Through our own donations and funds raised externally we hope to better the physical, mental and spiritual well being of children. Toward that end, we will minimize expenses by targeting an average annual budget for charitable giving in excess of eighty percent of funds received from all sources. The foundation has no payroll and executive support from board members involves donated time. 
The funding for the foundation comes from public sources. While the initial funding came from Gary and his family, he continues to work hard soliciting donations and holding fund-raising events. This despite the increased constraints on his time since being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Besides selling memorabilia, Gary hosts a golf tournament during the year, as well as making various appearances.
OUR PROGRAMS
Since inception, The Gary Carter Foundation has placed over $622,000 toward charitable purposes, including $366,000 to local elementary schools for our Reading programs:
UPGRADES PROGRAM We support school literacy by encouraging use of the Reading Counts Program, a program that exists in PB County schools. GCF will encourage use of the program by giving schools the tools to make it work, and students the incentives to participate. The guiding theory is that the more students read, the better they read.
We actively purchase books, quizzes, and incentives such as bikes, gift cards, dvd players, cd players, Disney trips, t-shirts, and other individual awards. Since this program is not part of the regular curriculum our incentives are targeted to obtain maximum reading participation in students that would not typically read on their own.
ALL STAR READER PROGRAM This program was developed by our advisory committee (consisting of teachers, media specialists, and administrators) as a way to reach students at the lowest levels of achievement in reading. These students typically opt out of the UPGRADES program due to the element of competition (i.e., they feel they will never beat out the "smart" kids). Since these students are exactly the kids we want to reach most we have developed a program that will remove the competition impediment. Each student will be individually challenged to obtain a level of points and will receive incentives upon reaching those goals regardless of other students.
By doing so they will experience success for the first time, and move beyond the lowest rungs of the academic ladder.
Our spending totals include:
$163,000 in books and quizzes
$ 28,000 in equipment such as computers and printers
$136,000 in incentives for the kids, such as bikes, gift cards, pizza parties, etc.
This program is not part of the regular school curriculum - it is a voluntary program that each student can participate in. Students read books at or above their lexile level (based on assessment) and then take a computer-based quiz on that book. Successful completion of the quiz award points to the student based on the difficulty of the book. The program allows teachers to track the progress of their students and identify those with difficulties.
Our philosophy, which has developed from working closely with teachers and principals directly, is that the more kids read the better their entire eductional experience will be. Reading is so fundamental that success in that area will likely spill into all other areas of academic acheivement. That is where our incentives come in. By getting the kids excited about reading we believe they will increase their levels of achievement throughout their academic lives.
SCHOOLS WE SUPPORT
Barton Elementary Lake Worth, FL
Belvedere Elementary West Palm Beach, FL
Bethune Elementary Riviera Beach, FL
Forest Park Elementary Boynton Beach, FL
Lantana Elementary Lantana, FL
Lincoln Elementary Riviera Beach, FL
Rolling Green Elementary Boynton Beach, FL
West Riviera Elementary Riviera Beach, FL
All of these schools are Title 1 schools - they have more than 50% of their students receiving free or reduced lunch. Some schools have over 90% of their students receiving free or reduced lunch. Several of them also have large ESOL populations, or students that speak languages other than English. Belvedere, for example, has an ESOL population near 90%.
For most of the students in the UPGRADES program education is the only way to pull themselves out of the poverty cycle. The program challenges the kids to read and shows them the rewards if they work hard - the same philosophy Gary had when he was a baseball player
