Quality + Scale = Charter Schools 2.0

The Roundtable is proud to present excerpts from its most recent guidebook, Investing in Charter Schools: A Guide for Donors.

Nearly two decades after Minnesota passed the first charter law in America, over 4,000 charter schools today serve roughly 1.4 million students, about 3 percent of the entire public school population. Now an established presence, the charter sector faces a new set of challenges. How can donors take the best of the charter school sector to scale—while at at the same time maintaining high standards of quality?

Interview with Tad Taube

Born in Poland and raised in San Francisco, Tad Taube has a lifeling, deep-in-the-bones appreciation for the United States and its ideals. Today, Mr. Taube is the founder and chairman of the Woodmont companies, president and charter director of the Koret Foundation, and founder and chairman of the Taube Philanthropies.

Philanthropy spoke with Mr. Taube about the principles that guide his charitable giving: a respect for donor intent, an insistence on philanthropic effectiveness, and an unflinching commitment to the defense of freedom.

President's Note: Adam Meyerson on the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy's narrow and arbitrary standards for philanthropic excellence
Briefly Noted: Developments in the Helmsley estate; New report examines sunsetting foundations; New study on image motivation and its effects on charitable giving; Louvre establishes an American-style endowment
Staffing Up: Jeffrey Cain and John J. Miller, Arthur N. Rupe Foundation; Robert Gallucci, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Rebecca Stewart, The Philanthropy Roundtable
Member Profile: Lumina Foundation for Education
Adventures in Philanthropy:  Bear Necessities and Bringing Mergers and Acquisitions to the Nonprofit Mainstream

Reviews and Commentary

Matthew Bishop and Michael Green review Money Well Spent, by Paul Brest and Hal Harvey
Lee Edwards reviews Funding Fathers, by Nicole Haplin and Ron Robinson 

Keith Whitaker considers how the economic downturn has forced donors to look hard at their grantmaking—and offers an opportunity to gain perspective on their giving.