Belton Educational Foundation
Believing every day in the future
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The Belton Educational Foundation works to provide support to the Belton School District in meeting the needs of our students, teachers, and families in our community. Public school funding is limited in Missouri and Belton, Missouri is a rural/suburban community with demographics more similar to our urban neighbors. With programs to meet basic needs, such as nutrition assistance and mental health services. along side our student scholarship and teacher and building grant programs, we also encourage students and teachers to strive to excel and be innovative. We work to involve our businesses, community and Belton High School alumni in supporting our schools. Working together with our community and donors, the Belton Educational Foundation is bridging the gap that public school funding leaves between public education and excellence.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Teacher & Building Grants for Innovation
Teacher/School Grants (in the following areas):
Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, Communication Arts, Special Initiatives
Teacher Enrichment
New Teacher Support
Excellence in Teaching Award
Nutritional Assistance and Meeting Basic Needs
With 56 percent of the students in the Belton School District receiving free and reduced lunch, having access to nutrition can be a struggle for some of our children. As a result, the District has partnered with Harvesters to provide the BackSnack program to 250 of our students in preschool through sixth grade each week. The program provides nutritional kid-friendly food to students over the weekend. In addition, the Foundation has established four Pirate Pantries. Our Pirate Pantries can be found at Mill Creek Upper Elementary School, Belton Middle School, Belton High School, and our Foundation Office, serving students at the Scott Educational Building. This program serves approximately 175 students each week.
Mental Health Programs
The Foundation secures around $200,000 in funding from the Health Forward Foundation, and the Belton School District, through a partnership with Compass Health Network provides licensed, school-based therapists who provide mental and behavioral health services for students and their families during school hours in our school buildings at no cost to families. This ACCESS program is seen as a model for school-based therapy. in the area. As a result of this program teachers, counselors, students, and families in the district are supported and BSD has expressed a decrease in negative behaviors that disturb the learning environment and cause trauma to other students. We also support the You Matter Belton program, adults teaming together to show ALL students preK through 12 that they matter.
Scholarships and Educational Enrichment
The Belton Educational Foundation provides scholarships to students attending college or trade school each year. A number of our scholarships are supported by our annual fundraising, while others are named, endowed, and/or memorial scholarship programs.
We also offer scholarships for high school students who have been selected to participate in special leadership opportunities.
In 2020 we announced plans for our financial assistance program for students taking classes for college credit at Belton High School and need assistance with the college tuition associated with those courses in order to earn college credit while in high school. BEF has supported students through this program for four years, expanding resources for earning college credit for Belton High School students. The program grows each year, as more students feel capable of earning college credit while in high school. This program has also increased first generation college students coming from Belton High School!
Where we work
Awards
Award of Excellence 2021
Belton Chamber of Commerce
Affiliations & memberships
National School Foundation Association - Member
Chamber of Commerce
External reviews
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Total number of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Teacher & Building Grants for Innovation
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
In addition to our regular grants for innovation, we offered specific CoVID grants to support teachers through changes that they had to make due to the pandemic.
Number of people within the organization's service area accessing food aid
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Age groups
Related Program
Nutritional Assistance and Meeting Basic Needs
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Students served by our PIrate Pantries, BackSnack and basic needs assistance programs. We are offering more support to children, including new shoes, coats, lice treatments, clothing, and socks.
Number of organizational partners
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Other - describing something else
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our Pirate Foundation Sponsors are our business partners who support us year-round. We hoope to grow this program building community support for our programs.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Belton Educational Foundation helps the teachers of the Belton School District make an impact on students every day. You will find pieces of technology, books, hands-on materials, and many additional programs funded through the Foundation in every building, preschool through high school, across the district. As a result of the generosity of donors, our students have services to meet their basic needs, frequent innovative learning experiences, and more opportunities for a successful future. The Foundation plays a key role in connecting our community and our past with our future. The Foundation offers community members, businesses and alumni the opportunity to have a positive deliberate impact on the current generation of Belton students. Yearly, the Belton Educational Foundation awards over $50,000 in grants to schools within the Belton School District an over $30,000 in Scholarships and Educational Enrichment We secure roughly $200,000 in grant funds for our mental health, school-based therapy program, and we receive great community support for our nutrition and basic needs programs that provide weekend meals for students with food insecurities, coats, shoes, socks, clothing, hygiene items, emergency food for families, and more.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The Belton Educational Foundation is a well-established educational foundation supporting the teachers and students in the Belton School District. We hold an annual Gala fundraising event in August. We seek support from businesses and individuals in the Belton community and surrounding communities. We work to keep Belton Pirate Alumni connected to the schools district through our All Class Reunion and Homecoming Tailgate Party. Our Board of Trustees includes volunteers who are Belton Alumni and business and community leaders. We seek funds through grant writing. We also collect food and clothing donations to support our Pirate Pantry programs. We are fiscally responsible and use funds raised and donations for initiatives which support basic needs and enriching educational opportunities for the students and teachers in the Belton School District.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
With two paid staff members and an amazing team of volunteers, we work hard to grow our programs. We have positive partnerships with businesses in our community who make monetary donations and support our fundraising events. We are supported by over one-third of our Belton School District staff who participate in our Employee Giving/Payroll Deduction program. We continue to grow our group of dedicated donors through community connections, events, and building relationships and telling our stories of our positive impact on children in Belton.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We continue to create awareness surrounding the Foundation's mission, we want everyone in Belton to know about the Belton Educational Foundation and what we are doing for children and our schools. We are growing in our giving and support, we are being more present and involved in community events, and we are proud to share our accomplishments. We have been providing support to Belton Schools since 2002 and given over $800,000 in grants to teachers and schools, almost $300,000 in student scholarships, secured over $2,000,000 in grants for Mental Health programs and provided nutrition assistance to families in need for over 12 years.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Belton Educational Foundation
Board of directorsas of 01/20/2024
Mrs. Karen Fletcher
Community Volunteer
Term: 2020 - 2022
Mr. Joel Houser
Community Volunteer
Term: 2021 - 2024
Nick Boeth
Nexus Management
Charlotte Bradley
Kathy Morton
Andrew Underwood
Belton School District
Bob Poisal
Belton School District
Kathy Muder
Joye Conklin
RG Federal Credit Union
Karen Fletcher
Stephanie Davidson
Vickie Peters
Tom O'Connor
SNP Realty
Michelle Wilson
Marsha Vest
R.J. Warren
The Payroll Company
Fred Yonker
Edward Jones
Joel Houser
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 05/31/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.