The Girard Foundation is a private, grant-making foundation established in 1986. Our mission is to foster innovation and reform in K-12 education, with the goal of improving student outcomes in San Diego County.

The Foundation is particularly interested in projects/programs that:

• demonstrate new, more effective methods of teaching and learning
• improve the ways schools operate
• are designed around concepts that are transferable and/or scalable
• produce data that can lead to change

The Foundation makes grants that provide funding for: program development, start-up costs, capacity building, research, professional forums, and efforts to engage the public on education issues. In certain cases, the Foundation may provide general operating support.

The Foundation does not fund:

• Endowments
• Capital campaigns
• Political campaigns or lobbying efforts
• Direct grants to individuals

Several of the Foundation’s larger investments have been initiatives developed in collaboration with entrepreneurial educational organizations. The Foundation has worked with a variety of partners including charter school organizations, school districts, universities and non-profits. For a brief history of major projects funded by the Girard Foundation please click here.