The Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation announced that it has received a gift of $110,000 from Dun & Bradstreet.
Between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31, Dun & Bradstreet will match every dollar donated to SMMEF, up to $90,000.
This gift brings Dun & Bradstreet’s total direct donations to SMMEF to more than $340,000 over the last three years.
In addition to the $90,000 matching gift, more than $20,000 will be used to continue Dun & Bradstreet’s paid high school student internship and college scholarship program for Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District students during the summer of 2016.
In 2015, six high school students in the program, received paid internships and were given college scholarships.
“We are pleased to launch this matching grant for SMMEF and to continue our impactful internship program next summer,” said Jeff Stibel, Vice Chairman of Dun & Bradstreet. “We hope that the matching gift will inspire other individuals and businesses across our community to join us in supporting our local public schools.”
This marks the third year that Dun & Bradstreet has made the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation a beneficiary of its EdAhead program, which was established to support education initiatives in the communities where Dun & Bradstreet offices are located.
EdAhead is the nation’s first education savings initiative with a multiple match. The company first matches employees’ contributions to their 529 college education plans, up to a set amount each year, adding the match to each employee’s account on an annual basis.
Employee-matched contributions then activate a second match, with the aggregate per office match amount donated to the local public school districts where that office operates.
“We are so appreciative of Dun & Bradstreet’s generous gift,” said SMMEF Executive Director Linda Greenberg. “For the last three years, they have been a tremendous partner and champion for education in our community.”
The $90,000 match will launch on #GivingTuesday, the global day of giving back on Dec. 1. Following Black Friday and Cyber Monday and coinciding with the start of the holiday shopping season, #GivingTuesday is an online movement encouraging people to donate to causes they support.
SMMEF will host giving tables at several schools across the district on #Giving Tuesday, as well as encourage participation through social media.
