30,000 rigorous, relevant seats October 2015

Welcome! Agenda

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•  Great MN Schools Ben Whitney

•  Facilities access Phil Hatlie & Rick Norton

•  Community engagement Antonio Cardona

•  Relevance/Search Institute Kent Pekel

A growing movement

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Our Funder Group

•  Albright Family Foundation

•  Bush Foundation

•  Cargill Foundation

•  Carlson Family Foundation

•  The Carolyn Foundation

•  David Winton Bell Foundation

•  The Frey Foundation of Minnesota

•  GHR Foundation

•  General Mills Foundation

•  I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation

•  The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota

•  John & Denise Graves Foundation

•  The Joyce Foundation

•  Longview Foundation

•  The McKnight Foundation

•  The Minneapolis Foundation

•  Persephone Foundation

•  Piper Family Fund

•  RKMC Foundation for Children

•  Robbie Soskin

•  Sauer Children’s Renew Foundation

•  Smikis Foundation

•  Soran Family Foundation

•  Social Venture Partners

•  WEM Foundation

•  The Walton Family Foundation

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Board of Directors

Chris Smith Co-chair

Rob Albright Treasurer

Kate Wolford Past co-chair

Phil Soran Becky Erdahl

Hamse Warfa

David Nelson

Tad Piper Co-chair

Kayla Yang-Best

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Sandy Vargas

Bill Graves

New!

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30,000 rigorous, relevant FRL seats by 2025

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Great MN Schools

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San Antonio $80M/75,000 seats

San Francisco $25M/12,000 seats

Oakland $10M/6,000 seats Chicago-2 funds

$130M/70,000 seats

NOLA $30M/15,000 seats

D.C. – 3 funds $55M/20,000 seats

Boston $10M/5,000 seats

Newark

Phoenix

Denver

Indianapolis $10M/10,000 seats

Memphis $15M/10,000

Florida $30M/15,000 seats

New York

National models Scaling success through a school development fund & ecosystem support

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Philadelphia $100M/35,000

Cincinnati

New Mexico

? ? Minneapolis

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•  Dedicated $35M fund of professionally managed growth capital driving & supporting development of rigorous & relevant seats

•  High-performing seat goals: •  Drive development of 10,000 charter seats

•  Support development of 1,000 independent seats

•  Support development of 14,000 MPS seats

•  Structure •  Independent 501(c)(3)

•  Board expertise in start ups, investment, community, schools – appointed by MN Comeback board & includes MN Comeback ED

•  Managing general partner plus associate partners

•  Alignment & partnership with MN Comeback & levers

About Great MN Schools

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Why GMS?

•  Funding essential to growth & reform •  Power of capital pool

•  Market leverage •  Strategic, diversified portfolio •  Rational school distribution (IFF)

•  Experienced leader & staff •  Market knowledge •  Processes for selection, monitoring, fast intervention •  Value add to schools •  Board focus & expertise

•  Quantitative & qualitative measures of quality •  National investment & CMOs •  Integration of $ with MN Comeback & ecosystem

•  $30M school investments •  New seats

•  Investment culture

•  Accountable for charter goal – expansions, replications, startups

•  Sector neutral •  Objective success criteria: leader,

academic model, board, financial condition, teachers, good parent demand & community engagement

•  Plus autonomy & substantial public funding – initial charter focus

•  By invitation

•  $5M grants •  Quality seats from high community-

impact opportunities

•  Support MPS & independent goals

•  Single grants; invitation & RFPs

•  Regional, multisector network of schools pursuing quality

•  Share best practices

•  Support ecosystem; scale programs

GMS programs

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Growth investment program

Developmental grant program

Community of Excellence

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Key investment strategies

•  Know every corner of the market & relevant community

•  Build diversified portfolio

•  Consistent, effective measure of rigor & relevance

•  Make multi-year benchmarked commitments

•  Pay attention to risk/reward & finance success

•  Press hard for sustainability on public $s

•  Play active, value-added role driving quality growth

•  Leverage MN Comeback ecosystem (talent, policy, facilities & community engagement)

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Making rigorous decisions with broad input

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• Cabinet • GMS team • IFF study

• Geographic • Demographic • Parent demand • Success factors

•  Leadership •  Model •  Board •  Capacity

• Geographic • Demographic • Parent demand • Success factors

• Cabinet • GMS team

Criteria Resources

GSF Funds Developmental Needs Assessment

GMS coordinates Technical resources

Initial screening

Invitation to submit business plan

Decision

Implementation

Submit final business plan

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Great MN Schools status

•  Incubation in MN Comeback •  GMS Advisory Group: Phil Soran, Beth Finch, Bill Graves, Win

Neuberger, Ben Whitney (consultant), Tad Piper

•  Staff: Shane Weinand & Morgan Brown

•  Progress •  Financial & program models

•  Legal & structural ties to MN Comeback

•  Board development

•  Legal documents prepared

•  Incubation & operating budget

•  Fundraising progress

•  Pilot round - confidential •  Multiple school investments

•  Potential grant

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•  Find key entrepreneur, leader & manager

•  Search firm: Chicago/DC-based Bellwether Education Partners •  Most relevant searches – highly experienced

•  Understand model of MN Comeback & GMS

•  Search committee •  Advisory Group

•  Community leaders – Gloria Perez, Russ Mosley

•  Schedule •  Live 10/15

•  Goal of hiring January 2016

Managing general partner search

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•  Key experience •  School operations & growth •  Executive management & team building •  Planning & execution •  Stakeholders & community engagement

•  Key skills •  Assessment of all elements of schools •  Investor outlook •  Fundraising

•  Key characteristics •  Passion & commitment to mission •  Leadership •  Relationships, communication, collaboration •  Tough decisions

Draft profile for managing general partner

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Feedback & discussion Great MN Schools

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Facilities access

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Facilities access IFF & Nonprofits Assistance Fund

•  Facilities & Real Estate Office •  Up & running next month!

•  New hire

•  Intersection with IFF study

•  Market research •  Engaging the community, identifying needs & interests

•  Facilities fund

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Welcome, Robin Toewe! Director of real estate services – Minnesota

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Robin Toewe Bringing facilities expertise to our community

•  10+ years with IFF, will lead real estate planning & development projects, public policy initiatives & business development efforts in our region

•  Expertise helping nonprofits through financial feasibility analysis, facilities planning, site search, due diligence

•  Masters in urban planning & policy from University of Illinois at Chicago

•  Accredited as a LEED Green Associate

Community engagement

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Community Engagement

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•  Leverage initial research •  IFF •  Design Thinking •  GreatSchools literature

review

•  Grow our team •  Achieve more diversity •  Across school sectors

•  Identify goals & strategies

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Community Engagement goals & strategies

•  Initial goals: •  Close the information gap for parents

•  Help parents understand, evaluate & determine school options

•  Strategic planning & conversations should go beyond the Implementation Team

•  Potential sample strategies: •  Create a one-stop shop for parents

•  Channel resources to IFF highest-need areas

•  Co-design with parents

Relevance

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Kent Pekel President & CEO, Search Institute

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REACH Survey – advancing relevance

Thank you

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