FWD.us Education Fund

FWD.us Education Fund has supported the Biden administration’s immigration policy, ⁵ opposed the Trump administration’s immigration policy, ⁶ and supports criminal justice policies including efforts to lower the prison and jail population and reduce misdemeanor and felony convictions. ⁷

FWD.us Education Fund has received millions of dollars from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation since its launch. ⁸ In 2021, FWD.us Education Fund received $23.1 million from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. ⁹ It has also received $1.2 million from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation since 2021 ¹⁰ and nearly $5 million from the Hopewell Fund since 2017. ^{11 12}

History and Leadership

FWD.us Education Fund received tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2017. ¹³

Todd Schulte is the president of FWD.us Education Fund. Schulte has been the president of FWD.us since 2013. Previously, he was the chief of staff at liberal super PAC Priorities USA Action, chief of staff for former U.S. Representative Scott Murphy (D-NY), and held several roles at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). ¹⁴

FWD.us Education Fund shares several board members with its associated social welfare arm, FWD.us. These board members include Democratic Party strategist and Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative president of policy David Plouffe, Community Change and Community Change Action president Lorella Praeli, Andrew Pincus, and Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative chief of staff Jordan Fox. ¹⁵

Immigration Policy Activism

FWD.us Education Fund is the charitable arm of the liberal expansionist immigration-advocacy organization FWD.us. FWD.us Education Fund supports left-of-center policies on immigration and criminal justice. ² FWD.us Education Fund advocates for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants in the United States ³ and advocates for increased support for illegal immigrant students in the United States, including issuance of work permits. ⁴

FWD.us Education Fund supports the Diversity Visa Program that grants green cards to applicants from countries with relatively few immigrants to the United States in the five preceding years, ¹⁶ claims that illegal immigrants in the workforce need certainty to stabilize the labor force, and says that passing the Biden administration’s Build Back Better Act would have helped this situation. ⁵

FWD.us Education Fund opposed Trump administration’s immigration policies, supported the Biden administration’s efforts to end the Remain in Mexico policy, and voiced supported the Miles4Migrants program that donates airline miles to foreign nationals in the United States to reunite with their families. ⁶

In 2022, FWD.us Education Fund spent $17,213,257 on its programming, which includes meetings and group discussionss on immigration and criminal justice law and policy. ¹⁷ FWD.us Education Fund’s Informed Immigrant Program supports illegal immigrants currently in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and aims to provide legal advice to immigrants in the United States. ^{17 18} The organization also leads the I Stand With Immigrants/I Am An Immigrant Initiative, which aims to promote stories promoting how immigration liberalization would be good for the United States. ^{19 2}

In 2021, FWD.us Education Fund launched the National Dignity for Families Fund, which seeks to raise funds for individuals and families seeking asylum in the United States. The fund supports the far-left concept of equitable immigration and supports those seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border until their immigration settlement takes place. Currently the fund is focused on Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. ⁶

In 2019, the FWD.us launched the Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Renewals Now campaign. This campaign advocates for the renewal of the DACA program, which shields illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children from deportation. ²⁰ In June 2023, FWD.us Education Fund celebrated DACA’s 10th anniversary. ²¹

The organization also supports the left-of-center Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. ²²

Criminal Justice Policy Activism

FWD.us Education Fund has claimed that the American criminal justice system “locks up too many people for too long.” The organization supports policies to lower the prison and jail population, reduce misdemeanor and felony convictions, and encourage human resources and business executives to develop approaches to employ those with a criminal record. ⁷

Associated Organizations

According to Internal Revenue Service tax records, FWD.us Education Fund is affiliated with FWD.us, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Advocacy, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, Gradient Learning, and the Primary School Lab, all of which are controlled by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. ¹

