Programs & Initiatives
Empower teachers to teach and learners to learn. Whether you host a school supply drive or volunteer, you can make a difference for under-resourced teachers and students.
School supplies and resources matter because they represent belonging and ownership of a student's education and a teacher's career. They empower underestimated students to recognize that they have choices and to make choices for themselves and their futures. For teachers facing rooms full of students struggling to break the cycle of poverty, supplies level the playing field so all students are prepared to learn when the bell rings.
The Supply A Student Program champions educational engagement and ownership by providing students with a new backpack filled with school supplies. Teachers report these supplies help improve student preparedness, confidence, and class participation. Individual donors and financial partners can choose to provide backpacks to students at all levels, including a single class or the entire school. It's more than just a backpack.
KINF's Supply A Teacher program seeks to remove the burden of having to provide necessary resources from teachers in underserved schools. With each Supply A Teacher box we deliver, a teacher receives items they need to fuel a full semester of active learning for their entire class of students. Applications are open to teachers at schools where 50% or more of students are eligible for the National School Lunch Program. Donors can fund a teacher, school, or entire school district.
Our Second Responder® program provides supplies to teachers and students affected by natural disasters. Kids In Need Foundation works with local authorities, schools, and sponsors to help students return to their routines with the tools they need to continue their education. These include hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, Michael, and Florence and the tornadoes that struck Dallas and Nashville in 2020. Thanks to our national sponsor, Dollar General Literacy Foundation, we have been able to provide thousands of backpacks to students impacted by natural disasters.
Kids In Need Foundation's National Network of Resource Centers presented by Dixon Ticonderoga Company is comprised of mission-driven organizations across the country. The Network provides teachers the opportunity to 'shop' for school supplies. All product donated through Kids In Need Foundation will ALWAYS be free for teachers nationwide...they will never pay a dime. From core school supplies to environment-enhancing decor, members of the Network arm teachers with the tools they need to ensure they can focus on the lessons at hand instead of what learning resources are missing in their classrooms.
For the 30 million students enrolled in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), new school supplies are often a luxury item that is outside of the family budget. As Kids In Need Foundation continues to provide the resources and supplies for teachers to teach and learners to learn, there is a new generation joining its efforts: Kids Helping Kids. Middle and high-school students can apply to be an ambassador for Kids Helping Kids. Each ambassador will promote his or her fundraiser in his or her community, learning valuable communications skills along the way. Ambassadors can raise support through funding and/or the collection of supplies to be provided to under-resourced students.
RISE: Rural and Indigenous School Equity
The RISE Program supports learning resource needs for teachers and students in rural and Indigenous communities, as students in these areas face unique challenges to accessing equitable educational opportunities. Leveraging the organization's national logistics platform and distribution operations, mass product procurement, and education system connections, Kids in Need Foundation effectively serves these harder-to-reach areas.