When a group of people resolve to find a way to improve circumstances for children, the possibilities for change has few limits.

That’s how it’s been for the Northville Education Foundation, which has made possible capital improvements, the purchase of new textbooks, the funding of unique education projects and provided additional support for educators since its inception in 2000.

And according to Jennifer Pearson, the foundation manager, the opportunities for the foundation to impact Northville’s students will likely grow.

"Our mission at the foundation is to support excellence,” she said. “We’re able to provide extras for students that, because of how things are [financially] today, the district would not be able to provide on its own.”

The foundation, which in 2010 received a $1 million anonymous donation followed by another $500,000 anonymous gift in 2011, has reached into nearly all aspects of Northville education – from buying classroom supplies to making sure students have adequate winter clothing to capital improvements. What the foundation does not do is pay employee salaries, Pearson said.

From its Main Street office, the foundation operates courtesy of a skeleton crew to make sure that 94 cents of every dollar donated directly benefits Northville’s students. The foundation is entirely separate from the schools, and is steered by a 13-member Board of Directors.

Extra assistance

School Board President Joan Wadsworth said the foundation has without a doubt been a boon for the schools that came around just in time.

“The foundation has been an asset to us and an asset to our teachers,” she said. “We’re lucky that the foundation was created when it was, before money became so tight for us. And, we’re lucky that those who donated to the foundation believe in the schools.”

Assistance falls into several categories, including instructional support, of buying textbooks, equipment and classroom supplies; innovative grants who fund specific projects teachers are undertaking in the classroom; the Galileo Leadership Consortium, a professional development program for teachers that the foundation partially funds; the International Baccalaureate Program, which would provide the schools with internationally-recognized educational programming; athlete assistance grants that provide monies for students to pay sports fees; and student grants, which address immediate needs of students such as warm clothing or food or fees for field trips.

Innovative grants have been a particularly helpful tool in bringing out-of-the-box opportunities to students, Pearson said.

Recently, innovative grants that have been provided by the foundation have been used to teach students DNA fingerprints using lab system the foundation purchased. Other projects include buying therapeautic listening headphones, weighted vests and body blankets to be used at Old Village School; and oil immersion microscopes for high school students so they can be exposed to technology used in scientific settings. Additionally, the foundation made funds available to provide tutoring to students at Meads Mill and Hillside who need help with homework, but whose parents cannot afford the cost private tutoring.

The foundation has also introduced a comprehensive plan toa dd new turn and perform improvements at 8 Mile Stadium. The project will cost $1.2 million, and so far, a $500,000 anonymous gift, $100,000 from the Friends of Northville Parks and Recreation and the more than $70,000 raised in just one month of the campaign, the foundation is more than half way of meeting its fundraising goals.

Generating dollars

The foundation receives support from other larger foundations, corporate donors, area businesses, alumni and individual donors.

Jim Collogan, the executive director of the National School Foundation Association (NSFA), said foundations help close funding gaps for administrators and students, and that its likely they will proliferate in the current economic climate.

“We really started to see foundations take root in the late 1970s and 80s, after states began limiting direct support of schools through property taxes,” he said. “As this continues, strong K-12 foundations are going to play an increasing role within districts.”

Pearson said Northville Education Foundation is planning new goals and more projects to improve education in the community.

“We’re going to do everything we need to do to invest in our young people,” she said.