Private foundations are giving an increasing amount of money to education. But they are directing it to a shrinking number of groups, and the losers are public schools and public universities.

Research reported at a meeting of the American Educational Research Association revealed that total educational philanthropy has increased from $90 million to $230 million in the past 10 years. But charter schools and organizations have been getting an increasing share of this foundation funding at the expense of public institutions.

Moreover, the report states, foundations have increasingly been giving money to the same few groups. Ten years ago, 35 percent of the allocations of foundations was aligned. Today it is 64 percent.

The top five recipients of foundations’ largesse include three charter organizations: Charter School Growth Fund, Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and the New Schools Venture Fund. Another of the top five is Teach for America.

The foundations are taking a hands-on approach to their giving, using their money to support educational practices they favor as well as to influence the evaluation systems that education organizations use to measure their success. Foundations also lean toward funding the biggest players in the charter sector, those that can scale up quickly in hopes of building a brand.

Education Week, May 7