- Noggin Educational Foundation
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read

We started 2020 like any other year. We had already reached out to our summer program partner, and as expected, they were eager to continue. In fact, we were ahead of schedule. Most years, it takes until mid-summer to reset and prepare all the SPARK activities, but I had hired someone to take the lead. By the end of April, everything was ready. We were proud and excited.
At that point, COVID still felt temporary—just a lockdown and some changing headlines. But as the reality of the pandemic set in, I made the difficult decision: for the first time since founding Noggin, we would not have our SPARK program.
Then I got a call from our partner asking if we could deliver SPARK online. My knee-jerk reaction in my head was, “Absolutely not.” SPARK was designed to be tactile and hands-on with fun games and activities. I said I’d look into it, hung up the phone, cried a little, and prayed a lot. To my surprise, within a few days, I had figured out how to take Noggin online.
We found ourselves in the same place as many schools at the time—figuring it out! With a month to go before Summer we created a curriculum including digital activities, videos and games using online platforms without ChatGPT. With the help of flexible and dedicated teachers we were able to make the virtual experience a success. Despite all my fears, we pulled it off and gave the kids a great summer.
Behind the scenes, however, we were facing a financial crisis. Donations dropped dramatically. With so much uncertainty, many people stopped giving. We reached a point where our cash reserves were so low that I had to tell the board we would have to close if we didn’t receive more donations within the next month. Like many nonprofits, we were hanging on by a thread and I didn’t know how we would recover.
Then George Floyd was tragically killed, and our world changed. The protests and conversations around racial justice sparked a movement that also changed Noggin. Friends began reaching out, asking what they could do in light of the injustices that were being revealed. They wanted to know how they could make black lives matter. I told them that the majority of the students we served were black and brown. It had been our mission to honor their lives by ensuring they have access to academic opportunities that lead to lasting success.
I challenged them, and those who had supported us before, to support our students and help us level the playing field. And our work had a broad impact, reaching beyond our students to also positively influence their families and peers. Our mission resonated. Donations started coming in again, and many people gave for the first time. By the end of the year, we were out of financial danger.
Though it came through a deeply painful moment in our history, that surge of support helped save Noggin—and allowed us to continue impacting hundreds of students and their families.
2020 Timeline
June- First Virtual S.P.A.R.K
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, S.P.A.R.K. went virtual. 67 students from two organizations were served in Downtown and South Dallas.