The Walton Family Foundation

Local Partners and CMOs

For Certain States

Before most school developers can apply for any of the planning and startup grants, they should seek an endorsement from a Foundation Program Officer or a Grant Partner listed in the table below. If your school is not located in one of these states, please email charterapps@wffmail.com to seek an endorsement. (A staff endorsement to apply for a planning or startup grant does not imply or guarantee that a school developer will be awarded a grant.)

In several states, WFF works cooperatively with state public charter school associations to create a pipeline of high-quality schools. These state associations help process WFF planning and startup grants, usually through a committee process. The Foundation has delegated authority to endorse an applicant to these associations.

If you plan to open a charter school in any of the states in the following table, you will need to get the state association’s endorsement before you can apply for a WFF grant. (As with the staff endorsement, an association endorsement to apply for a planning or startup grant does not imply or guarantee that a school developer will be awarded a grant.)

California	Kellie O'Keefe California Charter Schools Association 415-515-1520 kellieo@charterassociation.org
Colorado	Jim Ford Colorado League of Charter Schools 303-989-5356 jim@coloradoleague.org
Florida	Amy McClellan Florida Consortium of Charter Schools 305-757-5608 ajmcclellan@earthlink.net
Georgia	Nina Gilbert Georgia Charter Schools Association 404-460-9992 ngilbert@gacharters.org
Illinois	Natalie Weiss Illinois Network of Charter Schools 312-235-0798 nweiss@incschools.org
Missouri	Mike Malone Missouri Charter Public School Association 314-685-9900 mmalone@mocharterschools.org
Ohio	Kate Kennedy The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools 614-744-2266 kkennedy@oapcs.org
Washington, D.C.	Naomi DeVeaux FOCUS (Friends of Choice in Urban Schools) 202-387-0405 ndeveaux@focusdc.org

For Schools with Certain Affiliations

Several school-leader fellowship programs and charter management organizations (CMOs) have special relationships with WFF, and we fund schools affiliated with those programs through a separate process.

If you are affiliated with any of the organizations listed below, please contact the person listed for more information about applying for a WFF charter school startup grant.

If your school is affiliated with …	Then please contact ….
Any CMO that has been approved by the Charter School Growth Fund	Jennifer Stern 303-217-8093 jstern@chartergrowthfund.org
The Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP)	Hollis Wood 415-513-4108 hwood@kipp.org
Building Excellent Schools	Linda Brown 617-227-4545 lbrown@buildingexcellentschools.org
All other CMOs, Networks and Fellowship Programs	Jenny Harral Walton Family Foundation charterapps@wffmail.com