What is CEF?
Claremont Educational Foundation is a local non-profit educational foundation devoted to raising money for all Claremont Unified School District (CUSD) schools. CEF collaborates with the school district and the community to assist in providing all students the best education possible. CEF is the district's primary partner in providing support and enrichment opportunities that help every student receive an impactful and achievement-filled education from CUSD. We grant funds to each school throughout the district with a focus on art, music and technology enhancements.
Who manages CEF?
CEF is a non-profit educational foundation with a volunteer board of directors including dedicated parent volunteers, CUSD staff, and local business leaders who share their expertise in a variety of areas. These include education, finance, fundraising, business, law, events planning, community relations and communications. CEF employs two part-time staff members – our Development Manager as well as a part-time administrative assistant. During our SLICE of Summer sessions, we temporarily hire CUSD teachers to conduct SLICE classes as well as a program coordinator. Please feel free to submit inquiries by email to
info@supportcef.com.
Where does the money go?
Monetary gifts made to the Claremont Educational Foundation go directly to enriching and sustaining quality public education for students attending the Claremont Unified School District. CEF provides school site grants that fund art and music instruction in the elementary schools and technology at the secondary schools as well as Teacher Innovation Grants of up to $2,000 for special projects and Community Partnership Grants of up to $2,000 for outside of school enrichment opportunities for Claremont students.
How are CEF's fundraising dollars impacting Claremont students this school year?
Each academic year, CEF provides block grants to fund critical art and/or music instruction at elementary schools, along with technology at the secondary schools. In addition to our primary grants to the district, CEF also funds teacher innovation grants and community partner grants for nonprofits that are delivering exceptional programs and services that benefit CUSD students. In recent years, these grants have amounted to nearly $200,000 each school year.
Why should I contribute to CEF?
Community contributions to CEF are instrumental to preserving an exceptional Claremont Unified School District education. CEF provides flexible funding that school principals can spend at their schools for art and music programs and technology not otherwise provided for by the District's general funding.
Why should I consider giving to both CEF and my school's PFA?
CEF and PFA are both crucial parts of the funding mix that the district must assemble every year to keep CUSD schools strong. CEF is committed to an equitable distribution of funds across CUSD per school level, so that all students benefit. CEF supports program focused on art and music at the elementary level that would otherwise not be available without the additional funding. In addition, CEF gifts hardware and software to individual school sites offering additional support for the district’s Common Core commitment.
The PFA supports materials, programs and events at individual school sites. PFA funds such things as classroom enrichment and supplies, school site improvements, playground equipment, student scholarships for field trips, and site-specific programs such as assemblies and parent-run community-building activities.
How will my contribution help my child?
Since CEF provides an equitable disbursement of funds across district schools per level (elementary, middle and high school), all students benefit. CEF supplements each school’s district funding for key enrichment programs and technology needed to accommodate new Common Core curricular requirements.
Does CEF accept large gifts and endowments?
Yes! CEF welcomes large gifts and endowments, as both unrestricted funds and donor-restricted funds, to fund one-time projects as well as part of our long-term portfolio.
Click here to download a PDF of our Investment Policy Statement.
How can local businesses support CEF?
The local business community is instrumental to CEF’s successful annual gifting. Annually, dozens of businesses and professionals contribute over $100,000 in gifts and in-kind donations. If you are interested in learning more about the Business Partner program, please contact us at
info@supportcef.comWhat are CEF Teacher Innovation Grants?
Each school year, CEF solicits applications from CUSD educators for the Innovation Grant program, which supports unique projects that engage students in high-impact learning opportunities. The focus of the grants is innovation, offering teachers and principals the opportunity and incentive to experiment with promising new ideas. The grant proposals ideally align with CEF’s areas of focus – art, music and technology.
How is CEF connected to the SLICE of Summer program?
SLICE of Summer is an independent program operated by CEF. All coordination and administration of the SLICE program is under direct supervision of the CEF board. The SLICE of Summer program addresses a need in Claremont by providing courses specifically designed to support enrichment opportunities and advancement for students as well as summer employment opportunities for CUSD staff members. Whenever possible, scholarships are made possible through financial support from community members and business partners.
Why does CEF only offer scholarships for the SLICE of Summer Enrichment program?
Each summer, CEF offers a few different programs through SLICE of Summer. The Enrichment program is operated solely by CEF, which allows us to independently seek out sponsors to underwrite opportunities for limited need-based scholarships. Our other programs, including SLICE of Credit and SLICE of STEM, are offered in collaboration with other parties and have shared revenue models as well as involving other contractual or legal restrictions that limit our ability to offer scholarships for these programs.
Why can't I purchase tickets online for one of your fundraising raffles?
In California, charities and certain other private nonprofit organizations may conduct raffles to raise funds for beneficial or charitable purposes in the state. This exception to the general constitutional prohibition against lotteries requires that at least 90 percent of the gross receipts from these raffles go directly to beneficial or charitable purposes in California. Penal Code section 320.5 governs which organizations qualify and how the raffles must be conducted. Raffle participants and winners must be age 18+ and legal U.S. residents so tickets must be sold in person to verify that status.
For more information, visit https://oag.ca.gov/charities/raffles
Does CEF offer in-kind donations to other organizations?
Claremont Educational Foundation offers limited in-kind donations to Claremont public schools each school year for use in fundraising events. Each fall, starting September 15th, 12 general admission tickets for our in-person events will be reserved to be used only as items in a silent auction or raffle (with state-issued raffle permit) that takes place during that school year. In-kind donations may not be used as giveaways, gifts, door prizes, or drawings or raffles without a buy-in. Ticket requests are first-come first-served and are limited to a maximum of two tickets per school site each school year. The final day to request in-kind donations will be when all tickets have been donated or no sooner than 30 days prior to the final event to which tickets will be available. We are not able to provide in-kind donation requests from schools and school booster groups outside of CUSD, gift certificates for our SLICE of Summer programs, or cash sponsorships. In-kind donation requests from other Claremont community organizations will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Email
info@supportcef.com with formal requests. Please include which school and fundraising group; name, date, and location of event; and how the donation will be used.
How does CEF use email addresses, phone numbers, and other personal data it collects?
At CEF, we do not sell your data or share it with third parties (including our business partners and Claremont Unified School District). Phone numbers, mailing addresses, and email addresses are used solely for the purposes of sending information about CEF programs and events (including those in partnership with other organizations, businesses, and CUSD), soliciting donations during fundraising campaigns, and during the course of reaching out to potential business partners. Please contact us if you have any questions.
What is CEF's public communications policy?
All opinions held by Claremont Educational Foundation will be expressed on official channels: CEF’s website, email, or social media accounts. Any opinions expressed by employees, board members, business partners, and sponsors outside of these channels are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of CEF.
Does CEF have a DEI (Diversity, Equitability, and Inclusion) policy?
Yes! During CEF's 2021 annual retreat, board members underwent DEI training in order to craft a thoughtful and meaningful DEI policy that focuses on board membership, fundraising, giving, and programming. We consider the policy to be a living document and recognize that our goals will continue to evolve as we seek to uphold the highest standard of diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Read the policy
