Organization

Our History

Fourteen years ago, with $50,000 and a passion for change, a group of community, business, and parent leaders created the Portland Schools Foundation to ensure the community would have an enduring voice for excellent education for our children. Since then, over 21,000 individuals, businesses, and foundations have stepped forward to invest in our work and our community's future.

With that investment, the Portland Schools Foundation has:

Reinvested directly in schools and teachers

  • Sponsored the annual Excellence in Education Awards to celebrate the teachers, principals and schools in the PPS District leading the way in closing the achievement gap;
  • Invested more than $3 million to help schools close the achievement gap, with exceptional success at the elementary school level and continuing progress through middle and high school;
  • In partnership with the Portland Public School district, launched the redesign of Portland’s high schools to ensure higher achievement and greater resources for our young people;
  • Invested $297,000 in support of music and arts in the schools.

Worked to mobilize the community in support of schools

  • Invested almost $900,000 in programs to help parents, families, and community organizations be more involved in the success of their public schools;
  • Led the fight for public funding to raise over $626 million for the city’s public schools;
  • Recruited more than 600 civic and business leaders into the city’s schools for our Principal for a Day Initiative.

The Road Ahead

In the coming years, the Schools Foundation is committed to every young person, by age 25, being prepared for college, work, and citizenship. We will do this by:

  • Accelerating educational improvement throughout the city to ensure both equity and excellence;
  • Supporting innovations to transform middle and high schools to meet the needs of today's young people;
  • Constructing a community coalition -- parents and families, teachers, school and higher education leaders, civic and business organizations, community organizations, and young people -- in support of this vision.