Shaping and Transforming the Future of Education Through Philanthropy

Anu Malipatil is the founding team member of the Overdeck Family Foundation, one of the most significant forces in education philanthropy over the last several years. In this conversation, we talked about Overdeck's philosophy around creating transformation in the field of education, what kinds of projects Overdeck funds and why, and what innovations and efforts in education has Anu particularly excited at the moment, as well as the role of research in education innovation. As always, you can listen to the conversation above (or in your favorite podcast player), watch it below, or read the transcript.

Michael Horn:   I am very excited about today's guest because it's someone I've known and gotten to work with in the education field for many years now. Back to when I helped start the Robin Hood Learning and Tech Fund, and then have remained as an advisor to it. One of my favorite people in the world of education, Anu Malipatil. She is the founding team member of the Overdeck Family Foundation. We're going to get into what Overdeck does and much more, but first Anu, it's really good to see you.

Anu Malipatil:   Yeah, so great to see you too. Thanks for having me.

Michael:           Yeah, you bet. Before we get into the professional side and what you're excited about right now as you're helping to shape the future of education, I guess where I want to start is you have an interesting personal story and journey through education into philanthropy. I suspect that people checking this out will be curious. How does someone start in education then end up in this place where you get to invest dollars into promising ideas and help shape innovation and research in the field? So I'd just love you to share your own personal story in this world.

Anu:                 Yeah, thanks for that question. Well, my personal story really starts with my dad. My dad grew up in a small rural farming village in South India, and education was the key that unlocked his ability to pursue college. It was also the key that gained him entry into the US on a student visa. This concept of unlocking potential for every child, which is the vision of Overdeck Family Foundation, is very personal for me. This connects to my own story because I knew that working with kids to help them unlock their potential would be the way that I would shape my life purpose. In fact, in fourth grade we had an assignment to write an autobiography, which was quite funny as a nine-year-old. But on the last page, the assignment asked us to write about our life ambitions. At that age, at age nine, I knew that my life ambition was to be a teacher. When I finished college, I joined Teach For America. I taught seventh grade math and science at PS/MS 95 in the Bronx and it was the beginning of really living my life on purpose.

                        And the second part of my story they don't talk about as often, but I think gets at this question of how I got into philanthropy, my life has been really guided by a strong cultural principle, which is called work as worship. It's this concept that you put your full heart into your work and that your work should be something that makes your community better. And so I really apply this principle to solving challenges in my current context and then also trying to create better conditions for those who were to come after me.

                        I started in my first chapter of my career as a teacher as I mentioned, I felt wholly unprepared to step into the classroom, so I committed the next chapter to really coach and develop and prepare teachers to be more effective in their roles. And then as I started supporting teachers all over schools in the Bronx, I really saw this common challenge of them not having enough access to high quality instructional materials or common assessments. So the next chapter of my career, I devoted to really building and architecting the first open source high quality curriculum, which is called Engage New York, which certainly played an important role in shaping the curriculum market today.

                        Then as I saw that and was involved in that work, I saw the role that philanthropy played in getting EdReports off the ground. I was there at that very first meeting. And EdReports, for those of you who don't know, is a really important market shaping mechanism for high quality instructional materials. And so it was that meeting that I decided that philanthropy would be the next place that I wanted to have my contribution and impact and to really think about how to lead in different areas in education. So here I am at the Overdeck Family Foundation, as you mentioned, as the founding team member, but almost over nine years into the role investing in innovation, evidence building and growth to do just that.

Michael:           Wow! I love these conversations because I get to learn something. I hadn't heard the work as worship piece before either from you. But I want to get into the Overdeck then philosophy on philanthropy in the education sector and your theory of change. You mentioned it there around helping build evidence and innovate. I'd love you to elaborate on that and what that looks like on the ground. What are the sorts of investments and the girding philosophy that's guiding those?

Anu:                 Yeah, of course. Our mission at the foundation is to open doors for every child by measurably enhancing education both inside and outside the classroom. We really see our role as grant makers focused on scaling cost effective, sustainable solutions that we think can improve both academic and socio-emotional outcomes for kids. But based on my background and my professional experience. I think we're smart enough to know that scaling programs isn't enough and so we also invest in the ecosystem to build favorable conditions for these impactful solutions to scale.