Although colleges and universities have typically received almost twice the amount of funding than that of elementary and secondary schools, a new trend finds the latter emerging as the top grant recipients in recent years.  Concerns about low student achievement and dropout rates have led wealthy entrepreneurs to give generously to K-12 institutions.  According to the Foundation Center, large foundations gave $1.23 billion in grants to elementary and secondary schools in 2003 while higher education grants totaled $1.12 billion.  Five years earlier, K-12 grants totaled approximately $620 million in contrast to $1.07 billion for higher education.

"A lot of the old philanthropy was devoted to helping schools do what they were already doing," said Richard Lee Colvin, director of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, when discussing this turning tide.  "The new group is saying, 'Let's try something different.'  It's a lot of young, active entrepreneurial people--Bill Gates, Eli Broad, the Waltons, Dell, Milken--who want to change the schools, who want to use their money to support specific school reforms."

The article, entitled "Education Giving Shifts Focus to K-12," appeared in the August 23 edition of the Philanthropy News Digest.

Published Tuesday, Sep. 6, 2005