Operational Support

Pacific will achieve break-even self-sustainability in the year 2009. Until such time, we enjoy the generous support of the following preeminent foundations. Their financial assistance will allow us to build the organizational infrastructure required to execute our business plan:

NewSchools Venture Fund

NewSchools Venture Fund is a venture philanthropy firm that seeks to transform public education through powerful ideas and passionate entrepreneurs so that all children – especially those underserved – have the opportunity to succeed in the 21st century. Founded in 1998, NewSchools invested its first $20 million fund in nine nonprofit and for-profit organizations, and now has a $70 million second fund under development from more than ten individual and institutional donors. NewSchools’ investments focus on accelerating the growth of nonprofit charter school systems, including investments in Aspire Public Schools, Green Dot Public Schools and Leadership Public Schools; and on enhancing the capacity of school districts to produce high levels of student achievement, including investments in New Leaders for New Schools, Teachscape and Teach for America. For more information, visit www.newschools.org

Pacific received total operating support of $750,000 from NewSchools for the first two years of operation.

The Broad Foundation

The Broad Foundation's mission is to dramatically improve K-12 urban public education through better governance, management and labor relations. The Foundation's goals are ambitious:

• To train a broad, deep bench of current and aspiring leaders in education.
• To redefine the traditional roles, practices and policies of school board members, superintendents, principals and labor union leaders to better address contemporary challenges in education.
• To attract and retain the highest quality talent to leadership roles in education.
• To equip school systems and their leaders with modern tools for effective management.
• To provide tangible incentives for educators to advance academic performance.
• To honor and showcase success wherever it occurs in urban education.

The Broad Foundation has committed to funding over $400 Million toward K-12 educational issues. For more information, visit www.broadfoundation.com

Approximately $400,000 of The Broad Foundation 2004 aggregate pledge is available to support Pacific’s operations.

Pisces Foundation

The San Francisco-based Pisces Foundation, founded by Donald Fisher and his wife Doris in 1997, has become a driving force behind public school reform. The Foundation seeks to leverage change in public education—especially in schools serving disadvantaged students—through large, strategic investments in a small number of initiatives focused on bolstering student academic achievement. Pisces focuses its education giving on efforts to promote high-quality charter schools. More specifically, Pisces has generously supported the “Knowledge Is Power Program” (KIPP) charter schools. KIPP was founded in 1994 and currently operates 38 schools in 15 states. This funding has provided start-up aid to recruit potential principals, train them for a year, and assist them in launching new, high-performing charter schools.

Pacific received a grant of $50,000 from the Pisces Foundation in 2004 to support operations.

The Ahmanson Foundation

The Ahmanson Foundation supports the arts, education at the collegiate and pre-collegiate levels, medicine and the delivery of health care services, preservation of the environment, and a wide range of human service projects. Founded in 1952 by financier Howard F. Ahmanson and his wife Dorothy, the purpose of the Foundation is administer funds for charitable, scientific, educational, literary, and religious purposes, all for the public welfare. The Foundation’s vast majority of philanthropy is directed toward organizations and institutions based in and serving the greater Los Angeles community. Simultaneously, the foundation is particularly committed to the support of nonprofit organizations and institutions which continually demonstrate sound fiscal management, responsibility to efficient operations, and program integrity. For more information, visit www.theahmansonfoundation.org

Pacific received a grant of $100,000 from The Ahmanson Foundation in 2005 to support operations.

The Walton Family Foundation

The Walton Family Foundation, Inc. was established in 1987 as the culmination of the philanthropic interests of the family of Sam M. and Helen R. Walton. The Family's purpose in establishing the Foundation was to focus their philanthropic efforts to assure that their charitable giving would have the most positive impact on communities throughout the United States. The Foundation's primary areas of focus are systemic reform in K-12 education and community and economic development and educational opportunities in the Northwest Region of Arkansas and the Delta Region of Arkansas and Mississippi. For more information, visit www.wffhome.com

Approximately $220,000 of the Walton Family Foundation’s 2004 aggregate pledge is available to support Pacific’s operations.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through community partnerships across the nation, is committed to significantly raising the high school graduation rate and helping all students—regardless of race or family income — graduate as strong citizens ready for college and work. Through its commitments totaling more than $1.3 billion, the Foundation is both supporting the creation of strong new schools and transforming large, impersonal ones into smaller learning environments designed to give all students a rigorous, personalized education. It supports the creation of thousands of new, high-quality schools by supporting the replication of effective school models and by supporting the conversion of some of our nation’s lowest performing high schools into smaller, more effective schools. In addition to these investments, the Foundation has committed more than $1 billion to help reduce financial barriers to higher education talented low-income students. For more information, visit www.gatesfoundation.org

Approximately $200,000 of the Gates Foundation’s 2005 aggregate pledge is available to support Pacific’s operations.

Weingart Foundation

The Weingart Foundation has made over $600 million in grants spanning 30 years to nonprofit agencies and institutions that meet the varied and critical needs of Southern California. The Weingart Foundation was established in 1951 by Ben Weingart and his wife Stella. Because of their lifelong concern for the welfare of the homeless, destitute, and people in need, the Foundation has focused its grant making on programs that address the needs of the under-served and the general community. It focuses grants on human services, education, health, arts and culture, and programs and services that provide public and social benefit. With assets of approximately $770 million, the Weingart Foundation is one of the major private foundations in the United States. For more information, visit www.weingartfnd.org

Pacific received $100,000 from Weingart in 2006 to support operations.