What Is an Education Foundation?

Core Purpose, Brief History

• A small-town education foundation is closely affiliated with its local public school.
• Its purpose is to assist in funding important projects not otherwise affordable wiithin normal school budgets
• The concept has expanded in Indiana public schools since 2002, initially among large metropolitan schools
• The vital role for small-town public education is now recognized and expanding
• The Union City Education Foundation was created by a process begun in 2019, initiated by the Union City Alumni Association

How an Education Foundation Works

• An education foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organizaion authorized by the Internal Revenue Service to receive donations on a tax exempt basis.
• Sources of funds are direct donations or planned giving such as estate planning.
• Donated gifts are professionally managed then deployed based on a combination of school needs and donor wishes
• It is reasonable to project an "endowment" of $5- to $10-million in the years just ahead, an amount that can make an enormous difference. 

Technology-Driven Curricula Upgrades

20th Century education was taught from behind desks using a stable set of textbooks -- the same textbooks being used in schools large and small across the country. Laboratories were a row of typewriters, assorted kitchen appliances and wood-working machines. Higher level labs were found at colleges or in the workplace.

     Today's schools, teachers and students need computers, programmable robots, 3D printing and whatever will come next in a technology cycle that averages three years or less. Subject may include artificial intelligence, data science, internet infrastructure, cyber-security and whatever comes next.

     Each of these technologies represent millions of jobs in the workplace of the future. Failure to teach emerging techologies will create a knowledge gap for those students we missed. 

     But installation of technology along with support of teacher skill upgrades are expensive --not a problem in large, well-funded schools. A tremendous challenge in small town public schools.

Severe Teacher Shortage

     The shortage has already begun for complex reasons that will not be quickly solved. It will be a major crisis in the years just ahead. It will require schools competing to attract and retain quality teachers. 

Selection and Cost of Post-Secondary, Career-Relevant Education

Students K-12 once carried a few books in a backpack. Our "laboratories" were a row of typewriters, assorted kitchen appliances and wood-working machines. Our teachers taught from behind desks using a stable set of textbooks -- the same textbooks being used in schools large and small across the country.

Now they need computers, programmable robots, and 3D printing. They will face emerging technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, data science, and latest internet infrastructure. 

      Hands-on knowledge of these technologies is vital for students to prepare for advanced education and the future job market where tens of millions of new jobs will be created but tens of millions of jobs will be obsoleted.

      - Installing necessary teaching labs is expensive.

      - Hiring, training and providing continuous teacher education is expensive.

      - Larger, better funded schools can readily find necessary resources. 

Here is blunt reality: 

      Without additional assistance, small-town public school budgets simply cannot afford the curriculum updates and related support infrastructure necessary to assure fully competitive students in a rapidly changing, technology driven marketplace.

      Our Foundation will build funds that proactively support curriculum upgrades and related infrastructure and teacher effectiveness programs that allow Union City graduates to compete with, or outperform, students from schools of any size. 

A public school Education Foundation receives charitable donations, manages funds prudently, and uses those funds to help support future requirement for excellence in Union City education. Those future projects may be a year or two away, or many years away, but our efforts will help assure that Union City schools can be ready -- and can continue to provide graduates with an education competitive with larger, better-funded schools.

Donated funds often come from financially blessed Union City alumni, or other friends of Union City public education  The Foundation works closely with school officials to anticipate important upcoming projects and to be prepared to support those projects via endowed funds. 

The Union City Education Foundation was created by restructure of the Alumni Association. The corporate name must be Union City Education Fondation, Inc. -- the name the government now recognizes for tax  deductibility and other legal issues. The Alumni Asssociation is a standing committee within UCEF, operating with its own board and annual budget. 

>> As part of UCEF, the Alumni Association is MORE IMPORTANT, not less. It continues to collect regular alumni donations to the UCAA ACTION Fund. It supports teacher grants and scholarships, it coordinates communication with alumni nationwide, and it support long-term alumni relationships through the annual Banquet and other smaller-group Alumni activities. 

In the calm waters of the 20th Century, alumni planned giving focused on scholarships, that helped cover costs of 4-year degrees for college-bound students. 

It was assumed that the school had adequate resources to provide necessary curricula, primarily taught via textbooks and simple labs such as shop and home ec.. It was assumed that a high-level teacher team was affordable and loyalty could be easily maintained.

20th Century reality allowed UC graduates of the mid to late 2000s to graduate with confidence they were ready to compete anywhere with anybody, in college and in career.

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Simply stated, the reality has changed dramatically: 

• Traditional support of scholarship giving has been underminded by skyrocketing cost of 4-year education and rapidly emerging  trends toward shorter-term, career focused degress.
• New technologies are arriving in waves, many very expensive to install and teach, and the most important of these career-related technologies has likely not arrived yet.
• America faces a public school teacher crisis -- an impending teacher shortage that will make it difficult for small public schools to compete for the top tier talent necessary to provide educational excellence. 

When you are considering support of the Foundations, we simply ask that the realities on this page be part of the discussion. Example: In simpler times, a reasonably large endowed scholarship fund could send a Union City kid to 4-year college with most expenses covered. 

Today, as an example, a $250,000 endowed fund will yield about $12,000, enough to cover one semester at a state university, and there will be no impact on educational excellence within the school. 

So our discussion will include your goals, of course -- your wishes will be honored, but we also know you are giving to make an impact, and we will seek the right balance.

We then prepare a "Letter of Undersanding" to document the decisions that we've made and assure your wishes are communicated to those who will eventually execute the projects, whether short-term or many years into the future. 

Contact Bill Corbin - 317-691-1043 - Bill.corbin@gmail.com  or scroll to inquiry form below.

Your substantial gift to the Educational Foundation will be recognized in-perpetuity without regard to the time-frame of funds expenditure. This concept allows support of shorter term projects with knowledge that your contribution to Union City Education will be recognized years from now, as if you had endowed the funds and distirbuted in small, one-year bursts.

Contact Bill Corbin - 317-691-1043 - Bill.corbin@gmail.com  or scroll to inquiry form below.