Technology  February 4, 2005

Foundations a cornerstone for public-school programs

At Irish Elementary School in north Fort Collins, approximately 90 percent of the students qualify for the free- or reduced-lunch program.
Yet, the students have access to an after-school violin class.
Irish students are enjoying the fruits of the Poudre School District Foundation, which supports the violin program.
It?s one of the growing number of contributions that school-oriented foundations are providing in Northern Colorado, a list that includes college scholarships for low-income graduates, and post-graduate tuition for teachers.
For instance, the Poudre and Thompson school districts have foundations expressly for them. The Community Foundation Serving Greeley and Weld County is the shot in the arm for schools countywide, but also funds numerous non-school programs as well.
Marcy McNeal, executive director of the Poudre School District Foundation for the Fort Collins school district, said foundations in support of public school districts represent a newer trend, especially west of the Mississippi.
?I think the last statistic I saw was that 20 percent of the school districts across the country have foundations,? McNeal said. ?There are so few in Colorado that are doing much, and some states have a lot and are very active.?
The Poudre Foundation was born from a conversation between then-Superintendent Don Unger and Chris Richmond of Flood & Peterson Insurance Inc. at a Rotary meeting, where the topic was the CSU Foundation.
Richmond had made a comment to the effect of ?Wouldn?t it be great if the Poudre School District had a foundation??
Unger didn?t miss a beat and told Richmond to go for it. The Poudre Foundation was officially incorporated in 2000, and the board, consisting of more than 20 business and community members, was seated a year later.
Response, McNeal said, ?has been phenomenal, kind of like a blur.?
The Poudre Foundation raised $400,000 last fiscal year through a variety of fund-raising activities and has an endowment of more than $550,000. The foundation uses the ?Raising More Money? model, a system that cultivates individual donors, McNeal said.
?It?s refreshing in that it focuses very intensely on the people you contact as an organization and getting them connected to our mission,? she said. ?It?s believing in people who believe in what you do.?
Teacher grants are a primary focus of the foundation, which holds an annual breakfast fund-raiser to increase awareness of all the school district seeks to achieve. Foundation staff and board members also provide school tours up to five times each month.
Teacher grants, McNeal said, range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. Another project that is quickly gaining attention is the after-school violin class at Irish Elementary School.
?It?s by far the most challenged elementary school in the district,? McNeal said, explaining that 90 percent of its students are in the free- and reduced-lunch program. Learning the violin ?is the kind of thing they couldn?t even fathom having available.?
The foundation is now preparing to reach out to its 51,000 alumni. ?I?m an alum, and I know how I feel about my school district,? said McNeal, who was graduated in 1989 from Rocky Mountain High School. ?A lot of alum are around and have great affection for our school district.?
That would include Duane Miller, a 1966 graduate of Poudre High School and retired vice president of Woodward Governor Co. He worked with the Apollo Fund at Fort Collins High School in the 1990s and became involved with the Poudre Foundation when asked to share what he knew about raising funds and public schools.
?What we learned (through the Apollo Fund) was there was a need within the schools for additional funding to do things the school budget doesn?t allow,? Miller said. Poudre School District, for example, is the ninth-largest district in the state, but in terms of state funding ranks No. 170 out of 178 in per capita funding.
Teachers who have new, creative and innovative ideas often can?t put them in place unless they use their own money, which many do, Miller said.
In addition, Miller said they discovered that many businesses wanted to contribute to the schools, but didn?t want to show favoritism toward one school over another. So until now, they simply didn?t donate.
?This is a community that really supports education,? Miller said, citing Colorado State University?s presence as a big factor, along with the district being nationally recognized. ?In general, I believe public education here has really good support. And even though we look good and the buildings look good, we have a lot of significant needs.?
Thompson Education Foundation, founded in 1989 in Loveland, is one of those foundations that ebbed and waned in its early days. But in 1994, the Thompson Foundation got a big shot in the arm when Tom Grippen came on board as executive director.
?We act as an umbrella for the whole district,? Grippen said.
In addition to the usual spate of teacher grants and student scholarships, the school district embarked on an ambitious program to help finance 25 teachers in obtaining their master?s degrees in reading education from the University of Northern Colorado.
The foundation raised $100,000 for the program. Teachers took classes in Loveland after school hours for two years. In return, the teachers, chosen from 42 applicants, committed to staying in the Thompson School district for at least three years. If they don?t, they will be asked to repay their share of educational costs.
?UNC profs said this was their best group they ever had,? Grippen said.
The Community Foundation Serving Greeley and Weld County, headquartered in Greeley, is the result of a 1995 merger of the Greeley Area Foundation and Weld Community Foundation. The first professional staff person was hired in 2000. The foundation?s $10 million pie is divided into several projects that serve Weld County, including ? but not limited to ? public education.
Some projects are specific to particular schools, while others welcome participants from all schools. Last year, the foundation awarded almost $115,000 in scholarships.
?We work with school counselors and send out packets of information the end of December,? said Judy Knapp, the foundation?s executive director. ?It identifies what scholarships are available.?
?We don?t get a lot of small donors,? Knapp said. Instead, most are mid- to large-size donors. Scholarships are endowed with a minimum amount of $10,000, though many are set at a much higher level. ?The person who establishes the fund sets what criteria they want the student to meet.?
On a smaller scale, Cameron Elementary was awarded $100 for its ?Muffins for Moms? program, which helps bring mothers into the school to see all that transpires. Also, the Littler Fund underwrites the Home Run Against Drugs program that goes into schools to discourage drug use among youth.

At Irish Elementary School in north Fort Collins, approximately 90 percent of the students qualify for the free- or reduced-lunch program.
Yet, the students have access to an after-school violin class.
Irish students are enjoying the fruits of the Poudre School District Foundation, which supports the violin program.
It?s one of the growing number of contributions that school-oriented foundations are providing in Northern Colorado, a list that includes college scholarships for low-income graduates, and post-graduate tuition for teachers.
For instance, the Poudre and Thompson school districts have foundations expressly for them. The Community Foundation Serving Greeley and Weld County is…

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