What Is Going on in Education Philanthropy? Cutbacks and Shifting Strategies Disrupt the Field

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Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series about a wave of disruption and uncertainty in the world of education philanthropy. Here, we look at changes underway at major K-12 funders and how it’s impacting grantees. In the second installment, we’ll explore the political and cultural forces reshaping the field.

K-12 education in the U.S. is going through a rough patch. Students are struggling with learning loss and mental health issues post-pandemic. Already strapped school districts will see their budgets chopped further next fall when federal funding provided during the pandemic comes to an end. Meanwhile, schools have become ground zero for the culture wars — from book bans and conflicts over race and gender issues to attacks on teachers and school board brawls.

It should probably come as no surprise, then, that education philanthropy is in a state of disruption, as well. Recent decisions and strategy shifts on the part of several major funders are prompting questions about where education philanthropy is heading — and sending waves of concern through the ed nonprofit world. At least one major funder appears to be mostly exiting the space, another has shifted focus, and still others are going through major leadership or strategy transitions. Meanwhile, the field seems to have reached an inflection point in which longstanding theories about whether and how philanthropy can have an impact are in doubt. 

It’s difficult to get a handle on the dimensions of the situation given the distributed nature and regular ebbs and flows in the sector. Are these just typical funding shifts that happen all the time in philanthropy, or the sign of something larger? Not surprisingly, neither funders nor the nonprofit leaders who rely on them are eager to pull back the curtain on their finances. But it’s clear that something is going on, and that the nonprofit leaders who are expressing alarm aren’t just doomcasting. Several we talked to are already experiencing funding cuts; others are implementing hiring freezes and even staff layoffs. 

“I can confirm that, as an intermediary, we are seeing declining levels of funding for education,” Frances Messano, the CEO of NewSchools Venture Fund, said recently. “The money that is leaving education now is irreplaceable, because at the same time, we’re not seeing new funders coming in to take the place of those that are leaving.”

A consultant who works with education nonprofits reported that a number of her clients are seeing their funding cut, reduced or delayed. She attended a recent event hosted by a prominent education organization where much of the hallway conversation centered on the uncertain funding landscape and participants used terms like “bloodbath” and “a culling of the field.”

Education is a notoriously challenging funding area, given the size and decentralized nature of the U.S. education system — there are over 13,000 school districts across the U.S., and local, state and federal governments spend more than $800 billion for K-12 public education annually. Sharp inequities in school funding persist in many areas of the country, particularly for low-income students and communities of color; at the same time, student outcomes are deeply affected by larger socioeconomic forces outside school walls. Meanwhile, after years of investment, K-12 philanthropy’s efforts to influence the sector have had some disappointing outcomes. 

Given these challenges, it makes a certain amount of sense that some funders would be stepping back or that new funders may be reluctant to begin investing in education. But those working in the education trenches take a longer view, arguing that real progress is being made in many areas — even in a climate of persistent education budget cuts and conservative attacks, not to mention a global pandemic. Philanthropy has played a role in that progress, supporting innovation, teacher diversity, college readiness, education equity and much more. Now isn’t the time for philanthropy to step back, public education advocates argue, but to recommit to creating a public school system that allows every student to thrive.

To get a better understanding of what’s happening in this space, we talked to nonprofit leaders, philanthropy consultants, education experts and funders themselves, who offered critical insights into what’s shifting, what’s driving the disruption and what it all means for the future of education. 

As Gates goes… 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation may have inadvertently started this wave of consternation, albeit with a big funding commitment. In 2022, the foundation announced a expansive plan to spend more than $1.1 billion over the following four years to improve math education in the U.S. 

This massive investment meant that Gates would no longer be funding other education areas while it focuses exclusively on strengthening math in U.S. schools. This was clearly a loss for non-math-related education areas, given Gates’ size and reach. As the Chronicle of Philanthropy pointed out at the time, Gates’ $1.1 billion math investment was “the same amount [Gates] spent on its entire elementary and secondary education program for the past four years, during which only 40% was devoted to improving math instruction.” 

The decision by the Gates Foundation to train its K-12 education resources on math is only the latest in a number of shifts it has made in its education portfolio over the last two decades — efforts that Bill Gates himself has characterized as disappointing. The foundation’s difficulty in achieving the results it hopes for in the space underscores how challenging it is. 

