The Drexel Fund Founders Program is a one-year paid fellowship that helps outstanding leaders already on the path to launching a school continue to plan and open an innovative and effective private school in one of The Drexel Fund’s target states: Florida, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The seventh cohort of the Founders Program is designed for entrepreneurs who will begin the fellowship in Summer 2023 and be ready to launch a new private school in Fall 2024.

Through the fellowship, school founders will develop their school’s education model and finalize the nuts and bolts of their school launch, including board and budget development, market analysis, facility location, student recruitment and staff hiring. Founders will create a plan that will make it possible for their school to achieve top-tier results for children while maintaining a sustainable financial model.

The Drexel Fund wants Fellows to open schools that have a student body that is at least a third low-income, are academically rigorous and financially sustainable, and help students develop strong character.  Fellows have a strong rationale for opening a private school, either because their school is faith-based, or the school features an innovative approach that requires the autonomy of a private school.

Serious candidates for the Founders Program will possess a well-developed vision for their new school. The Drexel Fund’s design and planning support will deepen Fellows’ capacity to concretize that vision. The Founders Program will provide resources that will maximize Fellows’ growth as a founding school leader, which could include training in partnership with successful national programs, shadowing of high performing school models, and support from experts in the practical components of founding and leading a school.

Following The Drexel Fund’s approval of the business plan developed during the Founders Program year, Fellows will be eligible to receive a school start-up investment to see the plan realized.