About LSEF

The Lee’s Summit Educational Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising private funds to help support programs within the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District.  The Foundation’s mission is to generate and guide philanthropic resources to promote excellence in education in the Lee’s Summit R-7 Schools.

The Foundation was established in 1993 to encourage private support for the Lee’s Summit R-7 Schools. Recognizing that no major school system can grow and excel without a healthy mixture of public and private funds, a citizen’s group recommended through the district’s 1990-91 strategic planning process that an educational foundation be formed to help address equitable funding issues, leverage limited public funds, maximize taxpayer dollars and create a strong spirit of philanthropy.  The Foundation is a nonprofit 501 (c) (3) and gifts are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.  The Foundation is a legally separate entity from the school district, but works closely with school district leaders to ensure that student’s needs are being met.

What we do

The Lee’s Summit Educational Foundation promotes excellence in education by awarding gifts, grants and scholarships to educational areas within the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District that are effective, essential and in need of additional funding.  We do that by generating and guiding philanthropic resources through personal and corporate contributions, planned giving, and events.

We recognize that a community thrives when its people work together to accomplish great things.  The connection between the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District and the constituents it serves are diverse and unique.  Alumni appreciate the exchange of educational information; the business community sees the value of solid education every business day; and scholarships and other Foundation gifts made by community members show a strong desire to make a difference in the lives of Lee’s Summit students.  As each of these groups of interested people draw closer, they create a stronger future!

The Lee’s Summit Educational Foundation assists each of these constituent groups by:

• Raising gifts of all sizes and distributing funds for school district programs.
• Hosting events to draw donors and donor prospects closer to the school district and the Foundation.
• Managing more than 100 separate funds for the benefit of Lee’s Summit students.
• Offering services to donors and their advisers on planned gifts, trusts and wills.
• Advancing the educational needs of students through annual gift campaigns.
• Connecting alumni and Friends of the Foundation.
• Investing funds through the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation to take advantage of pooled investments and retaining the expertise of their accountants, legal advisers and planned giving specialists in an effort to further assist donors.

Raising Funds

The Foundation raises funds for specific educational priorities and provides services in raising funds, managing assets and administering gift accounts for the benefit of students and staff.  To accomplish these tasks, we provide resources in annual giving, planned giving and foundation and corporate giving.  We work closely with donors to help them achieve their goals of assisting students and staff.  To support students through gifts to the Foundation, please click here.

Distributing Funds

Foundation board members and staff are deeply committed to helping donors meet their goals while assisting the school district in accomplishing its strategic objectives to provide quality educational opportunities for our students. Donors work with Foundation staff to ensure their gifts are utilized in meaningful, clearly-articulated ways. The Foundation provides individualized Gift Agreements for donor endowed funds that clearly articulate the goals and guidelines of each fund.

Investments

Currently, the Foundation manages funds with a total market value of approximately $2.8 million, provides accounting services for more than 115 accounts and on a monthly basis coordinates relationships with hundreds of donors and potential donors. Many of our funds are endowed and 37 of the funds we administer currently provide continuing education scholarships for graduating seniors.