Access to high-quality learning opportunities remains uneven across Cleveland. Some schools consistently deliver strong instruction and supportive learning environments. Others face real constraints that limit what students experience day to day. These differences shape long-term opportunity for students across the city.
Future Ready Cleveland uses philanthropy to address specific gaps and constraints that schools cannot solve alone. We make targeted investments in work that strengthens learning conditions, removes barriers to quality, and supports efforts with the potential to influence outcomes beyond a single classroom or school.
Our role is focused and practical. We do not run schools, fund general operations, or replace public funding. We direct philanthropic resources toward clearly defined opportunities where evidence, leadership, and timing align and where investment can help promising work take hold and endure.
We focus on strengthening the conditions, talent, and systems that enable excellent schools and learning experiences to emerge, advance, and endure.
Work that strengthens the teaching and learning conditions necessary for strong student outcomes, including research-based instruction, high-quality curriculum use, and clear expectations for learning, particularly in core academic subjects.
Efforts that support safe, predictable, learning-focused school environments where expectations are clear, instructional time is protected, and students experience belonging, engagement, and purposeful learning.
Support for developing, retaining, and supporting educators and school leaders whose work directly influences instructional quality and the overall quality of learning opportunities across the education ecosystem.
Time-limited investments that help schools and education organizations build the systems, processes, and infrastructure needed to support momentum, enable growth, and deliver lasting impact.
Work that strengthens families’ experiences within the education system by expanding access to clear, trustworthy information, supporting navigation and decision-making, and elevating family voice, engagement, and partnership in shaping learning environments and opportunities.
Investments that expand access to high-quality learning opportunities across neighborhoods and address inequities shaped by long-standing systemic barriers, helping ensure more Cleveland students can attend excellent schools across the city.
A proposal is eligible if it meets the following conditions:
The work directly serves Cleveland kids
Aligned to expanding high-quality learning opportunities.
Grounded in evidence or credible practice
Led by organizations with the capacity to execute responsibly
Uses clear data and sound methodology
We assess eligibility to determine fit. Eligibility does not guarantee funding.
Examples of some of the efforts we do not fund:
Projects unrelated to measurable learning quality
Short-term programs without a path to sustainability
One-time events or general marketing efforts
Tools or programs without evidence or a clear use case
Work that does not support Cleveland kids
These boundaries reflect focus and responsibility, not the value of other work taking place to support students and the community.
A sharply defined issue grounded in evidence and lived context, framed in a way that clarifies why this problem matters now and for whom.
A clear, practical understanding of what is driving the problem, what constraints exist, and why the proposed approach is positioned to make progress.
A focused plan that identifies priority actions, sequencing, and ownership, with timelines that reflect the realities of the work.
Grounding in research, prior results, or credible practice, paired with openness to learning and adaptation as the work unfolds.
The leadership, systems, and partnerships needed to execute responsibly and amplify impact beyond a single organization.
A small number of meaningful indicators that show whether the work is advancing, paired with a plan to use insights to inform decisions and course correction.
Our funding reflects the different ways organizations contribute to expanding high-quality learning opportunities in Cleveland. These are not standing programs. They describe common patterns in how we structure investments based on context, readiness, and timing.
A brief inquiry that helps us understand the idea, context, timing, and how the work connects to expanding high-quality learning opportunities in Cleveland.
An internal review to assess strategic alignment, readiness, timing, and how the work fits within the broader education ecosystem and current priorities.
A substantive conversation that may include reviewing work already underway, visiting learning environments, and engaging with organizational leaders to explore the idea, approach, and key assumptions.
When there is strong alignment and shared interest, we invite a focused proposal that reflects the specific scope, questions, and timing under consideration.
A funding decision communicated directly, including clarity on scope, expectations, and next steps.
Ongoing engagement focused on learning, sense-making, and course correction as conditions evolve.
In some cases, funding is paired with additional support when it helps strengthen learning opportunities for young people and increases the likelihood that the work leads to meaningful, lasting impact.
This support may include:
Helping leaders make sense of information and choices
Working alongside partners to interpret research, data, and lived experience so they can make thoughtful decisions that affect young people’s day-to-day learning.
Bringing a broader view of opportunity across Cleveland
Sharing perspective from across schools, communities, and partners to help situate individual efforts within the wider landscape of opportunities for young people.
Connection and coordination with aligned partners
Helping partners connect and coordinate where it can reduce fragmentation, accelerate progress, or open new pathways for young people.
Collaborative problem-solving as work unfolds
Engaging alongside leaders to think through challenges, tradeoffs, and next steps as real work moves forward.
This support is offered in service of advancing strong learning experiences and opportunities for young people, not as oversight or management of your work.
Expanding access to high-quality learning experiences requires careful investment and alignment. Future Ready Cleveland supports this work by directing funding and partnership toward efforts that strengthen schools, expand quality options, and improve what students experience each day.
If you are interested in exploring a partnership or funding opportunity, contact our team to begin the conversation.
