STILL GOING STRONG: Not all relationships last, but this one has. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and the Salesforce Foundation has once again committed $6 million to improve the quality and breadth of technology curriculum and resources in the San Francisco Unified School District, bringing the tech giant's total three-year investment to nearly $14 million. Salesforce first donated to the city’s public schools back in September 2014, providing funding for a combination of principal training, professional development, and devices. But this time around, the funds go less towards the tech and solely to the training and human capital, including 14 full-time coaches and teachers for STEM programming (or science, technology, engineering and math).
TechCrunch reports Benioff's thoughts about this switch by recalling a somewhat comical exchange from August 24, in which Benioff told a crowd of sixth graders at Presidio Middle School, "It’s great to write a check, but money alone doesn’t help schools. What helps schools is all of us embracing our schools, our school board and our great superintendent.” Benioff followed up the comment by asking students if they liked iPads:
“No!” they responded. “That’s because we got you books,” Benioff replied, in what seemed like an obvious rebuke to the Los Angeles Unified School District’s disastrous $1.3 billion foray into giving out 700,000 iPads to students and teachers.
In addition to the funds, Salesforce will also provide 20 SFUSD schools with a Salesforce executive and employees who will participate in volunteer activities during the year.
