong development by teaching participants about personal finance, scholarship opportunities, the college admissions process, and connections to other resources. At AGFT, we don't just care about relationships; we rely and thrive on them. Energizing Central Florida towards a culture of voluntarism drives a greater sense of community that shows children they matter and are cared for. Community engagement involves helping high school students get their service hours for Bright Futures, preparing supplies for distribution in AGFT's Free Store, assisting teachers with their shop through Pencil Boy Express, packing shipments for Pencil Boy Curbside, and working to support education in other ways builds agency for people who feel that childhood education is too big to tackle. Partnerships with schools and school districts deepen the impact we make in Central Florida and on the lives of local families.We won't stop until every child in Central Florida has the tools to reach their full potential.

Key strategies to achieve our goals include: Enhance the local economy by partnering with businesses -- can include a tailored menu of financial investments in education, employee engagement opportunities, in-kind/product donation, fun ways to volunteer, and/or event involvement/sponsorship. Build and strengthen relationships with individual donors to seek input which builds value on their contribution to the achievement of children's dreams. Grow and support our Pencil Boy Programs- The Mobile Free Store and Pencil Boy Curbside, so that basic school supplies are delivered to schools and readily available when most needed. Enrich the creativity, emotional intelligence, thoughtfulness, and resilience of our future economy (Central Florida's students) through musical and arts education via our A Gift for Music and School SmARTS programs. Survey teachers annually to gather input on their greatest needs and challenges; ideas for improvement; and overall awareness, satisfaction, and impact with the organization and the products and programs it provides. Broaden community relationships and strategic alliances to serve children systemically.

A Gift for Teaching (AGFT) has built a reputation for doing a lot with a little. We keep a very low overhead of less than 4%, leveraging 96% of funds back into the classroom. In addition, we can leverage every $1 received into $10 worth of school supplies that go into the hands of students in need.
With a staff of only 15, we rely heavily on a strong team of volunteers to assist with daily operations, including inventory preparation, stocking shelves, greeting teachers, answering phones, customer service/assistance in the Free Store, support for teachers shopping with Pencil Boy Express, packing orders through Pencil Boy Curbside, cleaning, merchandising, and events. In fact, since 1998, we have logged more than 767,000 volunteer hours.
AGFT has also built and sustained many key partnerships and supporters over the years -- financial, in-kind and product, and programmatic. Additionally, AGFT has built dynamic relationships with dozens of not-for-profit agencies to coordinate and grow together in supporting children and families around the Central Florida region. AGFT also launched an electronics recycling program in 2012 that has allowed the organization to generate incremental income. Partnering with A-1 Assets, companies can simply and securely recycle computer and electrical office equipment, name AGFT as their donation beneficiary, and we receive a portion of proceeds from the intake of the recycled equipment.
Innovation as a mode to positive social change is one of AGFT's guiding principles, so we actively search for ways to creatively and collaboratively tackle major issues in our community. We have received several local and national accolades for our support of education and the arts, our strong and sustainable business model, care for the environment, and large capacity to invent powerful solutions to difficult problems.

One of the teachers we serve shared, When my children have books, they are inspired to become readers. When my students have pencils, they are inspired to become writers. When they have fun incentive items, they are motivated to engage in learning. And when I have the privilege of shopping at A Gift For Teaching, I can meet my responsibility of being the best educator I can be.This is just one of many stories we hear every day. We know that when children have the educational supplies and tools they need, it leads to greater academic achievement and creativity; it helps sharpen critical skills like problem-solving; boosts confidence and self-esteem; and aids in emotional development. That is why AGFT is so important to children, the community, and the economy.Through our annual teacher survey, we know how teachers feel about AGFT's offerings:
99% report AGFT's supplies are important to their daily class activities.
99.7% see class preparedness increase as a direct result of supplies from AGFT.
98% express a strong influence on student interest in learning due to AGFT.
99% feel more enabled to create an equal learning environment.
97% find AGFT's products to impact their personal budgets in very or critically important ways.
97% experience an increase in the self-esteem and social engagement of the children they teach.
97% are able to both broaden and deepen their lessons, as well as focus on other areas of need for their classes.
The number one obstacle to meeting our distribution goal is increasing demands on teachers time that restrict their ability to get to one of our Free Stores to shop and obtain the items they need for their low-income students. That is why expansion of successful Pencil Boy Programs are so important. These key programs remove barriers and deliver needed school supplies directly to those who need them. We are doing important and valuable work, but we must do even more of it to meet the ever-growing needs of the students in our community.