School foundations pulling in big bucks, doing some big things

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David Galmines, a student in Tracey Lazzo's third grade class at Chelsea Intermediate School in Frankfort, completes a matching exercise on the SMART Board in his classroom Thursday, December 15, 2011. | Brett Roseman~Sun-Times Media

How local Southland school foundations spent their money:

LINCOLN-WAY HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 210

wireless networks in all schools

cameras to replace overhead projectors

library books

TV monitors

art equipment

LOCKPORT TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL

document cameras

guest speakers

special programs

teacher recognition

CONSOLIDATED DISTRICT 230 FOUNDATION

outdoor learning centers

military honor wall

service projects

video technology to analyze human movement

sports medicine symposium

DISTRICT 157C

SMART boards

Rebecca Caudill book awards

PC classroom tablets

Green Screen moviemaking

Music Mixcrafts recording studio

OAK LAWN HIGH SCHOOL

scholarships

kiln for an art class

technical equipment for a new AP physics class

HOMEWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT 153

environmental courtyards

stability balls to replace classroom chairs

Weather Bug tracking system

Current Science magazine

field trips

CRETE-MONEE DISTRICT 201U

improvements to the football field

summer enrichment programs for drama students

scholarships

science equipment

Article Extras

Updated: March 1, 2012 8:01AM

Third-grade teacher Tracey Lazzo projected lessons from her computer onto a new SMART Board at Chelsea Intermediate School, while her pupils matched up geometric shapes by touching and dragging them across a classroom-sized screen that even talks back.

The board is the latest and greatest in classroom technology, Lazzo said.

“When you add something like this to the curriculum it adds excitement,” Lazzo said. “It broadens the scope of what we do.”

Her classroom got the high-tech board last year after Lazzo pitched the idea to the Frankfort District 157C Foundation’s board. After seeing its success, the foundation — which raises money for the school district — bought 19 more, with a goal of putting one in every class.

Across the country and the Southland, school foundations such as the one in Frankfort are making up for financial shortfalls, filling in budget gaps and providing classroom extras. Their gifts come in a variety of shapes and sizes — as big as a football field and as small as a library book. Others, such as wireless networks, are less obvious.

Nearly all high school foundations provide money for student scholarships. But technology also tops the list, with donations such as SMART Boards, ELMO document cameras, wireless networks and TV monitors.

Such foundations are capable of pulling in some big bucks and doing big things with it.

Lazzo’s pupils say their SMART Board is “awesome,” “really easy,” and “way more fun than a workbook page.” Yet when Lazzo looks around her room, she spots several other items purchased by the 157C Foundation — the ELMO camera, LCD projector and educational games.

Foundation board members are willing to finance creative requests from teachers like Lazzo who think creatively. Funds have been used to develop environmental courtyards and sensory rooms and replace desk chairs with stability balls. They provided classroom equipment for a new physics class, a kiln for art students and laundry and kitchen equipment for special needs students. They pay for guest speakers, special programs and drama workshops. Most also recognize teachers, staff and alumni.

According to school superintendents, the foundations are priceless.

“I cannot imagine what we would do without them,” Lincoln-Way High School District 210 Supt. Lawrence Wyllie said. Without the foundation’s donations for technology, “we would be so far behind. They are an absolute lifesaver.”

Education is the second-most popular target for donors, second only to churches, according to Jim Collogan, of the National School Foundation Association. These nonprofit arms of school districts are alive and well, growing and getting better at what they do, he said.

“When you consider the economy, you have to go to work on it because the need is always there,” he said. “Tax dollars no longer support everything that is needed.”

With funds so tight, foundation members are forced to be more creative and think big. There are an estimated 6,000 foundations among the 16,000 public school districts in the country, according to the American Schools Foundation Alliance.

Throughout the Southland, foundations exist in all shapes and sizes. Members beat the pavement, lick a lot of envelopes and greet a lot of people to get extra cash for education.

