Oct. 08--The Waukegan Public Schools Foundation is funding 13 teacher-pitched projects for the 2015-16 academic year, district officials announced in a statement Wednesday.
The grants are designed to help teachers pursue original educational initiatives that didn't fit in their school's budget, with extra weight on those that would benefit the most students, said foundation President Ray Vukovich.
The 13 grants, totaling $11,462, will fund initiatives in literacy, music, technology and engineering, including robotics at Waukegan High School's Brookside campus, a writing program at Greenwood Elementary School and funds for Tower Gardens as part of Cooke Magnet School's Greenhouse project, according to a statement from the district.
"It's a low-key operation from the standpoint there's not a lot of money, but the money we do raise goes directly to teachers and students," Vukovich said.
"I wish there were more money to fund them all, but it's very limited," in part because of fundraising challenges, he said.
The foundation got started about 30 years ago and was initially able to bring in money through a talent show broadcast on local TV and radio, he said. When that program ended, they turned to other events: golf outings, car shows, raffles and performances at the Genesee Theatre, he said.
In recent years, fundraising has been a struggle, with some events costing more money than they've made, Vukovich said.
During the 2013-14 school year, foundation tax records state, fundraising events brought in about $6,400 but cost about $9,400 to put on.
The year before, profitable comedy and car shows brought in about $6,500, according to tax records. But a raffle with more than $13,000 in prizes that brought in about $7,800 erased all but $1,134 of that.
Vukovich said the raffle wasn't as costly as it looked, as some income wasn't recorded until the following year, but he said it did incur a loss. Prizes promoted to sell tickets had to be awarded even when sales proved sluggish, he said.
"That was immediately scrapped and not talked about again," he said.
Suzanne Coffman, editorial director at GuideStar, a company that tracks nonprofits, said that while foundations always want to make money on events, losses here and there don't always indicate a problem.
A foundation might lose money on an event itself but bring in more dollars down the road by building awareness of its work and connecting with loyal donors, Coffman said.
"They can almost be loss leaders," Coffman said. "That said, you don't want organizations just running lots of events losing money."
Vukovich said they're working to avoid repeating previous losses. They canceled a golf outing fundraiser planned for this summer after lackluster response suggested they risked finishing in the red, he said.
No events to replace it are currently on the calendar, but he said they're considering options and are "always looking for a new angle."
Vukovich said he thinks fundraising has gotten tougher over the years.
"Sometimes you try to reach to businesses, and they say they just paid real estate taxes and the biggest amount went to the schools," he said.
The foundation, which primarily focuses on the teacher grants, also competes with other Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 groups trying to raise money, including school PTAs, music groups and sports teams, often hitting up the same families and businesses.
"There's only so many dollars out there," he said.
lzumbach@tribpub.com
