TEAMING UP TO EDUCATE (Summer 2016). Education is a simple word that represents a complex system with many actors—students, teachers, parents, administrators, policymakers—who must work together to prepare young people for success in the workplace, at home and in the community. This is no simple task. As a family foundation with a small staff, The Clowes Fund has sought out partners to stretch its grant dollars as far as possible in the education field. In Boston, the Fund has benefited from a long funding relationship with EdVestors, which has to date received $555,000 in grants since 2006.

EdVestors brings together private foundations, individual donors and corporations to support projects that promise better outcomes for students in Boston schools. Its work includes the Seed Fund, which provides start-up funding for new approaches to issues that affect students’ success, such as mental and behavioral health challenges, English language barriers, or limited opportunities for vocational education. Nine Seed Fund grants reached ten schools and six community partners from throughout the city. EdVestors’ grantees benefit from not only financial support--Seed Fund grantees receive an initial grant of $10,000 and may apply for larger expansion grants of up to $50,000--but also new relationships with other schools and community organizations that join together in a learning community, as well as the guidance and coaching of EdVestors staff and increased visibility with private donors. Together, EdVestors’ network of school and community partners, funders, advisors, staff and board are creating new possibilities for Boston students.

In the image, a teacher at Bates Elementary School exhibits the social thinking approach.

Clowes Fund Field(s) of Interest: Education/Instruction

Grantees