NewSchools Venture Fund

What NewSchools Venture Fund does

NewSchools Venture Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit venture philanthropy organization founded in 1998 by Kim Smith, John Doerr, and Brook Byers and headquartered in Oakland, California. It raises charitable donations from individuals, foundations, and corporate philanthropists and deploys them as one-year unrestricted grants of $150,000 to $250,000 to early-stage education innovators serving K-12 public education. The organization operates four thematic investment areas — Innovative Schools, Learning Solutions, Teaching Reimagined, and Learning Differences — and supplements grants with one-on-one coaching, communities of practice, and the annual NewSchools Summit convening more than 800 social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and education leaders.

Beyond capital, NewSchools delivers management assistance and field research through codified frameworks such as the Expanded Definition of Student Success (EDSS), the Building Better Schools report, and an Ed Tech Product Review Rubric co-developed with WestEd. Its 2024-26 strategy ("Education Fuels Progress") explicitly incorporates AI in education as a five-priority investment thesis, funding AI-native ventures (Expert IEP, NarrateAR) alongside traditional school models. Since founding, NewSchools has invested more than $400M across its portfolio, reached 28M students, and impacted an estimated 60% of the nation's public school students; in 2025 alone it deployed $28M+ across 86 ventures from a 1,651-applicant pool, with 70% of funded venture leaders being former educators and 51% being leaders of color.

The organization is governed by a Board chaired by Cori Duncan, with co-founders John Doerr and Kim Smith serving as Lifetime Directors. It currently operates with approximately 40 fully remote staff. NewSchools generates no product revenue; its economics reflect donated inflows, grant outflows, and operating costs associated with diligence, Summit production, research, and portfolio support.

Name

NewSchools Venture Fund

Legal name

NewSchools Venture Fund

Website

https://newschools.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NewSchools Venture Fund is a nonprofit venture philanthropy that raises charitable donations and deploys $150K-$250K unrestricted grants, coaching, and community support to early-stage K-12 education innovators across four investment areas, including AI-enabled learning solutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Venture Philanthropy

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132), Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB), Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC), Entrepreneurship Foundations & Startup Basics (EDAMAHAA), Social Entrepreneurship & Impact Business (EDAMAHAK)

Keywords

• Education venture philanthropy
• K-12 education funding
• Education innovation grants
• Nonprofit education investing
• Charter school investment

Headquarters

HQ city

Oakland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Donations: NewSchools is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that raises charitable donations from individual donors, foundations, and corporate philanthropists. They then grant these funds to early-stage education entrepreneurs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

NewSchools Venture Fund is a nonprofit venture philanthropy that raises charitable donations from philanthropists, foundations, and corporate partners and regrants those funds as $150,000–$250,000 investments to early-stage education entrepreneurs and innovators working in K-12 public education. Beyond capital, the fund delivers management assistance, expert coaching, communities of practice, and an annual Summit convening 800+ social entrepreneurs, funders, and education leaders to accelerate portfolio impact.

Product overview

NewSchools Venture Fund is a venture philanthropy organization, not a traditional product company. It offers a portfolio of investment areas and support services for education innovators rather than a unified product platform. The core offerings include four investment areas: Innovative Schools (new charter and district school creation), Learning Solutions (K-8 reading and math tools and content), Teaching Reimagined (educator workforce redesign with AI), and Learning Differences (supports for students with disabilities). Beyond funding, NewSchools provides management assistance through one-on-one coaching, connects ventures through communities of practice, and hosts the annual NewSchools Summit. The organization also produces research frameworks like the Expanded Definition of Student Success (EDSS) and resources such as the Building Better Schools report and Ed Tech Product Review Rubric developed with WestEd.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Innovative Schools Investment Program Provides $150,000–$250,000 unrestricted grants plus management assistance to founders and operators of innovative public schools, including charter and district schools, to support new school design and scale.
• Learning Solutions Investment Program Provides $150,000–$250,000 unrestricted grants plus coaching and community support to early-stage ed-tech developers and learning-solution companies serving K-12 students, including AI-powered learning companions and generative AI reading and math tools.
• Teaching Reimagined Investment Program Provides $150,000–$250,000 grants plus management assistance to ventures developing tools and models that reimagine the teaching profession and support educators in K-12 public schools.
• Learning Differences Investment Program Provides $150,000–$250,000 grants plus coaching to ventures developing products, services, and school models that serve K-12 students with learning differences and disabilities.
• Management Assistance and Coaching Provides portfolio ventures with hands-on management assistance, executive coaching, and strategic guidance in addition to grant capital, helping founders navigate scale, fundraising, and school or product growth.
• Communities of Practice Convenes peer communities of practice that bring together portfolio founders, educators, and funders to share learnings, address common challenges, and accelerate impact across the K-12 innovation ecosystem.
• NewSchools Summit Annual in-person convening that brings together more than 800 social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and education leaders to network, share learnings, and engage with the broader K-12 innovation community.
• Expanded Definition of Student Success (EDSS) A research-backed framework, developed by NewSchools Venture Fund, that defines student success across multiple dimensions beyond test scores and is used by portfolio ventures and the broader K-12 field to guide measurement and improvement.
• Ed Tech Product Review Rubric A rubric co-developed by NewSchools Venture Fund and partners that provides a structured approach for evaluating ed-tech products for quality, equity, and classroom impact, used by portfolio ventures, schools, and funders.

