The Mission, Scope, and Goals of the Helena Education Foundation

About Us

The Helena Education Foundation is in its sixth year of enhancing the experiences of public education students and teachers in Montana's capital city.  HEF sponsors a wide array of events annually: Issues Institutes for students, teachers and community, a scholar-in-residence program, Great Ideas grants, the Celebration of Excellence for graduating seniors, Trading Places opportunities for administrators and business- leaders, Great Conversations, Fabulous Firsts  district-wide reading celebration for 1st graders, and the community celebration Carnival Classic.

Key to HEF's innovation and to its immediate success was its message that excellent public schools forge healthy communities and that creating this vehicle allowed the entire community to invest time, assets and enthusiasm in the cause—“Great schools are everyone’s business!”

Our Mission

THE MISSION of the Helena Education Foundation is to enrich education in the Helena Public Schools through consistent community investment of time, talent, funding and other resources, providing students, staff and the community with unparalleled educational opportunities and experiences.

The Foundation will achieve its mission by directing resources toward the following goals:

• Promoting and celebrating student educational success;
• Recognizing staff for creative and innovative teaching;
• Increasing the visibility and value of public education;
• Promoting understanding that the entire community is responsible for creating, maintaining and participating in quality public education;
• Recruiting and supporting a dynamic, volunteer Board of Directors that represents Helena;
• Encouraging lifelong learning by providing unique educational opportunities for students, staff and the community; and
• Building awareness of the Helena Education Foundation.

The Helena Education Foundation:

• Is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt philanthropic organization of local citizens, independent of the Helena Public School District but complementing and collaborating with it;
• Works to increase private support for public education beyond that which is constitutionally mandated; and
• Benefits Helena Public School students and staff by serving as a catalyst and fund source for new ideas, programs and education methods