Local Company Donates $15K to the Education Foundation

Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. is donating $15,000 to the Education Foundation of Millburn-Short Hills through its EdAhead program. The donation will benefit all of the public schools in the Millburn Township School District, which is the home district for Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.’s Short Hills office.

The EdAhead funds will be used to develop an eighth-grade intermediate robotics course through an after school Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) club. The course will position students to be competition-ready for events and competitions both nationally and internationally, as well as further their knowledge of robotics and help encourage pursuit of careers in the STEM fields.

"We are incredibly appreciative of this donation from the EdAhead initiative," Dr. James A. Crisfield, Superintendent of Schools, said in a news release about the donation. "We have some exciting things going on in our district in terms of hands-on science offerings, and all it takes is to see how fired up students get about an activity like robotics to know that we're on the right track. We are grateful to the Education Foundation for helping us to secure this grant to aid in their on-going efforts to help us maintain a cutting edge in our science and technology curricula.”

EdAhead is  the nation’s first education savings initiative with a multiple match. The company created EdAhead to support its commitment to education across the communities it serves. The EdAhead commitment of $15,000 that is based on the matched amount of contributions Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.’s Short Hills office employees made to their 529 Education accounts as part of the EdAhead initiative in 2012.

Through the EdAhead program, the company matches employees’ contributions to their college education plans, up to a set amount each year, adding the match to each employee’s account on an annual basis, which is grossing up the amount so that the employee gets the full benefit of the match amount. The company then totals up the matched amounts for each office and donates an additional amount to education programs at the school district where each office resides.  

“We launched EdAhead last year with the belief that there isn’t a more pressing issue in this country than education,” said Jeff Stibel, Chairman and CEO of Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.  “We are so pleased to make our first EdAhead donation to the Education Foundation of Millburn-Short Hills, especially since it will help drive education in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math.  We are proud to help establish the importance of higher education within the communities where our employees work and live.”      

As part of its EdAhead commitment, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. has also agreed to match dollar for dollar (up to $15,000) all donations to the Education Foundation of Millburn-Short Hills to support its first Fall Festival Fundraiser.  

Lester Greenberg, robotics teacher in the district, stated he was very thankful for the donation as well.

"On behalf of my students, we wish to thank Dun & Bradstreet for their generous contribution that will allow us to explore the endless possibilities of this new technology," Greenberg said in the release. "Bring on the competition!"

A check presentation will take place on Wednesday at 10:45 a.m. at Millburn Middle School.