History
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 decided to build a bridge between the school bureaucracy and the private sector whose only function was to benefit the teachers, students and school sites. The San Francisco Education Fund was founded in 1979 as a result of a team effort that involved a citizen committee, the Superintendent of the SFUSD and the Board of Education. 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.