When you give to an education nonprofit, what are you actually paying for?
That’s a fair question, and we think every donor should ask it. Giving Tuesday falls on December 1 this year, right after Thanksgiving, and your inbox is about to fill up with requests. You deserve to know where your money goes before you decide where to send it.
So here’s our answer, as plainly as we can put it.
Your gift puts a caring adult inside a school
At Communities In Schools of the Dallas Region, the heart of our work is the site coordinator. These are trained staff members, with backgrounds in social work, counseling, psychology, and education, who work on school campuses every day.
A site coordinator gets to know the students who need the most support and figures out what’s actually getting in the way. Sometimes it’s a reading gap. Sometimes it’s attendance. Sometimes it’s a family that’s lost housing, a student who needs glasses, or a kid carrying more stress than any kid should.
Then they connect the dots. That’s the part donors make possible.
What that support looks like day to day
Our Integrated Student Support model covers six areas, because students don’t struggle in just one:
Parental and family support, so families have resources too.
Educational enhancement, including tutoring and academic help.
Health and human services, like school supplies, clothing, medical and dental referrals, mental health services, and other basic needs.
Supportive guidance, including attendance help, mentoring, and behavior support.
College and career prep, so students can see a path past graduation.
Cultural enrichment, which opens doors students might not otherwise walk through.
We also work alongside partner nonprofits across the community, so when a student needs care we don’t provide directly, a site coordinator knows who to call. You can read more about how it all fits together on our service model page.
What your support helped accomplish last year
In the 2024-25 school year, CIS site coordinators worked directly with more than 9,000 students. Among those students:
83% improved in academics.
75% improved in behavior.
57% improved in attendance.
99% were promoted to the next grade.
97% of high school seniors graduated.
100% stayed in school.
Those numbers belong to the students who did the hard work. But they had help getting there, and a lot of that help was funded by people who decided a kid they’d never meet was worth investing in. You can see the full picture on our results page.
Where the dollars go
According to our 2023-24 audit, 83% of our spending goes directly to program services. Administration accounts for 12%, and fundraising accounts for 5%.
We share that because trust matters. When you give to CIS Dallas, most of your gift goes straight to the work happening in schools.
Why a year-end gift matters
The middle of the school year is when a lot of students start to feel the weight of the semester. Grades from the fall are in. Attendance patterns are set. For a student who’s slipping, the months after winter break can go either way.
A gift made now helps keep site coordinators on campus through the spring, when that steady support can change how a student’s year ends.
Ways to make your gift go further
Check for an employer match. Many companies match employee donations, which can double your impact. Our team can help confirm whether yours does.
Give on Giving Tuesday, or any day. Giving Tuesday is a great reminder, but there’s no wrong day to support a student.
Think long term. If you’re interested in gift planning or our endowment, we’d love to talk with you.
Give your time. If a financial gift isn’t possible right now, volunteering is another real way to help. Our October post on why volunteers are part of dropout prevention explains how.
Support a student this season
Every student we serve has someone in their corner because people like you decided to be part of it. This Giving Tuesday, we hope you’ll join them.
Make a gift to CIS Dallas today, or call us at (214) 827-0955 to learn more about other ways to give.
