Stephen Colbert may be a big shot in New York media, but his heart is still in South Carolina.
The future “Late Show” host has donated a total of $800,000 to fund every teacher-requested grant project in his home state through crowdfunding website Donorschoose.org, he announced on Thursday via a live video feed from a conference in New York.
“Using the proceeds of the sale of my old set on ‘The Colbert Report,’ which we auctioned off, and with the generous matching funds from The Morgridge Family Foundation and ScanSource, DonorsChoose is going to flash-fund all 1,000 projects in South Carolina,” Colbert said in the video that was aired at the Alexander Elementary School in Greenville. “Enjoy your learning, South Carolina.”
The generous move will benefit 800 teachers at over 375 schools.
In 2011, Colbert partnered with Jimmy Fallon to raise money for Donorschoose.
Colbert, who was born in Washington D.C. but grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, hosted the final episode of Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report” in December 2014. He will take over from David Letterman on CBS’s “Late Show” in September.