Charter Fund: Scale Funding Grant

The Charter Fund: Scale Funding supports nonprofit organizations that operate high-performing public charter schools. It seeks leaders dedicated to expanding their impact, aiming to serve an additional 1,000+ students over the next 3-5 years. The fund offers grants and low-interest loans starting from $750,000, alongside strategic partnerships and community-building initiatives to help schools navigate growth challenges, enhance educational quality, and foster collaboration among charter leaders.

Who We’re Looking For
We support nonprofit organizations that run some of the top public charter schools in their communities and are redefining what is possible in America’s public schools.

• Academic Excellence

They have had strong academic performance for multiple years, as demonstrated by measures such as student academic growth, achievement on state tests relative to peers, sub-group performance and, when available, long-term student outcome data.
Commitment to Financial Stability
They are committed to operating their schools on public funding and will not require significant philanthropy when they finish growing their networks of schools.
Ambition to Grow
They typically have waiting lists and want to expand their impact by opening more schools. The “Seed” organizations we support seek to open 1-2 more schools within the next two years, while our “Scale” strategy supports leaders who plan to launch 3+ more schools over a five-year period.
Strong Leadership Committed to Underserved Students
School leadership teams have the capacity to build the skills and expertise needed to accomplish their ambitious goals. They share a commitment to serving students who have limited access to high-quality public schools in their communities.
We are looking for leaders who want to expand their high-performing public charter schools by growing to serve roughly 1,000+ additional students in the next 3-5 years.
We provide grants and low-interest loans of $750,000+ to help promising public charter schools pursue their multi-year plan to open new schools and increase their impact. Once awarded, these grants and loans are disbursed over a three to five-year period.
Strategic Partnership
We work alongside charter leaders to help them navigate the challenges of growth and deliver for students and families. Our investment and structured finance team members not only bring financial and strategic expertise to their work, but have typically worked in schools and can relate to the experiences of our portfolio leaders.
Support, Insights, & Solutions
Through our impact team, we spotlight and share practices that make schools and organizations better.