In less than one year, school supporters lock in more than $75 million for district
While the state of California may have turned its back on schools, the local community continues to rally around them.
For more than two decades, a quiet yet determined nonprofit organization has raised millions of dollars for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. And with the state cutting back its funding even more these days, the local school district relies more on organizations like the Education Foundation than ever before.
The Education Foundation is an organization focused on achievement, dedicated to preserving, supporting and enhancing a comprehensive range of programs in all 16 schools in Santa Monica and Malibu.
Two weeks ago, For The Arts, a campaign of the Education Foundation, held a three-day event on the Santa Monica Pier. With legendary singer-songwriter Jackson Browne kicking off the weekend with a concert at Santa Monica High School and two days of showcasing students’ musical and artistic talents, the event raised $125,000 specifically for arts programs in the district. For The Arts’ goal is to build a $15 million endowment to support dance, visual arts, music and drama in local schools. Since its inception two years ago, it has raised more than $1.5 million.
In the past five years, the Education Foundation has raised more than $1 million for an endowment to support literacy. And every year, the foundation raises about $100,000 to support programs like arts, science, technology, sports, as well as to enhance existing curricula. The foundation’s goal is to ensure an equitable and vibrant education for each child in the district.
The foundation last month awarded grants to teachers representing every school in the district, enabling them to enrich existing programs and create new ones for their students for next year. The grants, which total more than $32,000 annually, are funded through a raffle every spring, said Linda Gross, the foundation’s executive director.
The foundation also distributes $50,000 every year to update library materials at all the district’s schools and to promote literacy-based activities. Another program, the “Bells of Books of Knowledge,” is a $2 million campaign to support literacy, science, technology and math in all of the schools. And a summer school program run by the foundation and the PTA Council of Santa Monica-Malibu, will begin June 28.
BUILDING A FOUNDATION The Education Foundation was created in 1982 by Betty Denitz, who used to teach in the district. Aware that her city, Beverly Hills, had its own foundation, she and her husband helped create one for Santa Monica and Malibu.
It was at a time when the effects of Proposition 13 were being felt — money to local schools was being cut dramatically all over the state, said local architect Ralph Mechur, a staunch supporter of schools and who is on the foundation’s board of directors.
“Over time, all curriculum was cut,” he said. “The Education Foundation was started as a way to supplement programs.”
By the 1990s, it was evident that the schools were going to be in a world of hurt for many years to come unless something was done on a local level.
“This community and the state came out of the shock of Prop. 13 and then realized that the state would not be in a position to fund education,” Mechur said, adding it was going to take between $20 and $30 million to bring schools back to a normal level in terms of programs and curriculum.
Since then, a broad-based group of community activists, many of whom are parents, have rallied to raise money. They successfully campaigned to get Measure S passed — a parcel tax that generates roughly $6.5 million annually for the local school district through a flat $225 fee on each of the 32,400-plus pieces of property in Santa Monica and Malibu. The tax, passed last June, will expire in six years.
Mechur helped spearhead that campaign, as well as the most recent one levied by a large group of school activists, “Community for Excellent Public Schools,” which essentially forced City Hall to give at least $6 million annually to schools for the next five years.
“It’s a core group of education activists who realize this all ties together,” Mechur said. “It’s the realization that we have to do it ourselves if we want our education to be what we want it to be.
“We asked the community to reach into its own pocket,” he added.
And it has reached deep. Between the parcel tax and an increased financial commitment from City Hall, the school district will get $75 million in the next six years. But it’s still not enough.
“Believe it or not, with all the money raised, it really only allows (the district) to maintain the programs,” Mechur said.
SANTA MONICA STANDS ALONE There are more than 400 education foundations throughout California, and thousands throughout the country. But few of them have endowments. Schools superintendent John Deasy, who came from Rhode Island as an educator, said he’s never seen anything like what the Santa Monica and Malibu communities do.
He pointed out that the Education Foundation supports programs that the state will never fund, and is focused on teacher development. The foundation also gives to every school, eliminating equity issues where one school may benefit more because of its ability to fundraise in an affluent part of the city. And For The Arts is the type of endowment effort where the money will always be there, Deasy added.
“The Education Foundation is remarkable,” he said. “Nothing even comes close to this.”
In its early days, the foundation began raising money the traditional ways — through events like golf tournaments, dances and other fundraisers. Today’s foundation does that as well, but also has moved on to direct solicitation to reach directly into people’s pocketbooks.
“Five or seven years ago, without any professional help, we embarked on an endowment for literacy and raised $1 million,” Gross said, adding she and her counterparts capitalized on their longtime relationships with community members, local businesses and parents to fundraise.
“Five of us raised it,” Gross said. Direct solicitation is the focus for For The Arts, as well. Started by local parents, Greg and Carol Coote, they reached out to community members to donate. It was no small feat — they helped raise $1.5 million during a recession.
“They come from an entertainment industry background and they said to us, ‘we can do this,’” Gross said.
It was at that point that “the foundation got smart,” according to Gross, and asked City Hall to help in the campaign. City officials agreed to give $225,000 toward the effort.
“We hired a campaign consultant and he really broke apart how to run a campaign,” Gross said.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL Developing campaigns should be the crux of future fundraising for the foundation, Mechur added.
The Education Foundation’s goal now is to expand its reach to involve the entire community — even residents who don’t have children. Only between 15 and 18 percent of Santa Monica’s population has children. But as Mechur points out, a strong school district means a strong community, including rising property values.
Fundraising for schools should be comprehensive, meaning sports teams shouldn’t have to hold car washes to pay for their uniforms.
“What we are trying to do is build a consensus that we can do more,” Mechur said. “Asking the same corner store for money is not as effective.”
And the key to success for any organization is to raise its profile and garner more support, Gross said. That means more community partners who can donate their time, resources and money to schools. The foundation needs more people to directly solicit donations, as well as a person who is able to write grants.
“We need to grow and become more community oriented,” she said. “My goal is that people in the community become so familiar with the Education Foundation that they think of it immediately... You are only as successful as the people in the organization.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 1, 2004. Read the original PDF.