KLA Foundation granted more than $4.8 million to over 200 nonprofit organizations in 2022 and match-funded employee donations exceeding $2 million across all the global regions where KLA has a presence.
“By strategically partnering with organizations that know their communities the best, we are investing in a more inclusive world and helping to fulfill the core mission of KLA and KLA Foundation of advancing humanity around the world.”
Jen Shea, executive director, KLA Foundation
The foundation, which aligns its funding priorities with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, made key investments in 2022 based on its three pillars – education, wellness and community enrichment. Here are some highlights of these investments:
Education
Eyes on an Invisible World
The KLA Foundation’s STEM Inspectors: Searching for Defects in the Microscopic World is helping students around the world see what is usually invisible to the naked eye. As part of its commitment to help advance science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, the foundation has distributed paper microscopes to more than 1,600 students to date in Wales, Israel, California and Arizona.
Advancing Robotics
KLA Foundation is helping to bring robotics programs to students around the world through a partnership with FIRST Robotics Competition in the United States and with other organizations like Feeling and Enjoying Science and Technology (FEST) in South Korea. KLA employees support these programs by volunteering to engage students around the world, introducing thousands of participants to exciting robotics and other mentor-based STEM education programs.
Supporting Mobile STEM Lab in India
KLA Foundation Mobile Science Lab and its staff of teachers and technicians traveled to 15 schools in India to inspire STEM education among 16,000 students through science experiments and other hands-on learning experiences. At one school in Chennai, eight KLA employees engaged with children from underserved communities presenting science projects built with the help of the mobile lab and its staff – and two were motivated to write about their experiences.
Helping Kids Think Like Scientists
In collaboration with employees in Milpitas, California and Ann Arbor, Michigan and the nonprofit Science is Elementary (SiE), KLA Foundation helped deliver inspiring, innovative, high-quality science experiences to 7,500 preschool and elementary schoolchildren. The SiE series of short books features children from diverse backgrounds using science to solve problems. Children learn that they can think like scientists and become scientists. The KLA Foundation will bring this program to children in the United Kingdom in 2023.
Health and Wellness
Record KLA Donations to American Diabetes Association
KLA employees and the KLA Foundation donated a company record $81,396 to the 2022 American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure in Sonoma, California. Riding up to 100 miles each, 48 KLA riders cycled to help give people living with diabetes more equitable access to healthcare.
Blood Donations for Cancer Patients
In partnership with and blood donations by KLA employees across the U.S., the KLA Foundation supported the Red Cross “Blood Saves Lives: Fighting Cancer” initiative to help meet the needs of cancer patients who rely on platelets as an important part of their treatment.
Community
Working with Habitat for Humanity
In two initiatives with Habit for Humanity, KLA Foundation and KLA employees helped build mobile homes for wildfire victims in South Korea, and the foundation granted financial support to help with critical housing needs for families in Silicon Valley, California.
Helping Israeli Girls Reach for Higher Goals
In Israel, KLA Foundation supported Shavot, an organization that encourages girls to develop positive long-term self-esteem and sense of self-worth. Shavot programs provide participants with tools to help discover new strengths, aspire to reach for higher goals and achieve them. Girls participate in mentoring programs – often with KLA Israel mentors – to learn about career paths, professional branding and practice job hunting.
Support for Food Insecurity
KLA Foundation and global KLA employees volunteered at food banks and made donations to buy food for people most in need by collaborating with World Central Kitchen, Weilburger Tafel in Germany, Second Harvest Food Bank of Silicon Valley and Food Gatherers in Michigan.
Action for Children in UK
KLA Foundation granted financial support to Action for Children, which supports and protects children and young people in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Action for Children offers practical and emotional care to children who have been neglected or abused and helps families with disabled children. The organization also delivers mental health programs for children and provides support to families with foster children.
Relief for Ukraine
KLA Foundation and KLA employees around the world donated more than $350,000 to fund medical aid and humanitarian relief to people in Ukraine. Organizations receiving funding were the International Rescue Committee, Ukrainian National Women’s League of America and World Central Kitchen.
Empowering Female Entrepreneurs in Underserved Communities
KLA Foundation, working with KLA’s WISE (Women in STEM Empowered) employee resource group, supported female entrepreneurs in underserved global communities by awarding microloans to women through the international nonprofit Kiva to help them overcome financial barriers and make their families successful. In 2022, 987 women in more than 50 countries across Europe, Asia and Latin America received loans totaling $33,250.
Celebrating US National Reading Month
In celebration of National Reading Month in the U.S., KLA’s BELIEVE (Black Employees Leading in Inclusion, Excellence, Vision and Education) employee resource group teamed up with KLA Foundation, local Black-owned book sellers, City Year in Detroit and the Boys and Girls Club in San Francisco to distribute hundreds of “I Am Enough” books to students in underserved communities.
Supporting Latinx Educational Programs in California
KLA Foundation and Konexión, KLA’s employee resource group celebrating the Latinx community, supported the Hispanic Foundation’s STEM education and Bridge to College programs for Latinx students in the San Jose/Milpitas areas of California.
Visit the KLA Foundation to learn how we make a difference in the lives of people around the world.
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