Local education foundations serve as the conduit for private sector investment and community involvement in the public schools. These foundations raise more than 35 million dollars a year to support initiatives in their local school districts. These district-wide foundations invest in programs that are not funded through tax dollars. These privately-funded initiatives include programs such as scholarships, teacher retention and recognition projects, classroom grants, literacy improvement strategies, technical career education, and support for low-performing students and schools. Out of 67 school districts, there are 60 education foundations across the state.

Conservatively, 800 business and community leaders are represented on the boards of the local education foundations. In a recent survey, these board members identified their priorities for education in our state. The priorities came back as low performing students, literacy, workforce development and teacher recruitment and retention. These have become the Consortium’s primary programmatic focus areas and help guide our legislative and funding agenda.

The Consortium also represents the interests of education foundations in the state legislature. Before the year 2000, education foundations did not have the benefit of a legislative match program, which was a successful characteristic of fundraising in higher education. Through the collaborative effort of our members, the Consortium successfully advocated for the creation of the School District Matching Grant, which has been funded for the past six years. During this time, the legislature provided more than 12.5 million dollars, which was matched dollar for dollar and funded projects through the education foundations. The Consortium continues to support the License for Learning program, which provides local education foundations with a $20 donation for every education auto tag purchased in their county. Moreover, the Consortium plays a coordinating role in statewide fundraising and program efforts that are of interest to corporations and foundations looking at impacting the entire state of Florida.

We develop national, statewide and regional partnerships that would not be possible for local education foundations to develop on their own. The Consortium provides assistance in the development of education foundations and strategic planning for existing organizations.

The Consortium offers numerous professional development sessions throughout the year to improve the non-profit management and fundraising skills of education foundation leaders and staff.