Grad2B Salute #3 – Don Fisher

Can anyone gain enough power to change our big wide world for the better? This is the third in our GRAD2B “Salute Series”— recognizing great educators and entrepreneurs from all periods of history, from all nations, and from all walks of life. These individuals— not necessarily professors or teachers themselves— are those who have raised the quality of life of humanity, through education. Some are immensely wealthy, some poor, some renowned, some obscure. They have one thing in common: their pivotal roles in improving the lives of others, through moral will, personal influence, and self-sacrifice. It all begins with knowledge. And ends in caring.

In 1969, a couple of young entrepreneurs named Don and Doris opened a small store on San Francisco’s Ocean Avenue. They called it the Gap, whose name came from the commonly used 1960s phrase “generation gap.”

The store began by selling Levi’s jeans and records, but within months the records were dropped and the Fishers used the opportunity to cash in on the ensuing jean frenzy of the 1970s. After a few difficulties, the Fishers dropped the brand names and in 1974 launched their own brand.

And Don and Doris made a fortune. But it would be a much weaker story if it stopped there— (lives of the rich and famous, etc, ad nauseum).

Don and Doris Fisher wanted to give back to public education everything they could. To help others all they could.

Don Fisher died Sunday of cancer, in his San Francisco home at the age of 81.

Along with founding the Gap, Don was one of the country’s most visionary entrepreneurs. But his most lasting impact on our world will be his greater life, as an education philanthropist.

Don was the driving force behind two of the most important and successful education reform organizations in the country – KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) and Teach For America.

Doris Feigenbaum Fisher, co-founder of the Gap, attended Stanford University and received a BS in economics. Don and his wife Doris, founded KIPP.

And since 2000, they have donated more than 100 million education dollars— to KIPP, and to Teach For America.

A product of California’s public schools, Don believed deeply that all students were entitled to the same high quality public education that he was fortunate to receive.

“Don viewed the improvement of public education as a moral imperative,” explained Christopher Nelson, Managing Director of the Doris & Donald Fisher Fund. “It was his hope that he could contribute in some way to helping our public education system realize its potential to be the ‘great equalizer’ so that all children, regardless of their background, could attain a high quality education to prepare them for success in college, work and life.”

What is KIPP? Knowledge In Power Program.

Knowledge in power! Just think of it!

Aren’t they one and the same, really? Isn’t knowledge the ultimate form of power?

And it all begins with education.

In 2000, Doris and Don gave $15 million to create the KIPP Foundation—- an organization they designed to recruit, train, and support aspiring KIPP school leaders, as they opened new schools across the United States.

KIPP grew from 2 schools in 1999. It grew to a network of 82 free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public charter schools serving 20,000 students in underserved communities.

“Don knew that demography does not have to be destiny when it comes to a child’s education, and he used his incredible mind, heart and generosity to show that powerful lesson to the country,” said KIPP Foundation CEO Richard Barth. “Don helped prove what is possible in public education. Because of his efforts, hundreds of thousands of children have had doors of opportunity opened and their future will be his great legacy.”

And then there’s Teach For America. Don’s financial support, strategic guidance and personal commitment were critical to it’s growth— Teach For America recruits top college graduates to serve as teachers in the country’s neediest public schools.

Through a seed-grant of $8 million dollars in 2000, Don helped spur an eight-fold increase in the number of Teach For America teachers (known as ‘corps members’) placed in high-need public school classrooms each year— from 500 in 1999 to more than 4,000 in 2009.

Last year, 35,000 recent college graduates, including more than 10 percent of Ivy League seniors, competed to join Teach For America and teach in a high-poverty school. Don also served as a member of the Teach For America board of directors.

Teach For American founder and CEO, Wendy Kopp, said, “Don Fisher’s vision and personal engagement changed Teach For America’s trajectory. He challenged us to grow, investing significant financial resources and personal time in helping Teach For America build the capacity to enlist thousands of our nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort to achieve educational excellence and equity. He deeply believed that economically disadvantaged children have the potential to excel and in the potential of entrepreneurship to re-make our public education system so that it provides opportunity for all, and we feel so fortunate to have had his constant moral support and his mentorship.”

If all that wasn’t enough, Don was a long-time member of the California State Board of Education and a supporter of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, where he served as a governor. He also played an instrumental role in creating or growing many other highly regarded education reform organizations, including the California Charter Schools Association, the Charter School Growth Fund, EdVoice, The New Teacher Project and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Doris Fisher herself continues to be a powerful force in the empowerment of others less fortunate. Our deepest condolences go out to her.

Our world desperately needs such life-long leaders in the effort to eliminate educational inequality.

That’s why GRAD2B humbly salutes the one who is gone, but never forgotten— saluting the selfless humanitarianism of entrepreneur DON FISHER.

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