Regular readers know that I have some issues with how many private foundations operate. You can learn more in my piece for The Huffington Post, Private Foundations Have A Place (And Have To Be Kept In Their Place).

Now, the National Committee For Responsive Philanthropy, an excellent organization, has just published a related and useful report titled Confronting Systemic Inequity in Education: High Impact Strategies for Philanthropy.

Here’s how the site describes it:

Every year, foundations provide billions in grants for education. Yet, our education system is in crisis: American schoolchildren – especially those from vulnerable communities – remain trapped in a continuous cycle of inequities in educational access and opportunities.

How can philanthropy be more effective at deploying its limited resources to help reform and improve our nation’s school systems? How can philanthropy help break the cycle of persistent inequality, which undermines our American ideals that public education strengthens democracy and our economy, and promotes justice, equity and opportunity?

Confronting Systemic Inequity in Education offers two high impact strategies for education grantmakers to more effectively achieve their missions and help address the root causes of intergenerational inequalities. It recommends a deliberate focus on the needs of students from marginalized communities and on supporting efforts that seek to influence education policy in the country through advocacy, community organizing and civic engagement.

It’s definitely worth checking-out.