action | balance | spirit

Frequently Asked Questions

Investing Now and for the Future

Cathy Lanois, Edfund Vice President

How does a contribution to the Edfund differ from other fundraising for the schools?

Your contribution has a direct impact now and in the future. Much of the schools’ fundraising efforts, like the Friends groups, give everything they collect to the schools. These are important efforts and usually address a direct and immediate need. However, as more needs or shortfalls are identified, those efforts need to start again from scratch - not so with the Edfund.

Why doesn’t the Edfund use the endowment to pay for school overrides, to fund teacher salaries, or to cover budget shortfalls?

For a few reasons. First and foremost, the central purpose of the Edfund is to create and grow a sustainable endowment that will provide funds for annual grants from the income generated by the fund. If we spent all of the money to address an immediate crisis, we would defeat that purpose. The Edfund was not created to fund ongoing school budget items, but rather to try to provide funds over and above what annual district school budgets can allow, resulting in unique or special programs or supplementary technology to improve learning opportunities