10 Minutes With Lyn McNaught

The Falmouth Education Foundation is an Independent Charitable Organization (501c3) established in 2005 for the sole purpose of awarding grants to teachers in the Falmouth Public School System who further the education, both academically and socially, of the children in its community. The goal is to provide innovative programs that are not within the schools’ budget. All grant money awarded is due to the extraordinary fundraising efforts of the Foundation. 

Lyn McNaught of the Falmouth Education Foundation sat down with Patch to discuss its work, its operations and its upcoming Gala on February 26th.

Q:  How long have you been with the Foundation, why did you get involved and what are your personal goals? 

A:  The Foundation is six years old and I came on four years ago. The reason I got involved was because my background is all about children. I was a teacher, then I ran a non-profit agency for inner city kids for 26 years. I took it national, and now it’s all over the country.  My background is in education and raising money, because you have to raise money to finance non-profit programs. When I retired I was thinking that I had to do something. I really don’t like to go on boards unless I can see something specific that I could do for the organization.  I thought that I could organize the fundraising; I could put a system in place. It's been very gratifying to do that and I like doing it. I love kids and education — there's nothing better we can do for our children. My personal goal was to be a part of the Board and to get the foundation on a sound footing financially, with a system to raise money.

Q:  How many grants have been funded since inception, what types of grants are you working on currently and how many requests do you get on average per year? 

A:  The Foundation is quite young; this is our sixth year awarding grants. We have funded 69 total grant requests since inception, giving out approximately $190,000. Last year we gave out $63,000; $43,000 went to school programs and $20,000 was a new departure for us; it went to helping the fourth grade Music Program and part of the after-school program at Morse Pond that were both going to be cut. We felt that it was very important to help out. Our real mission is new and innovative projects. We’ve tried with the grants to cover all schools, all ages, from the little guys right up through high school. We fund all disciplines, sometimes reading and writing; sometimes math and technology and science; we try to share it around. These are projects that the school system would like to have in place but at the present time don’t have the funds for. Projects need to be curriculum-related.  On average, each year we get about 25 grant requests.  Now 80 percent of what’s requested is being funded.

Q:  Are the grants used only for schools within the Falmouth Public School System?

A:  Yes, just the public schools. We want to do the best for the students. We know up front that these are projects the school system likes because the teacher writes the grant and the administrator signs off on the grant request. The decision to fund a particular project is then made totally independently by the Foundation Board.   Every school has been touched by this, some more than others because their teachers write more grants.  Everybody has an opportunity to ask and basically what it takes is having a good project and going through the process of filling out the grant application. 

Q:  The Gala is the big fundraising event for the year, are there other fundraising campaigns as well? 

A:  We have an Annual Giving campaign in the fall and the Gala Event at the end of February. Those are the two major ways we raise money. Annual giving is a letter that goes out to those in the community who have expressed interest or been involved with us. The letter asks them to support the foundation. The only event we have is the Gala.  By the time the Gala is over, we will know how much money we have raised for the year that we can give out in grants. We will award the grants in the spring and those grants will start in place in the fall. It’s a yearly cycle.

Q:  Where and when is the Gala?  How much per ticket and how does one get more information?

A:  This is our fourth Gala. It’s at the  on Saturday, February 26. It starts at 6:00. It’s a great evening and what’s wonderful is that the ticket price is very low so everybody can come. It is $65 per person with a cash bar.  Every year we fill the room, we want people to come, enjoy and benefit the schools. The best way to get tickets is to call me (Lyn McNaught) at (508) 540-3985.  Tickets are held at the door.  This year we are honoring Margaret Hough Russell, who’s done a tremendous amount not only for the Foundation but the whole community.  She was a key player from the beginning of the Foundation.

Q:  There will be auctions at the Gala, what kinds of items will be auctioned off and were they donated? 

A:  We will have a silent auction before dinner. Afterwards, we will have a terrific live auction with six items, from a cottage in Nantucket to a wonderful package with the Cape Cod Symphony, which includes a gourmet dinner for six with George Sharr and tickets to a performance with personal introduction by Conductor Maestro Jung-Ho Pak. There is tons of stuff for the silent auction, there is something for everybody. All auction items were donated from businesses in the area.

Q:  Is there anything else that you would like to share with Patch?

A: We would love to have people get involved in the Foundation.  There are lots of ways to do that.  You can serve on a committee, on the board, you can work on the Gala, there’s lots of different ways to be involved. We really want to build the young people’s participation in the Foundation because they are the people with the children in the schools and their education is important to them. You can contact me if you would like to become involved in some way.

For more information please visit www.falmoutheducationfnd.org