Grantmaking

In 2022, FWD.us Education Fund made $7,309,495 of grants, primarily to left-of-center and immigration expansionist groups. These grants included $600,00 to the Justice Action Center, $415,000 to Tulsa Community Foundation, $375,000 to Together and Free Inc, $295,000 to Promise of Justice Initiative, $251,000 to Al Otro Lado, $2500,000 to DC Justice Lab, $250,000 to Kids In Need of Defense, $225,000 to Irreligious Foundation for Community Organization, $200,000 to Highlander Research and Education Fund, $200,000 to Players Philanthropy Fund, $187,500 to National Domestic Workers Alliance, $184,000 to the Tides Center, $175,0000 to Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, $145,000 to the New York Immigration Coalition, $140,000 to Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants, $125,000 to Adhikaar for Human Rights and Social Justice, $125,000 to Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, $123,000 to Texas Civil Rights Project, $120,000 to the Primavera Foundation, $105,000 to Global Response Management, $102,000 to Good Neighbor Settlement House, $100,000 to Arizona Ecumenical Council, $100,000 to the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and $100,000 to the Voice of the Experienced. ²³

FWD.us Education Fund also made grants of less than $100,000 to Transgender Law Center, America’s Voice Education Fund, Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, Just Futures Law, Mission Border Hope, Espacio Migrante, Haitian Bridge Alliance, Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, The Political Report, Center for Economic Research and Social Change, Choose Love, Lawyers for Good Government Foundation, Migration Policy Institute, Congressional Progressive Caucus Center, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Foundation for the Mid South, American Business Immigration Coalition, Migrant Equity Southeast, Catholic Charities Legal Services, and the Florida Immigrant Coalition in 2022. ²³

In 2021, FWD.us Education Fund made $18,210,000 of grants. These grants included $815,000 to Promise of Justice Initiative, $655,000 to Family Action Network Movement, $645,000 to Justice Action Center, $515,000 to African Communities Together, $500,000 to Texas Public Policy Foundation, $470,000 to Transgender Law Center and Black Alliance for Just Immigration, $405,000 to Haitian Bridge Alliance, $400,000 to Alianza Americas, $360,000 to National Center for Civic Innovation, $338,158 to Al Otro Lado, $335,000 to International Mayan League USA, $310,000 to International Refugee Assistance Project, $305,000 to Hope Border Institute, $300,000 to Florida Immigrant Coalition, $300,000 to Campesinos Sin Fronteras, $250,000 to the New York Immigration Coalition, $250,000 to DC Justice Lab, $240,500 to Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, $240,000 to Alliance for Global Justice, $225,000 to Hopewell Fund, $207,580 to Jewish Family Service of San Diego, $200,000 to CASA de Maryland, $200,000 to Justice in Motion, $200,000 to Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, $187,500 to The Praxis Project, $180,500 to Immigrant Defenders Law Association,$180,000 to Lawyers for Good Government Foundation, $160,000 to African Bureau of Immigration and Social Affairs, $135,000 to Adhikaar for Human Rights and Social Justice, $150,000 to the George W. Bush Foundation, and $150,000 to the World Relief Corporation of the National Association of Evangelicals, $150,000 to Catholic Legal Immigration Network, $150,000 to One Voice, $125,000 to Alterna, $140,000 to American Friends Service Committee, $123,000 to Americans for Immigrant Justice, $100,5000 to International Rescue Committee, $100,000 to Oklahoma Policy Institute, and $100,000 to the Niskanen Center for Public Policy. ²⁴

Funding

FWD.us Education Fund receives funding from individual contributions and grants. ²⁵ In 2022, FWD.us Education Fund reported revenue of $4,428,629 and expenses of $19,432,563. These reported numbers were a reduction from 2021, when FWD.us Education Fund reported contributions of $52,844,000 and expenses of $26,080,466. ¹⁷

FWD.us Education Fund and its sister organization FWD.us are primarily funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Advocacy, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Donor Advised fund. From 2018 through 2021, funders associated with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative awarded grants totaling more than $227.8 million to the pair of FWD.us nonprofits—$135 million of it since 2020. ⁸

In 2021, FWD.us Education Fund received $23,100,000 from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. ⁹  FWD.us Education Fund also received $11,804,509 from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in 2017. ²⁶

FWD.us Education Fund has received $1.2 million from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation since 2021. ¹⁰ FWD.us Education Fund received $1,187,914 from the left-of-center Hopewell Fund in 2019 ¹² and $3.8 million from the Hopewell Fund in 2017. ¹¹ The organization also received $100,000 from the left-of-center Ford Foundation in 2017 ²⁷   and has received other funding from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. ²⁸