This document is the latest Grantmakers for Education's (EdFunders) study of what's now and what's next for education philanthropy. It aims to give insight into the priorities of the education funding community, and to help funders understand their role in supporting education innovation that benefits the nation's learners. The findings in this…

What does it take to create a statewide ecosystem to support Black student success? Our 2021 case study explores the Black Student Success Initiative at the Oregon Community Foundation. The initiative uses a community-led and trust-based approach to attract funding partners, establish a grantee network, and serve as a driver for systemic change in…

With a flourishing social enterprise ecosystem and an appetite among NGOs and policymakers for testing new solutions, India is playing a leading role in its use of innovative financing for development. One such innovative tool is an impact bond, which is a type of outcome-based financing structure where upfront capital is given to service…

A growing body of research has been documenting the pivotal role that philanthropic funding plays in advancing state and local charter school reform. However, there is little understanding of the geographic flow of these funding patterns and the market, policy, and organizational conditions that have concentrated funding in some clusters of states…

In the face of a worldwide pandemic, educators rose to the challenge of engaging students and families remotely to not only continue learning but also to provide as much normalcy as possible at a time of chaos and uncertainty. Many educators were looking for quick, meaningful ways to learn new skills to effectively teach remotely and connect with…

Skateboarding, widely popular and often misunderstood, occupies a unique space in US society. Despite skateboarding's popularity little is known about the effects of skateboarding on youth and their educational and career trajectories. This report outlines the current landscape of skateboarding at this socio-historical moment in time--prior to…

The Boston Foundation--one of the nation's oldest community foundations--had always been committed to equity and even played an important role during Boston's fractious school desegregation era. But the board knew it could do more and needed to do more; the future well-being of individuals, families, communities and the city as a whole demanded…

States and districts are embarking on efforts to improve school leadership as a lever to promote school improvement. Such efforts have a solid base of research attesting to their effectiveness, and some view them as particularly cost-effective because principals "can be powerful multipliers of effective teaching and leadership practices in…

This study utilizes social network visualization and content analysis of policy reports to explore the changing structure and function of a network of organizations, including government agencies, philanthropies, think tanks, advocacy groups, research centers, and edu-businesses active in school discipline policy formation at the federal level…

Collaboration is a recurring theme among philanthropic funders and their grantees. Most funders have engaged in collaboration at some level. A few collaborations achieve outstanding success and are lionized in case studies. Others break up without conclusion or fall short of their original mission and are tactfully forgotten. One standard…

In 2011, Washington was one of only eight states that did not have a charter school law in state policy heading into the Race to the Top (RTTT) competition. The RTTT competition incentivized local education agencies not only to allow charter schools, but also to increase or eliminate the cap on the number of charter schools that a state allowed to…

In this paper, we present a case study of a philanthropic literacy initiative, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a book-gifting scheme for under 5s, and consider the impact of the scheme on literacy policy in the English city where it was introduced. We bring four lenses to bear on the case study. First, we analyse the operation of the scheme in…

This review article presents a simplified framework for thinking about research strategy priorities for academic medical centers (AMCs). The framework can serve as a precursor to future advancements in translational medicine and as a set of planning guideposts toward ultimate translational excellence. While market pressures, reform uncertainties,…

The college accreditation movement that arose at the turn of the twentieth century had an important antecedent in the Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and Theological Education at the West. Founded in 1843, this nondenominational philanthropy aspired to direct the development of higher education by dispersing eastern funds to Protestant…

The Hizmet Movement a.k.a. Gulen Movement is a collective initiative of a group of people from Turkey following altruistic ideals. Although it is rooted in Islam and the Sufi tradition, it appeals to all backgrounds via its secular schools and interfaith dialogue outreach. In the U.S., the movement runs educational institutions, interfaith…