Healthy donations to SEF boost education programs

By Jason Baker

Saratoga Union School District students will benefit from generous city residents in the form of $585,000, garnered for the district through donations to the Saratoga Education Foundation. The 1999-2000 SEF grant shows an increase of 150 percent during the last five years, according to spokeswoman Cyndy Riordan.

Founded in 1982, SEF raises and distributes funds to supplement education programs that lack state funding. The foundation serves all schools in the district.

Since its inception, SEF has raised more than $3 million. Of the donated funds, 96 percent are returned to the schools for curriculum and materials, including elementary music education, physical education and hands-on science, middle school computer labs, art education, library staffing, technology media staffing and mini-grants available to all teachers.

More than 35 percent of SEF's funds come from about 125 major donors.

The foundation recognized this generosity May 14 with a reception honoring donors who had contributed $1,000 or more. This event as well as all donations were coordinated by Susan Finocchio, chairman of the major donors program.

The foundation, a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization, raises funds though a winter phone drive, direct parent and community solicitation, business sponsor and partnership programs, employer matching gifts, used car sales, a spring jogathon and a long-term private endowment fund.

The top two parent donors to the program were made anonymously, according to Riordan.

Bob and Susan Finocchio, Bill and Mary Keating and Mark Stevens and Mary Murphy rounded out the top five parent donors.

The foundation also received numerous community donations and funds from corporate sponsors, including 3Com, Cisco Systems Inc., McWhorter's Stationers, Microsoft Corporation and Sun Microsystems.

"The SEF plans to recognize all of its generous major donors in the near future," Riordan said.

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For additional information on SEF, contact Kathy Waite at 867-8602 or visit www.saratoga-sef.org.

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