One of the oldest, most successful foundations in the Southland is the Lincoln-Way District 210 Foundation for Educational Excellence, which has raised close to $3 million since 1994. It’s also one of the few with a full-time director. It began seeking alternate revenue sources after Illinois initiated the tax cap, which limited property tax revenue to school districts and other taxing bodies.

“We exist to raise money,” said Linda Lopez, executive director of the foundation, which experienced a “downturn” this year but still brought in about $250,000. In its best year, it raised $300,000.

With Illinois’ current school funding woes, other districts such as New Lenox District 122 have started a foundation, too. But it hasn’t been easy, president Lisa Cain said, adding that she was surprised when two potential sponsors turned her down. She also has struggled to find volunteers.

“I thought people would be so willing, but they are so busy,” Cain said.

Others are in the process of rejuvenation, such as the Crete-Monee Education Foundation in District 201U. It disbanded several years ago because of low participation, but in 2007 decided to resurrect its effort, foundation president Karen Gilliam-Brown said. It raises between $20,000 and $30,000 per year but struggles with parent participation and awareness, she said.

Orland School District 135 disbanded its foundation last year due to a lack of manpower and sponsorships, district spokeswoman Bridget McGuiggan said. But she hopes it will come back. She’s chairing an education foundation conference next year that will focus on rejuvenation, strategic planning and how to get big money donors.

“All foundations are being challenged,” McGuiggan said.

They are faced with finding more creative revenue sources, building awareness, generating more participation and increasing their volunteers. While most have a signature event — such as a dinner-dance or golf outing — they rely on multiple methods of fundraising. Through trial and error, they learn what works and what doesn’t.

“We try to do something that piggybacks onto something else because people have so many events to go to,” said Laura Shallow, president of Oak Lawn Community High School’s relatively new foundation.

But when they tried selling Dippin’ Dots ice cream at a community carnival, they ran into bad weather and poor profits. The foundation now relies on payroll deductions, business donations and one major fundraiser a year, usually a reception with a raffle.

District 210’s foundation sponsors six different campaigns: a cash raffle, commemorative bricks, adinner/auction, payroll deductions, school calendars and its newest “cornerstone” effort — a program in which about 30 businesses pledge annual donations between $1,500 and $20,000.

“We have to provide an opportunity for people to give at a level they are able to give,” Lopez said. “I would not put all my eggs in one basket.”

Other foundation leaders agree.

Lockport Township High School District 205 struggles with attendance at its three events — a golf outing for adults, a battle of the bands for students, and a 5K fun run for families, which generate between $50,000 to $100,000 each year, according to Kim Brehm, District 205’s communications and foundation director.

The Consolidated High School District 230 Foundation discovered that a Second City performance at Sandburg High School brought in 700 community members last year, people who would not typically come into the schools, district spokeswoman Carla Erdey said.

Kendall Villa, president of the 17-year-old District 157C foundation, said administrators lowered ticket prices to their dinner to boost attendance.

A wine-and-cheese event has been the signature fundraiser for the District 201U Foundation. But for years, Brown said, she didn’t know it existed. To raise its profile, the foundation sponsors a free tailgating event during homecoming weekend, but that event seems to be fizzling, she said.

“I wish I had the secret sauce,” she said.

In her work as executive director of the American Schools Foundation Alliance, New Lenox District 122 foundation member Nancy Dye has seen creative fundraisers. A California school had a “parade of pigs,” in which art students decorated 20 donated piggybanks, placed them in local businesses for several months to collect loose change, garnered $160,000 and then auctioned off the piggybanks, Dye said.

Many of these nonprofit groups rely on a strong donor base, business and corporate sponsors. All reported that while the number of donors remains stable, their donation amounts are less thanks to tough economic times.

Alumni are one of the top 10 fundraising sources, Collogan said, along with corporate sponsors, school vendors, events and estate gifts.

Shelly Peck, of the Homewood District 153 Foundation, said its three events — a 5K fun run, a pasta-palooza dinner and a spring benefit — are all “labor intensive” and generate $18,000 to $25,000 annually.

“There is a certain amount of burnout,” Peck said. “We could always use more help. New blood, new energy is in short supply.”