In the heart of Palm Beach County, Florida, lies an institution that’s redefining what education can look like for disadvantaged children.  

The Foundations School, spearheaded by the Center for Creative Education (CCE), is an arts-integrated, research-focused demonstration school that’s transforming teaching and learning through the arts and creativity. The ultimate goal of the school is to help impoverished students reach grade-level in reading, social studies, science and math. 

The seeds of The Foundations School were laid in 2011, when Bob Hamon, who today serves as chief executive officer for CCE, first joined the organization. After settling into a new building, the CCE team began to reassess their education programs. 

“We asked ourselves how we could we be sure our efforts were effective and truly moving the needle,” Hamon recalls.  

That introspection led to the realization that while their programs were meaningful, they weren’t solving the core issue of why so many third-grade students were academically underperforming. 

In Florida, only about 50% of third-grade students read at grade level. CCE sought to understand the underlying barriers, recognizing that the traditional education model hadn’t evolved much in 250 years despite significant changes in children’s lives and family dynamics. They aimed to reconstruct the classroom experience to meet the needs of today’s students, acknowledging that many children face challenges like poverty, violence and trauma. 

A large part of what has made The Foundations School possible is Florida’s friendly policy environment for school choice. The Sunshine State boasts three primary school-choice programs—the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options and the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities—that help families send their children to participating private schools. These programs prioritize support for low- and middle-income students, plus those with special needs or kids who have been bullied.

But Hamon says The Foundations School isn’t only an example for other private schools—it’s a model for public schools as well to reach as many students as possible and improve their outcomes. 

“We view The Foundations School as a living laboratory to test different approaches that could be implemented in public schools, especially schools in low-income communities,” he says. 

From arts for literacy to The Foundations School 

Before founding The Foundations School, CCE ran an arts for literacy program in partnership with Palm Beach County Schools. This five-year longitudinal study involved three underperforming schools, integrating arts into every kindergarten through third-grade classroom. The program showed promising results, with substantial improvements in reading skills, but was cut short by the closing of school during the COVID pandemic in early 2020.    

However, the program was limited by the school’s schedule to only one hour per week, which prompted CCE to consider a fully arts-integrated school model. Strategic planning in 2019 led to the decision to open a school, initially envisioned as a charter school but ultimately launched as an independent private school on January 4, 2021. 

The Foundations School employs a unique model by hiring teachers for 12 months who earn about $20,000 more per year than their public school counterparts. This approach allows for a collaborative curriculum development process covering 205 academic days, not including summer camps and spring break. 

Focusing on barrier identification, the school has adopted the Orton-Gillingham approach to teaching kindergarten through third grade, particularly beneficial for dyslexic students. Class size maximum is 15 students. Each class has a certified teacher and an assistant teacher, supported by an English Studies Center coordinator, two behavioral technicians and a clinical social worker. 

Donors have taken notice.  

“When I visited this school, there was something so charming, energetic, alive and exciting about it,” shares philanthropist Laura Rehnert, who now serves as a board member for the school. “I immediately wanted to be involved. Most everyone who visits has the same feelings. One of my philanthropic priorities is supporting organizations where my gifts can have an immediate impact. Foundations School is one of those.” 

Unique elements 

Two elements make The Foundations School unique: The challenging population it serves and its integration of arts into the curriculum. 

Admissions criteria include living in poverty, academic lag or zoning to attend poorly performing schools. Most students meet all these criteria. Recognizing the importance of parental involvement, the school plans to launch a parent academy to foster a sense of community and support. 

The school also addresses basic needs, providing two meals and a snack per day and offering extended hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. to accommodate parents’ schedules. This holistic approach ensures students can focus on learning without worrying about food or clothing. 

The second element, an arts integrated model, also plays a central role at The Foundations School. Teachers are given autonomy over their classrooms, with support from teaching artists who help infuse creativity into the curriculum. Dr. Susan Gay Wemette, the director of arts integration and creativity, has introduced programs that incorporate global collaboration, such as partnering with schools in other countries to study folk tales and integrate subjects like math and emotional intelligence. 

“When you walk into the school, you see the children’s artwork everywhere,” says Rehnert. “The school coordinates the artwork with the lesson plans, and you can walk through each classroom and see the wonderful work they are doing. It’s something that’s quite extraordinary.” 

“While we don’t teach kids to create art for art’s sake or how to paint like a fine artist, we use various art forms to engage them in the learning process so that the students are now more engaged with the learning,” added Jonathon Ortiz-Smykla, chief advancement officer for CCE. 

Impressive outcomes 

The Foundations School’s innovative approach has yielded remarkable results. For instance, third graders who started the year with only 20% reading at or above grade level finished the year at 80%. Similarly, the kindergarten class improved from 27% to 91% on grade level. One hundred percent of the students who have been with the school since it opened are at or above grade level. They believe the key is to intervene early and consistently, using frequent assessments to provide each student with differentiated support.  

Looking toward the future, The Foundations School is currently conducting a $20 million capital campaign to build an art and science center, aiming to enhance students’ experiences in math and science. The school also has scholarship, operational and capital needs, with plans to acquire a school bus to ease transportation challenges for families. 

While CCE isn’t focused on creating more schools, they are open to collaborating with other districts and sharing their model. 

“We are willing to share everything that we have and everything that we’ve learned with any organization interested in creating a better future for students who are struggling in today’s public school model,” Hamon says. 

The post The Foundations School’s Unique Approach to Academic Success  appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

Philanthropy Roundtable’s Free to Give campaign elevates the voices of everyday Americans who have dedicated their careers to supporting those in need. Their work is made possible by the freedom of all Americans to give to the causes and communities they care about most. 

Ahead of National School Choice Week, the Roundtable spoke with Kathleen O’Toole, assistant provost for K-12 education at Hillsdale College, about the institution’s K-12 Education Office. The office works with K-12 schools, parents and teachers to found and support a nationwide network of classical schools and revive the American tradition of K-12 education. Hillsdale also offers free resources for parents and teachers that focus on the liberal arts and sciences and teaching principles of moral character and civic virtue. In this conversation, O’Toole discusses the role of philanthropic donors in funding Hillsdale’s critical work and explains why philanthropic freedom and donor intent are integral to this mission. 

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.  

Q: Tell us about Hillsdale College, its unique K-12 department and the mission behind the institution. 

O’Toole: Founded in 1844, Hillsdale College was created with an extraordinary mission, which we have strived to remain faithful to ever since. An important part of that mission is to teach all who wish to learn. My role as the assistant provost for K-12 education is to lead the College’s K-12 Education Office, which educates people from coast to coast about tried and true K-12 education. We work with teachers, parents, and school administrators to recover the principles of excellent curriculum and instruction that our schools and students deserve.  

