Rancho Santa Fe School District to hire development director for Rancho Santa Fe Education Foundation

The Rancho Santa Fe School District board is expected to approve the hiring of a new development director for the Rancho Santa Fe Education Foundation at its July 29 meeting. The appointment of Barbara Edwards, a former Foundation co-chair, was on the agenda to be approved at the board’s special meeting on July 15, but the board decided to hold off on the decision until its regular monthly meeting.

In May, the foundation announced a new executive board structure that includes chairs and vice chairs of the following teams: annual giving, finance, leadership, endowment and communication, as well as two at-large members, a secretary, Superintendent Lindy Delaney and a school board representative.

The foundation has also added grade-level ambassadors as part of the annual giving team.

The paid development director position is expected to help the foundation meet the challenges of fundraising on an annual basis. The director will also help with best practices for annual giving, as well as work with the endowment to raise larger sums of money. As the endowment has nearly reached the $5 million target, distribution will begin in the 2015-16 school year. A seven-member board will determine how the money should be distributed, at a conservative rate of 3 percent or $126,659.

There are very few foundations that don’t have a professional director involved.

Having a development director “is an absolute necessity and I think it’s going to be good,” Delaney said.