A husband and wife who attended Potsdam Central School are issuing a challenge for alumni and others to match their $100,000 donation to benefit the school.

The anonymous couple want residents, organizations, businesses and Potsdam Central School alumni to match up to $100,000 towards the recently established Potsdam Educational Opportunities Fund.

A committee of the Educational Opportunities Fund wishes to raise resources to develop activities and increase opportunities for students at Potsdam schools. The donor’s match would be applied to the fund at one-to-one for annual operating needs and two-to-one for endowment building.

“This breathes tremendous life and momentum into the grassroots work of a very passionate group of Potsdam Central School District residents,” said Rande S. Richardson, executive director of the Northern New York Community Foundation, which is administering the donation and the challenge.

“Through this collaboration and a very generous donor, there is a potential to provide a meaningful source of sustainable funding for endeavors that fall outside the normal scope of what a school could provide. If this effort is successful, it could provide a model of how communities can rally to make their schools the best they can be and provide enriched learning experiences for all students,” he said.

At the same time, the couple has made a separate $100,000 gift to establish the Potsdam Fund for Education, also to be administered through foundation. It will support education initiatives in Potsdam including the Potsdam Educational Opportunities Fund.

Anyone interested in helping meet the $100,000 challenge can contact Richardson at 782-7110.

Since the Watertown-based Northern New York Community Foundation began providing grants and scholarships in St. Lawrence County, approximately $1 million in new gifts and commitments have been made by donors from that county interested in supporting the foundation’s efforts there.