The Walton Family Foundation

Local Partners and CMOs

For Certain States

Before most school developers can apply for 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 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 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 startup grant does not imply or guarantee that a school developer will be awarded a grant.)

Arizona	Andrew Collins Arizona Charter Schools Association 602-944-0644 (Extension 302) andrew@azcharters.org
California	Kellie O'Keefe California Charter Schools Association 415-515-1520 kellieo@charterassociation.org
Colorado	Kathy Zlomke Colorado League of Charter Schools 303-989-5356 kzlomke@coloradoleague.org
Georgia	Kelly Cadman Georgia Charter Schools Association 404-835-8916 kcadman@gacharters.org
Illinois	Anne Levy Brown Illinois Network of Charter Schools 312-235-0798 alevybrown@incschools.org
Louisiana	Andrea Chen Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools 504-274-3651 achen@lacharterschools.org
Michigan	Angela Laugh Michigan Association of Public School Academies 517-374-9167 alaugh@charterschools.org
Minnesota	Al Fan Charter School Partners 612-418-2935 afan@charterschoolpartners.org
Missouri	Cheri Shannon Missouri Charter Public School Association 816-288-2185 cshannon@mocharterschools.org
New York	Dirk Tillotson New York Charter Schools Association 518-694-3110 dtillotson@nycsa.org
Ohio	Marianne Lombardo Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools 614-744-2266 mlombardo@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	Kevin Hall 303-217-8090 khall@chartergrowthfund.org
The Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP)	David Wick 617.669.8850 dwick@kipp.org
Building Excellent Schools	Linda Brown 617-227-4545 lbrown@buildingexcellentschools.org
All other CMOs, Networks and Fellowship Programs	Jenny Tripp Walton Family Foundation charterapps@wffmail.com