The Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula (BGCP) focuses on building educational platforms for underprivileged children in the Bay Area. In an effort to support this focus, the BGCP board brought VCs together for a Shark Tank event.  The goal was to get support for education programs in low-income areas that are right in the VC's backyards.

This year Jeff Williams, Operating Partner, Bain Capital Ventures, co-hosted the second annual Shark Tank event with Jeffrey Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, and it was an incredible event with amazing pitches and a phenomenal cast of Sharks. They hosted a full production of Shark Tank where Boys and Girls Club participants pitched their investment opportunities which were focused on increasing the ability to educate more children.

The first pitch was done by two 5th grade BGCP students who pitched a "Summer Learning Program" for K-5 children that included a summer school program to ramp their knowledge for the upcoming year.  The program also included access to Camp Galileo, which would be held locally so that underprivileged children that cannot afford to travel to the camp can now participate at zero cost.

The ROI was to close the gap on Summer Learning Loss that happens in low-income areas where schools do not offer summer enrichment programs. The ask from the students was for funding for 1000 additional students at $500 per student for a total of $400,000.

The second pitch was given by two first generation college students who proposed a "College Success Program" that focused on college applications counseling for 10th-grade high school students. The team's ask was to support 300 high school students at $1,500 per student for a total of $450,000.

The total support required to fund both programs was the $950,000, and both pitches were successful! In fact, the event was so successful, $1.4 million was raised.