Sunnyvale, CA – Thanks to the city of Sunnyvale and the Sunnyvale Cares program for supporting SEF with an $11,000 donation to help fill our fundraising gap after we had to cancel our annual donor event in March.
From the City of Sunnyvale Website: To assist Sunnyvale nonprofits impacted by COVID-19, the City committed $150,000 to create a Sunnyvale Cares Nonprofit Grant Program. The City received 27 applications for a combined funding request of $600,005. Mayor Klein appointed an ad hoc advisory committee (Committee) to review the applications submitted and make funding recommendations to the City Council. The Committee members were Councilmember Russ Melton, Councilmember Mason Fong, and Mayor Larry Klein. The Committee forwarded its recommendation to the City Council and on July 28, 2020, the City Council approved the following funding levels for 15 agencies.
Sunnyvale, CA – To help students with the shift to distance learning because of the coronavirus pandemic, Google has donated $100,000 to the Sunnyvale Education Foundation (SEF). The money will be used for wifi hotspots, devices and learning materials for students and teachers in the Sunnyvale School District (SSD).
“SEF is proud to have Google as one of our corporate supporters, and especially grateful for their assistance and support during this time of crisis,” said SEF President Melinda Hamilton. “Google has supported SEF from the very beginning, and we’re proud to work with them to bring a high-quality, enriched education to Sunnyvale students, even during a pandemic.”
In March, the district shifted to distance learning under the county’s shelter-in-place order and started making devices available for students who didn’t have access to a computer at home, regardless of economic status. It soon became clear that some students didn’t have internet access, or that their wifi access was overburdened with parents and siblings all sharing the same bandwidth. Teachers having the same issue had trouble preparing lessons for their students.
“Sunnyvale School District has a 1:1 technology policy, but this pandemic is stretching our resources and our staff,” said SSD Superintendent Dr. Benjamin Picard. “For some students, access to devices and wifi are a crucial gap to continuing their education. Google has stepped up and helped us fill that gap.”
Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein agreed. “Thanks to Google for its generous donation to the Sunnyvale Education Foundation, which enables distance learning for local families. Sunnyvale appreciates Google’s commitment to help bridge the digital divide in our community.”
In addition to the devices and hotspots, some funds will go toward classroom supplies to facilitate distance learning, such as small whiteboards, paper, markers and other materials for students and teachers who do not have those items at home.
We know the Sunnyvale Education Foundation Mixer is an event the Sunnyvale community looks forward to every spring! Unfortunately, we must reschedule the SEF Mixer. SEF is working closely with the Sunnyvale School District to assess safety risks for our community related to COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Information will be sent out as soon as we are able to secure a new date for the event.
Because the SEF Mixer is a major fundraiser for our organization, we encourage you to attend our rescheduled event or donate via PayPal. This will help us reach our fundraising goal and allow us to do even more to help SSD schools.
Thank you for being a Champion for Sunnyvale schools!
Kelli — Kelli Cree VP Communications Sunnyvale Education Foundation
First, a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to our end-of-year campaign! We deeply appreciate your willingness to invest in Sunnyvale students to help provide them with an enriched, high-quality education.
We are still working toward our goal of $10,000 to fully benefit from the matching challenge grant from LinkedIn!
If you haven’t yet donated, there’s still time to invest in our students before the end of 2019 so that we can meet our goal! Just go to www.SunnyvaleEducationFoundation.org/donate to make a donation today.
For more information about SEF, visit our website or read our most current annual report. In it, you can see some of the great things we’ve done over the last year and how we’ve helped Sunnyvale students.
Thank you for all your support. We couldn’t do what we do without you.
Working together for our kids,
Melinda Hamilton President, Sunnyvale Education Foundation
The Sunnyvale Education Foundation (SEF) is proud to strengthen the prospects of children in our community by supporting high-quality, enriched education for all students in the Sunnyvale School District (SSD), now and in the future. In the past year, students at all 10 SSD schools directly benefited from $75,000 in SEF grants, enabling student exploration through robotics, mobile media technology, MakerSpaces, field trips, and more.
All of this is possible through the support of our donors. Please consider a donation to SEF in your year-end giving. Every dollar helps. We are excited to announce an opportunity to double your financial support, at no extra cost to you. LinkedIn will match every dollar donated to SEF through December 31, 2019, up to $10,000!
Help us build a brighter future for all students by making a contribution in any amount today at www.SunnyvaleEducationFoundation.org/donate. Donate by year-end to double your impact, and if your employer offers corporate matches, you can triple your donation. Donations to SEF are tax-deductible in accordance with IRS regulations. SEF is a 501(c)(3) organization, and our federal tax ID is 47-3825871.
Thank you for all you do to support our children and our community. Every effort made to ensure a strong educational foundation for our children is an investment in a brighter future for us all.