It was a blustery, chilly January morning in 2009. Washington, D.C., was teeming with visitors, who had gathered in throngs on the Mall the day before to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. Dan Leeds, of the philanthropic Leeds family, had invited two dozen high-ranking officers from foundations across the country to his and his wife Sunita's home. Guests would share a meal, meet top political leaders and trade ideas on how to work with the incoming administration to advance educational opportunity in the United States. It was a critical moment for the family as well. Members of the Leeds family, including the Jobin-Leeds, had founded and were supporting four major organizations dedicated to advancing educational opportunity for all: the Institute for Student Achievement, the Schott Foundation for Public Education, the Alliance for Excellent Education and the National Public Education Support Fund. It was a time of great hope, recession and risk. It was clear that education would be an important focus of the Obama administration and that the administration wanted to engage with philanthropy. This case study describes how, in the absence of an existing organization dedicated to the role, and amid considerable change and uncertainty, Dan and Sunita, together with consultant Terri Shuck, founded The Education Funder Strategy Group. It tells the story of how the Group became a consistent platform where funders can explore ideas and establish working groups on issues of particular interest. Some of the core values governing those discussions include deeper learning, future-looking concepts of skillfulness in a 21st century global community and applying new research on the science of learning into school environments. Today, 30 organizations are members, including the Schott Foundation. The study also traces the roles played by the Caroline and Sigmund Schott Foundation, Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), Education Voters Institute, Education Voters of America, NY EdPAC, Opportunity to Learn campaign, Institute for Student Achievement, National Academy for Excellent Teaching, and the Alliance for Excellent Education. [For "Strategic Reinvention: The Rodel Foundation of Delaware's Journey to Catalyzing a System of World-Class Schools. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case Study No. 10," see ED558208.]