We believe America has a tradition of excellence in K-12 education—but we also know that our country is in danger of forgetting what it takes to run a school, what children should be learning and what it means to be a teacher. The work my office is doing is bringing the mission of Hillsdale College to K-12 educators, school founders and parents across the country.  

Q: Why does philanthropic freedom matter to your institution? 

O’Toole: There are so many phenomenal charities and organizations out there doing amazing work in their communities, and it’s always worrisome when folks want to limit the options available to charitable donors to support the work of nonprofit organizations and institutions. The people who have the generosity in their hearts to support our work should have the right and the opportunity to do so—and to remain anonymous in their charitable giving if they wish. When a donor chooses to give, they’re not just giving dollars, they’re saying something about themselves and their beliefs. It’s vital to us that donors can give how, when and to whom they choose as an extension of their values and legacy.  

Q: What sets Hillsdale apart from other institutions?  

O’Toole: The work of our affiliated schools, and the robust support that Hillsdale College provides to them, are simply unmatched with any other institution in the country. Not only do we have a nationwide reach, but we also provide the comprehensive training that school founders, board members and teachers need to do right by K-12 students. 

We offer a program called the Barney Charter School Initiative which helps charter schools get established by providing the classical curriculum, and comprehensive training for teachers, principals and board members. We launched this initiative in 2010 and it has yielded dozens of schools across the country and has helped tens of thousands of students. 

We also founded the Hoogland Center for Teacher Excellence in 2000. Through the Hoogland Center, we expand the reach of the College’s curriculum and teacher training to a nationwide audience. With this center, we host training and educational conferences at Hillsdale and also take these trainings on the road to provide free professional development for any teacher in America, whether they are working in public, private or charter schools. This last year we’ve hosted Hoogland Center events on teaching mathematics, the sciences, children’s literature and American history, and they’ve been so popular we’ve had to create a waiting list for each event.  

Q: Can you discuss your American history and civics curriculum? 

O’Toole: Hillsdale’s American history and civics curriculum is a complete collection of lesson plans for teaching American history, civics and government to K-12 students. Last month, we released our final unit on recent American history, completing the sequence. The curriculum builds on itself, so as students move through it in their K-12 years, they will, for example, learn about American history from the colonies through the Civil War four different times. Each time they encounter these units, the lessons increase in depth. This curriculum is intended to be a resource for teachers, providing guidance on planning and teaching any given topic in American history, civics or government-related courses. To help teachers prepare their lessons, we suggest textbooks, online courses, content topics and stories that provide insight into the events and background of each era.  

The curriculum contains questions to ask the students, clarifies important points for teachers to keep in mind and includes student-ready primary sources along with sample assignments, activities and assessments. To ensure our students are learning the most important topics in the best possible way, we thoroughly vet every resource and recommendation. It’s our opinion that the best way to learn from history is to balance our thinking of the past and search for the truth in primary source documents, a stance reflected in the curriculum itself.  

Of our initial release, David Randall said “Hillsdale College’s 1776 Curriculum provides lesson plans aimed for intelligent, curious twelfth-grade students, and that no other institution provides curriculum anywhere near Hillsdale’s level.” Though we are excited to offer a complete series for both American history and civics, this remains an ongoing and transparent project which we consistently work to improve for our teachers and students. 

Q: What type of impact has your K-12 programming had on students? 

O’Toole: We’re changing the face of American public education. We’re helping recover the excellence that was once there in our public system. It’s our goal that one day many hundreds of thousands of students will have access to this tried-and-true curriculum and quality instruction. We want to set students up to be better educated, to be ready to pursue a better life and to serve this country of ours, with greater opportunities than have been afforded to previous generations.  

Q: In which ways are donors able to support your efforts, and how can people get more involved with your work? 

O’Toole: Because Hillsdale doesn’t accept any federal funding, all of our work is made possible by our many hundreds of thousands of friends who have entrusted us with their generosity. As a result of that, we care deeply about donor intent, and honoring the wishes of our donors by using their gifts where they have asked us to use them. Whether our donors give to our general fund, the K-12 Education Office’s endowment or the Hoogland Center, it is paramount to us to be faithful to their intent and to honor their legacy by doing so. We recognize that while we do not solicit a single penny, people have a desire to give, and we are moved by that generosity.  

To know that the work we are doing means so much to people that they’re willing to give their hard-earned dollars to support us is uplifting and extremely encouraging. And for those who want to get more involved, they can give on our website at https://secured.hillsdale.edu/hillsdale/charter-schools/. There are numerous ways to get more involved with us, whether you’re a potential teacher, school leader or if you’re interested in bringing a Hillsdale classical school to your community. We encourage you to visit k12.hillsdale.edu to learn more. 

View more stories about the importance of philanthropic freedom at FreeToGive.org. 

The post A Conversation with Hillsdale College: “We’re Changing the Face of American Public Education” appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

The following was presented as part of a session at Philanthropy Roundtable’s Annual Meeting in October 2023. 

As parents of K-12 students around the country are confronted with questions about how to best meet their children’s education needs, Love Your School is offering families in Arizona and West Virginia guidance on everything from school choice options to Education Savings Accounts (ESA). 

During this Big Idea talk, Jenny Clark, founder of Love Your School and mother of five, discusses how the organization is supporting and empowering parents. She also recounts her personal story about seeking resources for her homeschooled children when they were struggling to learn to read. 

“Based on my family’s own personal struggles through our education journey, I knew that if parents were truly going to exercise their education freedom, they were going to need significant support to do it,” said Clark.  

That’s when Love Your School was born. 

“Love Your School is the critical link between education freedom policies and parents,” said Clark. “We envision an America where every family is supported in accessing the education freedom options that work for them, that meet their values and their worldview, and their vision for their children’s futures.”  

Clark said parents nationwide are simply not aware of the educational opportunities available in their communities.  

“Dozens of organizations exist to pass legislation, get school choice friendly candidates elected and even promote ESA programs, but … many parents remain unaware of the range of education freedom options available for their children,” she said.  

In response, Love Your School works with parents one-on-one so they can utilize programs and solve problems facing their children’s education. 

“We want to be the reason that families all across the United States reclaim their freedom to choose what’s best for their children and their education,” said Clark. 

For more information on this organization or others, please contact Program Director, Erica Haines.  

The post Love Your School: Nonprofit Empowers Families to Take Charge of Children’s Education  appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

The interview below has been edited for length and clarity. 

Q: You lead Outschool.org, the independent nonprofit partner of Outschool, an online marketplace with over 140,000 live, virtual classes. Tell us about the difference between Outschool and Outschool.org, your mission and how the nonprofit came to be. 

