Integral to our work is the collaboration of our community partners – foundations, nonprofits and organizations that share our commitment to teachers and their students. Through their partnership on Fellow selection, funding and local support, these valued stakeholders extend Fund for Teachers’ impact across the country in rural and urban schools.

• Beginning in 2015, Dalio Education chose to invest in Connecticut teachers through Fund for Teachers, awarding $4.9 million in grants to 1,135 Connecticut teachers. Dalio Education funds statewide convenings of FFT Fellows, as well as special events for the cohort, including workshops to support their National Board Certified Teacher certification. These grant recipients also receive very special “Welcome to the Fund for Teachers Family” classroom surprise visits, often by Barbara Dalio herself! (Above, pictured second from left.)
• The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation joined our work this year, funding 62 teachers’ grants specifically for public school teachers in rural or low-income areas who designed fellowships focused on field-based science, art and craft, teaching, and protection of the natural world.
• Ohio’s Martha Jennings Holden Foundation is our only partner that can boast TWO statewide Teachers of the Year! This family foundation was founded in 1959 to support Ohio’s non-religious, public PK-12 school programs. MJHF also annually hosts selection committees and fall Fellow celebrations.
• The Ford Family Foundation’s tagline is “Small Towns, Big Futures,” which exemplifies its support of the people and places of rural Oregon. This year alone, the Ford Family Foundation funded approximately $50,000 in FFT grants for public school teachers representing nine districts.
• The Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation is our longest-standing partnership because FFT Founder Raymond Plank initially created Fund for Teachers to support educators in his home state of Minnesota.
• The John P. Ellbogen Foundation has partnered with Fund for Teachers since 2013. The mission of the John P. Ellbogen Foundation is to create or cause change, primarily for the benefit of the people of the State of Wyoming through the support of science, education and charity. Central to the Foundation is support for Wyoming teachers through the Wyoming National Board Certification Initiative, Meritorious Classroom Teaching Awards and Early Childhood Education to name a few.

We are grateful that these organizations chose to invest in educators by partnering with Fund for Teachers. If you know of like-minded people and/or entities interested in impacting education by investing in educators, please contact us!

To reach teachers working in communities across the country, Fund for Teachers partners with local education foundations and philanthropic organizations. Together we market the program, manage and support applicants, conduct selection processes and fund grants.

Perhaps our favorite aspect of these collaborations happens each fall, when many of these like-minded organizations host events at which FFT Fellows showcase fellowships completed that summer.This month, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and the Public Education Foundation – Chattanooga celebrated Fellows’ accomplishments and the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation and Dalio Education are upcoming.

Here is an example of how Rowena Williams shared her fellowship, which included visiting the family and teachers of current student, Yadira, in her Guatemalan hometown.

Are you, your corporation or organization looking to impact education in a unique way, let us know!