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If Scholarship Screening is the heart of the Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation as it selects recipients and makes awards, then Development is the life blood of the PSF as it seeks and develops revenue streams for awards. To stretch the anatomical analogy a bit further, the life blood is made up of several components, including Donor Giving programs to maintain existing revenue sources and to develop new programs, Community Outreach and Publicity to develop community awareness and support, Recipient Contact to encourage Loan Repayments “Paying It Forward” and Hospitality to support receptions and reinforce a sense of community at public PSF functions.
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In 1999 a Development Committee Job Description stated that the Primary Job was to, “Identify and cultivate donor prospects, solicit endowed and other major gifts, and to offer stewardship over major gifts and to donors of endowed scholarships to the Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation.” A revision in 2005 stated the Primary Job as simply to, “Identify and cultivate donor prospects, solicit endowed and other major gifts.” Areas of focus included Identification of Donor Prospects, Cultivation of Donor Prospects, Solicitation of Endowed/Major Gifts, Solicitation of Grassroots Gifts to the Pennsbury Community Scholarship Fund, and Stewardship of Donors and Gifts. In 1999, Organization of the Investment Committee was included, but by 2005 as the Investment Committee was operating as a direct Board function.
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Wanda Long, a passionate believer in the work of the Development Committee, listed in her notes the functions of the Development Committee as she perceived them: Fundraising, Donor Development (programs), Estate Planning (target opportunity), Promotional development (Community Outreach and Publicity), Goal setting (specificity of objectives), Student/family encouragement (participation in PSF events), Board members (encouraging active involvement of all members), Emeritus members (recognition of past service), Namesake Scholarship Program (continued effort to promote), Corporate Namesake development (new program opportunity), and To [help] sell [promote donations by creating] stories of recipient benefits and Namesake and [other] donor benefits.
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From the 1956 PSF beginning through most of the 1990s, Development was handled as the job of the Scholarship Board Members themselves, and in cooperation with the PTOs. Donor Giving was sought through personal contacts and fundraisers, Community Outreach and Publicity generally was restricted to promoting fundraisers, Recipient Contact was an informal process, and Hospitality was not thought of as a specific PSF function. The Treasurer, acting essentially as the Investment Committee, was relied on to carefully manage the money.
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Minutes of the Board of Directors of September 1998 show that by that time there were active committees for Development, Loan Collection (Loan Repayments), Publicity and Computers.
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In 1997 the Development Committee introduced Tom Engleman’s idea of establishing an Endowed Namesake Scholarship program to generate new donations. After initial resistance by some Board members, the program was approved in 1998, and the first Endowed Namesake Scholarship was established that same year.
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President Wanda Long and the Publicity Committee initiated the first Reception for Namesake Donors in January 1999 that gave publicity for the program through newsprint articles. Receptions continued to be held and newsprint articles were written for new Namesake Scholarship Donors unless circumstances otherwise preclude holding a reception.
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In 2001 the first Reception to recognize Scholarship Recipients was held. This proved to be a very popular annual event that gives the opportunity for the recipients of the current year, along with their families and friends, to gather with donors, Board Members and Pennsbury School officials to be recognized for their achievements. It also provides for excellent publicity, both by word of mouth among recipient and donor families, and through the PSF Newsletter, newsprint articles and website postings. In recent years it is the Office Administrator who takes photos of the group of recipients and of the individual recipients with their scholarship donors or sponsors and formats them for publication.​
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In 2017 a Donor Circles program was developed to encourage donors to continue and to increase their giving. Cumulative donations starting in 2016 are matched with four tiers (Circles) of giving: Medill Bair Circle $2500+, Scholar Circle $1000+, Educator Circle $100+ and Friendship Circle up to $100. The names of the donors along with the Circle they are in are published in the PSF Newsletter and posted on the PSF website. Letters of appreciation are sent to the donors, explaining the program and the donor benefits. For the Medill Bair Circle an added benefit is the opportunity to award a one-time scholarship in the donor’s name, or someone they choose, or apply the cumulative donations towards a Namesake Scholarship.
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The periodic Anniversary Celebrations have been “all hands on deck” events, coordinated through the Development Committee. The committee has organized various smaller fundraisers and promotions over the years such as the “Cup of Tea” fundraiser in 2012, the Raffle Basket in 2013.
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As part of Development, the Community Outreach & Publicity Committee, for which Wanda Long had a particular passion and chaired for many years up to her passing in 2023, works closely with the Office Administrator, Kelly Corso. Through the website and many public-engaging activities they keep the students, the School District and the Pennsbury community informed about the scholarship opportunities and encourage community participation as well as financial support. Kelly puts together an annual Newsletter for the website and for distribution at various events. They arrange for booths to be set up at the annual Yardley Harvest Days and Historic Fallsington Days. At times they have established one-day discount arrangements with Chick-fil-A and Yardley’s Vince’s Pizza to promote the Foundation.
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The committee puts up posters in the High Schools to encourage applications. It updates each year’s Scholarship Application package and has it posted on the website and printed and mailed to the homes of the High School Seniors and gives copies to the High School guidance counselors. It provides signage for the Harvest Day and Historic Fallsington Day booths, including a poster showing pictures of all of the persons memorialized or honored by Endowed Namesake Scholarships to date. To support programs and events it develops and updates “handouts” such as ”Our History and Guidelines” and “Endowed Namesake Scholarships,” which describes all of the Namesake Scholarships up to the publication date. As part of its publicity effort, in 2017 a new, contemporary logo was created to replace the esoteric, historic logo that was made up of the Pennsbury Schools logo with “Founded in 1956” added. The trifold handout that had been used for many years was also updated by Hal Long to give it a fresh look and provide updated information.​​​
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One historic footnote of interest, there is an orange and black felt Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation banner that has appeared in virtually all of the photos since 1991. Wanda Long made the banner for the 35th Anniversary Celebration. Chairperson of the celebration, Claire Connell, noted in her July 2, 1991, meeting minutes, “Many thanks to Wanda for a banner that shall wave for many years to come.” It has.
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Compiled from the files of Wanda Long – Hal Long
