Leadership Luncheon

Thank you for helping us make the 2011 Leadership Luncheon a success! Over 400 guests joined us at the Seattle Westin on March 18th and helped us raise over $165,000 to support Foundation for Early Learning's programs and grants.

Rob Glaser, founder of Glaser Progress Foundation, provided guests with an inspirational keynote that included a video interview of his parents. Rob also shared early learning tips he discovered as a parent of three.

In addition to Rob Glaser, we were also fortunate to have Holli Martinez speak at our luncheon. Holli is a member of the Foundation's Board of Ambassadors and served as the solicitor at this event.

A special thanks goes to our sponsors including The Boeing Company, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Casey Family Programs, Committee for Children, Costco, Laird Norton Tyee, Microsoft, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and Seattle Children's. For a complete list of our sponsors, please visit www.earlylearning.org/about-us/sponsors.

One new addition to our luncheon this year was an early learning expo hosted just outside of the ballroom. Expo sponsors included Child Care Resources, City University of Seattle, Early Learning Public Library Partnership, Kaplan Early Learning Company, Lesley University, Nurturing Pathways and ParentMap.

For additional photos and videos from this event, Like us on Facebook or subscribe to our channel on YouTube. Photos are also posted on our Facebook page.

Thanks again!

Tickets are now available for Foundation for Early Learning's 2011 Leadership Luncheon. You can register for this event online, with both standard and premier tickets now available for purchase at www.earlylearning.org/luncheon.

We are excited to have Rob Glaser, chairman and founder of RealNetworks as our speaker. Rob is an innovative business leader, philanthropist and father of three “early learners.”

Our Leadership Luncheon is one of our most important outreach and fundraising events and helps to raise nearly $250,000 for our work in support of early education.

The Foundation invites you to join over 500 other early learning supporters at our 2011 Leadership Luncheon. To purchase your ticket or to learn how you can become a sponsor, click here.

A letter from Executive Director Vaughnetta J. Barton:

$222,000+ for Early Learning!

The Foundation for Early Learning's 2009 Leadership Luncheon is just weeks away on March 6th.  When I started at the Foundation two months ago, much of the planning was already in place – including our keynote speaker.  The theme of this year’s event is invest in children and our speaker is the perfect person for such an event.

Andrea Levere is from CFED (Corporation for Enterprise Development) in Washington, D.C. and I had the opportunity to meet with her in person just recently.  While her credentials and experience may sound technical, her passion and commitment for creating a world where everyone has a strong future, is incredibly inspiring and very relatable. 

She is behind the idea of SEED, a multi-year national initiative to test and promote matched savings accounts and financial education for children.  Her organization has developed many creative economic development opportunities that help individuals start and grow businesses, go to college, own a home, and save for their children’s and their own economic futures.  It is hard to deny that a strong future for children and families is so closely tied together to economic security.

I am also looking forward to meeting the 600 friends and supporters who attend.  And I’m especially excited that our 600 friends and supporters have the opportunity to RSVP online – makes the registration process much easier and time-efficient for the staff (a.k.a., me). 

Visit the luncheon page at www.earlylearning.org/luncheon for more juicy details and I’ll see you on March 6th!

Jessica