The meeting will be held on Oct. 13 from 9 a.m.? 4 p.m. at the Des Moines Airport Holiday Inn. Those interested in attending can register by visiting http://www.foundationsk12.coe.uni.edu/conf/issues_conf.html or by calling Dr. David Else at 319-273-3358. "School Foundations are helping many Iowa communities provide funding to enhance educational opportunities for their students. The foundations are able to use their funding in a variety of ways that boost a student's education," Grassley said. "Schools are increasingly looking at new and different ways to assist in the growing demands of education. This conference is a great opportunity for schools to strengthen existing foundations or for schools to establish new foundations."
Grassley said that schools that want to raise private funds for education should try to attend this one-day conference. Topics to be discussed at the conference are: forming a school foundation; legal issues involved in starting and sustaining a school foundation, organizing and managing a school foundation, fundraising strategies for a school foundation, and building relationships with other organizations.
The conference is being sponsored by the National Center for Public and Private School Foundations (NCPPSF). Grassley helped secure federal funding to establish the NCPPSF and is housed at the University of Northern Iowa. The Center runs an internet site that serves as a resource and contact point for those involved with foundations to share information and ideas.