Northwestern Lehigh Educational Foundation announced May 7 that it has donated more than $1.5 million to the school district since its inception in 2007.

More than $250,000 has helped purchase nearly 900 Chromebooks for students expediting the transition to online learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The district was able to transition so quickly to digital learning environment due in large part to our long-standing partnership with the Northwestern Lehigh Educational Foundation,” Northwestern Lehigh School District Superintendent Jennifer Holman said. “Over the last several years, NWLEF has funded technology and other innovative projects that made the district poised to transition to an online environment when it became necessary, including the purchase of Chromebooks for students that helped to build our 1:1 environment with a device for each student.”

The Educational Improvement Tax Credit provides companies with a tax credit for donations to a nonprofit scholarship or educational improvement organization.

“The foundation began using Pennsylvania’s EITC program as a resource to drive funding in 2008/2009,” Educational Foundation Vice President Dan Macaulay said. “Although being a solution for where we are today was not the intention of the project funding Chromebooks when initially created, having the technology available has provided our district and the educators within our schools the ability to react swiftly.”

To learn more about the foundation’s funding and the EITC program, go to nwlef.org.