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MBX Foundation Marks 20 Years Serving Manhattan Beach

May 26, 2023 11:53AM ● By Dave Fratello
Everyone benefits from having arts, sports, and music booster clubs for kids in the schools... but managing and organizing those clubs comes with a complex set of requirements. And that's where the MBX Foundation - celebrating its 20th anniversary this year - comes in.

What's required to run a booster club? Each year, someone needs to take the helm and muster volunteers. Someone needs to establish a bank account. There must be fundraising activities and accountability for spending. Furthermore, if someone wants to direct a large donation to a project, they often prefer a nonprofit vehicle to handle the money, and few booster clubs are chartered as such. All too often, the process for each group of boosters must be rebooted every single year, a version of "reinventing the wheel."

In Manhattan Beach, 20 years ago, Gary Wayland realized there was a role that he and a new organization could play in supporting this wide range of boosters, so that they could focus on helping students.

In 2003, he created the Manhattan Beach Athletic Foundation as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. (The name changed to the MBX Foundation in 2009.) Its purpose was to provide a backbone level of support and structure for sports, athletic and academic programs, in particular by providing a single, trusted financial structure. (Wayland, a CPA, knew the importance of having such a structure, with bookkeeping, transparency and supervision.)

Today the group offers banking, fundraising platforms, insurance, organizational guidelines, and much more to a vast range of "school connected organizations," or SCOs, as the booster clubs and others are known. 

The organization quickly grew to include operating summer school programs – a source of employment for teachers and enrichment for students – and, at the request of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, operating after-school programs at each MBUSD elementary school campus, which it has done since 2008.

Since 2021, MBX also manages fields and facilities rentals in coordination with MBUSD, and directs rental funds to upkeep and repairs.

MBX as the 'Fourth Leg of the Stool'


As it continues to expand its footprint across the city, adding more middle school and elementary-based programs, the MBX Foundation is now proving to be the "fourth leg of the stool" enhancing the environment for Manhattan Beach students. While MBUSD, the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation and local PTAs are the first three vital legs, MBX makes the whole structure even stronger, according to its organizers. 

At a celebration of MBX's 20 years last week, several speakers praised Wayland for his foresight and highlighted the numerous accomplishments of the foundation since its beginnings.

Current board chair Ed McKeegan said that in its first 20 years, MBX has educated over 30,000 students through its summer school programs - generating $9 million in tuition - and has served 20,000 students (with revenue of over $6 million) through after-school programs including arts, acting, music, robotics, break dancing, Math Olympiad and chess, among many.

McKeegan also said that because of MBX's unique structure, it is able to offer its support to local volunteer groups (SCOs) at no charge, meaning that 100% of the approximately $31 million raised by those SCOs has gone to their organizational needs and goals. (MBX is largely managed by volunteers and has a limited staff, whose costs are covered from a portion of revenues from enrichment programs.)

MBX has recently developed a grant program to further benefit SCOs, MBMS and the elementary schools, and is providing targeted funds for such items as lights in the theater, soccer balls and pool equipment. 

MBX has also contributed mightily to the artificial turf and rubberized track at Waller Stadium (the Costa football/lacrosse field), the new West Field artificial turf soccer field, gym renovations and storage facilities. Soon, new scoreboards will be installed at Waller Stadium and the Mira Costa pool, thanks to MBX.

Honoring Gary Wayland

 Gary Wayland with his wife, April, and son, Jeffrey.


A big part of last week's celebration of MBX's first 20 years was a public recognition of the efforts of Gary Wayland, who got the organization started, and remains involved to this day, overseeing MBX's new facilities management work. 

Past MBX board chair Susy Werre called Wayland "extremely humble," but praised his "leadership, vision, mentorship, guidance and commitment, not only to the MBUSD community, but to the Manhattan Beach community overall."

"Thank you for creating a blueprint, so that this leadership can continue to carry on the torch you've lit," Werre said.

Among the 100-plus crowd that gathered to celebrate Wayland and MBX were three current MBUSD board members, Wysh Weinstein, Tina Shivpuri and Bruce Greenberg; current Mira Costa principal Karina Gerger and past principal Ben Dale; Mayor Pro Tem Joe Franklin; and both current MBUSD Superintendent John Bowes and past Superintendent Mike Matthews; along with current and past MBX board members and the current staff of the organization.


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Disclosure: MB News publisher Dave Fratello operates, on a volunteer basis, an annual fund-raiser that directs funds to the MBX Foundation, known as the Parents' Softball Classic.


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