Membership

If you’re looking to make a greater impact in education, raise your hand.

You’ve made meaningful contributions to the field of education. But you want to do even more. It’s this inner fire to be part of something greater, a motivated and energetic community of thousands of grantmakers. Grantmakers for Education is where it begins.

Note that in 2026, we’re shifting our membership period to the calendar year (January through December). You will see an option below to add a prorated amount for 2025 to complete your membership through December of 2025. If you do so, your next renewal will be due January 1, 2026.

Guiding Principles

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We unite for equity and justice

Grantmakers for Education is grounded in an approach that centers racial justice because we believe most challenges facing the education system stem from foundational inequities within the system.

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We inspire breakthroughs

We are the largest forum in education philanthropy, a hub where new connections and ideas take root. We challenge the status quo and inspire new creative thinking. 

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We are a compass

We are uniquely positioned to identify key trends and insight into the “why” behind them, offering perspective that enables members to situate their work, navigate their world, and enhance their impact.  

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We support united action

We link new allies and galvanize our members to take collective action—with other funders and with the communities they serve—which enables us to tackle bigger problems together more effectively.  

We champion the cause

We are a steady advocate for positive change and a resource for expanding the visibility of members’ work to advance justice in education and meet learners’ needs.  

We can do more for learners all across America.

We share emerging practices and strategies with like-minded leaders at our ongoing events. We learn from leaders, practitioners and students. We engage in site visits, learning tours—any experiences giving us the opportunity to broaden our knowledge and our horizons. And now, we’re looking to add more insightful and thoughtful members. We’re looking for you.

The greatest lesson here is that we never stop learning.

We believe knowledge has no limits. We are constantly on the lookout for the latest developments impacting the fields of education and philanthropy to keep our people in the know as much as possible.

Find like-minded people to take on challenges head to head.

We believe progress in education happens when we choose to further educate ourselves. It’s with this deeper dedication that we expand our knowledge base, build our network, and collaborate with insightful minds. Through our collective ongoing efforts, this is how we became the largest and most diverse network of thousands of prominent education grantmakers. This is how together we all ignite possibility.