Dent: Outschool is an online learning marketplace founded in 2016 that offers 140,000 live, virtual classes on every topic imaginable by over 10,000 educators. More than one million children worldwide use the platform for learning and enrichment. Outschool.org was founded in March 2020. Our goal was to ensure learners could have access to Outschool classes, regardless of their families’ ability to pay. Our early priorities were focused on COVID-19 relief for low-income learners, who were disproportionately affected by the pandemic.  

Now, we’re focused on ensuring those same learners and their families can access the promise of personalized learning. We’ve developed expertise in helping families and communities overcome financial and information barriers so they can access and design personalized learning programs for their children. Our mission is to provide learners who experience racial and economic marginalization with opportunity and agency to nurture a lifelong love of learning. 

Q: Over the last three years, Outschool.org has served over 32,000 students and provided more than $4 million in free classes. Where do you see this reach making the biggest impact?  

Dent: Every parent wants to be able to show their child the world and nurture their interests. Unfortunately, for many families that’s a necessity that’s out of reach. Research shows that interest-based learning has a tremendous impact on developing children’s motivation, hope and sense of well-being. Yet, while marginalized parents express a desire to provide their children with out-of-school learning, their children are three times less likely to participate. This gap is a major source of inequity within PK-12 education and our work allows us to make significant progress toward closing this gap.  

Second, because of our work in closing the out-of-school participation gap, we’re able to put parents in the driver’s seat of their children’s education. The opportunity to assemble learning experiences for children has always existed for the wealthy but poorer communities have often been told to remain satisfied with the education made available to them. In contrast, our approach trusts families and prioritizes caregivers’ knowledge of their children, values their aspirations and allows them the agency to choose educational options. Our navigation support helps unlock this potential. For example, in a pilot of one of our programs, Outbridge, 80% of families stated Outschool.org “always or often” helped them find resources they need. 
 

Q: Outschool.org is managed as a charitable initiative through the Edward Charles Foundation (ECF). Tell us about this philanthropic partnership and why you chose to structure your work in this way.  

Dent: Outschool.org’s relationship with ECF allows us to ensure we are in compliance with all 501(c)(3) standards and financial oversight independent of Outschool.com. ECF offers low-cost financial support such as accounting that enabled us to stand up Outschool.org quickly during the pandemic and accept charitable donations, without having to spend additional resources on incorporation and audits. However, as Outschool.org matures, we are in the process of securing our own independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) status and forming a board of directors. 

Q: In addition to virtual classes, which other services are you providing to communities?  

Dent: Outschool.org co-designs educational programs with community partners, which include homeschooling co-ops, local and national nonprofit organizations, micro schools and K-12 school districts. Our first program is Class Connect, which offers private, virtual tutoring and specialized enrichment classes leveraging content from Outschool. Class Connect enables learners to experience courses such as coding or Japanese they couldn’t otherwise. All of these classes are taught by high-quality and vetted educators.  

 
Our second program is Outbridge, an online platform designed to help families access and navigate in-person and online educational resources. In Virginia, we are partnering with the state’s Department of Education to bring families Outbridge. Outbridge will ensure Virginia’s COVID-relief microgrant program, which includes up to $3,000 for low-income families to access tutoring and other educational resources, is implemented effectively. It will help families overcome misunderstandings about which expenses qualify, gain more information about local tutors and find peer recommendations and a supportive community.  

Q: What are the ongoing challenges or pitfalls for Outschool.org and organizations like yours that aim to address COVID-19 learning loss?  

Dent: COVID-19’s impact extended far beyond standardized test score gaps or reading level 
discrepancies for low-income families of color. Predating COVID-19 and continuing through today, incremental reforms have left learners and families of color on the periphery of progress. Despite overwhelming evidence that has demonstrated the power of out-of-school learning in providing transformational outcomes for learners and their communities, low-income families remain unable to access these opportunities because public and philanthropic interventions narrowly focus on reading and mathematics. Cross-sector commitment to enrichment and career development learning opportunities would transform outcomes for low-income families of color because their children would be able to identify and pursue their interests, which would also have positive effects toward increasing their performance on more traditional measures of success. 

Q: Core to your mission is equal access to quality education. How does your work address equal access and opportunity for all students? 

Dent: At Outschool.org, we are working toward a world in which all families and children can access and create learning pathways that reflect their identities, aspirations and beliefs. We understand that our impact as an organization will always be limited by scale, which is why we’ve prioritized working with and supporting organizations across the country who have demonstrated track records of serving learners and families most underserved by the traditional system. Our aim is to show what’s possible when you equip families with the tools, access and agency necessary to personalize an education that meets their learners’ needs and interests.   

For these reasons we’re doing the work to support the implementation of microgrants in states like Virginia. With more programs that allow families to explore learning opportunities outside of the traditional K-12 system, we’re hoping that out-of-school learning will receive the same level of attention as in-school learning. With the existence of these types of policies, we are better able to fulfill our mission of making out-of-school learning accessible to all learners, as they enable philanthropic funding we raise to go further. 

 
For more information about this organization or others providing Pathways to Opportunity, reach out to Philanthropy Roundtable Program Director Erica Haines. 

The post Outschool.org is Creating Pathways to a Quality Education for All Students appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

While I typically spend most of my time sourcing grantmaking opportunities, primarily in areas that support public policy, at-risk youth and military families, 18 months ago I embarked on a journey that led me to co-found GuidEd, a school choice navigator based in Tampa, Florida. Our foundation also committed at that time to fund the first three years of its operations.  

While this nonprofit might sound like just another startup, it is anything but ordinary for us. We have a strict policy of not funding startups, but when an unmet need was matched with the capability of several key partners, our funding was the only missing piece. The opportunity to make a meaningful impact was simply too good to pass up. 

The moral of this story is not how to convince your board to make a funding exception, nor is this a how-to guide on startups. The point is to share what I learned about how passion fits into philanthropy.  

In philanthropy, it is hard to find nonprofit leaders who are anything but passionate about their work. Most wake up every day dedicated to leveraging their organization’s programming to serve its intended beneficiaries. And I must admit, the creative ways that people do so never cease to amaze me.  

In 2002, rower Amanda Kraus founded Row New York, combining her passion for rowing and a desire to help citizens in her community succeed in sports and school. The organization now offers an array of rowing programs, including those for students, veterans and people with physical or cognitive development issues. Row New York’s after-school competitive rowing and academic club helps middle and high school students develop confidence and a strong work ethic. This program is unique and achieves impressive results.  

But for every Row New York, there are endless examples of passionately led organizations that don’t achieve their desired outcomes. Sadly, the reality is the philanthropic world is riddled with inefficiencies, and leading with a personal interest you are passionate about can perpetuate this problem. While passion is an important part of philanthropy, philanthropists should channel that passion only after identifying a beneficiary and how to meet their needs.   

