WHO WE ARE
The mission of the Suffolk Education Foundation is to support Suffolk Public Schools by connecting the community’s talents and resources to expand educational opportunities for students and staff.
With the commitment of the community, our public school students will develop their full potential, ensuring that Suffolk will continue to thrive and prosper. A community’s quality of life is directly tied to its education system as it prepares tomorrow’s citizen leaders and professionals.
The SEF was founded in 1993 as a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Since our beginning, the board has been actively developing a variety of fund-raisers to increase donations. Our hard work ensures that students and staff have the ability to receive college scholarships and instructional grants each year, in addition to reaping the benefits of special projects in STEM education, staff development, and more.
OUR POSITIVE IMPACT
Over the last 30 years, SEF investment assets have grown and all money raised is appropriated to the students and staff of Suffolk Public Schools.
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Scholarships: The Foundation has provided annual college scholarships and tuition assistance to help students continue their studies after high school. The Foundation typically awards $20K+ in scholarships to each graduating class.
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Instructional Grants: The Foundation has awarded more than $350,000 in grants for classroom projects, impacting close to 2,500 students. Examples are ukuleles in elementary music classrooms, a Makerspace lab in a middle school, and designing prosthetics in the high school biomedical sciences program.
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Teacher Supply Store: Suffolk Public Schools and the Education Foundation are partners to provide teacher supply store. Once a month, teachers get to go to the store and get free supplies that supplement and help their students.
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STEM + Fine Arts: The Foundation has provided close to $50,000 toward expansion of Science, Math, Engineering & Technology (or STEM) programs, including support for the Biomedical Sciences program. In addition, the annual Gala highlights the talents of student artists and musicians, and all proceeds are returned to the music and art programs.
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Sponsorships: The Suffolk Education Foundation has also helped fund the following Suffolk Public Schools annual events: College & Career Readiness Fair, Teacher of the Year and Superintendent’s Star Award programs, and the highly successful elementary summer program (LEAP) and expanded middle school summer program (LAUNCH). Last spring, the SEF helped to fund the Sea, Air & Land (SeAL) student engineering challenge.
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Expenses: All money raised is appropriated to the students and staff of Suffolk Public Schools. For every dollar raised, the Foundation returns 94 cents to the schools.
ENDOWMENTS
The Suffolk Education Foundation currently has seven scholarship endowments. The board of directors is proud to manage these assets in a prudent manner so the endowment funds will be available for years to come. The Foundation welcomes your interest in setting up a perpetual gift to benefit Suffolk Public Schools.
DONATIONS
Your direct financial donation enables us to channel resources where they are most needed. Unfortunately, a lack of funding sometimes excludes Suffolk students and staff from taking advantage of many learning opportunities. SEF is a source for Suffolk Public Schools when budgets are constrained, but opportunities for enrichment abound. DONATE NOW
MEMORIAL & HONORARY DONATIONS
As a charitable organization, the Foundation is able to accept memorial and honorary donations and can provide a receipt to be used for tax-exempt purposes. SEF will work closely with you to ensure that your gift is used to honor your loved one. Please CONTACT us or click on the Donate button.
GET INVOLVED: VOLUNTEER
SEF can always use a helping hand with fundraisers and other events. Dedicated volunteers ensure we can continue to support thousands of students and teachers well into the future. Please help us out regularly at our teacher store.