The Clayton Christensen Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank dedicated to improving the world through disruptive innovation. Founded on the theories of Harvard professor Clayton M. Christensen, the Institute offers a unique framework for understanding many of society’s most pressing problems. Our mission is ambitious but clear: work to shape and elevate the conversation surrounding these issues through rigorous research and public outreach.

Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) is a collaborative, multi-year initiative created to address the barriers to educational innovation and tap the potential of technology to dramatically improve college readiness and completion in the United States. NGLC is guided by the belief that providing investment capital to expand the use of proven and emerging learning technologies, collecting and sharing evidence of what works, and fostering a community of innovators and adopters will result in a robust pool of solutions and greater institutional adoption which, in turn, will dramatically improve the quality of learning experiences in the United States. Many potentially breakthrough solutions are being developed and tested by educators, institutions, technologists, and entrepreneurs, but too often they operate with little access to each other or to opportunities to disseminate their innovations. Support is needed to refine and rigorously test their solutions, to connect with other like-minded innovators, and to develop strategies to broaden their reach and impact.

NGLC is led by EDUCAUSE in partnership with the League for Innovation in the Community College, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL), and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Funding is being provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Silicon Schools Fund is a new non-profit venture philanthropy fund in the Bay Area of California that supports the creation and replication of blended-learning schools. Silicon Schools Fund seeks to encourage innovative models that personalize learning for students and reimagine what is possible in schools. Committed to a research and development approach, Silicon Schools Fund works to attract the best educators and technologists in the world to the Bay Area to launch or re-design next-generation schools.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is guided by the belief that every life has equal value. The Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy and productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people – especially those with the fewest resources – have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life.

The Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF) is a non-profit venture capital fund working to transform K-12 education by investing in innovative charter school networks that offer outstanding educational options for underserved students. Founded in 2005, its mission is to invest philanthropic venture capital in the nation’s highest performing charter school operators to dramatically expand their impact on low-income and minority students. Its Next Generation School initiative supports entrepreneurs developing next generation schools in the charter sector. Many of these schools will blend learning by combining online learning technology with the key tenets of successful bricks-and-mortar CMO’s, creating personalized learning experiences for students, and delivering dramatically better results.