School Districts Turn to Businesses for Help : Fund-raising: Education officials are forming nonprofit foundations to more easily solicit donations from corporations.

By CARLOS V. LOZANO

Nov. 15, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

For years, financially strapped school districts in Ventura County raised money the old-fashioned way: by holding jog-a-thons, bingo games, bake sales and other do-it-yourself fund-raisers.

But school districts increasingly are moving to a more lucrative method of raising much-needed cash to help pay for special programs, supplies and equipment, while at the same time strengthening ties with local businesses.

By working with community leaders to form private nonprofit foundations, school districts can more easily solicit donations from large corporations.

“When you have a nonprofit foundation, it allows you a lot more avenues to seek funds,” said Sylvia McGinnis, executive director of the Ventura Unified School District Educational Foundation.

The Ventura foundation, the most successful of its kind in the county, has raised more than $300,000 since it was formed in 1987, largely because of contributions from such donors as Pepsi Cola, Southern California Edison, Barber Ford, Wells Fargo Bank, Chevron U.S.A. and Bank of A. Levy.

McGinnis, who is paid for her work with the foundation, stressed that the organization is not intended to replace or compete with the fund-raising efforts of Parent Teacher Assns., which raise thousands of dollars each year for individual schools.

“PTAs target those who are closest to the schools--parents,” she said. “Our target is the corporate world. I go for the bigger guys, with the bigger money.”

McGinnis said nonprofit organizations, which in most cases are run by parents and business people in the community, can solicit donations through the mail and organize fund-raising campaigns easier than many school districts because of their limited resources.

She said many companies prefer to contribute to foundations rather than directly to school districts because they can avoid the bureaucratic red tape involved in dealing with a large bureaucracy. She added that companies are limited in the amount of money they can give to public agencies but do not have the same constraints when it comes to private foundations.

As a result, several other school districts in the county are scrambling to organize their own nonprofit groups.

Officials at Ojai Unified, Briggs Elementary, Oxnard Union High, Pleasant Valley and Simi Valley unified school districts have teamed up with parents and others in their communities to either form new foundations or to revive old ones.

Cindy Perez, a parent of two elementary students in the Ojai Unified School District, said she has been working the past two months to establish a foundation in that district.

Frustrated with continuing cutbacks in education, Perez said she was motivated to do something to help her district increase its revenues.

“We have to end this trend of taking money away from our schools,” she said. “I want to support education. I want to say to our kids and our teachers, ‘Yes, we care and our community is going to be there for you.’ ”

Perez said she is working with Steve Olsen, dean of students at Matilija Junior High, to form a board of directors for the foundation. She said she has also applied for nonprofit status with the state and hopes to formally start the foundation early next year.

“It’s really exciting,” she said. “I feel this is going to increase awareness about the crisis our schools are in. And I think people are going to rally behind this cause.”

But not everyone shares Perez’s optimism about the potential for raising large amounts of money.

Bill Studt, superintendent of the Oxnard Union High School District, which is working with the community to revive its long dormant educational foundation, said as more districts jump on the bandwagon it will become more difficult to approach businesses for money.

“My personal opinion is that this is a terrible way for school districts to go, to become charitable organizations,” he said. “It’s also not the greatest time to be going out and asking for money.”

At the same time, Studt said his district cannot afford not to have an active foundation working with the business community.

More than just raising money, Studt said he hopes to form partnerships with local businesses to provide guest speakers, workshops and field trips for students that will better prepare them for the working world.

“We want to do more than just solicit funds,” he said. “But if any money comes our way, we’ll surely take it.”

Carol Vines, superintendent of the tiny Briggs Elementary School District, said school officials and members of the community earlier this year formed an educational foundation to boost revenues.

She said the organization recently sent 1,000 mailers to parents and area businesses asking for donations ranging from $15 to $500.

“So far we’ve gotten a little over $600,” she said. Vines said the foundation, which is planning other fund-raising events, expects to send mailings about twice a year.

She said the main reason for starting the foundation was to raise money to buy computers and eventually to re-establish the school’s music program, which was discontinued two years ago because of lack of funding.

“We’re all trying to find ways to keep things going because of budget cutbacks,” she said.

Despite the success of the Ventura foundation, McGinnis acknowledges that soliciting money from large businesses is getting more difficult because of the poor economy.

“It’s tough, tough, tough,” McGinnis said. “I’m not going to paint a rosy picture for anybody. Large corporations that have given in the past are not able to give this year.”

McGinnis points out that there are more than 700 nonprofit charitable organizations in the county competing for donations and grants.

“We’re all knocking on the same doors,” she said. “But in this job you have to have a positive mental attitude. The word rejection can never enter your mind.”

She said the largest single donation received by the Ventura foundation was a $15,000 grant awarded last year by the Bank of A. Levy’s Achille Levy Foundation, which has promised another $10,000 this year.

The money is being used to fund a visual, literary and performing arts program in elementary and middle school classrooms. The program offers eight-week in-class residencies by more than a dozen artists, who teach everything from songwriting to printmaking.

Other money raised by the foundation is distributed each year in the form of mini-grants--usually about $500--that teachers can apply toward purchase of equipment and supplies for their classrooms. Funds are also set aside in special accounts to pay for building renovation work or to buy athletic equipment.

McGinnis credits the volunteers who serve on the foundation’s board of directors with the organization’s success. The 17-member board is made up of business people, parents and retired people.

“They are the backbone of the foundation,” she said. “Without the volunteers you don’t have an organization.”

Despite the constant rejection and increasingly difficult task of raising money, McGinnis said it is important that the foundation keep up its efforts to support teachers and students.

“This is vital to our district,” she said, “because if we don’t invest in our children today, we’re not going to have a future.”