Scholarships for students and some other grant awards at Shelton High School will now be managed by the Valley Community Foundation, officials announced Wednesday.
“Instead of sitting in a savings account, our funds will now be professionally managed,” Beth Smith, the headmaster at Shelton High School, said in a prepared statement.
The Valley Community Foundation, based in Derby, launched in 2004. The organization has more than 120 charitable funds which have been established by people, families, nonprofits and for-profit businesses in the Valley.
The VCF started with assets of $133,268 in 2004. As of today the foundation manages just shy of $18 million.
In 2013, the VCF awarded $1.3 million in grants to a variety of non-profit organizations in the Valley (those communities are Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour and Shelton).
Teaming With Shelton High School
The new partnership between the VCF and Shelton High School is meant to provide a sustainable scholarship system for students pursuing higher education.
In all, the VCF is taking over the management of about $428,000 from 64 funds.
The idea is that the VCF will be able to grow these funds to benefit scholarship recipients.
By having the foundation manage the money, the scholarships will be able to benefit from new revenue streams for the funds. Instead of just cash and checks, VCF employees will be able to work with donors who want to donate estate gifts of securities, real estate or insurance policies.
“It is my firm belief that this move will achieve my goal of sustainability for our awards programs, which will continue to benefit the students of Shelton High School,” Smith said.
The school is not giving up control over the criteria needed to win a scholarship or the selection process.
“The Shelton High School staff will continue to coordinate the selection committees and recipient notification,” Smith said.
The partnership has the support of the Shelton Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools Freeman Burr.
In addition to scholarships, VCF will be able to grow some other existing grant-type programs within the high school. In the prepared statement, Burr envisioned three other “pillars of investment” available to donors going forward — money that will fund teacher creativity, innovation and resources; early childhood, and; quality time (such as
before and after school programs, and summer programs.
The funds within the VCF are invested and managed by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, where there is a six-person investment committee. Three of the six members of the investment committee are independent investment experts.
In addition, there is an investment advisory group, which includes representatives from banks and Colonial Consulting, LLC, a New York-based firm that provides evaluation and investment advisory services to more than 70 foundations and endowments in the U.S.
The 2013 Valley Community Foundation Annual Report showed the organization had a 17.5 percent return on investment against a benchmark of 14.4 percent.
Since 2004, the endowment has had an annualized return of 7.6 percent, versus the benchmark of 5.6 percent.
“We are honored to partner with Shelton High School to ensure the scholarship and award funds remain a viable philanthropic vehicle benefiting Shelton students for years to come and to expand the opportunities to grow the pool,” said Sharon Closius, Valley Community Foundation President and CEO, in a prepared statement.
