So one philanthropist decided to do something about it. Last week, more than 100 teachers, counselors, and advisors from a school in a suburb of San Francisco were asked to attend a last-minute meeting, according to The San Francisco Standard—and each was handed a check for $9,161.70.

Longtime local philanthropist Maja Kristin donated $1 million to make that happen. 

“We, as citizens, can write a direct check, Kristin told TV station KRON4. “My hope was … word would get out, and Marin residents who value public education would step forward one way or another, whether it’s a direct gift or a political act, or foundation pull or something.” 

Even though Marin County is one of the wealthiest suburbs of San Francisco, with a median household income of nearly $150,000, teachers in the Ross Valley School District were paid only about $64,000. Meanwhile, other starting salaries for teachers in Marin County are as high as almost $80,000, according to data from Ross Valley School District. And, mid-range salaries can be as high as about $142,000 in Marin County, but Ross Valley trails behind at just $102,000, the data shows.

So, Kristin believes teachers being just about $64,000 in Ross Valley is gross underpayment. 

“I have three kids, and there’s lots of activities that they want to do that we can’t always afford to pay for because of my salary,” teacher Anna Schnell told KRON4.  “And it’s with this kind [of] money that there are things I can say yes to that they want to do, so it’s really exciting and huge for our family.”

Kristin isn’t the only donor bypassing institutions to put money directly in educators’ hands. Last year, an anonymous San Francisco tech worker gave $1.6 million so that all 6,000 teachers and paraeducators in San Francisco Unified received a $250 gift card. Businessman and TV personality Marcus Lemonis also cut $18,000 checks to every staff member at his Miami high school alma mater in 2021.

“I’m not going to wait for the government or private institutions to do what we think is right,” Lemonis said, similar to Kristin’s own case that “we, as citizens, can write a direct check.”

Who is Maja Kristin and why did she donate $1 million to teachers?

Kristin started her professional career in law, specializing in civil cases for survivors of sexual abuse, and is known for her work against the Catholic Church involving priest molestation. 

She later taught negotiation and mediation at law schools including Stanford Law School, UC Berkeley School of Law, and UC Hastings (now UC Law San Francisco).

Kristin grew up in San Francisco’s public housing projects, raised by a single mother, and worked her way through college and law school. She founded her own firm just two years after passing the bar, and was later named one of America’s top 10 women lawyers by Time.

In a podcast interview, Kristin described a philosophy she calls “the last breath, the last dime,” which is a plan to distribute her wealth while she’s alive rather than pass it to heirs. 

While her net worth is unknown, Kristin has made several multimillion-dollar donations, including a $3 million gift to the American Red Cross in January and $3 million to UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center in 2023. That same year, she also donated a 120-acre Nicasio property (in Marin County) to Halleck Creek Ranch, which connects children and adults living with disabilities to horseback riding and equine therapy. Before that, she had been a consistent donor to Halleck Creek Ranch for more than a decade. 

“The timing was just perfect,” Kristin told the Point Reyes Light. “Halleck is right there, and when I reached out, they said they were looking to expand their outreach and wanted to preserve the land.”