Open Funding Opportunity – Apply to Receive NewSchools Funding!
Overview
Through our annual Diverse Leaders funding opportunity, we will invest up to $2 million in innovators with bold ideas to close the racial leadership gap in public education. We invest in organizations that recruit and support the growth of Black and Latino leaders or serve as capacity-builders, helping education organizations adopt inclusive, equitable practices that advance the ultimate goal of improving the life outcomes of children. We recently expanded the definition of diverse leaders to include a group too often left out of the leadership picture: parents. Parents have not always been seen as education leaders — though few people are closer to the educational inequity in the system or have a clearer view of the change required in their schools and communities. Our goal is to ensure education leadership reflects the diversity of public school students across the country. We want your best, most creative ideas to help us get there. We are accepting submissions through February 26, 2021 at 11:59 pm PST.
We hosted webinars on January 28 and February 11 to share more about this funding opportunity and insight on how best to complete the application. You can access both the video recording and the presentation slides via the links below.
What We Offer
We accelerate your efforts by providing support in three key areas:
- Funding: A one-year grant of $150,000 to $250,000, depending on the stage of the organization or idea. After one year, ventures become eligible for additional support.
- Communities of practice: Opportunities to build relationships with and learn from other Diverse Leaders ventures.
- Management assistance: Access to relevant, timely and customized support from our team and external experts
What’s it like being part of the Diverse Leaders portfolio? This video features reflections from our past ventures.
What We’re Looking For
We invest in innovators with bold ideas to close the racial leadership gap in public education. You might be:
- Recruiting new Black and Latino leaders into education
- Accelerating the careers of Black and Latino leaders already working in education
- Mobilizing and supporting Black and Latino parents to advocate for changes that benefit their children
- Building the capacity of education organizations to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive
You might also be contributing to the goal in some other way, and we’d love to hear about it. If you have an idea focused on diversifying the teacher profession, stay tuned: in June 2021, we will open a funding opportunity focused on this purpose. We currently do not fund policy efforts or university-based initiatives.
While we prioritize investing in early-stage organizations (generally 0 to 2 years old), we also invest in new initiatives (0 to 2 years old) at existing organizations. We recognize that many leaders of color may have been working to launch a new organization for more than 2 years, but may not yet have formalized their approach. We encourage you to reach out to our team to discuss your eligibility. In addition, all applicants must align with NewSchools’ overarching investment criteria.
Highly Encouraged to Apply
Given our strategic focus, we encourage Black and Latino innovators to apply. In particular, we want to encourage Latino leaders to apply given that they have historically represented a small percentage of our applicant pool. We need to tap into the entrepreneurial energy that exists within the Latino community to bring relevant and effective solutions that meet the needs of all students.
Timeline
Apply by February 26, 2021. We will invite select teams to interview with us by March 31 and finalize decisions by May 28.
Key Dates
- Application opens: January 12
- Application supports:
- Webinar #1: January 28 at 12:00 – 1:00 pm PST
- Webinar #2: February 11 at 2:00 – 3:00 pm PST
- Office Hours
- February 4 at 2:00 – 3:00 pm PST
- February 15 at 12:00 – 1:00 pm PST
- February 23 at 10:00 – 11:00 am PST (register here)
- Application closes: February 26 at 11:59 pm PST
- Notification of application status: by March 31
- Stage 2 phone interviews and reference calls: March 29 – April 30
- Interview supports and guidance will be provided to applicants who are invited to this stage
- Notification of final funding decision: by May 28
FAQs
We have summarized some frequently asked questions below. You can also email any questions to diversity@newschools.org.