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Past Pioneers & Purpose

Pioneers & Purpose is an annual gala that has been celebrated every year since 2005. It is also the largest and most important fundraising event of the year for us. We invite you to learn about our 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 Pioneers & Purpose events.

Pioneer Business Leaders

Every year a distinguished person is recognized with the Pioneer Business Award for his/her commitment to education and technology, for making a lasting impact on our region, and for being an inspiration to tomorrow's innovators. Recipients of this award include John Thompson (2010), John Chambers (2009), Bruce Chizen (2008), Jen-Hsun Huang (2007), Michael Marks (2006), and Raymond Bingham (2005).

Location & Attendance

Since 2005, Pioneers & Purpose has been held at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, and it attracts between 500 and 600 influential business, education, and community leaders. The reception and networking is usually from 6:00pm - 7:00pm and the program and dinner from 7:00pm - 9:00pm.

Results

Pioneers & Purpose is the one event that brings together all of Silicon Valley in support of public education. Since 2005, we have raised over $2.6 million for programs that benefit the students, teachers and families in Silicon Valley. In 2010, John Thompson, former CEO of Symantec, was honored and we raised approximately $700,000 to support programs that are making a difference in our schools. These programs include:

Stepping Up To Algebra

Our middle school math program, offered at no cost to students, focuses on improving middle school math performance in Algebra, a critical gateway subject linked to success in college and beyond.

Lessonopoly

We leverage donations to support the uploading of quality, relevant content to our open source lesson plan sharing site, Lessopoly.org.

Education Forums

We held approximately 12 education forums a year on topics ranging from the budget crisis to the demand for universal preschool. These interactive forums bring together top business, education, and civic leaders around vital topics relevant to education.

School Field Trips

SVEF sends students on hundreds of field trips at these quality destinations: The Tech Museum, The Children's Discovery Museum, and the Marine Science Institute.

Teacher Innovation Grants

We award monetary grants of between $500-$1000 for teachers who submitted innovative lesson plans and bring an innovative approach to learning into the classroom.

School Readiness Packs

Geared for a Pre-K audience, we were able to distribute these school readiness packs to give children a head start on learning before entering kindergarten.