What is the DHS Annual Fund?

Decatur High School’s Annual Fund is the PTSA’s effort to raise funds to enhance our children’s academic, cultural, and extracurricular experiences at Decatur High School.

Why an Annual Fund? I already pay taxes.

Decatur has some of the very best schools in the State of Georgia and even in the country. Through their tax dollars, Decatur’s citizens are particularly supportive of the school system — but ALL school districts and ours is no exception, need supplementary funds to equip our learning community to be the best it can be. Our taxes are simply not enough to meet all of the needs of our students and teachers. With the rapid growth of our school system, there are programs that have flourished and grown exponentially, but the budgetary support for these programs lags behind. The Annual Fund can fill some of the gaps. Through its grant awards, it can provide academic support, support for co-curricular endeavors, the cultural arts, student clubs, and all the “extras” that we value in our school. Click here to see some of the items the Annual Fund has said yes to.

I just want to join the PTSA through membership. Isn’t that enough?

The PTSA is, of course, grateful for your support. But we no longer ask you to “join” the PTSA. Membership to the PTSA is automatically granted when you donate $25.00 or more to the Annual Fund, and we ask that you give as generously as you can to the Annual Fund.

What happened to an auction, or bake sales, car washes, and read-a-thons?

We’ve heard the feedback through the years… “Can’t I just write a check and NOT sell/attend/buy something for a fundraiser?” We won’t send home a gift catalog or ask you to bid on items you don’t need. And, your high schooler will not be asked to go knocking on doors, give up a Saturday to wash cars, or collect pledges for fill-in-the-blank-a-thons that they now believe they’ve outgrown.

Many families welcome the simplicity of just writing a check, and that’s exactly what the Annual Fund enables. This simple way of fundraising allows us to fund the grant requests and needs of teachers, students, clubs, and other school organizations but relieves your child, your family, and your teachers of the endless task of small-scale fundraising. An Annual Fund is, simply put, a more time-efficient way of raising funds.

Will my donation be recognized?

Yes, the Annual Fund has levels of giving:

Donors at each level are recognized throughout the year on our website, via our DHS eNews emails.

How much should I give?

The amount you give is up to you, but we ask that you give as generously as you can. Imagine the impact that a donation from every family, no matter the amount, could have! As such, we ask for a meaningful gift based on your personal situation. Remember that employer matching gifts can double the value of your contribution.

What kind of things will my contribution support?

The PTSA’s budget provides annual funding for: 

• Spirit Throws for DHS Seniors who earned Honor Roll for all four years at Decatur High School.
• The Top Dog Luncheons for students who go the extra mile and demonstrate personal growth and achievement.
• Academic recognition programs for students at all levels, including The Academic Achievement Banquet to honor all students with an A/B average.
• The School Nurse to purchase non-health-related items, e.g. sanitary supplies, blankets, crackers, hydration supplies.Pippen
• Funding for DPN, the Decatur Parent’s Network
• Highly popular DHS student/parent directory

The bulk of the PTSA’s fundraising efforts, however, go to fund the grant requests that we receive each year through our Mini-grant or Big-Ticket grant program.

See here for grant requests the Annual Fund has supported in the past.