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The SEED Foundation

Believing that all children deserve a quality education, SEED opens college-preparatory, public boarding schools designed for students who need a 24-hour learning environment to achieve their full potential. The SEED model provides a rigorous academic program, life skills curriculum, and college transition and support services. SEED schools are more than simply schools—SEED is an integrated program that brings, under one roof, academic, residential, mental health, physical health, social, and enrichment programs.
Jurisdiction icon
Jurisdiction:
District of Columbia
Issue Area icon
Issue Area:
Career and College Readiness
Partners icon
Partners:
The SEED Foundation
Dates icon
Dates:
2005 - 2009
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Amount of Investment:
$2,000,000
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Investment Opportunity:

The SEED Foundation and the SEED School of Washington, DC have demonstrated a successful educational model. The investment in SEED hopes to expand a unique approach that offers students an educational enrichment opportunity they would otherwise not have, thus breaking the cycle of poverty. At the time of the investment, there were no other successful urban boarding school models. The goals were to:

  • Triple the number of students attending a college preparatory, urban public boarding school in the greater Washington, DC area
  • Refine and enhance The SEED School’s model and outcomes
  • Define a range of funding models for building capital-intensive urban boarding schools and other capital-intensive nonprofit services
  • Expand into other states where legislation has been passed to support charter schools or other alternative forms of public education, where precedent exists for innovative educational solutions for children and adolescents, and where capital-funding opportunities may already exist
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The SEED Foundation
Key Accomplishments

  • Human Capital—Board and Management: Integration of a new head of school, under whom more emphasis is now placed on improving outcomes. The addition of a new, non-executive chair to the Foundation’s board, and the execution of an agreement by the board defining the relationship between the Foundation and SPCS.

  • Outcomes Assessment: Establishment of an outcomes assessment system at both the school and Foundation that will ultimately permit a thorough evaluation and understanding of SEED’s model, paving the way for wider acceptance of the organization’s approach.

  • Organizational Strength: Greater emphasis on teacher and staff retention, which has increased.

Read Our Case Study

The SEED Foundation made considerable progress in fully integrating the academic and student life programs at SEED Public Charter School (SPCS). The boards for the Foundation and the school have continued to work to align strategic priorities, increasing focus on the use of data to improve outcomes.

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VPP + Raise DC
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In June of 2000, Venture Philanthropy Partners opened it doors,
spurred by the efforts of three founders who asked themselves,

“Could the business world provide a different, innovative
approach to social change?”

In the years that followed, VPP quickly became a strategic hub for high-impact
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government agencies and school systems.

In April of 2020, VPP formed a strategic alliance with Raise DC to build an investment
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