Latest Review
Mission
RAFT (Resource Area For Teaching) believes that hands-on teaching is the best way for students to learn. RAFT transforms surplus materials donated by local businesses into interactive learning experiences for students in math, science, technology and art, providing teachers and community groups with creative tools to enhance education and promote hands-on learning.
Key Facts
Geographic areas served:
Greater Bay Area
Target demographics:
Pre-K through 12th grade teachers. Many children learn best through the exercise of tactile and kinesthetic senses. RAFT provides hands-on teaching tools for over 800,000 students throughout the Bay Area.
Results to date:
RAFT is an innovative nonprofit (501c3) pursuing the advancement of hands-on learning in our schools. It was founded in San Jose, California in 1994 as the creation of Mary Simon, who continues to lead the organization.
The RAFT programs serve 10,000 teacher members at the two sites. The organization operates on a $3 million annual budget used to operate programs and subsidize teachers, providing needed tools for teaching, and professional development opportunities.
* Hundreds of Innovative Idea Sheets, tied to CA state standards are posted on the RAFT web site,
* 50,000 classroom kits (assembled by volunteers) are provided each year for state-standard aligned activities.
Direct beneficiaries per year: 10,000 teachers throughout the Bay Area
Indirect beneficiaries per year: 800,000 students
Obstacles:
Almost all educational institutions in the U.S. are underfunded with regard to materials for the classroom (also known as manipulatives), funding for which is often provided by the teacher at his or her own expense. Teachers are desperate to provide a quality education without spending so much out-of-pocket. RAFT continues to serve an ever increasing number of teachers in the Bay Area, and is expanding into other CA cities. Funds to underwrite the services we provide are critically needed.
What your donation will allow us to do:
Your donation allows RAFT to provide tools for hands-on teaching tied to CA state standards, professional development, and mentoring for over 10,000 teachers. Teachers pay a very small sum ($1-$2 for materials for class of 20 students) and your donation underwrites this cost.
Your donation of $52 enables us to:
provide materials for hands-on teaching activities, tied to CA state standards for 20 teachers
Your donation of $131 enables us to:
provide a Professional Development class for 20 teachers, tied to CA state teaching standards.
Your donation of $300 enables us to:
provide one year’s supply of classroom materials for a teacher.
Board Members and Affiliation:
Jean Halloran, Chair
Senior Vice President of Human Resources
Agilent Technologies
Webb McKinney, Vice Chair
Retired Executive Vice President
Hewlett-Packard Company
Kathryn Hanson, Vice Chair
CEO & Founder
ALearn
Albert Acevedo, Treasurer
Assistant Corporate Controller
Pay Pal, an eBay company
Cynthia D. Johnson, Secretary
Vice President of Corporate Relations
Agilent
Jeff Benesch
Strategy and Operations
Deloitte Consulting
Shelley Brown
Retired HR Executive
Yvonne Carrasco
Consultant to Foundations and Nonprofits
Ann Danner
Consultant to Nonprofits
Paul Doherty
Senior Scientist
Exploratorium
John D. Ebner
Partner
KPMG
Judy Heyboer
Consultant
Judy Heyboer Consulting
Linda J. LeZotte
Attorney at Law
Berliner Cohen
Stan Lim
Director, Worldwide Desktop Operations
Apple Inc.
Timothy Lohse,
Partner
DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP
Geoff Tate
Venture Investor, The Angel’s Forum & The Halo Fund; Retired CEO, Rambus
Jan Stewart
Community Relations Manager
NetApp
Colleen Wilcox
Executive Director
Alliance for Teaching
Past and Current Funders:
Funding is provided by a mix of Foundation, Corporate and personal donations.
Key Staff
Mary Simon, Executive Director, Founder
Mary taught for 12 years in elementary schools, specializing in math and science education for young children. In 1994, Mary founded Resource Area for Teaching, RAFT, and has served as the Executive Director since its inception 13 years ago. Under her management, RAFT has grown to serve over 7,500 members, received the in-kind support from over 2,000 different businesses, and she has built the operation to a $3M organization. Prior to founding RAFT, Mary was an Exhibit and Program Developer at the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose. Mary created, developed and maintained the Doodad Dump exhibit, the single most popular exhibit at the museum during its first five years of operation. This exhibit put manufacturing surplus materials and low-temperature glue guns in the hands of young children, who created highly imaginative art and technology projects during their visits to the museum. Mary holds a certificate in Non Profit Leadership from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and is a Senior Fellow in American Leadership Forum - Silicon Valley. Mary has been recognized with the Tribute to American Women (TWIN) Award for exemplifying excellence in executive leadership, and the Woman of Achievement Award for Community Service with commendation by the City of San Jose.
Coral Clark, Director of Education
Coral worked in education in Northern California for 15 years as a classroom teacher, teacher trainer, and curriculum writer. She specializes in Earth & space sciences, physical sciences, and interdisciplinary education. Her broad range of classroom experiences (settings from inner city to rural, grade range from 4th grade to high school) prepared her for developing activities and lessons that are hands-on, engaging, and powerful learning tools. Coral has had long-term affiliations with the Teacher Institute of the prestigious Exploratorium museum in San Francisco, where she has served as Science Teacher-in-Residence and as mentor and coach for beginner teachers in the Bay Area. Coral has also managed the Educator Resource Center at NASA/Ames, developed and wrote an NSF sponsored curriculum for the SETI Institute, and taught four years at the San Francisco Art Institute as a visiting faculty member. At RAFT, Coral directs the numerous facets of our education program, including workshops, demonstrations, activity kits, Idea Sheets, and publications.