Dec 18, 2025
As 2025 comes to a close, the Sunnyvale Education Foundation (SEF) would like to share our Annual Report and express our gratitude for your continued support. Amid ongoing federal, state, and local challenges impacting our Sunnyvale School District community, SEF has remained steadfast in its commitment to supporting programs that make a meaningful difference in students’ lives.
This year, SEF focused on meeting the most pressing needs across all ten Sunnyvale schools, empowering more than 5,550 Sunnyvale School District students through meaningful educational opportunities and support for basic needs. As we look ahead, we invite you to contribute to our “wish list” and help us continue this vital work:
SEF Wish #1: Give Students Transformative Educational Opportunities
Your support helps fund experiences that spark curiosity, creativity, and confidence – opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach. Through hands-on learning, arts and music programs, STEM enrichment, and meaningful experiences beyond the classroom like field trips and school garden programs, SEF empowers students to discover their talents, explore new possibilities, and imagine brighter futures.
Donate HERE to provide transformative learning experiences for Sunnyvale students.
SEF Wish #2: Feed Students
This year, SEF launched the Feed SSD campaign to address food insecurity by providing grocery store gift cards to families before school breaks — times when students are especially vulnerable. Thanks to generous donors, we have already supported hundreds of students and their families, with another distribution planned ahead of the upcoming end-of-year break. More than nourishment, these gifts deliver dignity, relief, and reassurance to families facing uncertain times.
Donate HERE to help feed Sunnyvale students and families in need.
SEF Wish #3: Make Your Gift Go Farther with Corporate Matching
Did you know that many employers offer corporate matching gift programs that can double (or even triple!) the impact of your donation at no additional cost to you? Together, your gift and your employer’s match can reach more classrooms, support more students, and create an even brighter future for Sunnyvale students.
Your belief in our students means so much. Thank you for being such an important part of this work.
Wishing you and your family a joyful holiday season and a hopeful New Year.
Nov 4, 2025
Families in our school community are facing an urgent food shortage, and we need your support right now. Every dollar helps put meals on the table for those struggling to make ends meet. Sunnyvale Education Foundation is working together with the Sunnyvale School District to distribute grocery gift cards to students facing food insecurity, especially during the upcoming school breaks.
The need for your support of Sunnyvale School District students is immense and growing:
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23.3% of our students rely on Free and Reduced Lunch, though more families qualify but remain unidentified.
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Almost half of the 5,618 enrolled students in our district are categorized as socioeconomically disadvantaged.
Donating today directly helps our students in our community. All funds raised in this limited-time campaign will go towards grocery gift cards, distributed by SSD, in support of enrolled students with the most significant needs. With your help, we can approach this unprecedented food emergency with compassion, generosity, and urgency.
To donate to this campaign by check, make check payable to Sunnyvale Education Foundation with “Feed SSD” in the memo line and drop off or mail to: Sunnyvale Education Foundation, 819 W. Iowa Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94086.
If you are a corporation or another organization that would like to contribute or partner with us, please reach out to info@sunnyvaleeducationfoundation.org and a member of our team will get back to you.
Oct 15, 2025
🌱 Join us for Sunnyvale Education Foundation’s October Roundtable: Beyond the Classroom: The magic of gardens, field trips, and touching grass.
Our October Roundtable will feature speakers who will share why field trips matter for our students, present two models for bringing garden learning to your school site, and share a resource to quickly identify quality field trips and assemblies.
Speakers will include:
🌱 Giselle Serafin, Science Department Chair, Columbia Middle School
🌱 Eileen Bloom, Bishop Garden Lead, Living Classroom
🌱 Cortney Jansen, Sunnyvale Education Foundation
Attendees will also have time to discuss in small groups ideas for taking learning outside the classroom walls and expanding access to experiential learning in our school district. You will also have an opportunity to dialogue with staff from the Sunnyvale School District. Sunnyvale Education Foundation’s “Roundtables” bring voices from across the district together to discuss critical issues in education and learn from one another and we hope you will join us.
Light refreshments provided.
Apr 21, 2025
We cordially invite you to Sunnyvale Education Foundation’s 2025 Showcase, Tuesday May 6, at 5:30PM in the Sunnyvale Community Center Ballroom! This year we’ll be “Walking on Sunshine” as we celebrate Sunnyvale students and SEF’s programs that support them.
Get Tickets to Walking on Sunshine
This year’s SEF Showcase will feature performances, artwork, projects, student and teacher testimonials and more from students in Sunnyvale schools that SEF’s programs have engaged, inspired, encouraged, and empowered. Our students are proud of what they have accomplished and we’d love to share their joy and achievements with you.
We’re always thankful for the support we receive from families like you to fund great programs for Sunnyvale students like performing arts, STEM, science camp at Walden West, and more. If you would like to make an additional contribution, you can do so on when you purchase your tickets or on the donate page on our website.
We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, May 6!
Mar 30, 2025
By Katie Rowland, Programs Chair, Sunnyvale Education Foundation
If you are passionate about performing arts in the Sunnyvale School District, then this post is for you!
Families across SSD are eager for their children to receive a high quality, enriched education. For many families – and for SEF – performing arts is a critical part of such an education. As for students, their beaming faces show how much these opportunities mean to them.
That’s why on April 1st at 5:15 p.m., we invite our community to come together to discuss Performing Arts in the Sunnyvale School District. We have a multi-year history of hosting Roundtables, which have previously focused on equitable enrichment, volunteer recruitment, and school gardens. These Roundtables bring together critical voices from across the district, so that we can learn from one another and work together to expand opportunities for students district-wide.
SEF will share that we see high interest in performing arts from across the district – as well as some common challenges that we think are best addressed collaboratively. This year, one third of the School Grant funds we give to each of the ten schools in SSD went toward performing arts. From “The Play that Went Wrong” and new violas at Columbia Middle School to musicals at Lakewood, San Miguel and Vargas, students and families are eager for students to have opportunities in the performing arts. We also hear about common challenges that sometimes get in the way of students having these opportunities, including funding, availability of vendors, and increased enrollment compared to resource availability.
The Sunnyvale School District will report on current opportunities in performing arts, as well as prospective opportunities, and on the district budget and the superintendent search.
And we need you there too! Come and share your voice, perspective, concerns, experiences, and suggestions.
This event is free and open to all, with light refreshments provided and translation services available (thanks to the Vargas PTA).
Roundtable Details:
“Performing Arts in the Sunnyvale School District,” hosted by the Sunnyvale Education Foundation and the Sunnyvale School District
Date:
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Location:
Sunnyvale District Office, Iowa Avenue
Event Schedule:
- 5:15-5:30: Sign in, socialize, enjoy nibbles
- 5:30-6:30: Presentations, Q&A
- 6:30-7:30: Feedback & Dialogue, Roundtable Discussions
Speakers and Topics:
- Michelle Eugeni, President, Sunnyvale Education Foundation, on SEF’s role related to Performing Arts in SSD
- Dr. Michael Gallagher, Superintendent, on the superintendent search process and the state of the SSD budget for upcoming years
- Dr. Tasha Dean, Chief Teaching and Learning Officer, and other Teaching & Learning Staff will share an overview of performing arts in SSD and a look Prop 28’s implementation (funding and programs for equitable arts and music instruction)
- Jeremy Nishihara, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Information Systems, will lead the “Dialogue and Feedback” section
- Katie Rowland, Programs Chair, Sunnyvale Education Foundation, will facilitate the Roundtable portion of the evening
