The Bigger Picture: Behind Millions in Grants to Drive Policy and Systems Change on Education

The Bigger Picture: Behind Millions in Grants to Drive Policy and Systems Change on Education

In another sign that education funders are looking beyond narrow school-level reforms, StriveTogether—with backing from the Ballmer Group—is deploying $20 million to back efforts to shift public policy and systems.

Read More

"Local Context." The New Gates K-12 Strategy is Coming Into Sharper Focus

"Local Context." The New Gates K-12 Strategy is Coming Into Sharper Focus

Nearly a half-billion dollars in grants will go out the door as part of the Gates Foundation’s new initiative to support school networks. We look at what kinds of groups are winning support as the money starts to flow.

Read More

Tomorrow's Workforce: Why the APS Foundation Stays Loyal to STEM Education in Arizona

Tomorrow's Workforce: Why the APS Foundation Stays Loyal to STEM Education in Arizona

The grantmaking arm of the Arizona Public Service Company continues to fund STEM education, with an eye on diversity and a changing jobs landscape. A senior team member offers an inside look at APS’s grantmaking.

Read More

State of Flux: Five Things To Know About K-12 Education Philanthropy Right Now

State of Flux: Five Things To Know About K-12 Education Philanthropy Right Now

Improving America’s schools has been something of a Holy Grail for funders—as well as a graveyard for ambitious philanthropic schemes. Lately, this funding field has been changing at warp speed. 

Read More

Teaching K-12 is Brutally Hard. Here's How CZI Is Offering Support

Teaching K-12 is Brutally Hard. Here's How CZI Is Offering Support

A new set of gifts from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative supporting teachers signals a larger commitment to this area and comes at a time when the profession faces major challenges. 

Read More

What’s Happening With the New Gates Education Strategy?

What’s Happening With the New Gates Education Strategy?

Back in October, Bill Gates announced that his foundation would be putting $1.7 billion behind a new K-12 strategy over the next five years. Here's the latest on where that's heading.

Read More

Billionaire Backlash: A Gift To a Public High School Becomes a Case Study in Donor Overreach

Billionaire Backlash: A Gift To a Public High School Becomes a Case Study in Donor Overreach

For years now, there's been rising controversy about super-wealthy donors intruding too far into public spaces or imposing too many demands on institutions. Apparently, Stephen Schwarzman hasn’t been paying attention.

Read More

Targeting Support: Behind a Big Impact Investment by the Ballmer Group

Targeting Support: Behind a Big Impact Investment by the Ballmer Group

As the Ballmer Group pumps millions into nonprofits working to lift children out of poverty, it also has its eye on using new technology to drive faster progress in this tough area.

Read More

Direct Support: Why a Tech Giver is Helping Fuel the Rapid Growth of a Top K-12 Nonprofit

Direct Support: Why a Tech Giver is Helping Fuel the Rapid Growth of a Top K-12 Nonprofit

DonorsChoose.org is now facilitating more than $100 million a year in gifts to help classroom teachers. One of the group’s top boosters, Craig Newmark, tell us why its model is so appealing.

Read More

Behind a Big Bet by Top K-12 Philanthropists on a Different Way to Run Schools

Behind a Big Bet by Top K-12 Philanthropists on a Different Way to Run Schools

Backed by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings with $200 million, the new ed group City Fund aims to spread the portfolio model of school management. Which means what, exactly?

Read More

How a Gift to an Education Media Outlet Fits into Bigger Strategies for CZI and Gates

How a Gift to an Education Media Outlet Fits into Bigger Strategies for CZI and Gates

A media outlet that covers the intersection between education and technology reveals important things about the ideas that excite two major funders.

Read More

The Real Estate Investor Betting on Big Returns from a Local Early Reading Program

The Real Estate Investor Betting on Big Returns from a Local Early Reading Program

A growing number of funders want to ensure that children can read by third grade. We explore how a major donor in New York came to this cause and got behind a nonprofit helping teachers do better at teaching reading.

Read More

The Latest on an Effort to Fund Nontraditional High School Models in New England

The Latest on an Effort to Fund Nontraditional High School Models in New England

The Barr Foundation recently committed to a new batch of grantees who are “doing high school differently.” Here’s how the funder’s education redesign strategy has been playing out in New England.

Read More

Beyond Charters: Will Philanthropy Step Up for Public Schools in Los Angeles?

Beyond Charters: Will Philanthropy Step Up for Public Schools in Los Angeles?

Five foundations recently came together to start the Fund for Equity and Excellence to support Los Angeles public schools. Will this effort attract new partners and funding to the nation’s second-largest school district?

Read More

A New Strategy is Bringing in Millions for Public Schools in St. Louis

A New Strategy is Bringing in Millions for Public Schools in St. Louis

Public education funds are entities that act as conduits between private donors and public school districts. They’ve thrived in Washington, D.C., and New York. But can this model also succeed elsewhere?

Read More

A Big Gift for an Overlooked K-12 Niche: School Counselors

A Big Gift for an Overlooked K-12 Niche: School Counselors

School counselors can help shape students’ lives in big ways, like getting them to the right college and hooking them up with local employers. But we don’t see a lot of grants focused here. Here’s an exception from Indiana.

Read More

Behind the $35 Million Gift to Launch a Charter School in a Struggling City

Behind the $35 Million Gift to Launch a Charter School in a Struggling City

The CS Mott Foundation put up $35 million to start a new charter school in Flint, Michigan. What’s the story with this big gift from a funder that doesn’t consider itself a supporter of the charter movement?

Read More

It's One of the Biggest Failures Yet in K-12 Philanthropy. What Are the Lessons?

It's One of the Biggest Failures Yet in K-12 Philanthropy. What Are the Lessons?

Risk is often a key to high-impact philanthropy. But experiments that go wrong can impose major costs on communities. A case in point: the Gates Foundation’s push to improve teacher effectiveness.

Read More

The End of the Charter School Era? Hardly. But a Key Charter Funder is Expanding its Agenda

The End of the Charter School Era? Hardly. But a Key Charter Funder is Expanding its Agenda

The Walton Family Foundation joins the growing number of charter movement backers giving more attention to traditional public schools. Here’s what the funder’s latest grants tell us about where it’s going next.

Read More

In Bloomberg's New Education Push, a High-Stakes Test of His Big Philanthropy

In Bloomberg's New Education Push, a High-Stakes Test of His Big Philanthropy

Michael Bloomberg is dramatically scaling up his giving toward education, an area that’s famously frustrated even the deepest-pocketed donors. Can Bloomberg succeed where others have failed?

Read More