Sarah Jackson Named Coordinator of Private Partnerships for Lynn Schools

Lynn resident Sarah Jackson has begun working in her new job as coordinator of private partnerships for the Lynn public schools.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Catherine Latham appointed Jackson to the position and the School Committee unanimously approved her appointment to a one-year consulting contact. Jackson was formally introduced at the School Committee meeting Thursday night.

School Committee member Charlie Gallo said he proposed the new position “with the goal of seeking sources of private funding to help provide more opportunities and more programs in our schools.”

Gallo said the two priority areas that the School Committee has identified are science and the performing arts.

“The point behind this new position is that this is a creative way to provide more educational opportunities to students without looking to the taxpayer to pay for it,” said Gallo. “Sarah will be looking to individuals, companies, and charitable organizations for grants and donations.”

Gallo said the city of Newton has raised approximately $800,000 for its schools in a similar position. “It’s our first time doing this so I don’t expect her to raise as much as Newton has, but we’re going to see how it goes for this one-year contract and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll try something else.”

Gallo said that the 34-year-old Jackson brings an outstanding record of past fundraising successes to the position.

“Sarah is an extremely bright person who cut her teeth in fundraising positions at Harvard University and the Jimmy Fund and she now lives in Lynn and does this kind of work as a consultant for a lot of non-profit organizations,” said Gallo. “She is a real top-notch person and I’m excited to be working with her.”

Jackson, who heads Sarah J. Consulting, has been in fundraising for 11 years. Her most recent Job was at Harvard University where she was in charge of corporate and foundation fundraising for the university. Prior to that, she worked at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund and raised $15 million during her six-year tenure. She started in fundraising at Brigham and Women’s Hospital she was doing development communications.

In early 2012, Jackson decided to take her knowledge from those positions and launch her own consulting firm that specializes in fundraising.

A 2001 graduate of Emmanuel College with a degree in Communications, Jackson is married to Corey Jackson, managing director and co-founder of Arts After Hours in Lynn.

“I am a very proud downtown Lynn resident and I love Lynn,” said Jackson. “My husband and I are very involved in the city and I really am just so excited to be able to help Lynn in this way. I look forward to hopefully a lot of success in terms of funding that we will be bringing in for the schools.”