Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (New York, NY) – Project; New; $1,500,000 over 20 months; 100% of project budget For the California Policy Infrastructure project This grant request is to establish a $1.5 million fund to support education reform efforts in California. This flexible fund would take advantage of Rockefeller’s expertise in regranting and project management to leverage the current momentum for change as opportunities arise, such as the following possibilities: • Support for seven large California urban school districts to pursue timely reforms. Their federal Race to the Top application, which was ultimately unsuccessful, contains far-reaching reforms that the districts now seek to implement on their own) • Creation of a partnership of business, education, labor, and community groups that would implement a full-scale research, coalition building, and public engagement strategy to prompt reform of California’s complex finance system to better serve disadvantaged students. • Investment in a balanced "ecosystem" of organizations, to be selected by an expert advisory panel formed by Rockefeller, working to improve the conditions for education policymaking. Structured as a donor-advised fund, it would make regrants to high-performing, action-oriented advocacy and organizing groups, with remaining funds divided among organizations specializing in research, policy analysis, and information sharing.