The Overdeck Family Foundation was created by John A. Overdeck, co-founder and co-chair of the hedge fund Two Sigma Investments, and Laura Overdeck, an educator and creator of the Bedside Math Foundation. The Overdeck Family Foundation supports programs in education, with an emphasis on science and math education.
John A. Overdeck is the co-founder and co-chair of Two Sigma Investments, a hedge fund. with $60 billion of assets under its management. Forbes in 2021 rated Overdeck at number 386 on its list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $6.5 billion. 1
Laura Overdeck is as a director of Khan Academy, Liberty Science Center, and The Pingry School. She has been a trustee of Princeton. 2
In 2012, Overdeck began to give math problems to her young children at bedtime. She started posting the problems to a blog she called “Bedtime Math,” and subsequently published four books with math questions. This evolved into the Bedtime Math Foundation, an operating foundation that emails daily math problems for children, sponsors math clubs in schools, and created a national cub called “Crazy 8s” to help children to study math after school. 3
In 2017, Laura Overdeck spoke at the New Jersey March for Science, which the Asbury ParkPress said was “officially billed as nonpartisan. However, organizers and speakers are clearly taking aim at recent actions by the administration of Donald Trump” in environmental policy and “abetting of fossil fuel interests.” 4
Projects
SciTech Scity
In October 2021, ground was broken on a science campus called SciTech Scity scheduled to open beginning in 2024. Part of the campus will be Liberty Science High School, which plans to have Laura Overdeck as principal. Laura and John Overdeck donated $5 million for this project. 5
Pediatrics Supporting Parents
The Overdeck Family Foundation, collaborating with the Hilton, Kellogg, and Packard Foundations, supports “Pediatrics Supporting Parents,” a group seeking to change the focus of doctor visits for babies and toddlers below age 3. The group says it wants these visits to include “providing support for healthy emotional and social development” and that the program “intentionally centers on those experiencing the impacts of historical and institutional racism and community disinvestment.” 6
Grantmaking
In 2019, the Overdeck Family Foundation made six grants of over $1 million to the Robin Hood Foundation ($4 million), Harvard University ($2.1 million), New York University ($1.5 million), Stanford University ($1.25 million), the University of Washington ($1.1 million), and Khan Academy ($1.1 million). 7
To scale the impact of Khan Academy by increasing usage, and to generate evidence of Khanmigo, Khan's generative AI tutor and teaching aide
$5,500,000
2023
Common Lit
To support CommonLit to develop a cohesive curricula, professional learning, and assessment platform, and fuel CommonLit's reach and earned revenue growth
To launch FUEL 2.0 to continue systems-change grantmaking and launch new partnerships with New York City agencies
$5,000,000
2025
Lena Foundation
To support innovations enabling LENA Grow to reach 115,000 children over 3 years, improving early language and literacy outcomes
$4,605,000
2022
Lena Foundation
To increase LENA's reach while maintaining impact, continuing evaluation, and building capacity for growth
$4,000,000
2025
Accelerate – the National Collaborative for Accelerated Lear
To build rigorous and robust evidence on the specific high-impact tutoring approaches, features, and innovations that stand to promote stronger learning outcomes for students in the U.S
$4,000,000
2025
Asu Next Education Workforce
To expand ASU NEW's team-based staffing models while reducing cost per student and demonstrating positive impact on teacher and student outcomes
$4,000,000
2025
Springboard Collaborative
To support Springboard Collaborative to scale its family-centered literacy programming by strengthening district sales, validating impact, and piloting new content and delivery formats
$4,000,000
2023
Association for Computing Machinery Harvard University Aiken Lab
To research factors that affect economic opportunity and identify policies that promote upward mobility
$3,333,333
2022
America Achieves Inc
To expand nationwide access to high-quality tutoring and individualized learning programs
$3,000,000
2026
Learn Fresh Education Co.
To ensure that Learn Fresh's scaled program model delivers both math proficiency and future-ready outcomes for all students
$3,000,000
2026
Tools of the Mind
To grow Tools of the Mind with quality by strengthening market readiness and preserving fidelity as reach expands
$3,000,000
2022
Parentcorps
To support ParentCorpse growth within and beyond New York City, codify scaling and business model, and validate unbundled components of the full model
$3,000,000
2022
Public Impact
To scale the Opportunity Culture differentiated staffing model to >2,700 schools
$3,000,000
2022
Reach Out and Read Inc
To increase ROR's reach while deepening impact, improving infrastructure, and building capacity for growth
$2,500,000
2023
On Your Mark Inc
To scale OnYourMark's early literacy intervention through innovation, growth, and increased efficacy of program
$2,500,000
2021
Saga Education
Innovative Schools
$2,250,000
2025
Center for the Collaborative Classroom
To scale Collaborative Classroom's SEEDS professional learning by expanding reach, supporting implementation quality, and developing a complementary Pre-K early literacy curriculum
$2,200,000
2023
Quill.org
To support Quill to develop innovative products and grow student reach by 200%
$2,171,500
2022
Lena Foundation
To increase LENA's reach while maintaining impact, continuing evaluation, and building capacity for growth
$2,087,500
2022
Parentcorps
To support ParentCorpse growth to 10 locations, including codifying scaling and business model and implementing its evidence-based model through partnerships in new cities
