SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — A year after its launch, the San Diego COVID-19 Community Response Fund (CRF) has supported more than 2.3 million services delivered by local nonprofits to San Diegans impacted by the pandemic and granted more than $58 million to organizations countywide, reported The San Diego Foundation.
The Foundation collaborated with The Nonprofit Institute at the University of San Diego on the impact report, which also found that 79% of people served by CRF-funded programs were living in poverty.
The impact includes a County of San Diego partnership with The San Diego Foundation that utilized the CRF to deploy vital CARES Act funding to childcare providers to assist 81,000 children with care from 3,355 childcare providers in 90 zip codes across San Diego County.
A focus on equitable distance learning helped close the digital divide for 9,600 K-12 and community college students provided with computers and internet access to continue classwork and mitigate learning loss. Overall, more than 200 nonprofits were awarded CRF grants.
“San Diegans are resilient, generous and visionary,” shared Mark Stuart, President & CEO of The San Diego Foundation. “Together, we will invest in sustainable solutions that address the systemic issues that have led to many of the hardships from this past year. And we will continue to rely on our community leaders and local nonprofits whose heroic efforts have been the backbone of our pandemic relief.”
On March 16, 2020, in response to the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, a coalition of philanthropy, government and business partners joined together to create the San Diego COVID-19 Community Response Fund at The San Diego Foundation. Founding partners include San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, San Diego Gas & Electric, United Way of San Diego County, San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council; NEWS 8 and Alliance Healthcare Foundation.
To date, the San Diego COVID-19 Community Response Fund has raised more than $66 million thanks to generous donations from more than 3,700 individuals, foundations, government, donor-advised funds and businesses, such as San Diego Gas & Electric, Qualcomm, Illumina, the Hervey Family, MacKenzie Scott, San Diego County and The San Diego Foundation, each contributing $1 million or more. Grantmaking is guided by a Leadership Council of regional and community leaders who help determine the most pressing needs and where grant funding can be most impactful.
If you would like to make an online donation, click here. All donations help impacted San Diegans.
