Billionaire philanthropists compare notes in private with their peers. Whether experienced philanthropists or first-time donors, they all want their gifts to make a difference, and they are hungry for knowledge about how to be effective donors. They want to be educated about philanthropy. Educational institutions are experts at making the case for…

The problem of funding universities in developing economies has become a reoccurring problem often resulting in calamitous effect on teaching and research, and intellectual capital flight of academics. The inadequate funding of universities in developing countries especially West Africa is a prime cause of other problems that have undermined…

This study explored the perceptions of preservice teacher candidates who participated in a pilot partnership between a public teacher education preparation program and Junior Achievement (JA). The partnership was grounded in the premise that providing early field experiences to preservice teacher candidates was a necessary requirement of quality…

In 2007, the College Board's Community College Advisory Panel--a group of college presidents that advises the organization's membership on community college issues--asked these authors to write a paper describing effective remedial education programs. They never wrote the paper. The problem was not the lack of dedicated faculty and staff working…

The author reports on how cash-strapped school districts turn to outside groups for help in paying for staff and academic essentials, prompting frustration from some. In states and school districts still struggling to recover from recession-induced funding cuts, parent and community groups are feeling the pressure to raise money for instructional…

The advent of educational policy debate and educational research in the first half of the twentieth century is part of the quest for respectability and influence in the social sciences. There was an increasing quest for "objective" methodologies and data as missionary societies, philanthropic foundations and governments sought reliable…

Community colleges are enjoying a rare moment in the limelight right now. But part of what is being revealed by that light is just how much scrambling two-year institutions must do to keep up with increasing demands and decreasing budgets. With the recession sending many laid-off workers back to school for job retraining, and with President Barack…

The author talks about a recent report from the nonprofit group "Grantmakers for Education" which finds that philanthropies nationwide are increasingly getting engaged with education policy matters at the local, state, and federal levels through a range of activities, in recognition of the powerful reach of government in setting…

In 1978, Earl F. Strohbehn, professor of education at San Jose State University, established a trust fund through the ECT Foundation to help support a deserving graduate student's attendance at the Lake Okoboji (Iowa) Leadership conference. His mentor and friend, Lee Cochran, inspired the Okoboji conference to develop leaders in the field of…

American community colleges are much like the nation that invented them. They offer an open door to opportunity to all who would come, are innovative and agile in meeting economic and workplace needs, and provide value and service to individuals and communities. Little wonder that they are increasingly emulated around the world and have become the…

The $17.2 million Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) demonstration grant program funded by the Ford Foundation which ran from 1994 to 2001 represents the largest philanthropic project specifically aimed at rural community colleges in United States history. While a good deal of literature has been published about this initiative, much was…

Public-private partnerships aren't new in higher education. But, in 2012, some especially compelling financial reasons accelerated development of public-private partnerships between public universities and private entities in their communities. Public institutions have never been under more pressure to find alternative sources of revenue to help…

According to popular accounts, the nonprofit sector has become increasingly commercialized in recent years. This article reviews the empirical literature on the commercialization trend and discusses why it is regarded as significant by scholars of civil society. It then provides fresh analyses of nonprofit revenue streams and concludes that,…

Amid the country's economic downturn, planned giving levels by many education grantmakers declined last year. A new analysis of trends in education philanthropy finds, however, that a sizable minority of those surveyed said they expected the grants paid out to hold steady, compared with 2008. A smaller group even planned to increase funding. The…

This article interrogates the workings of the Broad Superintendents Academy, as a specific illustration of the influence of venture philanthropy in American public education. It introduces the Broad Foundation's agenda for educational leadership training, foregrounding how it frames the problem of leadership and the implications of such training…