SAISD Foundation

As the Education Foundation for the San Antonio Independent School District, the SAISD Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity, with a mission to motivate the community to invest in students and teachers to reach our vision where all SAISD students and teachers thrive in San Antonio ISD public schools. Annually, our donors enable us to invest in 800+ educator grants, 250+ student scholarships, emergency gap awards, and district-wide investments expanding student opportunities in STEM, Arts, and Literacy. 

Give through The Big Give and invest in Cultural Arts Programming!

With the rich legacy of cultural arts programming in SAISD, we are working to continue and strengthen our programs, making SAISD the epicenter of Mariachi and Ballet Folklórico programming. Help us achieve our goal of $25,000 and 100 donors during this year's Big Give!

There are 27 SAISD K–12 Mariachi programs for the 2025–26 school year. Last year, 2,520 students participated in Mariachi education in SAISD, and next school year that number is expected to grow. We are proposing a focused effort in two feeder patterns each year with expected strong outcomes, in addition to the general districtwide support we provide. The call to action below speaks to what we can do to bring SAISD Mariachi programming to be the best in the state and the nation. Additionally, the SAISD Foundation will continue supporting all current programs through SAISD Foundation grants and by fundraising for school-based programs.

There
are currently 17 Ballet Folklórico programs in SAISD elementary, middle, and
high schools. Last year, student enrollment in these classes or participation after school reached 659 kids. As more elementary programs add this cultural art
with support from SAISD Foundation grants, access to these free programs during
and after school will be even wider. Your support ensures students have access
to the cultural dress and shoes critical to performing.

Special Match Opportunity: Double Your Investment

We
are delighted and deeply appreciative to share some exciting news: anonymous, long-time supporters of our cause, have extended
a matching opportunity for this year's "The Big Give."

They
have pledged to match the first $25,000 in contributions at 100%. This
means that your investment will have twice the impact!

Take action now and invest in the future of our students!

Who We Are

Because of donors like you, each year we are able to award more than 400 educator grants to implement their innovative ideas to make a difference for students in SAISD. Through the Big Give, you allow us to Give Big to teachers!

We welcome gifts in honor of an educator who inspired you. Perhaps it is your child's teacher, a former teacher of yours or simply great educator you know! Put your educator or educators name in the message to make it public. (We will post their names on our In Honor Of page on on our website too ).

In addition to teacher grants, each year we support 120+ students to pursue and persist through post-secondary education through student scholarships and emergency gap funding which pays for those things that can prevent our students in getting to the first day of college (housing deposits, orientation fees, a flight to school out of state).

As the school district education foundation for San Antonio ISD (SAISD), we serve 48,000 students in 90+ schools in SAISD. 90% of our students are economically disadvantaged. The median household income of SAISD families is $31,045 which means we serve more students in need across our community than any other school district making your gift that much more important.