Consider the following example. Let’s say you are a philanthropist or social entrepreneur whose favorite art is butter sculpture, three-dimensional art made from butter. (Yes, this is a real thing.) You might find yourself wanting to share this passion with others. Odds are, the change you make in the world will be, at best, exposing the world to this rare art form. You might open a butter sculpture museum or fund a road show. The problem arises when someone thinks he or she can use butter sculpting to reduce recidivism rates in the prison system.  

As outlandish as this illustration might seem, there are countless examples in philanthropy where one’s passion becomes the means to an unlikely end. To be an effective philanthropist, one must first identify the end, that is, the beneficiary they seek to serve, then work backward to assess their needs, and only then identify how the needs can be met.  

A year and a half ago, I didn’t know there was a need for GuidEd. In fact, our foundation didn’t even know families needed help navigating their school and scholarship options. But as we worked to identify this unmet need in our community, we put our passion for helping at-risk youth into our philanthropy. Along with our board, we put under-resourced students and their families, the beneficiaries of this work, first. We then worked backward to determine that a one-on-one coaching model was the best method to help more families utilize their state scholarship and find a school that best served them.  

Garrett Garcia is the chief financial officer of Pinehill Capital Partners and president of the Garcia Family Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting at-risk youth, military families and public policy that promotes free markets, individual liberties, freedom of speech and freedom of religion.  

The post Passion’s Place in a Philanthropic Strategy appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

Q: Hanna, welcome to the conversation with the Roundtable. You are in your third year serving as president and CEO of the Daniels Fund, the philanthropic fund of legendary businessman and cable television pioneer Bill Daniels. Before this role, many of us knew you as an incredible leader in public education, most recently serving as secretary of education in New Mexico. What surprised you most as you moved into the philanthropic sector? 

Skandera: I have always had the privilege of working in a place and for people whose values I believed in. Maybe not 100% alignment, but pretty darn close. When you have that joy and privilege of living your values in your job, to me, it’s not a job, it’s a calling. And I consider this position at the Daniels Fund a calling. 

It is the opportunity to align what I believe and how I want to live in everything I do, including the job I get to do every morning. That is a gift. And I love it. Full stop. 

When you have a team and a board rowing in the same direction, the opportunities for impact are limitless. And to be in the philanthropic space at this time of upheaval, disconnect and disagreement provides an opportunity. I get to be in a place where we can bring people together to make a difference. That’s really powerful. 

Q: Let’s talk about values. You are tasked with protecting and advancing the legacy and values of Bill Daniels. Can you tell us about the Daniels Fund’s core values and the donor intent that you protect? 

Skandera: Values were important for Bill Daniels, and our board and team are incredibly committed to stewarding those values. Bill was very clear about the values that were most important to him – ethics, integrity, transparency, loyalty and professionalism. He had a deep commitment to the building of community, and a respect for people. He was a patriot, and he loved his country. He believed in investing in a way that put the individual front and center.  

We try and live those values in everything we do. And these values are the things that drew me to the CEO position.  

I love talking about scale and having a scalable impact, but I think one of the biggest things that strikes me about Bill Daniels is he had this huge heart and he wanted impact at scale, but he understood impact happens one life at a time. Our intent is to honor each individual and the life they’ve been given.  

Q: Your team’s mandate is to improve the lives of residents in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. How are the Fund’s values expressed in its charitable giving priorities? 

Skandera: First, we have a scholarship program. We award about 230 scholarships every year to graduating seniors going on to college. Their full cost of attendance will be covered at any of our partner schools in our four-state region, or they can receive up to $100,000 if they choose to attend a school outside our four states. It’s a rigorous selection process to become a Daniels Scholar. Students submit an application, and we look for evidence of the values that Bill Daniels held so dear. 

Let me give an example. Bill loved and believed in the free market and capitalism. He was a businessman and entrepreneur. We look for young people who both have a need and a demonstrated desire to give back to their community.  

Beyond the scholarship, Bill Daniels defined eight giving areas. We stay true to these areas and will not stray. In fact, even in our bylaws, it says we cannot stray from these areas – and we honor that.  

I think so many times today, whether it’s in the corporate or foundation world, there is mission creep, but we are intent on holding on to our values.  

Bill set aside a billion dollars just over 20 years ago. We’re now a fund that’s worth about $1.7 billion and we’ve given away more than a billion dollars over 20 years.  

In that time, there’s nothing that has changed about the areas we’re giving in. But we are always looking for entrepreneurial endeavors or new ways to think about something. We are always looking for ways to do something better. Bill is famous for saying “The best is good enough for me.” So, the question we ask is, “How we can constantly raise the bar and seek excellence?” We try to set a high bar for ourselves and hold ourselves accountable for the return on that investment that Bill Daniels would expect. 

Q: Those of us who know you recognize your passion for K-12 education. Can you tell us about the Daniels Fund’s approach in this arena? Which opportunities do you see to help kids and families in 2023? 

Skandera: At the Daniels Fund, we have what we call “Big Bets.” 

Our “Big Bet” in K-12 education responds to the frustration we heard from parents during and following the pandemic. A lot of parents were frustrated by what they saw with their own children. They saw what their child was – and was not – learning at home. 

Because of this, many parents have opted out of our traditional public school system. Think about this. We saw a fivefold increase in Black families participating in home school education and a doubling of home education writ large.  

We saw a 7% increase in the charter school population, which shows us our public schools need to have more choice and options. We also saw an increase in private school enrollments, with over a million children leaving our traditional public education system.  

What that says to me is parents –  and we know this –  want what’s best for their child.  

This inspired the Daniels Fund to go bold – and we have set a goal to create 100,000 new choice seats for students by 2030 in our four-state region. 

We will fund seats in great schools, in homes, in hybrid school models or pods — you name it.  

We want to provide parents and our next generation with the opportunity to choose what is best for them — what will equip them to be great citizens who give back in our country.  

And we will invest across different policy environments. You know, Wyoming is more rural. New Mexico has rural and urban areas. Utah just passed an Education Savings Account law. 

Localized solutions matter immensely. Philanthropy can play a huge role in presenting and serving alongside local solutions.  

We are hoping that, across this country, philanthropists and those who are influential in education will continue to create new possibilities for every child. We should be responsive to this moment and be front-runners in creating solutions during this time of crisis. 

We have also set a “Big Bet” in civics education – with the goal to provide one million middle schoolers with the opportunity to participate in a Civics Bee. We helped launched this annual competition with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. 

When a young person is confronted with decisions about how to vote, they will know the journey and the process of how a bill becomes a law and how they might influence it in meaningful ways.  

Q: Those are bold, clearly articulated social impact goals in both K-12 education and civics. At the end of the day, how do you think about a foundation’s responsibility to drive measurable impact and change? 

Skandera: The incredible opportunity we have in philanthropy is to be a spark that lights a flame. So, yes, the Daniels Fund has bold goals. And, yes, we plan to hold ourselves accountable for our goals. 

