Sep 25, 2018 By Sebastian Rupley

Salesforce’s Marc Benioff Joins Bay Area Mayors and Nonprofit Leaders to Announce Grants Addressing Homelessness, Hunger and More

in Dreamforce, Equality, Events

Today, as Dreamforce ‘18 opened in San Francisco, Salesforce.org, the philanthropic arm of Salesforce, announced $18 million in grants addressing three important issues facing the city of San Francisco: public education, homelessness, and cleanliness.

A morning press conference on the grants and recipients featured speakers Marc Benioff, Salesforce Chairman and Co-CEO; San Francisco Mayor London Breed; Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf; and Tomiquia Moss, Hamilton Families CEO.

Salesforce.org’s grants include $15.5 million for the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), $2 million dollars in grants to address homelessness and hunger in the Bay Area, and a $500,000 grant to the San Francisco Parks Alliance.

Marc Benioff, Salesforce Chairman and Co-CEO, addresses attendees, press, and students in the Trailhead Zone of Dreamforce '18.

“Speaking as a fourth generation San Franciscan and somebody who grew up in this city, I’m excited that we can take the power of Salesforce and the power of all our customers and community, and give back to the city in a meaningful way,” Benioff said. “This Dreamforce is dedicated back to San Francisco. We are now more than halfway to our goal of giving $100 million to our local schools.”

“We are going to change what is normal for schools in San Francisco,” said Breed. “We will do it for the future. We are going to invest in our kids and make sure that the door of opportunity is open to them.”

San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks of the ongoing partnership between Salesforce and SFUSD.

Benioff noted that San Francisco and Oakland are connected beyond the Bay Bridge that physically connects the cities, and said that Salesforce’s giving to public schools will continue to focus on both of them. “Marc Benioff sees that San Francisco does not exist in a bubble,” said Oakland Mayor Schaaf. “We are confronting issues that require regional collaboration, and companies cannot sit on the moral sidelines any longer.”

To combat family and youth homelessness, Salesforce.org is donating $500,000 each to Hamilton Families and Larkin Street Youth Services. Hamilton Families combats family homelessness in San Francisco, and Larkin Street Youth Services is a nonprofit that helps youths move beyond homelessness.

“We want to thank Salesforce and its staffers, who show up at our shelters and make lunches with us,” Moss said. “We couldn’t do what we do without organizations that partner with us and battle homelessness.”

Some of the children who will directly benefit from the Salesforce grants were in attendance at the press conference. Dreamforce features a Kids Coding Zone, where 250 students from SFUSD, OUSD, Hamilton Families, and Marin County Day School are participating in hands-on STEM and robotics education activities.