But Bob Hughes, the director of K-12 education for the Gates Foundation, made it clear in a recent interview that the foundation has no intention of turning its back on education. “The bottom line is, our funding is constant, if not increasing, in education,” he said. “In K-12, we’re continuing to fund at roughly the same levels that we did for the last five years. And we actually have a little uptick in expenditures over the last few years in terms of curriculum to support better instruction. So certainly, from the Gates Foundation perspective, there's no interest in pulling back.” 

It’s possible, even, that substantially more funding is on the way, considering the Gates Foundation recently announced its biggest budget ever for the upcoming year. Still, such a major shift in direction by the nation’s largest foundation will inevitably create turbulence or new currents that other funders may feel compelled to follow. As Sharhonda Bossier, CEO at Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC), put it, “There is a sense that, as Gates goes, so go the other philanthropic institutions.” 

Hughes hopes that isn’t the case. “We’re really excited about this direction we’re taking, but we also understand that we're a pretty substantial funder in the space,” he said. “So this is one of those times when we don't want everybody to follow us. We want them to continue to do their work. And we want to find intersections between what we're doing in math and how that affects what young people learn in other areas, like early literacy, for example. What we're trying to do is say, hey, there are a bunch of things to do, and we're focused on this one.” 

Layoffs and a turn toward tech 

News last summer from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) was a blow to many in the education nonprofit world. The LLC created by Facebook (now Meta) founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced that it was cutting its education program, laying off about 48 people — or 30% of the team — as IP reported at the time. Along with Gates, CZI was one of the country’s largest education funders, with a sprawling list of grantees that work to support educators, promote teacher diversity, advance whole child education, and strengthen diverse communities, among other priorities.

CZI also made a big bet on technology-based personalized learning through the online platform Summit Learning. As Chalkbeat reported last year, the results of Zuckerberg and Chan’s investment in Summit — reportedly over $100 million — were disappointing: “Summit, CZI’s pet project, has not spread as far as once hoped, and there’s little evidence that it or similar efforts have led to the large learning gains that Zuckerberg envisioned. This gap between ambitions and results underscores the difficulty of using technology to dramatically improve America’s vast system of decentralized schools.” CZI and Gradient Learning, which administers Summit, pointed to “positive experiences in a number of schools,” and a survey of school leaders that indicated satisfaction with the program, according to the article.

CZI has been adamant that it is not abandoning its commitment to  education altogether, but turning its attention instead to “CZI-shaped problems.” Still, education seemed like an afterthought in Chan and Zuckerberg’s 2023 Annual Letter, which provided an enthusiastic overview of CZI’s work in AI and cell biology. (See IP’s recent article on CZI’s tech team and its biomedical work.) 

Priscilla Chan recently told staff, via email, that CZI now has “a bolder, clearer identity as a science-first philanthropy," according to a report in Business Insider. Chan also wrote, “While CZI remains committed to our work in education and our local communities, we recognize that science is where our biggest investments and bets have been and will be made moving forward.”

When it comes to future funding for education, the organization appears to be planning to focus primarily on education tech tools. In a section of the Annual Letter titled “Co-Building Tech Tools With Teachers,” Chan and Zuckerberg said that CZI would be “exploring new ways to leverage our grantmaking and technology capabilities to co-build tools with teachers and students grounded in underutilized research and support whole-child approaches to education.”

CZI staff were not available to discuss the shift in strategy, but a spokesperson offered a statement: “Since 2015, CZI has made grants to translate education research into classroom practices. We have also leveraged research to design technology that helps teachers connect with students and tailor learning experiences to individual student needs. A key learning is that progress toward a whole-child approach to education is possible, and together, we can build an education system that enables teachers, students and communities to thrive.

“Going forward, CZI will focus on scaling up research-based practices that help students learn best, and to make them even easier for schools to implement. Specifically, our technology and grantmaking capabilities will be aimed at developing education technology tools that integrate underutilized research with effective classroom practices to help educators address the day-to-day challenges in their classrooms, connect with students and accelerate learning.”

To have two major ed funders narrow the focus of their giving could arguably benefit education in the long term, but in the near term, it can create real funding problems for the education organizations that counted on their support. Consultant Ruth Richerson, who works with a variety of education-related organizations, pointed to one of her clients, a small East Coast-based nonprofit with an education-equity focus. 

“CZI was a major funder, and now that they have changed direction, the organization doesn’t have another six-figure donor lined up. Another funder cut their grant by 50% in the wake of the DEI backlash,” Richerson said. She has received an uptick in calls from nonprofits seeking her help with finding new donors or diversifying their revenue. 

