RANDOM LAKE EDUCATION FOUNDATION – HISTORY
October 2023

The School District of Random Lake has a rich history of honoring deserving students with scholarships donated by
alumni, friends, and local businesses. One local businessman, Bruce Krier of Krier Foods, was a long-time scholarship
donor to Random Lake and many schools in the surrounding area. He foresaw the next important step was to create a
trust to better facilitate donations at Random Lake.

The Random Lake Education Foundation was founded in April of 2008 to create a trust fund from which annual
scholarships would be awarded to members of the graduating classes of Random Lake High School. The original
members included Tom Malmstadt (superintendent), Jena Schneider (school board president), Jane Dutter, Tom Rysavy,
Tracy Plier and Terri Yoho. Tracy Plier was selected as the first president.

Articles of Incorporation were drafted to allow the Foundation to operate as a 501 c3 tax exempt corporation. Prior to its
founding, scholarship funds were maintained in a general fund account of the School District of Random Lake.
Members of the board contacted heritage scholarship donors to ask permission to move/combine those funds together
for investment purposes while retaining the individual financial accounts from which those scholarships would
be withdrawn. All heritage donors were in agreement in granting permission.

Those funds along with all donations since 2008 are conservatively invested. Earnings (or losses) are redistributed based
on the percentage of the individual account to the total fund. The balance in the trust has increased to over $600,000
and continues to grow. Along with outside donations, our annual scholarships awarded to graduating classes exceed $1
million.

Members of the foundation have planned and executed a corn roast and successful summer golf outings to build
visibility and network with alumni and friends. Our most recent endeavor is our partnership with Alumni Nations to
build a consolidated list of alumni and friends. This platform includes traditional form of communication as well as
updated social media links, allowing the foundation to provide alumni and friends with updates on events, activities and
endowment efforts.

Our mission remains the same – to provide scholarships and financial support to Random Lake High School students to
offer them with the opportunity to achieve life goals that might otherwise be unattainable.

As our support comes directly from alumni, friends and businesses we encourage consideration of:
• Individual or Family scholarship
• Class scholarship
• Memorial scholarship
• Tribute/In Honor of Scholarship
• Business Donations/Scholarships
• Bequest
• Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD - for those above 70). 

Donate via our ramalumni.nationbuilder.com website or contact Jacob Frias ([email protected]) or Todd A. Miller
([email protected]) for more information.