Letter from the CEO

Welcome to the Carlsbad Educational Foundation! We appreciate your interest in our organization. While this site contains a lot of information about CEF, our programs and grants, by reading between the lines we also wanted to provide a sense of what makes our organization truly special.

CEF is much more than a typical education foundation. With 27 years of accomplishments and a record of fiscal stability, CEF reaches wide and deep into our community to help strengthen public education as no other organization in Carlsbad does. CEF is both unique and a leader among California’s education foundations. We have distinguished ourselves among our peers and in the Carlsbad community by:

• Developing a close and productive relationship with CUSD administrators, teachers, parents and students;
• Partnering with Carlsbad’s largest employers as well as high-profile civic leaders and business organizations;
• Demonstrating strategic vision and a willingness to support big needs as well as new, innovative ideas; and
• Generating resources not solely through fund-raising, but also through professionally run and fiscally solid earned income ventures.

As CEF completes the work of its strategic plan through 2010, we are embarking on the next three-year plan to help deliver clarity and direction to our efforts through 2013. Fundraising and grant making for core programs in music, science and innovation will continue to drive our work. We will also add new business ventures aimed at expanding the resources we are able to invest back into local education.

Now more than ever, our schools and students need the precious resources earned, raised and granted by CEF. We hope you will join with us—as a donor, as a volunteer, as an advocate—as we work to ensure that our students receive what they need to succeed.

Sincerely,
Valin Brown
Chief Executive Officer