LIGHT: Leveraging Innovation by Growing and Honoring Teachers

We Attract and Keep Great People in Teaching.

The LIGHT Awards are a program of the Intrepid Philanthropy Foundation, a private family foundation. We believe that highly effective, engaged teachers are the most important factor in a student’s academic experience and success. We seek to honor and invest in superior educators and school leaders. 

We’ve been long-time funders of many organizations that support and encourage teachers, including Teach for America, the New Teacher Center, the Krause Center for Innovation, and the Teachers College of San Joaquin.

Karen Leshner, founder of the Intrepid Philanthropy Foundation, explains the program this way:

Teachers Matter.

  • WE BELIEVE that teachers are the most valuable members of the American workforce. We want to make sure that great people go into the career of teaching and stay in the career;
  • WE BELIEVE that highly effective, engaged teachers are the most important factor in a student’s academic experience and success;
  • WE BELIEVE that teachers are in a unique position to know what type of professional learning will be most meaningful for their classrooms, students, and schools;
  • WE BELIEVE that cohorts of teachers learning together can more quickly and effectively instigate sustainable change within their classrooms, schools, and districts than individual teachers;
  • WE BELIEVE that teachers will gain more from professional learning opportunities if they can choose to participate in those experiences about which they are excited; and,
  • WE BELIEVE there is tremendous leverage in education. Over their career, one outstanding teacher can impact hundreds of students.
Find out more:
Meet Our Leadership
See Projects We've Funded

Important Dates

Oct 6—Nov 14, 2022,10am PST LOIs Accepted for 2023 Grant Cycle (rolling submissions)
By mid-Dec 2022 Invitations to Apply Extended to Selected LOI Submissions
Spring 2023 LIGHT Awards Grants Made

Keep In Touch

Sign up for occasional email updates from the LIGHT Awards program. We’ll let you know about approaching deadlines, provide application tips, and share what our grantees are doing.
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Copyright ©Intrepid Philanthropy Foundation. All rights reserved. LIGHT Awards is a program of Intrepid Philanthropy Foundation, San Francisco, CA. Website by Garnet Creative.

Contact us at info(at)lightawards.org or use our contact form.