Investment to Accelerate Creation of Strong Charter Schools
Philanthropies Team Up to Raise Achievement Among Disadvantaged Youth
San Francisco — June 30, 2003 — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced a $22 million investment in the NewSchools Venture Fund to increase the number of high-quality charter schools around the country by creating systems of charter schools through non-profit charter management organizations. These organizations will give thousands of disadvantaged youth access to a rigorous, personalized education by making it easier and more cost-effective to start and run good charter schools.
Entrepreneurs Wanted
The NewSchools Venture Fund is looking for a few good entrepreneurs.
Part of a small genus of charitable organizations known as venture philanthropists, NewSchools offers money and management expertise to groups with innovative ideas about improving education. Some of its biggest investments in the past year have been to expand networks of charter schools. (Venture Fund Seeds School Innovations, April 24, 2002.)
NewSchools Venture Fund Announces Performance Accelerator Fund
New Fund To Enhance The Capacity of School Systems To Improve Student Achievement; Complements NewSchools’ Charter School System Efforts
A Venturing Education Philanthropy: Interview With Kim Smith
Kim Smith, CEO of NewSchools Venture Fund, believes she is “genetically encoded to be a social entrepreneur in education.” Both of Kim’s parents were educators — her mother a public school elementary special education teacher and her father a professor of education administration for over 35 years at Columbia’s Teachers College. She attended Columbia, where she studied political science and psychology and worked for a consulting firm that specialized in creating business-education partnerships.
Lesson Plans: The VCs Take On Education Reform
Can the principles of Silicon Valley venture capitalists be applied to social problems? Meet the ‘education entrepreneurs.’
Broad Foundation Invests in Charter Schools
$4.74 million investment will create seven new charter schools in California
Los Angeles, Ca. – December 10, 2002 – The Broad Foundation today announced an investment of up to $4.74 million in Aspire Public Schools to create seven new charter schools by 2007 . The goal of this investment is to dramatically increase the number and quality of charter schools in California.
Venture Fund Seeds School Innovations
Don Shalvey isn’t easily awed. He spent nine years as a superintendent, opened California’s first charter school, and once introduced President Clinton when the chief executive paid a visit to his district. But when Mr. Shalvey asked the New Schools Venture Fund for $500,000 to build a nonprofit charter school management company, it felt like “four simultaneous root canals,” he said.
California Venture Group Seeks To Fund Charter School ‘Brands’
A nonprofit venture-capital fund in Silicon Valley has raised $25 million to invest in networks of charter schools, independent public schools that are seen as a promising approach to education but have suffered from lack of management expertise and access to capital.
The New Schools Venture Fund hopes to raise $50 million to create as many as six nonprofit charter-school management organizations, each with a unique “brand” identity. Within five years, the fund expects the networks will run a total of 80 schools serving 30,000 students.
NewSchools Venture Fund and the Broad Foundation Accelerate Educational Opportunities For Children
Broad Foundation’s $10.5 Million Grant Is Designed to Jump Start Charter School Movement
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., April 10, 2002 – The NewSchools Venture Fund and The Broad Foundation today announced The Broad Foundation’s commitment of up to $10.5 million to accelerate the pace and quality of charter school growth in the United States.