Teachers within the San Francisco Unified School District who require an additional display can obtain one at no cost through Two Screens for Teachers, a charitable organization that has recently made a comparable offering available to educators in Seattle. Teachers in San Francisco can register for this opportunity here.

While some might consider a second monitor a convenience or a tool for advanced users, it provides a substantial advantage for teachers, whose workdays frequently involve continuous virtual meetings. The ability to dedicate one screen to the meeting while utilizing another for instructional materials and other resources greatly enhances their efficiency.

Two Screens for Teachers was founded in September by Matt Lerner and Mike Mathieu of Walk Score. What began as a simple effort to connect teachers in need with individuals willing to contribute around $100 quickly evolved into a much larger initiative.

Through partnerships with local businesses and venture capital firms, they successfully raised sufficient funds to ensure that any teacher in Seattle could receive a monitor upon request. They discovered that this approach proved to be more effective. Lerner and his team have established agreements for volume discounts with companies like Dell, which considerably reduces the funding required for each school district.

San Francisco was a logical next location to pursue fundraising efforts, and they have now secured enough donations to support teachers in that city, as well as Oakland, Redwood City, and Contra Costa County. (Funding for San Jose is currently slightly below the target.)

This compelling map, simultaneously inspiring and sobering, illustrates the extent of the need in comparison to the progress made.

Despite the ambitious goal of providing monitors to over 150,000 teachers, it’s noteworthy that in just a few months since its inception, Two Screens for Teachers has already distributed more than 20,000 monitors to both large cities and smaller communities. This demonstrates a significant impact!

The total cost of equipping teachers nationwide with this essential equipment is approximately $23 million. This figure appears remarkably modest, especially considering that a single billionaire – perhaps one of many who have seen their net worth increase tenfold in the past year – could easily cover this expense with a single contribution. This represents a cost-effective opportunity to generate widespread positive sentiment.

Here’s the link to contribute!

For those who are not members of the “three-comma club,” there are still ways to assist, either through direct donations or by following the instructions provided here to send a monitor to a teacher in need.