Schott Foundation for Public Education

What Schott Foundation for Public Education does

Schott Foundation for Public Education is a BIPOC-led 501(c)(3) philanthropic intermediary established in 1993 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The foundation pools funding from institutional foundations, family foundations, philanthropists, and individual donors, then distributes invitation-only grants to grassroots, BIPOC-led organizations advocating for racial and education justice in U.S. public schools. Beyond funding, it operates as both a funder and an advocacy partner, providing grantees with strategic resources, technical assistance, media support, campaign coordination, and convenings. Its grantee ecosystem includes roughly 40 named partner organizations and the broader National Opportunity to Learn Network, comprising 40 grantee partners and approximately 120,000 active members.

The foundation's "core technology" consists of research-driven measurement frameworks rather than commercial software. The flagship is the Loving Cities Index, a comprehensive framework and online tool that assesses 25 indicators across four domains (Care, Stability, Commitment, Capacity) to evaluate how well cities support children; it has been published in 2018, 2020, and 2025, covering 35 cities in aggregate and 15 in the most recent edition. The Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark is a sector benchmarking tool that evaluates foundation grantmaking practices on long-term support, flexible funding, and innovative tools, developed in collaboration with an advisory coalition that includes ABFE, NCRP, GEO, United Philanthropy Forum, Grantmakers for Education, Native Americans in Philanthropy, Asian Americans in Philanthropy, Hispanics in Philanthropy, the National Center for Family Philanthropy, and Bridgespan Consulting. Additional programs include HEAL Together (healing-centered investment), Endow Now and the Racial Justice in Education Endowment Collaborative Fund (endowment building), Responsible AI in Education (AI policy), and narrative change initiatives Public School Grad and Testimonies of Love, supported by the Philos quarterly journal.

The foundation has roughly 15 staff led by President and CEO Dr. John H. Jackson, a former NAACP National Director of Education and U.S. Department of Education Senior Policy Advisor. Grant distribution is relationship-based and exclusive — the foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals. Marketing and distribution are oriented toward movement building (website, Loving Cities platform, social media, newsletters, organizing and philanthropy resource portals, events/webinars, and storytelling content) rather than commercial demand generation. Reported scale signals include "$1m+" in grants awarded for education justice to date (the homepage counter appears truncated and total annual grants, contributions, assets, and budget are not disclosed in the source data).

Name

Schott Foundation for Public Education

Legal name

Schott Foundation for Public Education

Website

https://schottfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Schott Foundation for Public Education is a BIPOC-led 501(c)(3) philanthropic intermediary that pools donor funding and distributes invitation-only grants, strategic support, and research-based measurement frameworks to grassroots BIPOC-led organizations advancing racial and education justice in U.S. public schools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Justice Philanthropy and Grantmaking Services

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Charities & Grantmaking Intermediaries (BPAGAKAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Social Justice & Human Rights Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAN), College Access, Scholarships & Student Success Nonprofits (BPAGADAE)

Keywords

• Education justice philanthropy
• Racial equity grantmaking
• Nonprofit intermediary services
• Community organizing funding
• Movement building philanthropy

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Grantmaking (Pooled Funding): Schott Foundation pools funding from institutional foundations, family foundations, philanthropists, and individual donors. The foundation then issues grants and provides strategic support to BIPOC-led organizations advocating for racial and education justice. This is the core operating model — a philanthropic intermediary structure.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Schott Foundation for Public Education is a BIPOC-led philanthropic intermediary that pools funding from institutional foundations, family foundations, philanthropists, and individual donors and redistributes it as grants and strategic support (technical assistance, communications, convening, and policy research) to BIPOC-led grassroots organizations advocating for racial and education justice. Grants are distributed exclusively by invitation, not through open proposal processes. The foundation also produces proprietary research and measurement frameworks (the Loving Cities Index and the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark), narrative-change campaigns (Public School Grad, Testimonies of Love), and thought-leadership publications (Philos Quarterly Journal).

Product overview

The Schott Foundation for Public Education operates as a philanthropic intermediary rather than a technology product company. Its core offerings are organized as programs and initiatives focused on advancing racial and education justice. The main products include the Loving Cities Index, a comprehensive analytical framework assessing 25 indicators of community support across cities; the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark, a tool for measuring foundation practices; Testimonies of Love and Public School Grad, narrative change initiatives; and Philos Quarterly Journal, a scholarly publication. Supporting programs include the National Opportunity to Learn Network (40+ grantee partners), HEAL Together, Responsible AI in Education, Endow Now, Justice Is The Foundation, and the Racial Justice in Education Endowment Collaborative Fund. The Foundation does not offer a technology product platform but rather funds, advocates, and provides research-based frameworks for education equity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Loving Cities Index: A comprehensive analysis tool and framework providing detailed analysis of local systems of love and support across 25 indicators for cities to assess how well they support children and families.
• National Opportunity to Learn Network
• Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark
• HEAL Together
• Endow Now
• Justice Is The Foundation
• Public School Grad
• Testimonies of Love
• Philos Quarterly Journal
• Racial Justice in Education Endowment Collaborative Fund
• Responsible AI in Education

