‘Meant to be’

The Mountain Brook City Schools Foundation has hired a new leader.

In April, Rachel Weingartner started as the foundation’s executive director. She replaced Stephanie Maxwell, who held the position from 2015 to this March. 

Foundation Board President Charles Smith said selecting Maxwell’s successor was an important decision because of the positive momentum she created during her tenure. 

He believes he found the right candidate in Weingartner. 

“Rachel was the perfect fit for us,” Smith said. “In addition to her nonprofit and development experience, it was clear that Rachel had the drive and commitment to help take us to the next level.” 

The foundation was started in 1992 and raises money to supplement state funding for Mountain Brook Schools. 

Weingartner’s professional background appears to align well with the foundation’s needs. She has spent much of her career in fundraising, first with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville and most recently with Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama. 

She also is a Crestline resident who has two young boys, Turner and Sims, entering the school system in the near future.

“It just seemed like an opportunity that was meant to be, so I’m really excited,” Weingartner said. 

Weingartner is from the Birmingham area and graduated from Indian Springs School. She then went to Washington and Lee University in Virginia, where she met her husband, Chris. 

Rachel Weingartner moved back to Birmingham with her family in 2014 and had worked at Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama since returning. 

In her spare time, she serves on the YWCA Junior Board and helps organize the annual antique show at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. 

“I think she’ll do really well. She already is,” Smith said. “She’s hit the ground running.”

Weingartner said the transition into her new job has gone smoothly even amid a busy season. She’s had a lot to learn — which comes as no surprise considering she’s the foundation’s lone full-time employee — but has already begun to cast a vision.

Weingartner wants to grow the foundation’s $9 million endowment, boost participation in fundraising campaigns like Give 180 and increase community awareness of the foundation’s impact. 

Each year it awards at least $400,000 in grants to city schools. That money goes toward funding professional development, library enhancements and new technology. 

Weingartner said the grants touch every student and every teacher every year. 

“It’s amazing what we’ve been able to fund with our annual grants and the size of our endowment,” Weingartner said, “but there really still is so much more that we could do.” 

On May 1, after the conclusion of the foundation’s fiscal year, Weingartner said it had raised more than $487,000 in 2018-19.

She believes she’ll be able to grow that figure in the future.  

“People really do give to causes that they understand and there’s a tangible impact,” she said. “I was excited to step into this role because there’s nothing more tangible than seeing classrooms improve or teachers become better. It’s great to be a part of something that gives back in this way.”