Benchmark 08

8/11/2019 Benchmark 08

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BENCHMARKING2008


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Foreword

Methodology: Analyzing data from education grantmakers

Education grantmaking: Ecology of the field

Funding styles and strategies: What are funders funding?

Priorities in education: Whats promising? Whats troubling?

CONTENTS

page 2.

page 3.

page 4.

page 8.

page 15.

BENCHMARKING 2008


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BENCHMARKING 2008 / 5

Regional scope of education grantmaking

REGIONAL (grants to projects withinseveral states in a region)7%

ONE OR TWO STATES 23%

LOCAL (grants to projects ina city or small region) 34%

NATIONAL (grants to projects withinmany states across the country) 21%

INTERNATIONAL (grants made bothin the United States and overseas)14%

Type of grantmaking organization

OPERATING FOUNDATION 3%

POOLED GRANTMAKING FUND /VENTURE PHILANTHROPY 1%

OTHER 1%

RESEARCH INSTITUTION 1%

PRIVATE FOUNDATION 35%

FAMILY FOUNDATION 28%

CORPORATE FOUNDATION

OR GIVING PROGRAM 12%

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION9%

PUBLIC CHARITY WITH SIGNIFICANT

GRANTMAKING EFFORTS 9%

GOVERNMENT AGENCY 1%

Specializing in educationbut notnecessarily.Close to one-third of

respondents (30%) said their organiza-

tions devote more than 80% of their total

grantmaking to education. On the flip

side, half said that education accounts

for 40% or less of their organizations

total funding. Relatively fewonly

20%fall in between.

The figures on the following pages

(pp. 5-7) illustrate the different organiza-

tional and grantmaking characteristics of

funders participating in the Benchmarking

2008research.


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Average education grant size

$10,000 OR LESS 3%

$10,001 - $50,000 28%

$50,001 - $100,000 21%

$100,001 - $250,000 20%

$250,001 - $500,000 14%

MORE THAN $500,000 14%

6 / GRANTMAKERS FOR EDUCATION

Education grantmaking content areas

EARLYEDUCATION

K-12 OUT-OF-SCHOOLTIME

HIGHEREDUCATION

57%

2%

53%

3%

57%

3%

94%

17%

Grantmakers with some funding in this area

KEY

Grantmakers funding exclusively in this area


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BENCHMARKING 2008 /7

$5 MILLION - $10 MILLION 11%



MORE THAN $100 MILLION 1%

Annual education grants budget* Percent of total grants budgetdevoted to education

$1 MILLION OR LESS 19%


0 - 20%OF BUDGET 22%

21 - 40%OF BUDGET 28%

41 - 60%OF BUDGET 11%

61 - 80%OF BUDGET 9%

81 - 100%OF BUDGET 30%

*For community foundations, budget estimate includesonly discretionary grantmaking and not donor-advisedfunds managed by the foundation.


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Support for key education isses by the field

76%

73%

69%

68%

62%

62%

61%

59%

Teacher professional development

Out-of-school / after-school programs

Reading literacy skills

High-school reform, including college /career readiness

Effective school and/ordistrict leadership

Family, community and social supports

Math / science / technology knowledge

College access (financial or nonfinancial)

54%

38%

38%

51%

54%

32%

52%

41%

13%

16%

10%

8%

9%

11%

7%

8%

33%

47%

52%

41%

36%

57%

41%

51%

51%

51%

50%

48%

47%

43%

40%

Expanding access tohigh-quality prekindergarten

School-district performance

Arts education

Charter schools /charter-school networks

Education of English-languagelearners / immigrants

Alternative models for training /credentialing new teachers

College success / retention

51%

53%

26%

34%

42%

42%

35%

10%

9%

15%

13%

7%

8%

6%

40%

38%

60%

53%

52%

51%

59%

4% 1 % 31% 0% 0

3% % 8

6% 5% 0

2% % 2

2% % 1

5% 6% 9

8% 1 % 7

8% 1 % 2

1% % 1

4% % 6

2% 11% 7

2% % 1

1% % 1

Funding has been increasing

KEY

Funding has been decreasing

Funding has stayed the same

HOW HAS YOUR FUNDING CHANGED

IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS?

HOW HAS YOUR FUNDING CHANGED

IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS?DO YOU FUND THIS?DO YOU FUND THIS?


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AVERAGE 76%

74%

80%

78%

77%

50%

AVERAGE 73%

84%

69%

78%

93%

50%

AVERAGE 69%

69%

83%

72%

79%

39%

AVERAGE 68%

65%

64%

83%

86%

57%

AVERAGE 62%

67%

61%

44%

93%

43%

AVERAGE 61%

60%

60%

83%

69%

29%

AVERAGE 59%

59%

51%

67%

85%

50%

AVERAGE 51%

50%

50%

50%

69%

43%

AVERAGE 51%

43%

44%

67%

93%

14%

AVERAGE 50%

61%

51%

44%

71%

14%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%100%

High-school reform, including college / career readiness

Effective school and/or district leadership

Family, community and social supports

Math / science / technology knowledge

College access (financial or nonfinancial)

Expanding access to high-quality prekindergarten

School-district performance

Arts education

Teacher professional development

Out-of-school / after-school programs

Reading / literacy skills

Average of all respondents

KEY

Private foundations (35% of respondents)

Family foundations (28% of respondents)

Corporate funders (12% of respondents)

Community foundations (9% of respondents)

Grantmaking public charities (9% of respondents)

AVERAGE 62%

65%

62%

67%

77%

31% 100%


(by funder type, ordered by highest to lowest average funder support)

