Do any of you volunteer with educational foundations in your district? I've been recruited to serve on the board of ours and would love to hear about some of your experiences.

For those of you not familiar with this, it's a 501(c)(3) non-profit set up by the school district for major fundraising on behalf of the district. They go after the big corporate sponsors, initiate programs that impact all schools, and hold major fundraising events like golf tournaments.

Ours is a fledgling group, about a year old. They are in the midst of planning what will be the signature annual party - (Jeans and Jewels), a western themed $40-a-plate dinner with silent and live auction. The foundation held a golf tournament last fall and raised quite a bit of money. $25,000 of that was turned into teacher grants where teachers throughout the district submitted proposals for classroom programs. A subcommittee of the Foundation will review these and the grant winners will be honored at this party.

So far, I'm finding it to be like PTO on steroids. A lot of good hearted people figuring it out as they go. But instead of the principal and teachers and other parents, the members are the School Board President, representatives from local business, some parents, some school staff.

Do any of the rest of you have experience with this? Please share.