2010-11 F-M Education Foundation Annual Report
Established in 1992, the Fayetteville-Manlius Education Foundation’s mission is to support and enhance the education program of the Fayetteville-Manlius School District. The Foundation is governed by a volunteer Board of up to twenty-four community members, dedicated to bringing new and innovative academic and cultural programs to District students. These programs are funded totally by private donations made to the Foundation from individuals, other charitable organizations, corporations, charitable bequests and fundraising events.
This year the Foundation had planned to hold its second annual Taste of F-M. Due to Board Member schedule conflicts, the event was postponed from the fall to early February 2011. A new site was acquired to reduce the overhead cost of holding the event at Limestone Grille. The Pavilion at Fayetteville Towne Centre was reserved at a cost of $500. By moving the venue to a general location in the community, it was hoped that the event could be expanded with greater local participation, resulting in a reduction of Foundation overhead costs to sponsor the event, while including more of our local restaurants in a real “Taste of F-M”.
Unfortunately, the response from the local restaurant business community was very poor, which necessitated cancellation of the event. This was likely driven by the poor economy, reluctance of local restaurants to sponsor the event with “free food” for “advertisement” opportunity, and proximity to the Christmas Holidays -- burdens that all but one of our local restaurants were unable to support.
Since this event is one of the Foundation's most significant fundraisers, the Board scheduled and conducted two new events that did not require as much planning effort, and could be executed before the end of the 2010-11 school year. These events were the “Puttin’ Fore” Education Family Miniature Golf Tournament” in April and a Barnes and Noble Book Fair held in June.
The Foundation held its first-ever family miniature golf tournament on April 30, 2011. The decision was made to focus our attention to family-friendly fundraisers that served the dual purpose of raising revenue and introducing the Foundation and its work to our families with younger children in the District. The event was held at Putter's Paradise, who generously donated the entire golf facility to the fundraiser. Utilizing our elementary physical education teachers as promotions experts in the three buildings, we were able to sell out all 54 holes (three courses). We also sold hole sponsorships to offset the cost of the various prizes we gave away at the end of the event.
The tournament ended up raising a net total of $1,695.74. Most importantly, the event received rave reviews from the families that attended and the committee is anxious to make it bigger and better for the 2011-12 school year. We believe this is an event that can continue to help get the Foundation's name out to our younger families, and also be a nice opportunity for families to have fun while helping a very worthwhile cause.
The Foundation worked with Barnes and Noble to conduct a Bookfair on June 11. The event highlighted musical performances by students from Eagle Hill Middle School, Wellwood Middle School, Mott Road Elementary School and F-M High School. The event was attended by many F-M families and Barnes and Noble customers. The Bookfair results are still tentative, but the event likely raised in excess of $400 for the Foundation and provided a forum to highlight both the activities of our music students and the Foundation.
Since this particular event was a first for the Foundation, a great deal was learned about how to hold the event, and in the future how to minimize the investment of time and effort while increasing returns. In developing an activity and fundraising calendar, this type of event could be held two to three times a year, and provide a performance opportunity for the students of the district's music departments at a minimum, and the possibility of involving students in the art creative writing programs in the future.
Four grants have been tentatively awarded to teachers for the 2011-2012 school year. The grants targeted programs at Wellwood Middle School and F-M High School. These grants will enhance experiences and enrich the learning of hundreds of students throughout the District in such areas as Humanities, Earth Science, English Language Arts, and Social studies.
Foundation Board development was a top priority this year. We have been joined by Pat Pedro, Joe Callery, and Valerie Clark. Resignations were accepted from Andy Russo, and Sean Halley (verbal). Board development will continue to be a priority as we move into the 2011-2012 school year.
The F-M Education Foundations 2011 Statement of Revenue and Expenditures May Financials states that through May 2011, revenue was $6,041 and expenditures were $20,908.
Our plans for next year involve continued maintenance and improvement of the website, another great Hall of Distinction Induction Ceremony, and several fundraisers. We expect to plan for more frequent fundraising events throughout the year that require less planning and execution efforts, rather than relying on single large event in order to optimize Foundation awareness in the community until such time that our Board and Foundation membership can support the planning and conduct of events that take people resources that are currently available.
We hope to grow Board membership and investigate other avenues to support our F-M faculty and students in this period of tightening budgets and reduced available resources. We hope that you will be able to join us in all of our events next year, and thank you for your continued support!
Pete Demas, Ken Elander, Shaun Black
F-M Education Foundation Co-Presidents 2010 - 2011