Transitions and strategic refreshes 

In terms of hard numbers, it’s difficult to gauge whether aggregate ed funding is actually on the decline. According to self-reporting by education funders for the Grantmakers for Education (EdFunders) “Trends in Education Philanthropy: Benchmarking 2023,” 57% of those surveyed said their education budgets were going to remain about the same over the next fiscal year, 28% anticipated an increase, and 14% anticipated a decrease. EdFunders will be conducting a survey of education philanthropies this year that should provide more answers about spending plans and priorities. The results of the survey will be available by the end of this year. 

It’s worth noting a large, newer funder who is taking on a major role in the sector: Ballmer Group. From 2019 to 2023, the foundation, which was started by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie, provided over $1 billion for education overall, much of that — more than $800 million — for K-12. This funder’s approach to education is comprehensive; Ballmer Group supports charter schools and community schools, educator diversity and preparation, early education, and college readiness — all with the goal of increasing education equity.

The future giving of other major education funders is less clear. Several people I spoke with for this article reported that the Walton Family Foundation (WFF) is reducing its education commitments and EdLoC’s Sharhonda Bossier heard the same from some of the nonprofits her organization works with. “My understanding from folks in our network is that they're seeing a 20% cut across the board in terms of Walton’s investment in them and their work,” she said. 

But another philanthropy consultant heard that WFF intends to increase its education grantmaking. When I reached out to WFF, a representative offered a response via email: “Walton remains committed to education giving that supports innovative and impactful learning. In their current plan, they are giving ~$300 million to launch 700 new charter schools and supports that help those schools thrive.” The representative pointed to WFF’s other investments to help charters grow and improve, and added, “WFF’s focus on innovation is also benefiting schools — both charter and district.” Education is by far the foundation’s largest funding area; it gave close to $1 billion from 2018 to 2022, according to Candid; over $600 million of that went to K-12 education. 

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has been a major education backer over the years and continues to fund education-related programs, particularly in Los Angeles, including Communities in Schools of Los Angeles and Thrive Scholars, according to the foundation website. But Eli Broad, a notably hands-on philanthropist, died in 2021, and the foundation is going through a strategy review. When we reached out to the foundation to ask about its education direction going forward, representatives said they’d prefer to discuss the matter at a later date. 

Like a number of other funders, Broad appears to be prioritizing career and technical education. The website highlights “Skills for the New Economy” and “Pathways to Good Jobs” as funding priorities and points out that “investing in L.A.’s youth requires us to think beyond their K-12 experience and vigorously expand a broad network of pathways to high-quality, upwardly mobile jobs.” One thing that seems clear is that the Broad Foundation is no longer the hard-charging, national K-12 reform funder that it once was, and it seems unlikely to return to that role. 

Several people told us that education giving from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, another big ed funder, is temporarily on hold. A new president started there last January and Carnegie is reportedly reassessing all of its programs, as typically happens after a leadership transition. In 2022, the foundation had assets of over $4 billion, according to Candid, and K-12 education is its largest education priority in terms of funding; it invested over $100 million from 2020 to 2024. (I reached out to the Carnegie Corporation but was told that they would prefer to discuss the direction of their education funding at a later date.) 

If some funders are narrowing their education focus, others are casting a wider net, according to Nicole Rodriguez Leach, the executive director of Grantmakers for Education. She said that some of the funders she talks to are going through “strategic refreshes” at the moment, which, for some, means broadening their funding to take a more intersectional approach, not unlike what we’ve seen in the health funding space over the years.

“Funders want to talk about education in the context of social determinants of health, wealth inequality, mental health, AI, food insecurity or affordable housing,” she said. “So I think some of the concern about philanthropy stepping out of education is about more of an expansive view of the boundaries of education, not just what happens in a classroom between a teacher and a student.”

Meanwhile, some funders have moved into related areas including early childhood education, where funding is on the rise, and higher education, which enjoys a large and consistent lineup of financial backers. 

So what does all this add up to? Zoe Stemm-Calderon, senior director of youth serving systems at the Raikes Foundation, chalks it up to the kinds of priority shifts that occur all the time in philanthropy. Still, she acknowledged that these shifts are having an impact.

”It's going to mean a contraction for education-oriented nonprofits,” she said. “At Raikes, we're thinking a lot about how we can help our partners weather that transition, but ultimately, I think this is part of the ebbs and flows of foundation funding.” Meanwhile, she said, the Raikes Foundation isn’t going anywhere, “We're going to stay committed to a public education system that works for everyone, and plenty of our funding partners are, too.” 

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Next: Understanding the political and cultural forces that are reshaping education philanthropy. Read the second installment here.