JOHNSTOWN —
Richland School District officials didn’t have to look far to lay the groundwork for a tax-exempt alumni foundation.
Just months after district officials mulled the idea at a spring meeting, a group of area residents and business leaders is partnering with the nonprofit Community Foundation for the Alleghenies in an effort to make it happen.
The executive board of the newly formed Richland School District Foundation made a successful pitch to the school board Monday, saying the group will do the grassroots legwork involved in reaching out to district alumni and community members.
Donations will be funneled to the Community Foundation, which collects and manages similar accounts for school endowments across western Pennsylvania.
“It will be our job to engage the Richland community and its alumni,” said Jeanne Feathers, the group’s president.
She said the group is up to the task. A sales director for Johnstown-based Unique Venues, Feathers said she’s one of several on the school foundation’s nine-member board with sales or marketing leadership expertise.
The group certainly sold the school board on the plan Monday. Board members voted unanimously to donate more than $12,000 that had been set aside to hire a special consultant to create a foundation and set up endowments to the group to get started.
That’s no longer necessary, board President Michael Bodolosky said.
He said he expects the investment will pay dividends down the road in the form of district improvements and legacy gifts from former alumni.
The group would be a district partner, identifying ways its fundraising and endowment efforts might improve Richland school projects and programs.
But as a foundation, the alumni group would be totally separate from the school district, operating its own accounts through its own board.
Feathers said the group plans to seek 501(c)(3) status but would rely on the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies’ account expertise to provide day-to-day fund management. For that, the Community Foundation would charge less than 1 percent from funds collected, she added.
The Richland School foundation’s first task will be “introducing ourselves,” Feathers said.
The group will begin collecting class lists and sending out letters to district residents to start that process and outline goals, she said.
The Richland foundation also plans to create an online presence through social networking sites such as Facebook, group members said.
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Richland residents form alumni foundation
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