We have learned that philanthropy for K-12 public education is growing, but also that the realities of grant makers' priorities, varying philosophies, and charter restrictions establish a context in which the distribution of funds is erratic, dollars don't necessarily flow to districts that have high concentrations of impoverished students with poor academic performance, and anomalies can have unintended consequences. Further, it appears that schools are most successful in gaining philanthropic support from local donors for coherent, strategic initiatives and/or when the schools have staff with assigned responsibility for fund-raising. The discussion that follows elaborates on these findings.

SEDL estimates that philanthropic support for K-12 public schooling in the Southwestern Region grew by more than 30 percent between the 1997-98 and 1998-99 school years (Exhibit 1). And, as the total dollars have gone up, the number of school districts in the Southwestern Region receiving philanthropic funds grew by more than 16 percent over that two years (Exhibit 2). Nonetheless, an estimated 45 percent of the region's districts reported receiving no philanthropic funds at all in 1998-99.

Even for those districts receiving substantial philanthropic gifts, those contributions amount to a small fraction of their total budgets (Exhibit 3). In 1998-99, the region's total philanthropic revenues amounted to only $11 per student, as compared to a regional average per-student expenditure for that same year of $5,328. As a specific example, a New Mexico district with 7400 students received a $2.4 million grant in 1998-99 for a two-year project. The grant, while substantial, amounted to only 2.5 percent of the district's budget for those same two years.

* Arkansas school districts do not report philanthropic grants to the state. Foundation Center data were used to estimate total gifts to K-12 schools in the region, and then the difference between the regional total and the total amount of gifts reported by schools in the other four states of the region was computed to provide a placeholder for Arkansas philanthropic revenues.

Business giving to education continues to rise nationally, outpacing foundations in 1999 (The Foundation Center). The majority of this goes to colleges and universities. Much of what comes to public schools is in the form of volunteered time and donated equipment. More and more often, however, corporations recognize the advantage of providing major support for professional development programs for teachers and administrators in communities where they have facilities and large numbers of employees. Over the last four years, for example, Intel has established technology training for 500 teachers in Sandoval County (NM) and donated more than $1 million in equipment to Sandoval County schools. The Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory Foundation, also in New Mexico, awarded approximately $3 million in Educational Enrichment grants to 14 northern New Mexico school districts and $2 million in competitive Educational and Community Outreach grants to other non-profits and Pueblo communities in 1999, more than doubling its 1998 contributions. As an aside, commercial advertising contracts between districts and vendors like soft-drink distributors, and deals where schools swap online advertising for computer equipment, also are providing some schools with significant revenues. (GAO, 2000) Although this revenue represents commercial ventures, it is most often reported as a "contribution." While these revenues are not the subject of this study, they do provide funding for comprehensive reform and other school needs.