History
Recent changes
In July 2009, the San Francisco Education Fund and San Francisco School
Volunteers merged our two longstanding organizations dedicated to improving
public schools; integrating our programs to address pressing education
challenges in new and more powerful ways. The new San Francisco Education
Fund utilizes both school-based and district-level strategies to achieve
its goal of improving student success in the San Francisco Unified School
District. We put 75 years of combined experience to work on behalf of teachers
and students in our public schools.
The San Francisco Education Fund
In 1978, Proposition 13 significantly reduced funding for public education.
The S.H. Cowell Foundation recognized the peril of San Francisco's schools
and the trustees created the idea to build a bridge between the school
bureaucracy and the private sector whose only function was to benefit
the teachers, students and school sites. In a team effort that involved
the citizen committee, the Superintendent of the SFUSD, and the Board
of Education, the San Francisco Education Fund was founded in 1979.
Gladys Thacher was part of the initial committee and went on to carry
out this vision as the founding executive director of the San Francisco
Education Fund.
San Francisco School Volunteers
Every child has the right to a good education and every member of our
community has a role to play in schools. These basic beliefs guided
former school teachers Gretchen de Baubigny and Matilda Kunin to found
San Francisco School Volunteers in 1963. Their idea was to enrich the
lives of San Francisco’s public school children by harnessing the time,
energy and special abilities of concerned people in the community. Starting
with eight volunteers in two schools the program has grown to be the
largest source of volunteers in San Francisco public schools, with an
emphasis on assisting schools with the most urgent needs.