APPLETON EDUCATION FOUNDATION, inc.
ENHANCING EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE SINCE 1997
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History of the Appleton Education Foundation
The first recorded notes about the foundation date back to 1996.
Early leaders began with the belief that the tax dollar alone could
provide an adequate education for students. Reaching educational
excellence in our community would take a public-private partnership.
Members decided to establish an education foundation. It would accept
private contributions and make grants to provide district students and
staff members with creative teaching and learning opportunities that
could not be funded by public resources. It would operate independently
of the school district while maintaining a collaborative relationship.
It would be a supporting organization of the Community Foundation for
the Fox Valley Region. The Appleton Education Foundation was formed.
It entered the public eye in 1997 when retired AASD educator Mary Beth
Nienhaus made a gift of $200,000 to renovate the former Goodland Field
to Niehnaus Field. In a Post-Crescent article at that time, AEF’s board
president, Jeff Riester, said the foundation was embarking on a “grand
adventure” and “what we think will be a great gift to the community”
beginning with Nienhaus Field.
Appleton Area School District students and educators have been the
beneficiaries of the vision, time, skill and financial resources that
came together to form the Appleton Education Foundation. And what a
grand adventure the past years have been.
In the early years, board member contributions financed AEF’s grants
while the members and other volunteers worked to raise an endowment that
could sustain grant making in perpetuity.
At the end of our 2010 fiscal year, the Appleton Education Foundation had
more than 50 endowed and other charitable funds under management to benefit innovative
programs and teaching strategies that fall outside of the core school budget.
More than 1,700 donors have contributed to the AEF. Since 1997, more than
$2 million in grants has been awarded. Grants in the past fiscal year
alone totaled more than $500,000.
It is a privilege for the Appleton Education Foundation to support
district staff members’ creative ideas with grants. Their work helps
inspire excellence in students and sets them on a path to becoming
productive citizens and lifelong learners.
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