About Santa Monica Education Foundation
Our mission is to engage the community to invest in a vibrant educational experience for all students in the Santa Monica public schools.
Focus Areas
K-12 public educationVisual and performing artsMusic education and instrument supportAthletics programsAcademic enrichment grantsInstructional assistants / classroom supportScholarshipsLibrary supportSTEM and enrichment programming
Who They Fund
K-12 studentsschool communitiesyouth participants
Funding Style
About Santa Monica Education Foundation
A single district-wide grant to Santa Monica Malibu USD anchors the Santa Monica Education Foundation’s giving: $2,486,002 in 2025 for Arts, ACAD and Athletic Program, followed by $2,145,380 in 2024 for the same broad school-support purpose. That pattern shows a funder built around sustained support for the Santa Monica public schools rather than isolated project grants. Their programs reach across K-12 public education, with money flowing into arts instruction, academic enrichment, athletics, classroom support, and student scholarships. The foundation also maintains permanent endowments that help fund music lessons, instruments, theater resources, visual arts materials, and academic programming across the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. At the school level, it backs stretch and enrichment grants determined by site councils and principals, as well as district programs that support instructional assistants and enrichment opportunities. The organization’s mission is to engage the community to invest in a vibrant educational experience for all students in Santa Monica public schools, and its grantmaking reflects that district-wide, multi-program approach.
What Santa Monica Education Foundation Funds
Arts education is one of the clearest through lines in the foundation’s grantmaking. It supports a For The Arts Endowment that funds dance specialists, music classes, theater funding, assistant music teachers at Title I schools, and grants to secondary visual arts teachers. In performing arts, the High School Theatre Grants program helps Samohi cover theater equipment, specialist hires such as costume and lighting designers, and production costs. Academic support appears through the For Academics Endowment, which was established in 1998 and has supported school libraries, instructional aides, and enrichment grants. The foundation also funds Academic Enrichment Grants for certificated teachers in Santa Monica public schools, giving them resources to enrich classrooms with programs and classes that complement the curriculum.
How Santa Monica Education Foundation Gives
Typical grant size is tightly clustered: p25 is $2,230,536, median is $2,315,691, and p75 is $2,400,846. That fits a pattern of large annual district-level awards rather than many small grants. The recent grants table shows the same recipient in consecutive years, indicating recurring support rather than one-off funding. The foundation is local in scope, and its active programs are primarily structured as annual funds, endowments, and school-based grants. Some programs accept unsolicited requests, including the athletics campaign/endowment and the Samohi Scholarship Fund, while several others are not open to unsolicited applications.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$4.8M
Total Assets
$15.6M
Total Revenue
$3.5M
Total Expenses
$3.5M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $2.2M and $2.4M, with a median of $2.3M.
25th Percentile
$2.2M
Median
$2.3M
75th Percentile
$2.4M
Geographic Reach
Local1 state funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
Raymur Flinn
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