What is the Kids In Need Foundation?
The Kids in Need Foundation (KINF) is a nonprofit organization offering free school supplies and resources to children throughout the United States. Their vision is to see that every child in America has equal opportunity and resources to engage in a quality education. Their mission is to create equitable learning spaces for all students.
KINF offers various services to help students and teachers have a successful school year. The Teacher Resource Center allows qualifying teachers to shop for school supplies and classroom resources at zero cost. The Supply a Teacher program provides teachers with two large boxes full of materials for the semester. The boxes include pencil pouches, rulers, markers, folders, and more. The Supply a Student program provides students with backpacks full of school supplies for the semester including pencils, notebooks, erasers, scissors, and more.
The Kids In Need Foundation’s 2022 impact and future goals
KINF has supported 17,472 under-resourced schools, 33,169 teachers, and 7.7 million kids. It has distributed more than $143 million in free school supplies and classroom resources nationwide.
In collaboration with its National Network of Resource Centers, KINF serves 21,369 students every day. For every $1 donated to KINF, $24 of supplies are provided to teachers and students in under-resourced schools.
“We partner with 39 mission-driven teacher resource centers that are all across the nation, eligible schools, and strategically aligned nonprofits and we distribute more than $143 million in resources every year,” shared a KINF representative.
By 2025, KINF’s goal is to serve 10 million students, 500,000 teachers, and reach $520 million in yearly product distribution.
How the MREF supports KINF
The Marketing Research Education Foundation (MREF) partnered with the Kids In Need Foundation in 2022 and 2023 as part of its Backpack Challenge fundraiser. In 2022, the MREF’s Backpack Challenge fundraiser raised nearly $45,000 to help KINF and True North Aid deliver school supplies to under-resourced children.
The 2023 Backpack Challenge ends on August 31 and the MREF’s goal is to raise $25,000 to send 1,000+ backpacks full of essential school supplies to communities in need. We hope you’ll consider buying a backpack for a child in need.
How to get involved
If you missed the 2023 Backpack Challenge, there are still many ways to get involved! KINF hosts private volunteering groups to pack their Supply a Teacher and Supply a Student boxes. They accept volunteers at their resource centers. To learn more visit www.kinf.org.
The MREF works with organizations and individuals in the marketing research industry to help the most marginalized children in the world access quality education. Follow the MREF on LinkedIn to stay up to date on future fundraisers or donate today to help us continue our mission to educate kids in need around the world.