FIGURE 9


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AVERAGE 43%

44%

49%

33%

42%

29%

AVERAGE 40%

43%

21%

61%

57%

36%

100%

100%

AVERAGE 48%

36%

66%

39%

71%

43%

AVERAGE 47%

50%

36%

53%

69%

50% 100%

100%

Charter schools / charter-school networks

Education of English-language learners / immigrants

Alternative models for training / credentialing new teache

College success / retention


Out-of-school /after-school programs

Teacher professionaldevelopment


Family, communityand social supports

Effective school and/ordistrict leadership

Private Foundations


Family, community andsocial supports

High-school reform,including college /career readiness

School-districtperformance

College access(financial or nonfinancial)

Community Foundations




Charter schools /charter-school networks


Family Foundations




College access(financial or nonfinancial)

Education of English-language learners /immigrants

Grantmaking Public Charities


Math / science /technology knowledge

Teacher professional

development



Corporate Funders

(by funder type)

FIGURE 10


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Average of all respondents

KEY

Private foundations (35% of respondents)

Family foundations (28% of respondents)

Corporate funders (12% of respondents)

Community foundations (9% of respondents)

Grantmaking public charities (9% of respondents)

AVERAGE 66%

74%

61%

44%

85%

69%

AVERAGE 57%

55%

66%

44%

62%

50%

AVERAGE 68%

65%

69%

61%

92%

50%

AVERAGE 50%

55%

40%

39%

85%

43%

Grants to influence public policy or to build public will for policy changes

Grants for general operating support

Grants to support community organizing

Grants directly to public schools or school districts

100%

100%100%

100%


(by funder type, ordered by highest to lowest average funder support)

FIGURE 11


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Leaders in the field

Funders look to other funders for leader-

ship and ideas. In the survey, GFE asked

respondents to say which grantmaking

organizations they look to for leadership in

education. The following four were listed

multiple times:

Carnegie Corporation of New York

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Lumina Foundation for Education

Wallace Foundation

More than two dozen respondents

named GFE as a leading influence on

their grantmaking.


According to Benchmarking 2008respondents, here are some of the

priorities that will guide current and

future education grantmaking decisions:

Greater alignment across systems:

Grantmakers are unsettled by the

fragmentation of todays education

systemstoo often learning doesnt addup or students get lost at the transition

points. Funders noted a need, at one end,

to link prekindergarten programs more

effectively with K-12 systems and, at the

other, to align high-school and postsec-

ondary education. Many have broadened

their focus to include school readiness

among young children or prepara-

tion for college among adolescents.

Prekindergarten-16 is the new K-12.

Stronger U.S. high-schools:Half of

funders (51%) have increased their support

for high-school reform in recent years,

and 68% now fund in the area. Several

mentioned the need to cultivate multiple

pathways to high-school graduation

and beyond. A focus on disconnected

and vulnerable youth, said one funder,

leads us to focus on multiple pathways to

high-school graduation and reconnecting

older dropouts and low-skilled youth to

postsecondary education and training.

Better preparation for postsecond-

ary success in college or career:

Grantmakers are also pressing educators

and policymakers to prepare students

for the rigors of college, ensure their

progress to graduation and make col-

lege more affordable. We have moved

toward a much smaller number of grants

that are quite a bit larger, said one

respondent, linked to a common goal of

increasing the postsecondary attainment

[certificate or degree] in low-income/

minority populationsat scale.

PRIORITIES INEDUCATION:

Looking out at the education

landscape, grantmakers offered

thoughtful commentary on what

theyre funding and why. They

report theyve seen some heart-ening results from their grant-

making in the past five years,

but theyre also concerned about

tactics and worried that change

isnt coming fast enough.


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PRINCIPLE NO. 1:

Discipline and FocusIn education, where public dollars dwarf

private investments, a funder has greater

impact when grantmaking is carefully

planned and targeted.

PRINCIPLE NO. 2:

Knowledge

Information, ideas and advice from diverse

sources, as well as openness to criticism

and feedback, can help a funder make

wise choices.

PRINCIPLE NO. 3:

Resources Linked to Results

A logic-driven theory of change helps a

grantmaker think clearly about how specific

actions will lead to desired outcomes, thuslinking resources with results.

PRINCIPLE NO. 4:

Effective Grantees

A grantmaker is effective only when its

grantees are effective. Especially in educa-

tion, schools and systems lack capacity

and grantees (both inside and outside the

system) may require deeper support.

PRINCIPLE NO. 5:

Engaged Partners

A funder succeeds by actively engaging its

partnersthe individuals, institutions and

communities connected with an issueto

ensure ownership of education problems

and their solutions.

PRINCIPLE NO. 6:

Leverage, Influence and CollaborationThe depth and range of problems in educa-

tion make it difficult to achieve meaningful

change in isolation or by funding programs

without changing public policies or opin-

ions. A grantmaker is more effective when

working with others to mobilize and deploy

as many resources as possible in order to

advance solutions.

PRINCIPLE NO. 7:

Persistence

The most important problems in education

are often the most complex and intractable,

and will take time to solve.

PRINCIPLE NO. 8:

Innovation and Constant LearningEven while acting on the best available

informationas in Principle #2a grant-

maker can create new knowledge about

ways to promote educational success.

Tracking outcomes, understanding costs

and identifying what worksand what

doesntare essential to helping grant-

makers and their partners achieve results.


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Portland, OR 97205

503.595.2100www.edfunders.org

Grantmakers for Education improves the knowledge, networks and effectiveness of education philanthropy.

By connecting effective education strategies with effective grantmaking strategies, we help foundations

and donors leverage their investments to improve achievement and opportunities for all students.

Founded in 1995, we are a national association of over 250 philanthropies that connects grantmakers with

knowledgeable leaders, promising programs, experienced colleagues and actionable research.

Benchmark 08

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