2,300,000 Services for San Diegans Aided by COVID-19 Community Response Fund

For Immediate Release

A year after launch, Foundation fund deploys more than $58 million for childcare, financial assistance, education, food security, medical support and workforce development

March 16, 2021 – San Diego, CA – 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 percent of people served by CRF-funded programs were living in poverty. The ethnicity of those served were 42 percent Hispanic/Latinx, 22 percent White; 15 percent Black/African-American, 6 percent Asian; and 3 percent Native American/Indigenous. Age groups served included 7 percent infants/toddlers, 24 percent school-age children, 51 percent age 18-55, and 18 percent age 55+.

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.

In times of great emergency, community foundations are uniquely positioned to put their philanthropic leadership and deep, cross-sector relationships to work for all who are impacted. They assess need quickly and nimbly grant

out funding to critical nonprofit programs. According to a survey by the Community Foundation Public Awareness Initiative, U.S. community foundations granted billions of dollars to nonprofits through relief funds in 2020, aiding in our nation’s and our county’s battle against COVID-19.

Learn more about local needs or make an online donation at SDFoundation.org/COVID19. 100 percent of donations help impacted San Diegans.