Products and services

• Loving Cities Index
• National Opportunity to Learn Network
• Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark
• HEAL Together
• Racial Justice in Education Endowment Collaborative Fund
• Justice Is The Foundation
• Testimonies of Love
• Public School Grad
• Philos Quarterly Journal
• Endow Now
• Responsible AI in Education
• Loving Cities

Quantifiable outcome

• 40 grantee partners supporting 120,000+ active members in the Opportunity to Learn Network
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Grantmakers for EducationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group member and thought partner for the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark initiative. Contributed to the development of the benchmarking framework for foundations.
• ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black CommunitiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group member for the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark, providing expertise on equity-centered philanthropy practices for Black communities.
• National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy (NCRP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group member for the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark, contributing insights on responsible and accountable philanthropy practices.
• National Center for Family PhilanthropycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group member contributing to the design of the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark framework for measuring foundation practices.
• United Philanthropy ForumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group member for the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark, representing a network of regional philanthropy-serving organizations.
• Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group member providing expertise on effective organizational practices and grantmaking for the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark.
• Native Americans in PhilanthropycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group member bringing Indigenous equity perspectives to the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark design and implementation.
• Asian Americans in PhilanthropycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group member contributing expertise on Asian American community equity and philanthropy practices to the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark.
• Bridgespan ConsultingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group member providing consulting and strategic expertise on nonprofit effectiveness and philanthropy strategy for the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark.
• Hispanics in PhilanthropycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group member contributing Latinx equity and philanthropy expertise to the design and rollout of the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark.
• The California Wellness FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerQuote contributor to the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark, providing perspective on endowment and long-term organizational sustainability in philanthropy.
• U.S. Department of Education (Office for Civil Rights)minorOthersData source for the Loving Cities Index. Schott Foundation uses data from the Office for Civil Rights' Civil Rights Data Collection and the National Center for Education Statistics for its city-level analyses.
• U.S. Census Bureau (American Community Survey)minorOthersData source for the Loving Cities Index, providing demographic, socioeconomic, and housing data used across the 25 indicators.
• U.S. Department of Agriculture (Food Access Research Atlas)minorOthersData source providing information on food availability and food deserts for inclusion in the Loving Cities Index indicators.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Foundation for Child Development: National foundation focused on child well-being and educational equity for low-income children and families. Comparable in mission focus on children, equity, and education-system reform with overlapping grantee constituencies.
• ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities: Membership organization advancing effective and accountable philanthropy in Black communities. Comparable as a peer organization in Schott's Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark advisory coalition, serving overlapping racial-equity funder and grantee networks.
• Borealis Philanthropy: Philanthropic intermediary focused on racial equity and movement-building that pools funder resources for BIPOC-led organizations. Most directly comparable peer in operating model, with nearly identical pooled-funding intermediary structure.
• Marguerite Casey Foundation: Foundation supporting family-focused movements for social, economic, and educational justice. Comparable as a similarly sized BIPOC-aligned grantmaker deploying pooled funds to grassroots movements, with overlapping grantee ecosystems.
• Ms. Foundation for Women: BIPOC-led public foundation supporting women and girls of color through grantmaking and movement-building. Comparable as a similarly structured pooled-fund philanthropic intermediary with aligned grassroots-grantee strategies.

Emerging players

• NewSchools Venture Fund: Education-focused venture philanthropy fund backing innovative school and edtech ventures. Comparable in education-funder positioning but operates via venture-style investments rather than movement grantmaking.

Others

• Education Funders Strategy Group: Affinity network of education-focused foundations coordinating strategy and learning. Comparable as an ecosystem peer that convenes and aligns education funders, relevant to Schott's role as an education-justice convening organization.

Broad incumbents

• Ford Foundation: One of the largest U.S. foundations with significant investment in racial justice and education equity. Comparable as a major institutional funder in Schott's issue space, though at vastly greater scale and broader portfolio scope.
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation: Major national foundation with deep focus on racial equity and educational opportunity for children. Comparable in mission alignment around education justice and place-based equity work, though operating at materially larger scale.
• Robin Hood Foundation: Major poverty-fighting foundation with deep investment in New York City education. Comparable in education-funder positioning and data-driven program evaluation, though operating at much larger scale and primarily regional focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/schottfound
• YouTubeyoutube.com/schottfoundation
• Facebookfacebook.com/SchottFoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/schott-foundation-for-public-education

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Schott Foundation for Public Education