TED Gets $1.25 M Sponsorship For New Online Youth Education Program

Kohl's Department Stores is partnering up with TED, the nonprofit organization that provides a conference platform for innovative thinkers to present Ideas Worth Spreading in a deal that will see Kohl's provide a $1.25 million sponsorship to launch education-based opportunities for youth. As part of the partnership, Kohl's will be the sole presenting sponsor of the inaugural TEDYouth event in New York this Saturday and will help TED launch TED-ED, a new resource on TED.com, providing free educational content for educators and students. The sponsorship comes from the Kohl's Cares cause merchandise program, which sells special merchandise, including plush toys and books, and donates 100 percent of the net profit to benefit children's health and education initiatives nationwide.

"Kohl's is committed to kids education and, at a time when school districts nationwide are feeling the pinch of budget cuts, we are partnering with TED to help bring free, exciting new educational opportunities and content to kids across the country," said Julie Gardner, Kohl's executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "TED presentations make learning fun and we believe the new programming created by our partnership will be compelling for kids and will help teachers who struggle to find great educational experiences with scarce resources."

TED's goal is to gather fascinating thinkers, industry leaders and innovators to speak at TED Conferences. These talks are captured and shared for free on TED.com. Since 2006, more than 1,000 talks have been viewed more than 500 million times.

"TED is constantly evolving and growing our mission to spread ideas across the globe that spark the imagination and ignite curiosity," said Ronda Carnegie, Head of Global Partnerships at TED. "This investment from Kohl's in TEDYouth and the launch of the new TED-ED initiative help make the TED platform an accessible tool to a crucial audience, educators and students."

#dealstag