This goes back to Bill Daniels, who believed in generational change. He did not just think of the present moment, but of building a legacy that lasts for generations. To do this, you have to hold steadfast to your values. 

If you are changing values all the time – you can’t have generational impact. 

If you are changing what you’re investing in all the time – it’s a lot harder to have generational impact. 

There is a stewardship and consistency that allows for a multiplier effect when it comes to impact. 

We ask ourselves how we get to steward this little fire so it becomes a flame and becomes a burning desire across this country to create generational change. 

And that is what I think about when I think about the Daniels Fund. 

We want to be a foundation that positively influences American life – and we get to do this as a regional foundation. While we only invest in four states, we want our vision to have a ripple effect all across this country to impact generations to come. 

Q: Are there any emergent projects or organizations you’re particularly excited about right now?  

Skandera: We’ve got an incredible initiative that we have not publicly launched yet, but we’ve been investing in for a long time: youth sports.  

If you look at the data, young people are not participating in sports like they used to. As a former high school and college athlete and coach, I can tell you the values you learn from playing sports are game-changing.  

Grit, perseverance, hard work, teamwork, failure, success – all these things are built into sports.  

Sadly, we’re seeing an incredible decline in sports participation, particularly among kids in poverty, but really, across the board for young people. A lot of times, this is due to cost. 

I’m not trying to make a political statement, but K-12 education, the military draft and sports were historically three areas that brought people from different socioeconomic and demographic backgrounds together. These were areas where we could bridge big differences in America. Sports are an opportunity to give young people a chance to build character and to bring together different populations. 

So, we’re going to make a big investment and we’ll be announcing a big bet soon around youth sports. 

We want to be a part of providing young people with the opportunity to play sports – to have fun and be healthy. We are also thinking about the connection between sports and the youth mental health problem across the country. Frankly, we believe this can be game-changing. 

Q: Your investment approach is clear – educational excellence through choice, civic knowledge and rebuilding community and health through sports. I wish you and your team great success with the path ahead. Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share? 

Skandera: I think about Alexis de Tocqueville and how he talked about civic institutions and their role in America, and how important they were for the fabric of this country. You can read any statistic right now on the decline of trust in our country’s civic institutions and associations. 

Because of this, I believe philanthropy has an outsized role to play in rebuilding and stewarding these civic associations and finding opportunities for America to thrive. Philanthropy should be stepping up to take calculated risks and to be the front-runners when it comes to entrepreneurial endeavors. We need to help provide the ideas and concepts that can be implemented at scale. 

Preserving our values in a way that is built into our civic associations provides the opportunity for all Americans to thrive – and to help our country be the greatest country in the world. 

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I was a stay-at-home mom with three kids under 6, and my husband was a full-time law student. It was cost-prohibitive for our family to go to a private school at the time or to pay for private therapies.

A few years later, we went back again to the public system for evaluations, where I was told many times that my children were “fine” or that their struggles were simply a “lack of a proper education” due to homeschooling. Ultimately, we pressed the district for independent educational evaluations, which diagnosed my two boys with dyslexia and dysgraphia.

I was shocked when I learned that my family would have qualified for an Education Savings Account (ESA). No one told us. An ESA enabled our family to cover therapies that we could never have afforded during that stage of life because our insurance didn’t cover them.

I started walking other parents through the educational evaluation process, telling them about ESAs, and even finding them tutors and therapists. I launched LYS after the first attempt at universal school choice in Arizona failed back in 2019. I knew how valuable having options had been for my own family, and I was determined to ensure that every family had the same opportunity.

Q: What are some of the greatest challenges you see ahead for the education reform movement in America?

There are three core challenges I see ahead for the education reform movement, especially through my lens as a parent. The first challenge is legislative. While many parents support increased school choice, barriers still exist in the passage of these programs. Parents need to know how to engage in the legislative process, the value of their voice and story and the ways that they can make an impact.

The second is implementation of new choice programs like an ESA. For these programs to grow, parents must know about them, how to use them and ecosystems must be developed around them. Marketing these programs state-wide is essential, along with personalized support so families can decide if the program is right for them. Networks for families are also incredibly important. Regular information sessions, webinars, parent councils and active stakeholder engagement opportunities are important considerations for any state implementing an ESA.

One final challenge is growing the supply of high-quality education service providers and new school options in a deregulated landscape. Ensuring that co-ops, microschools and education service providers can launch quickly and effectively to meet the growing demands of families is crucial. Promoting education entrepreneurship is necessary for the growth and success of choice programs.

Q: What are some of the greatest opportunities for philanthropists to support education entrepreneurship and parental engagement?

One of the reasons our work at LYS is so exciting is that we get to hear about so many amazing new education options that parents and entrepreneurs want to launch and support them. Philanthropists passionate about education and school choice may be interested in a variety of opportunities such as:

• Supporting organizations that are educating parents and building networks of parent support advocates;
• Providing long-term solutions through funding training materials and collateral that can be repurposed and utilized state-wide;
• Helping to connect specialists who can provide personalized support with families who traditionally select public schools based on ease and location;
• Supporting hybrid schools and microschools;
• Cultivating education entrepreneurship and helping entrepreneurs launch new ventures; and
• Funding additional educational support like mobile libraries, sports opportunities and co-education spaces.

Q: Where do you see your organization and the broader school choice movement in the coming years?

Love Your School will always be committed to serving families well and growing our community’s understanding of options, while helping to increase those education options. We plan to continue our successful parent concierge service and active parent engagement, while also growing our webinars, trainings and in-person development of parent leaders.

The entire school choice movement is strengthened not only by passing crucial legislation that empowers families to take control of their child’s education, but also by working together to advance shared objectives with our key partners. We hope our work will continue to be a case study for success in the value of positive, collaborative and engaging messaging and support of parents and entrepreneurs.

Read more about the founding story and the ways in which philanthropists can support expanding quality school choice options by visiting Love Your School.

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In an article recently published in The 74 entitled “Excellence and Empowerment: A Philanthropic Approach to Education Reform,” Erica Haines, program director at Philanthropy Roundtable, wrote that philanthropists with a passion for exceptional education are leading the school choice movement by building a rich variety of schools based on the core values of high expectations, empowerment and opportunity for all students.

Haines highlights philanthropic efforts and the critical role they play in improving education across the country.

“There is no shortage of vibrant options in K-12 philanthropy to achieve improved education and life outcomes. One way to foster excellence and agency is to focus on building a rich ecosystem of school choice options — whether they be charter schools, microschools or hybrid homeschools.”

Haines offers these examples:

J.A. Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation supports high-quality schools in Idaho through Bluum, an initiative designed to support educators willing to take risks in the mission of helping children.

