SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. organization dedicated to supporting China's rural education has been actively raising funds to help upgrade schools in need and train teachers in China.

Shin Shin Educational Foundation, a non-profit organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area, has raised 700,000 U.S. dollars this year for 130 elementary schools in China, including renovating school buildings, training teachers and headmasters, launching internet classes and opening reading rooms, said the foundation's President Yang Yiqing at a press briefing Friday in Santa Clara, California.

Those schools, located in the rural areas in the Chinese provinces of Jilin, Hunan, Sichuan and Gansu, are in great need of assistance, she said.

The foundation launched a two-week workshop on art education this summer, which engaged 30 art teachers from 30 rural schools. An online training course, conducted by a professor at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, was also provided for those who couldn't attend the workshop in person.

"We realize that most of the rural schools are badly in need of art teachers. For those who have art teachers, they need further training on art education," said Yang.

The foundation has sponsored 350 elementary schools since it launched in 1997 with the mission of improving the learning environment for rural children in China, according to Shin Shin.

The non-profit group's funding mainly comes from individual donors, and they usually host two fundraisers annually, Yang said.

"We have hundreds of volunteers and thousands of donors. We also partner with local companies and charity organizations, and more and more people are donating to us," said Yang.