PLATINUM2024

STAMFORD PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC

Educating and Empowering Stamford's Next Generation

aka SPEF   |   Stamford, CT   |  www.spefct.org

Mission

Mission: Founded in 1996, the mission of the Stamford Public Education Foundation (SPEF) is to elevate student success by delivering educational programs and solutions that promote equitable access to quality public education in Stamford. Vision: We envision a community in which every student is prepared and inspired to thrive.

Ruling year info

1997

CEO

Ms. Lindsay Wyman

Main address

177 Broad Street, 3rd floor

Stamford, CT 06901 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

06-1462359

NTEE code info

Primary/Elementary Schools (B24)

Secondary/High School (B25)

Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution (B12)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2022, 2021 and 2020.
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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Stamford Public School has over 16,000 students. Of these, 59% qualify for free/reduced price lunch (poverty indicator). Further, 66% of students are minority and 71 different languages are spoken at home. Working together with community volunteers and the district, SPEF's mentoring, tutoring, family engagement, and kindergarten readiness programs serve over 1700 students to be better prepared for post-secondary success.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

College and Career Readiness Programs

(1) Stamford Mentoring Program: Serving 540 students in grades 3 through 8

Middle School Mentoring: 140 students will receive holistic support, including mentoring and connections to academic tutoring, enrichment activities, social-emotional resources, and family resources.

Service-Learning Mentoring for Elementary School Students: 400 students will receive 10 sessions of mentoring, culminating in a community project.

(2) Math Tutoring: Providing over 16,000 hours of professional math tutoring.

(3) Scholarships: Administering three different scholarships; distributing $6,000 to low-income, college bound students each year.



Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Students

(1) Books Across Stamford: Distributing over 5,000 new books each year throughout Stamford.

(2) Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI): Providing in-depth training to promote strong leadership and advocacy skills; engaged 50 parents and 25 children.

(3) Here-to-Help Network: The Here-to-Help network connects over 500 Stamford students and families to school- and community-based resources and information, such as: childcare support, housing assistance, tutoring, technology assistance, groceries & nutrition, and more.

Population(s) Served
Families
Children and youth

(1) Summer Start Program: Providing entering kindergarten students who have not had a formal preschool experience with a six -week, half-day early education program. The program focuses on developing the literacy and mathematics skills aligned to the Connecticut Core State Standards.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth

Where we work

Affiliations & memberships

2017 Stamford NAACP Darwin Davis Corporate Award 2017

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of students served through SPEF's Stamford Mentoring Program

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Children and youth

Related Program

College and Career Readiness Programs

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

We have restarted our Service Learning Mentoring Program in the elementary schools!

Number of new books given away each year to help build home libraries for pre-K children through 5th grade students.

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Children and youth

Related Program

Family Engagement Programs

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

SPEF received $250,000 in federal funding, amounting to 36,000 books for 12,000 students, and digital resources for 7,700 students. We have already distributed 6,000 of these books at our BAS event.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Founded in 1996, the mission of the Stamford Public Education Foundation (SPEF) is to elevate student success by delivering educational programs and solutions that promote equitable access to quality public education in Stamford. We envision a community in which every student is prepared and inspired to thrive.

As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, SPEF is led by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of local residents, professionals, and community members who share the SPEF’s core values:

• We believe all students have the right to benefit equally from a quality public education.
• We believe SPEF has a responsibility to eliminate barriers that hinder students’ success.
• We believe SPEF has strategic relationships and unique insight to support students in their pursuit of happiness.

SPEF provides direct service programming to more than 1700 students, spread throughout all of the 21 of Stamford’s public schools. We work closely with Stamford parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and school administrators in facilitating our programs. We also work closely with other education-related agencies/programs in CT to share best practices.

- Continue to measure outcomes of all SPEF programs and use the data to improve and expand reach throughout Stamford

- Work with Board Committee in key areas: Finance, Development, Human Resources, Marketing and Programs

- Operationalize the Strategic plan

Founded in 1996, SPEF has built a strong reputation for delivering programs and resources that connect college, corporate and community volunteers with Stamford Public School students.

SPEF’s Stamford Mentoring Program was launched in 2010, with 46 students from Dolan Middle School. Today, SPEF’s breadth of programs has grown to include:
- College and Career Readiness: Mentoring and Tutoring
- Family Engagement: Books Across Stamford, Parent Leadership Training & Here-to-Help Network
- Kindergarten Readiness: Summer Start

• SPEF provides direct service programming to all 21 of Stamford’s public schools

Highlights of the 2021-22 school year included:
- Over 100 volunteers partnered with SPEF staff to support our mission
- Math tutoring was delivered to 141 ninth grade Stamford High and West Hill students
- TutorU program provided tutoring to 95 middle and high school students
- 162 early learners attended Summer Start 2021 to learn kindergarten routines
- Distributed 5,000+ new books (Books Across Stamford)
- Graduated a diverse group of 25 parent leaders from the Parent Leadership Training Institute
- Provided outreach and connections to critical community and school based resources to over 500 students and families through the Here-to-Help Network

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • 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

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, 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

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, It is difficult to identify actionable feedback

Financials

STAMFORD PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build 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.

STAMFORD PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC

Board of directors
as of 02/29/2024
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board co-chair

Michael Zanga

Barclays


Board co-chair

Susan Briggs Bloss

Tudor Investment Corporation

John Martin

Verizon

Peggy Erlenkotter

Community Volunteer

Bryan Bishop

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Barbara Aronica-Buck

The Ferguson Library

Heloise Nana

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Janice Schaefer

North Star Wealth Investors

Jaclyn Leung

Thermo Fisher

Ruth Hubbard

Google

Susan Briggs Bloss

Tudor Investment Corporation

Michael Zanga

Barclays

Kiran Anand

Julienne Foy

The Waterside School

Rowland Hanley

Gartner

Katherine Molina - Powell

Acelero, Inc.

Sandi O'Keefe

State Street

Natalee Pei

Shiv Kumar

Joe Zale

Deloitte

Aruna Hobbs

Mass Mutual

Christopher Geotes

Martin LLP

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • 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? No

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 8/30/2022
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

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
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

Transgender Identity

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 09/08/2023

GuideStar 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

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • 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 disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • 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.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • 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 measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
  • 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.