News

Read on for a sampling of the SF Ed Fund's media coverage, our monthly newsletters, and other stories and research that inspire our work

Press Blog Newsletters Archive Events

June Newsletter: Progress and Preparation⚡

June 20, 2025

Our June newsletter highlights the collective impact made across San Francisco schools this year — from building a new Sensory Garden at ER Taylor Elementary to unboxing thousands of math curriculum materials with the help of over 100 volunteers. We’re celebrating major milestones, including the success of our high-impact literacy tutoring program, which reached more than 1,000 students with measurable reading gains, and honoring our dedicated volunteers with Giants-sized gratitude. Looking ahead, we’re gearing up for Back-to-School Setup Day on August 15, where the community can once again come together to ensure classrooms are welcoming and ready for students from day one.

May Newsletter: Celebrating Impact

May 15, 2025

Our May newsletter reflects on a school year defined by resilience, stability, and community care. Highlights include SFUSD’s reversal of 151 staff layoffs, a $210,000 grant from Battery Powered to expand high-impact literacy tutoring, and the ribbon-cutting of Guadalupe Elementary’s new turf field, which is already boosting student belonging and attendance. We also celebrated educators through 41 Educator Impact Grants reaching more than 8,000 students, and spotlighted student leadership at the Awesome Fund Showcase, where innovative projects fostered creativity and connection across six high schools. Together, these moments remind us what’s possible when students, educators, and communities are supported to thrive.

SF Chronicle: Glady Thacher, philanthropist who launched nonprofits from her S.F. living room, dies at 95

May 1, 2025

“The woman had her finger on the pulse of what was happening with students and their parents,” said Ann Levy Walden, CEO of the Education Fund. “Her intuition, clear-eyed vision and deep love for this city led her to create the San Francisco Education Fund as a way for the community to step up when our schools needed it most.”

The SF Ed Fund Celebrates Weekly Volunteers from 2024-25 School Year at Annual Volunteer Recognition Event

April 29, 2025

The SF Ed Fund celebrated our fantastic weekly ongoing volunteers our annual Volunteer Recognition Ceremony. We certainly had a lot to celebrate and be thankful for: Throughout the 2024-25 school year, 339 dedicated community members generously gave their time supporting students and teachers in 421 classrooms, totaling over 41,000 hours thus far. Together, they've made a profound impact, supporting 3,727 students across 81 SFUSD schools.

SF Ed Fund Welcomes its 2025 Young Leaders Council Cohort

April 24, 2025

We’re thrilled to welcome a new cohort of passionate changemakers to the SF Ed Fund’s Young Leaders Council (YLC)! The YLC is a group of dynamic young professionals across sectors who are passionate about ensuring every student in San Francisco has access to a quality public education. Through their service, YLC members help the SF Ed Fund fulfill its mission of advancing equitable education by providing quality learning programs, community support, and financial resources to educators, students, and schools.

San Francisco’s public school leaders share what’s really happening in their schools

April 16, 2025

Through conversations with school leaders at SFUSD’s highest-benefit schools, the SF Ed Fund surfaced an urgent need for immediate interventions in the midst of the budget crisis: flexibility to foster a student sense of belonging within unique school communities, prioritizing solutions that strengthen academic outcomes, and creative thinking around staffing to provide and retain essential personnel at each school. This SF Ed Fund report, published in April 2025, captures the voices of those closest to the work and highlights both the challenges they face and the bright spots pointing the way forward.

In Loving Memory of Glady Thacher (1929-2025)

April 15, 2025

We are saddened to share the passing of Gladys “Glady” Thacher, our beloved founder and a lifelong advocate for public education and social justice. Glady passed away peacefully at home on April 3, 2025, surrounded by her loving family. She was 95. In 1978, Proposition 13 significantly reduced funding for public education across California, and San Francisco’s schools were hit hard. Glady saw the crisis clearly – and responded with action. As she put it, the community needed to “reach out to the private sector and inject money and care into the schools.” ...

Celebrating Women’s Impact on SF Schools

March 26, 2025

For decades, women have been the driving force behind education—both in the classroom and in shaping the institutions that support our schools. The San Francisco Education Fund is no exception. This Women’s History Month, we honor the SF Ed Fund’s founder, Glady Thacher, and the visionary behind our San Francisco School Volunteers organization, Gretchen de Baubigny – two women who transformed how our community supports public schools.In 1978, Proposition 13 slashed public education funding, moving SFUSD from one of the highest-funded districts in the nation to one of the lowest. Glady founded the SF Ed Fund in 1979, securing funding and launching programs that have since provided tens of millions of dollars to students, teachers, and schools in SFUSD. ...

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