The William E. Simon Foundation is a large supporter of New York City’s Vertex Partnership Academies. Vertex Partnership Academies first-of-its-kind network of character-based, International Baccalaureate public charter high schools dedicated to equality of opportunity, individual dignity and our common humanity.

Jeff Sandefer and his wife Laura started Acton Academy, a global network of innovative K-12 schools that encourage students to be “curious, independent, lifelong learners.”

Daniels Fund focuses on fostering high-performing charter schools and portable voucher programs that expand access to schools of choice for underserved communities across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Jeff and Janine Yass founded the Yass Prize in 2021 to support high-quality education providers who remained open during the pandemic. The Prize presented more than $20 million in 2022. The 2022 Yass Prize winner, Arizona Autism Charter Schools provides unique, individualized learning programs and will use the prize money to expand autism centered charter schools.

To learn more about these organizations read “Excellence and Empowerment: A Philanthropic Approach to Education Reform,” at The 74.

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Philanthropy Roundtable supports innovative schools, philanthropists and initiatives that promote K-12 school choice across the country. As we celebrate National School Choice Week, we are highlighting some worthy organizations, initiatives and donors seeking to expand educational opportunities for all.

Growing School Choice: Charter schools, private schools, virtual schools and public schools have all seen demand grow in the past several years as parents increasingly seek out accessible quality education options. Below are two examples of innovative school models that strive to eliminate barriers to upward mobility, expand opportunity and reward hard work and perseverance.

• Great Hearts: Great Hearts is the largest classical charter school network in the United States, committed to the mission of cultivating the hearts and minds of students through the pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty. Great Hearts schools, “which aim to teach students how to think rather than what to think, serve over 20,000 students in 33 brick-and-mortar buildings across Arizona and Texas. Administrators use a broad curriculum that encompasses academics, but doesn’t focus solely on student achievement, a concept the school’s leaders believe is necessary yet insufficient.”
• Vertex Partnership Academies: Vertex Partnership Academies seeks to be the first-of-its-kind network of character-based, International Baccalaureate public charter high schools dedicated to equality of opportunity, individual dignity and our common humanity. Our profile of the school, located in the Bronx, New York, explains why its core values – “courage, justice, temperance, wisdom” – help put children on the path to success.

Philanthropists Drive Opportunity: From start-ups to well-established schools, philanthropy is critical to the future of school choice. Below are two philanthropists who have given their time and treasure to transform student lives.

• Bill Oberndorf, Philanthropy Roundtable’s 2021 Simon-DeVos Prize Winner, is chairman of American Federation for Children and the American Federation for Children Growth Fund (AFC Growth Fund), the nation’s largest school choice advocacy and education organization. Through his support for these education endeavors and others, Oberndorf has focused on empowering families, especially lower-income families, with the freedom to choose the best K-12 education options for their children.  
• Oberndorf, a successful investor and philanthropist, worked alongside philanthropic legend John Walton to build the school choice movement from a small group of investors into a national force. One of the products of that work was the AFC, which accomplishes its work by “electing education reforms, passing high quality education reforms and advocating for families, telling their stories and informing them of their education options.” Oberndorf credits AFC with changing the trajectory of students’ lives, and AFC points to research that shows students who participate in school choice programs have higher test scores and better outcomes. Watch Oberndorf’s discussion with AFC board member Kathy Hubbard about the importance of school choice at Philanthropy Roundtable’s 2021 Annual Meeting here.
• Education reformers Jeff and Laura Sandefer co-founded Acton Academy, a global network of innovative K-12 schools that encourage students to be “curious, independent, lifelong learners.” Acton is a private “one-room schoolhouse” that blends the Socratic method and 21st century technology “to equip each student to change the world.” Today, there are 300 Acton Academies operating in over 25 countries, teaching students from grade school through high school, and the list keeps growing. “We believe that every person who enters our door is a genius who deserves to find a calling that will change the world. If you don’t believe that, you have no right to be inside an Acton Academy,” Sandefer said during an interview for the Roundtable’s series “Doers to Donors.” “And that means every parent, every guide … [and] every learner.”
  
  You can watch Sandefer’s interview with the Roundtable here.

School Choice Awareness and Awards: Millions of American children now attend schools of their parents’ choice thanks to the establishment of vouchers, scholarship tax credits, charter schools, open enrollment and education savings account programs across the country. Despite this, the Lincoln Network found that up to 80% of parents surveyed could not name a single school outside of their locally zoned public school. Public awareness and growth are now priorities for many groups and organizations as the movement strengthens. Here are a few initiatives helping parents and schools connect.

• Schoolahoop: Schoolahoop, an initiative of the Lincoln Network Studio, is a free service that leverages technology to help parents choose their children’s schools. It equips parents with school options in their area, scholarships and even helps with the application process. Due to generous philanthropists, the service is available in Texas, Florida, Arizona and Kansas City, but the organization is striving to make its technology available to every family in the country. Read more about Schoolahoop here.
• Center for Education Reform (CER): CER is an education reform organization that seeks to expand innovation and opportunity for students by generating awareness of school choice options, talking to policy makers and connecting innovators and their products with investors and schools to accelerate their impact. CER has partnered with Jeff and Janine Yass and Forbes to found the Yass Prize, celebrating education providers who best demonstrates the STOP principles – Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding and Permissionless. Arizona Autism Charter Schools was recently awarded with this $1 million prize.
• VELA Education Fund (VELA): VELA  “supports everyday entrepreneurs who are boldly reimagining education.” VELA offers grants to fund innovative learning initiatives and recently helped Prenda, a tuition free micro school, expand and open the door for more low-income families to access its programs.

At Philanthropy Roundtable, we believe every child deserves to have an exceptional education that offers new opportunities and rewards hard work. The school choice movement is growing across the country, and we are proud to stand with partners who are inspiring students to reach their full potential.

Originally published in 2023 and last updated January 26, 2024.

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Philanthropy Roundtable’s Values-Based Giving Program connects our donor community to high-impact organizations that advance our shared values of liberty, opportunity and personal responsibility. This story is part of our campaign highlighting how donors and nonprofits work together to improve lives. Interested in learning more about Values-Based Giving and the services our team provides? Click here.

Most mornings, the 108 ninth graders walking into Vertex Partnership Academies Charter School in the Soundview section of the Bronx, in New York City, are met at the sidewalk by the school’s principal, Joyanet Mangual, greeting each one of them as an individual.

The day I visited in early December 2022, Mangual was home tending to a sick child, so the morning individual greeting job belonged to Eddie Sparkman, a founder of the school, its dean of culture and its basketball coach.

Sparkman began his career in education by working as a temporary office manager at another charter school in the South Bronx, Boys Prep, then as a classroom aide there, while also managing a Foot Locker sneaker store. Last year, he earned his college diploma from Lehman College. Now he’s working on a master’s degree.

