DonorsChoose has announced contributions totaling more than $1.25 million from Robert F. Smith, his investment firm, Vista Equity Partners, and PowerSchool, a provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education.

The funds will be used to fulfill more than eighteen hundred teacher funding requests for classroom supplies from over thirteen hundred teachers in predominantly Black schools in and around Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Houston, Memphis, and New Orleans — communities that are home to half of all Black people in the country. According to DonorsChoose, teachers who work primarily with students from low-income households and students of color spend more of their own money on classroom materials compared with those who work with majority white students from higher-income households.

The gift builds on the Southern Communities Initiative launched in April by Smith, Boston Consulting Group CEO Rich Lesser, and PayPal president and CEO Dan Schulman to accelerate the deployment of corporate resources to six southern communities that are home to approximately half the African-American population.

"As the son of educators, equal access to quality education has always been a core tenet of my life. The ability to identify problems and enjoy finding their solutions begins in the classroom, yet our teachers and administrators continue to face uphill battles in securing the proper resources and materials to engage students, particularly Black students and students from low-income households," said Smith, founder, chair, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. "While no amount of money is ever repayment enough for our educators’ relentless dedication to their students, we hope this funding will ease their burden and catalyze others to join our efforts.