Fundraising for Schools: Charitable Giving in K–12 Public Education

Abstract: Individual charitable giving to public schools has rapidly increased: in 2015, over 50 percent of school districts receive donations from parent-teacher groups, school booster clubs, local education foundations, and redistributive fundraising platforms such as DonorsChoose. Which school districts benefit from individual philanthropy? This research note presents descriptive data on the distribution of individual donations in school districts in the United States from 2000 to 2015. Fundraising for public schools has increased across all school districts; however, charitable donations through school-support organizations surpass those from funding platforms targeting low-income school districts. Redistributive philanthropy lags behind fundraising efforts in wealthy school districts.