Julius Rosenwald became the president of Sears in 1908. With the Jewish ideals of tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world) and the work of educator Booker T. Washington as inspiration, he established the Rosenwald Fund in 1917 and turned his resources to causes including the exclusion of Black children from education. His program built more than 5,300 schools in 15 states.