About Us

Board of Directors
The LCFEF is run by volunteers in the community. School parents and community members like yourself who commit their time and resources to ensuring the quality of our District. To see a list of our Board of Directors, click here.

What we do
The LCFEF raises money throughout the school year and provides a gift to the District at the start of the following school year in the amount of all net funds raised by the Annual Fund. Funds are raised through direct donations and special events with the main event being the Spring Gala. Gala is held in February or March each year and is attended by over 700 guests. The Foundation also hosts a Jog-A-Thon at the elementary schools and junior high in the fall as well as a Golf Tournament in December and our Club 365 Campaign in May. For more information on our events, click here. The Annual Fund also receives a generous gift each year from the Endowment Fund, described below.

Endowment Fund
In addition to the Annual Fund, the Foundation also operates the Endowment Fund, which subject to certain restrictions, contributes 5% of its net assets each year to the Foundation’s annual campaign. In 2007, the Endowment gave over $100,000 to the Annual Fund. Net assets for the Endowment Fund were over $3 Million as of June 30, 2008. The Endowment Fund has established its Millennium Campaign to drive the fund to $10 Million in assets. To learn more about the Endowment Fund, click here.

Why we need the Money – About School Funding
Many people believe that with La Canada’s high property values and the amount of taxes paid by our residents that our schools should be flush with money. In fact, the opposite is true. Not only do our taxes not fund our schools directly, our District receives less per student from the state than almost all other Districts! To understand why this is the case, you need to have some understanding of the process by which schools are funded in California.  To read a more complete version of this primer on school funding, click here.

How LCFEF differs from other organizations
La Canada schools have a number of fund raising organizations, and it can be confusing for parents to determine how to allocate their funds. And as your child gets older and focuses on specific activities, there is a natural focus on supporting those activities. But the programs that the Foundation funds support ALL students in the District, and it is important that everyone help share the burden. Further, the Foundation is the only fund raising organization that can fund salaries for the District. We pay for the teachers we depend on.

The following chart explains some of the differences in funding among the various organizations in the District.