if your friend wants to be involved beyond writing a one-time check, i would recommend developing a close relationship with a local public school (or two) in need (most organizations determine that based on the number of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch).

there's so much your friend can do with $5,000 that has the possibility to directly impact many lives. if you're concerned about where the money goes (as you should be, i certainly would), working with a local school should give you greater control over how the money is spent - whether it be on the purchase of classrom libraries, school/art/front office supplies (even simple things like copy paper can be a financial burden on a school), help start/fund a School Pantry Program (lot of resources online, if you're not familiar), subsidize field trips, etc. If you'd prefer to work with older students, you can set up small scholarships for college-bound seniors (even something like $500-$1,000 can be really helpful for a student from a low-income household).

obviously, you cannot do ALLLLLLLLL of the things, but there IS so much you can do for a local school and local students with $5,000.

....this is all assuming that "your friend" is a person who is acting on their own, and not acting on behalf of a corporate entity, which may actually prefer to write a one-time check for $5,000 and be done with it (and definitely no judgment if that's the case).