How to Strengthen the Relationship Between Educators and Foundations

NEW BOOKS

Reconnecting Education & Foundations: Turning Good Intentions Into Educational Capital
edited by Ray Bacchetti and Thomas Ehrlich

Despite a long and beneficial relationship between foundations and educational institutions, by the turn of the 21st century “a number of foundations appeared to grow weary of support for education and more hesitant about the assumption that educational institutions can deliver on their promise of leveraging philanthropic funding into individual and societal progress,” write Ray Bacchetti and Thomas Ehrlich, both scholars at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

“Our concerns were brought center stage by the shift away from support for education by a number of major foundations, such as the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Atlantic Philanthropies,” the editors write.

The articles presented in this volume review the often tempestuous but potentially productive relationship between philanthropy and education, and make recommendations for ways it can be improved.

The book is divided into four sections. The first encompasses the history of foundation support for education and how it reflects on their current relationship.

The second part deals with foundations’ support of elementary through secondary school, while the third part discusses higher education. Finally, the fourth section covers conservative foundations and operating foundations and their relationships with educational institutions.

The appendix provides 72 pages of data on foundation grants to educational institutions.

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94103; (800) 956-7739; fax (317) 572-4002; http://www.josseybass.com; 503 pages; $55; ISBN 0-7879-8818-9.