Best Buy Children's Foundation

Every teen has dreams. We’re working to ensure they have the opportunity to achieve them. The Best Buy Foundation™ is a 501(c)(3) organization that supports educational and career opportunities for teens and promotes vibrant communities. Our History 1994 A foundation established. Our story starts under a different name: The Best Buy Children’s Foundation set its early sights on supporting K-12 education, life skills, health and wellness and leadership development for children of all ages. The Foundation launched in line with the first annual Best Buy Foundation Charity Classic event, then just a one-day golf tournament but already rooted on a bedrock of partnership and collaboration. 2000-2002 Expanded giving. As we began to build out a comprehensive grantmaking portfolio, the Foundation hit its first milestone: surpassing $1 million in total donations in 2000. Just two years later, average annual giving reached over $10 million. Today, the Best Buy Foundation maintains that commitment to grantmaking in our hometown communities and nationwide. 2008 A refined focus. The Foundation introduced @15, a grants and scholarship program that supported teens in pursuing post-secondary education, developing life and leadership skills, accessing technology and engaging in their communities. @15 was eventually phased out as we evolved our strategy, but the focus on teens has remained central to our mission ever since. 2013 A groundbreaking partnership. As the Foundation’s focus narrowed, we reestablished ourselves as the Best Buy Foundation. That same year, we began a game-changing partnership with The Clubhouse Network, an international nonprofit organization founded on the principles of the MIT Media Lab. This collaboration, coupled with generous donations of high-end, professional-grade technology from Best Buy's vendor community, helped create the model for the Best Buy Teen Tech Center® program. The first location opened at the Hennepin County Library - Minneapolis Central Branch. Local teens gained access to state-of-the-art technology and a safe, welcoming environment — and the Foundation gained a new model for driving deep, lasting impact. 2017 Better together. As the Best Buy Teen Tech Center® network grew, we started to get the question, "What about my community?" We realized that supporters could help us not only by donating technology, but also by serving as financial sponsors to bring new Teen Tech Centers to more communities. The Foundation tested out this new model with Sony Electronics, Inc. who sponsored the Best Buy Teen Tech Center at the Boys Girls Club of San Marcos - Jennifer Loscher Branch. Companies also started sponsoring Career Pathways programming and hiring paid high school interns (both of which we were quickly understanding to be vital for long-term impact for program participants). Around the same time, the Foundation’s biggest financial supporter (and original establisher), Best Buy Enterprise Services, made a $20 million donation to help us expand, and, importantly, sustain a network of Teen Tech Centers across the U.S. Today, a wide network of public, private, and philanthropic organizations , an international nonprofit organization founded on the principles of the MIT Media Lab. This collaboration, coupled with generous donations of high-end, professional-grade technology from Best Buy's vendor community, helped create the model for the 2020/2021 Big goals. The events of 2020 underscored longstanding systemic inequities. Issues like the digital inequities and the opportunity gap – issues that the Best Buy Foundation had been tackling for years - were intensely magnified. As part of a larger array of goals set by Best Buy, the Foundation amplified its commitment to teens and technology by resolving to double the network of Best Buy Teen Tech Center® locations to 100 by 2025. Shortly thereafter, the Foundation committed $10 million to launch the Community Impact Hub in Los Angeles County. By partnering with a network of philanthropic, private, public and community organizations to address inequities in the region (with a specific focus on preparing youth for roles in the local creative economy), the Hub will ultimately support 12 Teen Tech Centers in Los Angeles County Today Major milestones. In the fall of 2022, the 50th Best Buy Teen Tech Center opened in Gary, Indiana, powered by the Damien and Katy Harmon Foundation, at the Boys Girls Club of Greater Northwest Indiana. In addition to an ever-growing network of Teen Tech Center locations, the Foundation continues to invest in nonprofit organizations across the country and in our home communities, awarding over $13 million in grants in 2022. We’re proud to share that our partnerships, grantmaking and engagement have impacted more than 1 million young people over the last 10 years.