Persistence, Partnership and Public Will

Grantmakers for Education, a national organization that helps funders receive the best results for their philanthropic efforts on behalf of education, recently released a study of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 14-year investment in Kentucky school reform.

The foundation’s investment was intended to give the state’s ambitious and comprehensive reform efforts “the time, resources and attention needed to prove its worth,” the study notes.

Grantmakers for Education has identified eight principles for effective education grant making. The group noted that the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s investment illustrates the importance and challenges of two of those principles: persistence and engaged partners.

Rather than investing directly in the school system, the foundation invested heavily in three non-profit partners with interconnected missions:

• The Prichard Committee, a nonprofit with a history of advocating for Kentucky school reform, was funded to continue and expand its work.
• The Partnership for Kentucky School Reform (now known as the Partnership for Successful Schools) was funded to conduct a communications campaign. The organization was largely financed by United Parcel Service, Humana Inc. and Ashland Inc.
• The Kentucky Institute for Educational Research, an independent research entity, was created to assess the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) over time and to document lessons learned. It was eventually merged into the state’s university system.

• Make a long-term commitment.
• Build a broad constituency for support of your solution or project.
• Engage partners and grantees in designing the solution.
• Remain flexible.

The case study, available at www.edfunders.org, was presented in November during the annual meeting of Grantmakers for Education in San Francisco.