As sales of our International Calendar wind down in mid- to late-February, the committee that oversees calendar production and marketing determines how much of the money made from sales of the calendar will be available for donations to worthy projects. That committee sets aside enough funds to cover estimated printing and marketing costs for the upcoming calendar and makes the rest of the proceeds available for donations. $70,000 is a typical amount that is set aside for donations, although the amount varies from year to year.
Our present approach for making donations is:
1) 10% of the amount available for donations is set aside for possible use by the National Peace Corps Association for specific projects that we approve;
2) $10,000 is set aside to cover the up-front costs of running the Freeze for Food benefit race (about $700), to fund International Education projects (enough money to bring this fund up to $1,200), and to fund worthy projects suggested by our members; and
3) the remaining funds are used to support Peace Corps Partnership (PCP) projects, with each member having the opportunity to award $1,000 total to a project (or split among projects) specified by that member until all the remaining funds are dispersed.
PCP donations (third category above) are coordinated by Rose Ann Scott who tries to update the projects available for funding in our monthly newsletters and at meetings. Detailed information about these donations is usually available in the newsletter.