Giving Tuesday has arrived! Donate today through our Giving Tuesday page!

Why Donate to East Bay Montessori on this Giving Tuesday?

EBM is a nonprofit school (EIN for EBM: 94-2698679) that relies on the funds from our tuition and fundraisers to run a high quality Montessori education for our students. Fundraising events like Giving Tuesday help to supply our Financial Aid Program, purchase beautiful new materials, and maintain our school facilities. All of this aids in bringing an award winning Montessori program to your children, from Transitional Kindergarten all the way to 8th Grade.

Our Annual Fund campaign is also running right now, which has generated many thoughtful letters from parents and faculty about what East Bay Montessori means to them. Please read the touching letter below from the family of our current student, Darcy (who has been with us since a kinder!), about the importance of donating to EBM. 

Dear EBM Families,

My name is Ian Wheeler and I’m the father of Darcy, an EBM “lifer” who is in their final year of Middle School, having been at EBM since entering KB in the 2016-2017 school year. 

Over the past 9 years, our family has been delighted to see Darcy thrive and grow at East Bay Montessori. During this time, EBM has felt like a second home and has provided a supportive and stable environment through a number of challenging transitions, from the school’s bold and innovative handling of the Covid pandemic, to the separation and remarriages of both of Darcy’s parents, and Darcy’s own decision to come out as gender-nonconforming. 

Throughout all of these changes, all four of Darcy’s “parentals” (as they like to call us) have appreciated EBM’s steady, welcoming environment as well as the school’s support of Darcy’s personal growth and developing academic interests. We have watched Darcy grow from a friendly, curious child into an intelligent, self-possessed young person with genuine compassion for others and thoughtful insights into the workings of the world.

It’s hard to believe this journey is already coming to an end. I’m writing this letter to encourage all of you to do what you can to ensure that future generations of children can share a similar experience.

I feel especially strongly about this because of my own personal history. I attended public schools until age 14, where I often had trouble fitting in. But for high school, my family was able to send me to the Walden School, a small, progressive K-12 school in New York City (no relation to the Walden School of Berkeley). 

While not a Montessori school, Walden had been founded on similar principles of providing an alternative educational environment that fostered compassion, respect for self and others, and a genuine joy in learning. For the first time, I really felt "seen" at Walden, and my experience there is something I still cherish. 

Sadly, I was one of the last to have this experience. Two years after I graduated, my beloved Walden succumbed to hard economic reality and closed its doors for good after more than 70 years of operation. 

This reality check came as a shock to me and my fellow Walden alums. It still saddens me that generations of children have missed out on a genuinely life-changing opportunity I was lucky enough to enjoy. Most importantly, it taught me that you can’t take experiences like this for granted.

Schools like East Bay Montessori face a constant challenge to keep their doors open. They rely on the generosity of families like ours to stay in business, and unfortunately I learned that success is never guaranteed. I hope you will consider donating generously to the Annual Fund this year to help keep the Montessori dream alive, not only for our own children but for the generations to come.

Thank you.

Ian Wheeler