“Where’s your uniform?” Sparkman asks one student. He asks another where he’d been on Sunday afternoon.

“I let them know every day the opportunity they have: do not waste this opportunity!” Sparkman explains later.

Past the front door, I make my way up a set of stairs. The risers are emblazoned with the school’s core values — “courage, justice, temperance, wisdom” — and the other concepts and skills its founders hope to cultivate in students: “thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, balanced, respect.”

I find myself in a school office. The quarter sawn oak built-in cabinet doors are a clue the school building has been there for a long time, even though it is this particular school’s first year in operation.

The chief executive officer of Vertex Partnership Academies, Ian Rowe, discusses the building’s history: It was a Catholic school where Sonia Sotomayor, now a Supreme Court justice, was once the valedictorian, but it was closed amid a nationwide decline in Catholic school enrollment. It had been vacant since 2013. “We have resurrected it,” Rowe says. While this school is nonsectarian, it pays rent to the Blessed Sacrament church that still operates on the site.

Rowe also explains the unforgiving math of startup charter-school finance. Eventually, when a school is at full capacity, its fixed and variable costs are covered by per-student money from the government. Even then, the funding for charter school students in New York City only amounts to about 70% of what students in traditional district-run schools get. When a school is in its startup phase, as Vertex has been and still is, the per-student government money is either nonexistent or just ramping up. A school like this one, which will eventually have grades nine through 12, opens in year one with only grade nine. Even Vertex’s ninth grade is smaller than it might have been if the school’s opening hadn’t been cast into doubt by a teachers union-backed lawsuit. The suit was argued (Kirkland and Ellis partner Jay Lefkowitz defended Vertex, pro bono) and decided in Vertex’s favor less than 10 days before the school was scheduled to open.

During these initial years, philanthropy enables the school to meet its payroll. It’s help that Rowe calls “Aid Us,” an acronym for “approved interim deficit until self-sustainability.”

At this point in the morning, Mangual rings in from home to join the conversation via Rowe’s cellphone.

She was born and raised in Chicago, a psychology major at the University of Illinois, a Teach for America special education teacher at a Brooklyn public school, then stints at schools affiliated with the Noble and Democracy Prep charter school networks.

“It’s been a roller coaster of a ride to be part of founding a school,” she says, describing the adjustments the school has made in its first few months to respond to student needs. Class periods were shortened to 70 minutes from an initial 90, leaving room to add a “WIN” block (for “what I need”) that allows students to take electives or receive tutoring during the school day. The policy on student cellphones was changed to reduce distraction — Sparkman is now collecting them from students at the door, placing them in a padded case kept in the school office.

I ask Mangual why she’s doing this sort of work. She says her father came to America from Guatemala with a formal education that ended at sixth grade. “Even his writing in Spanish was poor.” One winter day in Chicago, her father asked her to go around downtown with him and help him fill out job applications — hotel housekeeper, restaurant kitchen staff. Her father told her, “You need to finish school.”

“I see myself in our kids every single day,” she says, “I just hope to make a difference in each of their lives.”

I’d heard Mangual tell the story already once before in a YouTube video and read it before in a Wall Street Journal editorial page interview. But hearing the story from her firsthand was moving.

The story Mangual personally exemplifies — American opportunity and upward mobility through education — is one Rowe says the school tries to teach its students. “What’s the culture of the school? What’s the mindset?” he asks. One might look around and see “low-income Black and brown kids, going to be facing systems of incredible oppression.” Or one can look around, instead, and see “individuals with promise and agency.”

A “Pathways to Power” class taught by Mangual and others tells students about “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens,” financial literacy, time management, résumé writing and relationship skills. It also describes the likely rewards of following the “success sequence” — graduating high school, getting a job and getting married, before having children.

Rowe says when he started teaching that success sequence at the charter network of which he was CEO before leaving to start Vertex, he got “huge pushback” from staff who said “We can’t do this. We might be insulting parents.” Actually, Rowe said, what he heard from parents was, “Thank God someone is teaching this.”

Though Vertex is just months old, and though education outcomes such as employment or college completion take a notoriously long time to measure, students and parents here seem similarly pleased so far.

Kaylei Smith, 14, who lives in the Bronx and hopes to be a doctor or a veterinarian, said she felt like the school was listening to her and helping her achieve her goals. “The first week I came here, they were asking us a lot of questions about what we want to do,” Kaylei says. She says the Pathways to Power class helped her learn “how to think about the decisions that we make, because it will affect us in the future.”

Yahaira Lois, a parent who came to America from the Dominican Republic, says her daughter “likes the challenge” at the school, and was attracted by the opportunity the school’s International Baccalaureate program opened up to go to universities in different countries.

Philanthropists also have been liking the concept. One donor who is involved with the school, Sarah Hawkins, says she was attracted to Vertex because of Rowe’s “values-based approach to education,” which she calls “principled in terms of morality and meritocracy.” Hawkins works managing the eastern U.S. region of a global real estate company, and says her company might eventually put Vertex graduates or career-track students to work in fields like building engineering or construction.

The co-chairman of the William E. Simon Foundation, J. Peter Simon, says the foundation’s support of the school stemmed from its beliefs about the purpose of education, which aligned with Rowe’s vision of an International Baccalaureate high school that incorporates lifelong goal planning. “The mission of a school is not only to foster the academic prowess of its students, but also to foster character and good citizenship,” Simon says. The foundation’s gift was targeted at community service programs and at health and wellness programs, which Simon calls “two crucial elements of a well-rounded person.”

Rowe says the support from philanthropists is essential to the school’s operations, both financially and in other ways.

“The money is really critical,” Rowe says, but he also mentions how the networks philanthropists are in can work to the school’s benefit in career apprenticeships and other ways. “Suddenly, your philanthropic partnerships start to translate into other areas that can benefit the school.”

Vertex Partnership Academies is innovating in education in several significant ways. By partnering with two other K-8 charter school networks, Brilla and Public Prep, and serving as their high school, it’s helping to create a way around the New York state law capping the number of charter schools, which has constrained growth in the sector. By offering an International Baccalaureate careers pathway as well as an IB diploma pathway, it’s challenging the “college for all mentality” Rowe says he has come to question. Instead, apprenticeships and partnerships with employers could lead some students into good-paying jobs directly after high school graduation.

The most disruptive thing of all about Vertex, though, may be the message it’s giving its students. There is “unbelievable opportunity in America,” Rowe says. “The question is, are you prepared for it?”

Rowe says he’s sometimes accused of denying the reality of systemic racism. “Systemic racism, structural racism, institutional racism — if you’re going to talk about those three kinds of racism, then let’s talk about a fourth kind: surmountable racism,” he says.

He denounces educators trying to convince 12-year-olds that there are all those powerful forces arrayed against them.

