About the Coralwood Foundation

To fulfill its mission, the Foundation supports Coralwood teachers in thinking creatively about how to model excellence in education and foster an environment of best practices to meet the needs of all students.

Our Foundation strives to maximize its impact by fostering collaboration between Coralwood teachers, parents, and community partners to implement innovative models.

“To see how far ‘The little inclusion school that could’ has come through the years shows what much a community can accomplish. What the foundation does and continues to achieve is amazing. The blessings my family receives go well beyond the classroom.  Thank you Coralwood. You undoubtedly make us better people and better stewards to our world.” – Mo Rochelle, Coralwood Alumni Parent

Integral to the Foundation’s mission is encouraging teachers to reflect and learn from their own initiatives, providing professional development to other educators and developing successful models that can be replicated elsewhere.

The Coralwood Foundation was created to ensure Coralwood School has the resources necessary to provide the quality of education our children require and deserve not only this year but in the future. Its goal is to raise funds to help bridge the gap between what Coralwood receives from school system funding and what it needs to provide quality education. The Coralwood Foundation takes a long-term planning perspective and acts as an advocate with the DeKalb County School District.

“The Coralwood Foundation honors learning beyond the classroom and appreciates being a role-model for the community.” – Rebecca Stapel

The Foundation raises money and prioritizes expenditures to benefit Coralwood students, teachers, and the school as a whole. Since 2005, the Foundation has provided support for teachers through specialized training and mini-grants; new technology and classroom needs; enhancements to the music, motor therapy, outdoor classroom and library programs. The Foundation also funds a Director of Development. The Director of Development supports Foundation initiatives but also prepares grant requests and seeks philanthropic donations. In addition to supporting Coralwood School, the Foundation also monitors and responds to challenges and opportunities that appear within the school system.

Not Your Ordinary School

In an environment of education budget cuts and money-sensitive parents, and much higher educational expectations, one very special inclusion school has found a way to succeed on a grand scale. Coralwood School has a truly unique student population, with more than half having some form of disability. Having achieved the Governor’s Platinum Award four years in a row, it is clear that school administrators, faculty and parents are doing something right.

A Foundation with a Transformative Mission

The reason is the Coralwood Foundation’s narrow, unique focus: to encourage educational excellence from within. This singular focus has transformed Coralwood School from the inside out and from the bottom up. Teachers are empowered to pursue their own educational goals in order to advance the frontiers of learning. They are allowed to think creatively and learn from their own initiatives. They are given the opportunity to provide professional development training to other educators, as well as to develop successful educational models that can be replicated elsewhere.

“If there is another school in our state which succeeds in the way that Coralwood succeeds, we haven’t been able to find it.” – Jim and Jennifer Vaughan

The impact and difference it has made on the students is truly amazing. We envision our school growing its reputation not only in Dekalb County but at the national level as a center for innovation in early childhood education for kids of all ability levels.

Unlike Any Other Foundation

Coralwood Foundation was created in May 2005. It is the brainchild of parents, teachers, therapists and school administrators who realized they couldn’t rely exclusively on school system funding to build Coralwood School into a cutting-edge institution.

Because parent-teacher organizations (PTOs) must spend their money within the same school year it is raised, a steady revenue source was needed for long-term growth and planning. Coralwood developed a foundation with a permanent endowment fund. Unlike other Local Educational Foundations (LEF), Coralwood Foundation’s endowment fund will keep on giving decade after decade.

Every Dollar Is Used Strategically

Every dollar donated to the Coralwood Foundation is immediately put to work. Since 2005, the Foundation has raised over $540,000 in its Annual Classroom Challenge campaigns for the Endowment Fund and capital improvements. Each year we fund projects in one or more of the Foundation’s three focus areas: technology, infrastructure, and teacher training. 

The Endowment Fund for the Coralwood School was created to provide long-term financial support for the educational innovations of teachers, other needs of the school, and the salary of the Director of Development. The Director of Development secures grants and builds community partnerships to support Coralwood’s programming needs. Money raised for the Endowment Fund stays in the fund, only the interest earned is spent.

Non-Profit Status

Coralwood Foundation has been given charitable, non-profit status by the IRS under Section 501(C)(3), which confers numerous benefits. 

• It allows all contributors to take tax deductions for their donations. This typically motivates individuals and organizations to give more generously than they would otherwise, because they can deduct the gift from income when they calculate their taxes at the end of the year.
• Non-profit status allows employees in firms with matching grant programs to increase their actual donations by having their employers match (and sometimes even double) their contributions.
• Because of its non-profit status, Coralwood Foundation does not have to pay taxes to the IRS on its interest income, so that more money can go towards building the endowment and funding programs at Coralwood School.
• Non-profit status also allows Coralwood Foundation to apply for grants that only non-profits have access to. This is no small detail: many donors and corporations specify in their by-laws that they can only give money to non-profits. In sum, we would not be able to approach them if we didn’t have non-profit status.

If needed, a copy of the IRS letter can be viewed and/or downloaded..