Quantifiable outcome

• 3.6x return on initial investment (growth in annual revenue for ventures)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• TranscendcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to help schools capture intentional designs that are reimagining learning for students and educators. Collaborated on case studies of four school models showing collaboration, shared leadership, and continuous learning to improve student outcomes.
• Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with CRPE on the 'Reimagining Learning for the Age of AI' compendium, where NewSchools contributes thought leadership on AI in education.
• DeloittecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNewSchools and Deloitte are helping education nonprofits explore mission-aligned strategic collaborations, including partnerships, shared services, and mergers. Through surveys, webinars, and support, leaders can assess options to strengthen impact, sustainability, and long-term readiness.
• WestEdminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developed an Ed Tech Product Review Rubric as part of NewSchools' virtual accelerator program. WestEd provides research expertise for evaluating educational technology products.
• HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with HBCUs for the HBCU Charter School Design Fellowship supporting future charter school founders. Aims to expand access to capital for leaders of color.
• EdForward DCminorOthersSpun out from NewSchools in 2015 as part of returning to roots funding early-stage innovative entrepreneurs.
• Educate78minorOthersSpun out from NewSchools in 2015 to focus on Oakland education.
• Reach CapitalminorOthersSpun out from NewSchools in 2015 as an education-focused venture capital firm.
• Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF)minorOthersSpun out from NewSchools in 2022. AERDF supports ambitious inclusive R&D programs designed to address teaching and learning challenges.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Echoing Green: A pioneer in social-entrepreneurship fellowships providing seed capital, coaching, and community to leaders tackling systemic issues including education. Closely aligned venture philanthropy model, support services, and target founder profile.
• Camelback Ventures: An early-stage fellowship and pre-seed fund for underrepresented social entrepreneurs, including in education. Directly comparable mission (equity-driven pipeline, early-stage capital + coaching) and an active co-investor with NewSchools in ventures like Expert IEP.
• Kapor Capital: An early-stage venture fund investing in education and tech startups, particularly those addressing inequity. Comparable K-12/EdTech investment focus and equity-centered thesis, though deploying venture rather than philanthropic capital.
• New Profit: A venture philanthropy fund that backs social entrepreneurs tackling education, economic mobility, and equity. Directly comparable as a multi-issue US venture philanthropist providing unrestricted capital, coaching, and a national peer community.
• Reach Capital: An education-focused venture capital firm that was spun out of NewSchools in 2015. Directly comparable as a K-12 edtech investor that picks up where NewSchools' early-stage grants leave off, providing growth capital to the same founder base.

Broad incumbents

• Emerson Collective: Laurene Powell Jobs' philanthropic and investment organization funding K-12 education, college access, and community development. Comparable as a high-impact education funder combining philanthropy with mission-aligned investing across a broader portfolio.
• Walton Family Foundation: One of the largest K-12 education philanthropists in the US, funding charter school growth, personalized learning, and education entrepreneurs. A broad incumbent with overlapping investment themes (Innovative Schools, EdTech) but substantially larger scale.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The largest US-based education philanthropy, funding K-12 innovation, charter networks, and college-ready initiatives. A broad incumbent that overlaps with NewSchools' mission and portfolio themes, but operates at vastly greater scale and across multiple issue areas.
• Carnegie Corporation of New York: A major US foundation funding K-12 and postsecondary education reform, including racial equity and innovative school models. Broad incumbent with thematic overlap on equity-driven K-12 innovation, though operating more as a traditional grantmaker than a venture philanthropy.
• Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: A major philanthropic vehicle funding education (including personalized learning) alongside other priorities. Comparable as a high-profile, well-capitalized K-12 innovation funder, though operating as a broad initiative rather than a focused K-12 venture philanthropy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nsvf
• YouTubevimeo.com/newschools/videos
• Facebookfacebook.com/newschools
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/27508
• Instagraminstagram.com/newschoolsvf

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments126 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NewSchools Venture Fund