Foundation for Seminole Co. Public Schools ranks fourteenth in national study of K-12 education foundations

“Stepping Up: The Top K-12 Education Foundations in the Nation” ranks Foundation for Seminole Co. Public Schools among the top 20 in the nation for three consecutive years.

(Dec. 7, 2016) – The nation’s only annual study and ranking of K-12 education foundations — “Stepping Up: The Nation’s Top K-12 Education Foundations 2016” — has ranked Foundation for Seminole Co. Public Schools fourteenth in the nation, the third consecutive year the foundation has ranked in the top 20.  Study at www.caruthers.institute

“Most parents and taxpayers are not aware of how K-12 education foundations are enhancing and innovating public education,” said Dewey Caruthers, study author and president of Caruthers Institute (formerly dewey & associates) that conducts the study, noting “education foundations are providing vital programs for students and valuable grants for teachers that otherwise would not exist.”

The study focuses on K-12 education foundations in the 200 largest school districts (by student population).  Additionally, top-performing education foundations that serve smaller school districts were included.  In totality, there were 188 K-12 education foundations from 220 school districts included in the study.  These foundations collectively generated the following in 2014 (most recent year data available): Held $506 million in assets; raised $359 million; invested $161 million into grants and programs; and leveraged 45,000 volunteers to fuel efforts.

Stepping Up looks at eight performance categories to determine the rankings: annual revenues, revenues per student, total assets, assets per student, investment income, total program expenses, expenses per student, and volunteers.

Foundations also are placed into four divisions based on revenues.  “We want to provide comparisons to foundations of similar sizes,” Caruthers said.