Mission & History
Our Mission
The mission of the Falmouth Education Foundation is to enhance educational excellence in the Falmouth Public Schools. Believing that quality public schools are essential to a thriving community, the foundation seeks to develop the charitable support needed to supplement the publicly funded school budget.
“What began as a discussion among a few people many years ago about where Falmouth stood in terms of its academic progress has, through dedication and stewardship, turned into more than a $1,000,000 direct investment in our public schools.”
Associate Justice & Former Falmouth Select Board Chair
Honorable Megan English Braga
Our History
The Foundation grew out of conversations in 2004 among a group of Falmouth residents who believed that strong public schools are essential to a strong community. The founders set out to establish a competitive grants program to ensure that budget constraints would not limit the ability of teachers to imagine and create innovative learning experiences for their students. They envisioned that FEF would supplement, not supplant, the district’s operating budget.
In 2006, the first granting year, FEF made six awards for a total of $15,000. The success of those early projects encouraged the Foundation, Falmouth Public Schools educators, and the community to sustain this important effort; to date FEF has funded close to 700 projects, large and small, for a total exceeding $1,500,000. Requests in 2023-24 were unprecedented: a 30% increase in applications for large Project Grants and an increase of 80% for mini-grants.