The KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) Foundation is a grantmaking organization that provides funds to sister KIPP organizations including KIPP-affiliated charter schools throughout the country. ¹ It was founded in 2000 by Gap Inc. co-founders Doris and Donald Fisher and KIPP founders Dave Levin and Mark Feinberg. Feinberg and Levin created the KIPP Academy Houston charter school in 1994, and Levin founded the KIPP Academy New York, with the KIPP Foundation being created afterwords. ² As of 2025, the KIPP Public Schools network consists of 278 schools, almost 16,500 teachers, and 190,000 students and alumni. ³

Financials

In 2022, KIPP Foundation reported $78,346,517 in revenues and $104,630,766 in expenses with $116,066,149 in total assets and 287 employees. ⁴

Listed salaries on the the KIPP Foundation’s 2022 990 form include president Kinnari Patel-Smyth ($438,061); chief academy and talent systems officer Federico Gonzalez ($381,455) through November 1, 2022; and chief development officer Shelley Goode ($348,355) through January 1, 2023. ⁵

In 2022, the KIPP Foundation reported receiving in$19,803,743 government grants, accounting for 25 percent of the organization’s total revenues. ⁶

The KIPP Foundation, being a grantmaking organization, has also provided funds to sister KIPP organizations including KIPP-affiliated charter schools throughout the country. In 2022, the KIPP Foundation reported 31 grants to organizations, 30 of which were KIPP-branded affiliate regional organizations and KIPP charter schools. ¹

In 2023, the Penner Family Foundation gave a $5,000,000 grant to the KIPP Foundation. Carrie Walton Penner of the Walton family and granddaughter of Walmart founders Helen and Sam Walton, was director and president of the Penner Family Foundation and a board member of the KIPP Foundation. ^{7 7}

Background

The KIPP Foundation is the largest charter-school management organization in the country, with over 270 schools. ⁸ The KIPP Public Schools network consists of 28 regional support organizations, 278 K-12 schools, and the KIPP Foundation nonprofit. Each KIPP Regional Organization is a separate nonprofit that manages the local KIPP public charter schools under it, with KIPP schools being tuition-free and open to all students through a lottery system. ³

People

Shavar Jeffries is the executive director of the KIPP Foundation as of 2025. ⁹

1. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). KIPP Foundation. 2022. Part 13, Schedule I, Part 2.
2. “KIPP Overview.” KIPP. Accessed March 18, 2025. http://www.kipp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/KIPPOverviewPressKit.pdf.
3.  “The KIPP Public Schools Network.” KIPP Public Charter Schools, January 31, 2025. https://www.kipp.org/about/network/.
4. “KIPP Foundation.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/943362724.
5. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). KIPP Foundation. 2022. Part 7, Section A, lines 18, 22, 23.
6. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). KIPP Foundation. 2022. Part 8, line E.
7. “Penner Family Foundation.” Grantmakers. Accessed March 18, 2025. https://www.grantmakers.io/profiles/v0/810831228-penner-family-foundation/.
8. Mathews, Jay. “Why Nation’s Biggest Charter Network Dumped Its Slogan, ‘Work Hard. Be Nice.’” Washington Post, July 7, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/why-nations-biggest-charter-network-dumped-its-slogan-work-hard-be-nice/2020/07/07/e7896c0a-bf9e-11ea-b4f6-cb39cd8940fb_story.html.
9. “Foundation Team.” KIPP Public Charter Schools, January 31, 2025. https://www.kipp.org/about/foundation/.