In a typical year (without a stimulus bill), the federal Department of Education has about $20 million in discretionary funds. In 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave away over $373 million to education, the Walton Foundation gave approximately $134 million, and the Broad Foundation about $39 million.
Education philanthropy has increased dramatically in the past 10 years.
Back in 2000, when the NewSchools Venture Fund — the founding institution of venture philanthropy — was a mere two years old, the “New Big Three” foundations (Gates, Broad, and Walton) donated about the same amount to American schools as the “Old Big Three” (Ford, Carnegie, and Annenberg). Just five years later, the New Big Three were spending almost four times as much as the Old Bigs. This is significant because the priorities of the Gates, Walton, and Broad foundations — charter schools, mayoral control, and teacher evaluation and pay tied to student test scores – are aligned, and stand in contrast to some of the priorities of the older funders. Ford, for example, prioritizes school-funding equity and neighborhood-school partnerships, alongside accountability. Annenberg funds arts and civics education. Carnegie, like the newer donors, focuses on teaching.
How does this infusion of venture capital influence the educational policy scene and what are the implications for federal, state and local policymakers? For more on this topic, see Dana Goldstein’s blog post (from which much of this summary was taken): http://tinyurl.com/5r9nhz3
