What role does philanthropy play in K-12 education? How much private funding is devoted to public education? What roles have philanthropists played in advancing reform? What are the challenges facing foundations that want to contribute to K-12 education? These questions were the focus of an AEI conference in April of this year, and the resulting research is now published in With the Best of Intentions: How Philanthropy Is Reshaping K-12 Education (Harvard Education Press, October 2005). This multifaceted volume is a provocative first look at the issues of education philanthropy that will be of interest to anyone concerned with the present and future state of education.

Please join editor Frederick M. Hess, contributing authors, and several others as they consider questions which, until now, have rarely been examined. They will survey the current landscape in philanthropic giving to education, examine the major goals of recent philanthropic efforts, and consider some of the key issues--for educators, philanthropists, policymakers, and community leaders--of philanthropic contributions to schools and school systems.