The City Fund is an education organization that funds initiatives that promote the growth of charter schools and other school choice organizations. It also funds activist organizations that support increasing charter school access and school choice programs.

In June 2022, it was reported that one of the organizations it backed, Brightbeam, was led by a CEO who had engaged in race-based criticism of black conservatives. ¹

Overview

The City Fund is an education organization that funds initiatives that promote the growth of charter schools and other school choice organizations. It set a goal of funding charter and charter-like schools in 40 cities within 10 years. ²

The fund was established in 2018 with the intent of scaling up what it was as successful education reform ideas nationally. The cities that the fund identified as successful city-wide models of education reform were Denver, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans. All three cities utilize charter schools and school choice programs on a large scale. ³

By December 2018, the fund had raised $189 million and spent $15 million in seven cities. A goal of the organization is to have charter schools serve 2 percent of all U.S. students and 5 percent of low-income students by 2023. ⁴

Goals and Activities

The City Fund has three major goals. The first is an expanded charter school sector that services at least 30-50 percent of students. The plan is to create more competition for students between them and traditional public schools which should improve performance at both. ⁵

The second goal is more accountability, through using a performance rubric to expand the city’s best schools and close the worst performing schools, regardless of type. ⁶

The third goal is equity. It seeks to achieve this by injecting choice into traditional public schools. ⁷

One thing that is not a part of the fund’s approach is more money for traditional public schools. It emphasizes that these reforms can be achieved through existing budgets and philanthropy had a role to play. ⁸

By February 2020, the organization had spent more than $110 million to develop charter and charter-like schools all over the United States. ⁹

Brightbeam Controversy

One of the organizations funded by the City Fund was a school choice advocacy group called Brightbeam. Its CEO is former Minneapolis School Board member Chris Stewart. ¹⁰

A June 2022 article in the Chalkboard Review alleged that Stewart had made numerous racially charged statements. Among the statements detailed was Stewart’s racist attacks on Black conservatives, opponents of the far-left critical race theory, and those who did not agree with him that America is inherently racist. ¹¹

Leadership

Neerav Kingsland is the managing partner of the organization. Previously, he was the CEO of New Schools of New Orleans. ¹²

Kamleeah Shaheed-Diallo is the operating partner of the organization. Previously, she was senior vice president of strategy and community engagement for The Mind Trust. ¹³

Finances

According to the only tax return publicly available as of mid-2022 which covers through June 2019, The City Fund received contributions worth $78,982,333 and spent $55,124,298. It had assets worth $39,965,929. ¹⁴

It has disclosed that it has received funding from the Hastings Fund, the Arnold Foundation, the Dell Foundation, the Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Ballmer Group. ¹⁵

In 2018, the group received a $19,088,965 grant from the Arnold Foundation. ¹⁶

1. Kinnett, Tony. “The Racist Who Suckered Millions From Education Reform.” Chalkboard Review. June 28, 2022. https://thechalkboardreview.com/the-racist-who-suckered-millions-from-education-reform/.
2. Barnum, Matt. “Leaked Presentation Offers New Details On Plans To Spread The New Orleans, Denver School Model.” Chalkbeat. Aug. 21, 2018 https://www.chalkbeat.org/2018/8/21/21106369/40-cities-in-10-years-leaked-presentation-offers-more-details-on-new-group-s-goals-to-spread-charter.
3.  Snyder, Steve. “74 Interview: ‘The City Fund’ Founders Talk About Their New Campaign To Identify America’s Most Innovative Public School Systems And The First Metro Areas Where They’ll Be Investing.” The 74 Million. Dec. 9, 2018. https://www.the74million.org/article/74-interview-the-city-fund-founders-talk-about-their-new-campaign-to-identify-americas-most-innovative-public-school-systems-and-the-first-metro-areas-where-theyll/.
4. Barnum, Matt. “Leaked Presentation Offers New Details On Plans To Spread The New Orleans, Denver School Model.” Chalkbeat. Aug. 21, 2018. https://www.chalkbeat.org/2018/8/21/21106369/40-cities-in-10-years-leaked-presentation-offers-more-details-on-new-group-s-goals-to-spread-charter.
5. Barnum, Matt. “Leaked Presentation Offers New Details On Plans To Spread The New Orleans, Denver School Model.” Chalkbeat. Aug. 21, 2018. https://www.chalkbeat.org/2018/8/21/21106369/40-cities-in-10-years-leaked-presentation-offers-more-details-on-new-group-s-goals-to-spread-charter.
6. Barnum, Matt. “Leaked Presentation Offers New Details On Plans To Spread The New Orleans, Denver School Model.” Chalkbeat. Aug. 21, 2018. https://www.chalkbeat.org/2018/8/21/21106369/40-cities-in-10-years-leaked-presentation-offers-more-details-on-new-group-s-goals-to-spread-charter.
7. Barnum, Matt. “Leaked Presentation Offers New Details On Plans To Spread The New Orleans, Denver School Model.” Chalkbeat. Aug. 21, 2018. https://www.chalkbeat.org/2018/8/21/21106369/40-cities-in-10-years-leaked-presentation-offers-more-details-on-new-group-s-goals-to-spread-charter.
8. Barnum, Matt. “Leaked Presentation Offers New Details On Plans To Spread The New Orleans, Denver School Model.” Chalkbeat. Aug. 21, 2018. https://www.chalkbeat.org/2018/8/21/21106369/40-cities-in-10-years-leaked-presentation-offers-more-details-on-new-group-s-goals-to-spread-charter.
9. Barnum, Matt. “The City Fund Has Given Out Over $100 Million To Support Charter And Charter-Like Schools.” Chalkbeat. Feb. 21, 2020. https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/2/21/21178789/a-major-new-player-in-education-giving-the-city-fund-uses-over-100-million-in-grants-to-grow-charter.
10. Kinnett, Tony. “The Racist Who Suckered Millions From Education Reform.” Chalkboard Review. June 28, 2022 https://thechalkboardreview.com/the-racist-who-suckered-millions-from-education-reform/.
11.  Kinnett, Tony. “The Racist Who Suckered Millions From Education Reform.” Chalkboard Review. June 28, 2022 https://thechalkboardreview.com/the-racist-who-suckered-millions-from-education-reform/.
12. “Our Team.” The City Fund. Accessed July 11, 2022. https://city-fund.org/our-team/.
13. “Our Team.” The City Fund. Accessed July 11, 2022. https://city-fund.org/our-team/.
14. The City Fund. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2019. Accessed July 11, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/824938743/202001959349300800/full.
15. Snyder, Steve. “74 Interview: ‘The City Fund’ Founders Talk About Their New Campaign To Identify America’s Most Innovative Public School Systems And The First Metro Areas Where They’ll Be Investing.” The 74 Million. Dec. 9, 2018. https://www.the74million.org/article/74-interview-the-city-fund-founders-talk-about-their-new-campaign-to-identify-americas-most-innovative-public-school-systems-and-the-first-metro-areas-where-theyll/.
16. “The City Fund.” Arnold Ventures. Accessed July 11, 2022. https://www.arnoldventures.org/grants/the-city-fund-1.