District, Community Foundation partnering

FINDLAY — Findlay City Schools has partnered with the Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation to establish a monetary foundation for the district. The fund would operate like a savings account, said Andrea Barger, coordinator of development and alumni relations at Findlay City Schools. Monetary gifts would come in from donors, sometimes earmarked for a specific purpose, and then be sent to the appropriate category of the foundation. For example, a donation made to the fund specifically for new elementary playground equipment would go to the category created for elementary playground equipment. If the school wants to buy new playground equipment, they can request money from the fund to pay for it — without having to start fundraisers or go through multiple channels to receive it. "Alumni that have graduated here could donate money (through the foundation). It could be from somebody's estate or will — after they pass away, they could say, 'we want to put $50,000 toward a new auditorium,'" Barger said. That money would be given to the foundation and put into the specific category created for it. The goal of establishing a fund is to generate enough money to eventually give teachers, staff and students at Findlay a way to access resources needed for their classrooms, for clubs, projects, materials and more. There is also no cost to establish one. "Will a foundation take the place of a school fundraiser? No. Will a foundation take the place of parents still getting their own supplies for their kids? No. All of those things are still going to happen," Barger said. "The whole purpose of (the foundation) is to provide the extras." Behind the idea School funds exist to provide money to school districts separate from state and taxpayer money. According to the Ohio School Boards Association, there are two types of education foundations: a "BOE education foundation fund" established and run by the district's board of education, and an "independent education foundation," where a fund is established separate from the board. Public school districts receive a majority of their funding from state and local taxpayer money. "A foundation can come in and it can provide funds that are separate from that," Barger said. "It's either going to come in the form of endowments, funds or scholarships." Other ways the district receives money is through fundraisers led by boosters, parent-teacher organizations, student clubs or even by teachers writing their own grants. But having so many fundraisers at one time can drain a community's resources. "As teachers, we see what we want for our kids," said Kelly Cheney, director of communications at Findlay City Schools and former teacher. "It's either: 'Let me see if we can do a fundraiser, or let me just pay for it myself.' That gets really hard as a teacher." Teachers need things throughout the year, so "you do what you can in both of those areas, and then more and more ideas, more and more fundraisers, more and more asks to our community and our families over and over and over again," Cheney said. "We don't want to overstress our community." Cheney says there's a lot of "scattered energy" with schools trying to accomplish the same goals through their fundraisers. "All of our buildings are spending their own energy trying to do these same processes, all of our different organizations are spending the same energy. If we can harness that energy and all move in the same direction, it feels like we can do some really big things," she said. Although it's only in the early stages of creation, Barger said the district will continue to work with the Community Foundation over the next few months to establish the fund.