Kern Family Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Kern Family Foundation's initiatives are quality education, good character, entrepreneurial spirit and meaningful work. Its education funding prioritizes STEM disciplines and charter school networks.
IP TAKE: The Kern Family Foundation is not an approachable or accessible funder by design. It prefers to choose its own grantees. It’s also a pretty conservative funder, so progressive grantseekers should look elsewhere for grantmaking support. This grantmaker avoids taking grantmaking risks.
PROFILE: The Waukesha, Wisconsin-based Kern Family Foundation was established in 1998 by Robert and Patricia Kern, the founders of Generac Power Systems, a manufacturer of engine-driven power generators. Through their foundation, the Kerns aim to "ensure that the rising generation has access to the opportunities that made their success possible." Until recently, the foundation named four grantmaking initiatives: Faith, Work, and Economics; K-12 Education Reform; the Kern Entrepreneurship Engineering Network; and Program-Related Education. This funder has recently removed specific information about its grantmaking programs from its website, but its grantmaking continues to support the same grantmaking areas of interest.
Grants for STEM Education and K-12 Education
This Kern Family Foundation’s K-12 education grantmaking prioritizes STEM education as preparation for "the increasingly competitive and technology-driven global job market." To this end, it supports America Achieves, an organization which brings technology-based vocational training and apprenticeships to high schools, and Project Lead the Way, which creates and implements hands-on STEM curricula and related teacher development for grades K-12. The Charter School Growth Fund and New York's Success Academies are recipients of the quality education program, while Colorado's DSST Public Schools and Open Sky Education, an organization that manages charter schools, private Christian schools and other character education programs, have received funding from the good character program.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
The Kern Family Foundation supports economic opportunity through its Faith, Work, and Economics program area, which is aimed at Christian pastors and ministers in order to promote “an understanding of the intersection of faith, work, and economics, and to empower them to lead their congregations in active application of this knowledge.” Based on the idea that “free enterprise grounded in moral character is the most effective way to promote dignity, lift people out of poverty, and produce human flourishing,” the foundation aims to instruct religious leaders on “the importance of work in developing people's character,” develop “active networks of pastors and theological educators” who align with the foundation’s beliefs, and provide “resources that enable pastors to actively apply this understanding in their churches.”
The foundation’s Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) aims to promote an “entrepreneurial mindset” among engineers in order to “catalyze a transformation in the workforce and to build economic and technical commerce in their communities.” KEEN partners with over a dozen universities and colleges across the United States to offer institutional grants, topical grants and small group grants to engineers who embody the Kern Foundation’s values.
Important Grant Details
The Kern Family Foundation made over $250,000 in grants in a recent year. Grants generally range from $25,000 to $250,000, but select grantees may receive millions of dollars a year. The Kern Family Foundation invests mainly in long-term, broad-impact projects, and most of its grantees are large organizations that align closely with its initiatives.
This funder does not accept unsolicited proposals. General inquiries may be made via email.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
