As many DonorsChoose.org fans in Southern California know there has been a lot of buzz recently because of the Wasserman Foundation campaign. Our partnership was launched to help fulfill classroom needs, foster innovation in education, and create a new corps of micro-philanthropists in Los Angeles. Our goals were lofty, and we set aside two years to accomplish them. Due to unprecedented support and participation from the Los Angeles Community, we accomplished these goals in just 12 weeks.Take a look at the amazing impact this has had in Los Angeles Unified School District:
- More than 9,400 teachers have posted projects
- 9,500 classroom projects have been fully funded in (this is 19% of all California projects ever funded through DonorsChoose.org!)
- 773 Schools had projects fully funded (nearly 75% of all schools in Los Angeles)
- 146,614 Angelenos used their gift cards to support a local classroom
- 356,309 students’ education have been enriched by the materials and experiences this partnership has enabled
“I am heartened by the amazing outpouring of support that our community has shown for our teachers and children,” said Superintendent of LAUSD, John Deasy. “Although the initial $4 million Wasserman investment in this campaign has been spent, I encourage all teachers to continue to post to DonorsChooseLA.org and I call on all Angelenos to continue to support our teachers through donations of any amount. This is only the beginning of the endless possibilities of ways we can help our teachers and improve education in LA.”Our own founder, Charles Best agrees, “This partnership is historic, representing the strongest participation we have seen in the eleven years we’ve been around. We are deeply appreciative that the leadership of the Wasserman Foundation agreed to shift all of their resources into one school year to make sure the maximum number of teachers were funded immediately.”We hope our partnership will continue and grow the connection between Angelenos and the needs of their schools, and support will continue for the more than 5,000 Los Angeles projects that are will in need of funding.About Wasserman FoundationThe Wasserman Foundation is a private family foundation based in Los Angeles. The Foundation, created by Edie and Lew Wasserman in 1952, provides grants to organizations in the following areas: education, health, arts & culture, and global initiatives. For more information, please visit www.wassermanfoundation.org.