“You’ve just got to fight back against all that nonsense. I just reject it,” he says. “There are no victims in our schools. There are only architects of their own lives.”

Ira Stoll is managing editor of Education Next and editor of FutureOfCapitalism.com.

To learn more about Vertex Partnership Academies, read their profile in the Roundtable’s Opportunity Playbook.

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Philanthropy Roundtable believes every American should have the freedom to reach his or her full, unique potential and achieve economic security. The Roundtable supports organizations that eliminate barriers to upward mobility, expand opportunity and reward hard work and perseverance.

Earlier this fall, 32 remarkable education organizations were announced as Yass Prize semifinalists at Forbes on Fifth in New York City. They were selected from thousands of impressive applicants for a prize that recognizes top education providers from around the country. A final winner will be announced later this month.

The $1 million Yass Prize, awarded for the first time in 2021, celebrates the “country’s education provider which best demonstrates the STOP principles” – Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding and Permissionless. Prize organizers say these principles “have the power to drive educational change for every child,” In conjunction with the Yass Prize, the STOP Awards initiative provides over $16 million in support annually to honor educators who achieve excellence.

This year, semifinalists come from 23 different states and though their work is varied and spans both the nonprofit and for-profit space, they all prove innovation is alive and well in education. Micro schools, pods and hybrid learning environments almost unheard of two years ago are now being utilized by parents and educators across the nation, and are among those being recognized here for their effectiveness. Other semifinalists include traditional public schools that operate more like a charter and charters that continue to flourish outside of traditional systems, as well as private schools serving specialized populations that are often overlooked. The Yass Prize also is celebrating leaders in the education tech space who are providing remarkable tools that can be integrated into learning.  

“Great education providers come in all shapes and sizes,” said Jeanne Allen, founder and CEO of the Center for Education Reform, which helped found the prize in partnership with Jeff and Janine Yass and Forbes.  “One of the deficiencies of the traditional education reform movement is that we thought it was only about schools. But there are education providers that may have just as much if not more ability to scale and support students. We should be encouraging actors from every field who are engaging in social entrepreneurship and doing really great work.”

This prize was the brainchild of Jeff and Janine Yass, who sought to provide additional support for students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They saw the extraordinary challenges that students and families were facing during COVID-19,” Allen said.  “And we all knew there were groups out there solving the crisis. They saw health care workers getting support, so they asked the question, ‘Why don’t we find the folks who are helping underserved students?’”

For more than 25 years, the Yasses have dedicated their time, talent and resources to creating excellent schools and expanding education options for students and families. But, the crisis in education during the pandemic revealed to them the depth of problems facing students. They pivoted to what they say is a more impactful way to spend their resources – a prize that might help improve student outcomes more quickly.

“A prize seemed like a really great way to stimulate a word-of-mouth referral process across the entire country and that is exactly what we have seen,” said Allen. “We received 2,7000 applications over three months and found some really unique approaches.”

The 2021 winner was the Discovery Center of Springfield, located in Missouri. Their mission is to “inspire curiosity and a life-long love of learning through memorable and engaging hands-on experiences in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).” Amid a challenging education environment in the Ozarks, this museum and science center taught thousands of children when schools were closed during COVID-19, many whose parents were first responders and economically insecure. The Discovery Center provided over 200,000 hours of free childcare, over 50,000 free meals and snacks and served over 1,500 children.

The 2022 Yass Prize winner will be awarded on December 14 in the New York City Forum at Forbes on Fifth.

For more information, visit The Yass Prize or reach out to Philanthropy Roundtable Program Director Erica Haines.

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November is National Entrepreneurship Month, a time when the nation celebrates the dreamers and doers who build businesses, create jobs and fuel the American economy. As we close out the month, Philanthropy Roundtable is revisiting a conversation between President and CEO Elise Westhoff and entrepreneur, teacher and philanthropist Jeff Sandefer during a recent episode of the Roundtable’s interview series “Doers to Donors: Innovators and Their Philanthropy.”

During the interview, Sandefer, founder of Sandefer Capital Partners and co-founder of a number of programs that benefit students in K-12 and higher education, discussed his path to entrepreneurship and a philanthropic venture inspired by his children that became “the single best thing” he and his family have done as entrepreneurs.

Jeff Sandefer has helped launch seven businesses throughout his career, including energy investment firm Sandefer Capital Partners and Sandefer Offshore, a successful oil and gas company. As a philanthropist and educator, he and his wife, Laura, co-founded Acton Academy, a global network of innovative K-12 schools that encourage students to be “curious, independent, lifelong learners.”

Of his various entrepreneurial pursuits, Sandefer told Westhoff “the single best thing” he’s ever done is launch a collection of one-day business fairs with his two sons, Charlie and Sam.

It all started when the boys approached him one day and said they no longer wanted to run a lemonade stand. Instead, they decided to host an event where young entrepreneurs could sell their products and services. Seven aspiring entrepreneurs, including Charlie and Sam, showed up with their businesses at the first fair.

It was such a modest beginning that Sandefer forgot about the event until the following year, when neighbors approached the family and asked them to do it again. The Sandefers decided to make the Acton Children’s Business Fair an annual tradition, and within a few years, the fair welcomed 200 young entrepreneurs and over 1,000 customers.

Inspired by the rapid growth of the event, the Sandefer family created a launch kit, so young entrepreneurs from around the world could start their own business fairs just as Charlie and Sam had done. Thus far, over 1,000 Acton Business Fairs have served 50,000 young entrepreneurs in 16 countries around the world.

The power of the business fair model, said Sandefer, is that the young people truly run the show.

“One of the few rules we have is no adults can teach anything,” Sandefer said. “The only way to destroy the entrepreneurial spirit in people is to have someone who doesn’t understand it try to teach it to you. [Entrepreneurship] is best learned in the trenches.”

Sandefer has long valued experiential “trench” learning. Acton Academy gives students the chance to participate in hands-on, real-world projects. Acton Business Fairs encourage young entrepreneurs to shake hands with adult customers, look them in the eye and sell products to them.

Sandefer’s latest program, Next Great Adventure, leads aspiring entrepreneurs between the ages of 17 and 24 through a series of experiential challenges over six weeks to “help you find your calling, accelerate your life and live a life of meaning.”

Overall, the program features 26 remote learning experiences requiring four to six hours of coursework per week, for six weeks. Aspiring entrepreneurs can participate in several free challenges before committing to the full program, which culminates in a forum that allows participants to pitch their ideas to “bring these next great adventures to life.” In return, they are provided mentors to help guide their journey and could receive up to $100,000 from Sandefer’s foundation to turn their ideas into reality.

To watch the full episode of “Doers to Donors” featuring Jeff Sandefer, click here, and listen to the podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify.

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