Our Annual Pledge Drive Is Here! ❤️ August 31–October 31

Dear GICS Families,

Welcome back to a brand-new school year at Goethe International Charter School. We hope your family had a joyful summer filled with rest, laughter, and time together, and we are glad to have everyone back.

Our Annual Pledge Drive opens today, and I want to tell you plainly what we are asking for and why.

We have two goals this year. The first is $200,000. The second matters just as much, and it is 100% participation from our families. Not 100% of a certain amount, simply every family taking part at whatever level is right for them.

Public funding covers the essentials of running a school. It does not cover the programs that set GICS apart, and those programs are what your gift protects:

German dual language immersion. The salaries of our immersion teachers and the curriculum they teach from, including the German-language books and classroom materials that build our students' German steadily alongside their English, year after year, beginning in TK.

International Baccalaureate programming.  Teacher training, authorization costs, and inquiry-based materials that both the Primary Years and Middle Years Programmes ask of us each year.

Visual and Performing Arts. The specialists, classroom spaces, and the supplies that state funding treats as optional and our students experience as essential.

Technology, playground equipment, and outdoor furniture. The devices our students learn on, and the spaces where they play, eat, and gather when they are not in a classroom. These are the things our students need every day and that no one else pays for.

I also want to be honest with you about last year. We set the same goal and came in about $34,000 short, and that gap was not painless. It cost us enrichment opportunities that our students should have had. I would rather tell you that plainly now, at the start, than quietly absorb it again.

There is also real news to celebrate. GICS has earned full authorization for the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. Our students can now move from Transitional Kindergarten all the way through eighth grade within one continuous IB education, a distinction that very few public schools in Los Angeles can claim. It is the result of years of patient, careful work by our teachers and staff, and it belongs to all of us.

As always, what makes GICS truly special is our community. The collaboration among our teachers, staff, parents, and students is at the heart of our success, and this year we invite every family to be an active partner in our journey. Whether it is volunteering in the classroom, helping at events, lending your professional expertise, or joining our Annual Pledge Drive, your involvement makes a tremendous difference.

Below are this year's giving circles. Please choose the one that fits your family, and if none of them do, give what you can. Every family giving matters more to us than any single amount. Gifts may be made all at once or spread across the year in monthly amounts, whichever works best for your household.

Ways to give

Online. Give through our secure donation page. It takes about two minutes, and you can set up a recurring gift at the same time. Credit card processing fees may apply. 

By check. Please make it payable to Goethe International Charter School and drop it off at the front office or mail it to 12500 Braddock Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90066.

By cash. Please drop it off at the front office in a clearly marked envelope with your name and contact information. Do not mail. 

Through your employer. Many companies match charitable gifts dollar for dollar, and GICS families have brought in tens of thousands of additional dollars this way. It takes only a few minutes on your employer's giving portal. If you are not sure whether your company participates, please ask us and we will gladly help you find out.

Our pledge deadline is Saturday, October 31, 2026. Pledging early allows us to plan the year with confidence and put your generosity to work right away.