A New Chapter for RAFT

On Sept 18, 2024, RAFT CEO, Jason Morrella, announced the RAFT Board of Directors has approved $5 million of our reserve fund to be allocated to start an Endowment Fund to ensure RAFT’s mission will continue to serve our community for decades to come!

Sustaining our Mission

Having served the education community of the Bay Area for 30 years, RAFT knows how the needs of educators and students can change. We have seen the shifting priorities in the classroom and how educators and families have to adapt to serve their students. No matter what changes in the education community, the need for quality education and the importance of hands-on learning remain consistent.

While we celebrate RAFT’s 30th Anniversary, we are focusing on providing a permanent, self-sustaining source of funding. An endowment ensures that RAFT can generate revenue in perpetuity and would allow us to guarantee affordable pricing for educators as well as expand our inventory of STEAM materials to adapt to new educational standards and emerging technologies.

This important initiative will allow RAFT to dream of new programs and services to answer the changing needs of our education system as well as provide our innovative services today. RAFT’s endowment ensures we will be there for the educators and students of the future to serve the next generation of innovators, problem solvers, and creators.

Doubling Donor Impact

In addition to providing continuous support for RAFT’s programs and innovations in the future, this fund will also serve as a matching opportunity for our donors to double their impact. Donors will be able to make a gift to the RAFT endowment, either as a general endowment fund donation or a directed donation to support a specific school or district to ensure these educators and their students are supported for years to come.

See how RAFT has supported hands-on learning and empowered educators across the Bay Area by watching our Impact video below.

Matching and Naming Policy for Endowment Fund

RAFT appreciates gifts of any size to its endowment and will offer prospective donors a $1:$1 match for qualifying gifts and a $1:$2 match for qualifying planned gifts to its endowment fund, to create unrestricted funds or named or otherwise designated funds. 

Endowment Matching Criteria

  • The total amount available to be used as matching funds for endowment gifts is $5 million and are available on a first come, first serve basis. 
  • New singular gifts or pledges of $25,000 or more to the endowment are eligible for the matching opportunity. Corporate matching gifts are not eligible for the match.
  • All gifts eligible for the matching funds must be either pledged or given by December 31, 2025.
  • All pledges must be fulfilled no more than three years from the date the pledge is accepted by RAFT. 
  • Matching funds will be added to named funds within ten (10) business days, or as soon as commercially practicable, after donors’ gifts totaling $25,000 or more are received by RAFT. 
  • For planned gifts or bequests, RAFT may recognize qualifying gifts with a $1:$2 match with appropriate documentation of the irrevocable gift and executed agreement form. Planned gift matches are made on a case-by-case basis.
  • RAFT reserves the right to refuse any gift in accordance with its Gift Acceptance Policy.  

Endowment Naming and Designation Criteria

  • Only gifts and RAFT matching funds totaling $50,000 or more are eligible to be named.
  • Named endowment funds within the RAFT Endowment are permanent funds; thus both the donors and RAFT must mutually agree upon the names of each fund.
  • Donors of named endowment funds of $50,000 or more may designate their funds’ income to a certain school, district, demographic group, geographic location, or other uses within RAFT’s annual budget, as long as it is consistent with RAFT’s policy.

 Other Criteria

  • The Director of Development will administer endowed funds at RAFT with oversight from the Executive Director and the RAFT governing board.
  • Donors of named funds may expect annual written reports on the uses of their funds, and whenever possible, donors will be invited to witness how their funds’ income is being applied by RAFT.
  • Donors must contact the Development Director, Kate Ball kball@raft.net before a gift or pledge is honored for the match. 

Join Us in Securing the Future

The RAFT Board of Directors and Leadership team are thrilled to announce this new milestone in RAFT’s history. We appreciate your support over the years, and we look forward to sharing our progress in this new endeavor. If you’d like to learn more about the endowment and ways to support RAFT’s future, call Kate Ball at (408)451-1420; or email development@raft.net.

Together, we can make a meaningful impact!