Meet Mary Favaro: Leading the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation into the next decade

Mary Favaro took the reins as executive director of the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation in March, replacing former director Deb Garber, who stepped down late last year after two years in the role.

Favaro’s experience includes working as a senior advisor to business executives and extensive experience as a nonprofit fundraiser. She holds an MBA from Stanford University as well as a master’s degree in teaching and an elementary school teaching credential. She and her husband Paul have lived in Sonoma for more than a decade and have four grown children.

We sat down with Favaro this week to hear about her first five months on the job and the preparations for SVEF’s big Red and White Ball fundraiser on Aug. 24.

How’s the job going so far?

It’s been a combination of trying to understand everything that the Education Foundation does, building relationships with the district and with our donors and, of course, planning for the Red and White Ball. We’ve also been doing deep dives into the school programs that we invest in, making sure that they’re having an impact and analyzing the district’s priorities and how best to invest in them.

What in your background has prepared you for this role?

My strength is the combination of my background in business strategy and my experience as a teacher. I have a Master’s degree in both business and education and worked in both fields. I always had this idea that somehow I wanted to combine the two interests but I didn’t know exactly what that was going to look like.

How has your working relationship with the district been so far?

It’s a big learning curve for both of us, but it’s been great. There are a lot of new faces both in the district and in our office so it’s actually been a good opportunity because nobody’s coming in with baggage and everybody feels free to question everything. Nobody’s defensive. We can look at how things have evolved and admit that something doesn’t make sense anymore and agree to do to different way. It’s all opportunities.

Any surprises so far?

I always understood the Ed Foundation’s mission and how it operated. [My husband] Paul and I have been donors for years, but I just didn’t understand how extensively it is ingrained in the community. Just how broad and deep its community relationships are. That was a good surprise!

How is Sonoma’s Ed Foundation different than other towns?

We have a very robust foundation for a community our size. Our model is trying to fund bigger, high-impact programs that can move the needle, with student performance and outcomes so that are measurable and substantial enough to see a difference. In many other towns, there is more emphasis on funding lots of smaller programs.

How are you liking the location of your office – across the parking lot from the district offices?

It’s fantastic, both because the space is an in-kind donation from the district and because the location gives us great access to the district staff.

Tell us about your team.

Program/grant director Angela Ryan, accounting manager Cindy Kenton and I are full-time staff. Dyan James is our office manager, Caroline Brown is our Red and White Ball coordinator and Laura Stanfield does our business partner outreach.

What are your priorities going forward?

We’re always trying to professionalize and build capabilities in our own organization and professionalize and improve how we interact with the district and with the community. We’re trying to always improve our process of reporting back to donors and to the community. I’m always asking myself: How do we add the most value? We’ll be doing a review of how we operate to keep asking that question. How we add value to the student experience in the district.

What is the Ed Foundation funding in Sonoma schools this year?

We fund more than a hundred spots in preschool, the summer literacy program, the high school’s freshmen teams and its engineering academy and the Valley Vibes youth orchestra program. Plus dozens of classroom grants, up to $500 each. We’re also funding a major study of preschool in the Valley – getting the lay of the land and developing recommendations for the future.

What can you tell us about this month’s Red and White Ball?

We’re expecting 600 dinner guests plus two or three hundred more just for the dance party. We’re going to have an expo area so that students or teachers from each of the programs we fund can answer questions. We’ll also have LED screens so we can show a lot of visuals, which we’ve never had before. And the whole Dragons football team is showing up to help!

I’ve never been involved in an event that had so many volunteers, at least 300 this year. People are so attached to the schools and want to help. It’s more than just our largest fundraiser. It’s a huge celebration of the schools, the teachers and the students.