Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF)

Background

Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF) is a funding organization that supports the growth of nonprofit charter school networks, primarily through grants and program-related investment loans. The organization’s legal name is Charter Fund Inc., though it operates under the Charter School Growth Fund name. For 2024, CSGF reported total revenue of more than $232 million and made grants to 227 organizations, most of them charter-school operators. ^{1  3  4}

CSGF was founded in 2005 by John Walton, an heir to the Walmart fortune, and Donald Fisher, co-founder of the retailer Gap Inc., each of whom committed $5 million in startup funding. The organization’s first funding round raised approximately $87 million from a group of foundations that included the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which contributed $14 million; the Kern Family Foundation; the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation; the Gates Foundation; the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation; the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the Anschutz Foundation; and the Robertson Foundation. Early grant recipients included IDEA Public Schools, YES Prep Public Schools, Noble Network of Charter Schools, Denver School of Science and Technology, and Rocketship Education. ²

In April 2010, CSGF extended a $15 million program-related investment loan to acquire the assets of DreamBox Learning, an education technology company, in partnership with Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings. CSGF’s chief executive at the time sat on DreamBox’s board of directors as part of the arrangement. ^{5  6}

Financials and Funding

In 2024, Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF) reported total revenue of $232,401,456, up from $141,916,499 in 2023. The organization’s fiscal year 2024 tax return was filed as a standard Form 990 rather than the Form 990-PF (used by private foundations) it had filed in prior years, reflecting a shift from private foundation to public charity classification. Total expenses for 2024 were $189,583,844, yielding net income of $42,817,612; total assets stood at $720,288,020 against liabilities of $49,625,515. Contributions accounted for 92.2 percent of 2024 revenue, with investment income and program services revenue making up the remainder. Kevin Hall, the organization’s chief executive, received total compensation of $657,208 in 2024. ⁷

CSGF has received funding from several left-of-center groups such as the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, which reported a $50,000,000 grant to CSGF in 2024 to launch the “Dell Catalyst Fund,” along with a separate $2,000,000 grant for charter school growth in Texas. CSGF has also received funding from the National Philanthropic Trust, which reported a $25,000,000 grant to CSGF for the fiscal year ending June 2023. CSGF’s own website lists the Gates Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Reed Hastings and his wife Patty Quillin, as contributors of $10,000,000 or more. ^{8  9  10}

Grant Activities

According to its 2024 tax filings, that year Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF) made grants to 227 organizations, totaling more than $99 million, primarily to nonprofit charter school operators and related education organizations across the country. Grants were categorized under three internal designations: “charter school growth,” “charter school capacity-building,” and “impact and innovation.” The single largest 2024 grant was $8,606,615 to Success Academy Charter Schools, a New York City-based charter network. Other grants included $7,000,000 to the Colorado Schools Fund, which shares CSGF’s Denver headquarters address; $5,000,000 to Texas Charter School Development Inc.; and $3,360,000 to the Memphis Education Fund. CSGF has also made smaller grants to organizations outside direct school operation, including $300,000 to Education Reform Now, $250,000 to Brightbeam, and $250,000 to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, whose president and CEO, Fidel Vargas, has sat on CSGF’s board since 2021. ^{3  11}

In 2018, CSGF donated $4,900,000 to IDEA Public Schools, a Texas-based charter network, in addition to a separate $2,200,000 program-related investment loan to the network that year. IDEA was among CSGF’s earliest grant recipients, dating to the fund’s first investment round in 2005. In 2010, CSGF acquired all assets of DreamBox Learning, an education technology company, through a $15,000,000 program-related investment loan, with CSGF’s chief executive then sitting on DreamBox’s board of directors. ^{5  2}

Leadership

As of June 2026, Kevin Hall was chief executive officer (CEO) of Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF), a position he has held since 2009. Hall previously worked as chief operating officer of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and co-founded Chancellor Beacon Academies, a charter school management company. He has also held positions at McKinsey and Company, Goldman Sachs, and Teach For America, and earned a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School. Darryl Cobb was as president of CSGF as of the same date. ^{12  13}