The Osa Foundation supports organizations that empower human potential in underserved communities by creating Opportunities, offering targeted Support and improving Access to resources.                 

The Osa Foundation’s work is grounded in the following values:

  • Self-reliance: We value the dignity of hard work and consider self-reliance and sustainability to be the ultimate goal of our philanthropy.

  • Equity: We believe that every person should have access to the resources needed to pursue and achieve their full potential. We will examine the pervasive and institutional barriers to equitable access of resources and employ this lens in our grantmaking.

  • Innovation: We value critical, original thinking and creative problem solving.

  • Integrity: We value honesty and transparency: accordingly we endeavor to conduct our work in a manner consistent with the highest ethical standards.

  • Diversity: We value and respect the diversity in our society. We acknowledge our obligation to examine our own biases and will work to stand up for social justice.

We seek to support grantee organizations that embody these beliefs and values.

To learn more about our story and investment philosophy, please click here.

Current Program Priorities

The Osa Foundation currently partners with organizations and initiatives operating in underserved communities that promote the following drivers of opportunity. 

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1. Education to Career       

Vision:  High school and college graduates have the information about career pathways, career readiness skills, and job experiences they need to enter the  workforce on a path to a financially sustainable career.

Funding opportunities: We support

  • programs that provide training and support to youth in progressive post-secondary pathways;

  • programs that work with youth to expose them to and offer guidance on career opportunities and to cultivate their career readiness skills; and

  • systemic efforts to create an infrastructure in the Chicago and Tucson areas that affords students a seamless transition from high school to a variety of post-secondary options.

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2.  College Access, Completion and Success

Vision:  First-generation and low-income students who aspire to pursue a college degree are given the support needed to ensure that they enroll in and graduate from college.

Funding priorities:  We support

  • programs that provide first-generation and low-income students with the supports needed to gain access to college and persist through graduation; and

  • systemic efforts in the Chicago and Tucson areas to ensure that these students are appropriately supported by local institutions of higher education, respective school districts, state departments of education, and other relevant systems.

 

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 3.  Education Innovation

Vision:  Public school students benefit from educators who are encouraged to employ evidence-based, innovative approaches in their classrooms, equipped to leverage technology to meet the needs of all their students, and empowered to have a voice in policy decisions that will impact their ability to educate their students.

Funding Priorities:  We support

  • cutting edge programs that leverage technology to improve instruction and student learning;

  • programs that support teachers and principals to bring innovations to their schools and classrooms; and

  • efforts to equip teachers to be advocates for policies that will improve instruction and student learning.

 

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4.  Student Engagement  

Vision:  Public school students are consistently present and engaged in school, despite the significant barriers to engagement which are prevalent in urban education systems.

Funding priorities:  We support

  • programs that address the physical and mental health challenges of public school students, alleviating barriers to attendance and engagement;

  • experiential learning programs that foster the development of social and emotional skills and student agency; and

  • programs that expose students to a wide array of career paths, motivating students to stay engaged in school.

 

We seek to catalyze innovative ideas and programs.  Accordingly, a portion of our program portfolio supports pilot programs and early stage organizations.  While we may renew grants for multiple years when programs are demonstrating significant impact, our funding is not meant to carry on indefinitely.

The Osa Foundation recognizes the difficulty in taking advantage of opportunities when basic human needs are unmet. Therefore, we typically set aside a small portion of our annual giving budget for food, shelter and emergency medical care.

Our primary geographic focus areas are Chicago, IL and Tucson, AZ. In Tucson, our grantmaking may extend to areas adjacent to education that affect educational outcomes. In Chicago, we are entertaining a limited number of new grants, primarily related to K-12 Education Innovation and Education to Career.

 

Application Process

The Osa Foundation currently accepts grant proposals on an invitation only basis. Through a rigorous assessment process, we identify and select results-oriented organizations whose programs and infrastructure bring innovation, excellence and sustainability to bear in executing their mission. The Osa Foundation makes grant decisions on a rolling basis pursuant to its grantees’ preferred timeframes.

Upon invitation, please submit the following proposal materials electronically to Amy Sauer, Strategic Advisor, The Osa Foundation at amy@theosafoundation.org. 

Narrative: (suggested length is 3 pages)

  • The purpose of your request, including description of the program, population served, and results to date

  • A specific description of the results that you intend to achieve with this grant and description of measurements or indicators you will use to gauge your impact, including targets. If awarded a grant, you will be asked to report on these results at the end of the grant cycle.

  • A brief overview of the organization, including

    • Organization’s mission, vision, and strategic goals

    • Organization’s history of accomplishments, growth, and impact, as well as populations served.  For requests for general operating support, this information may be duplicative of the information requested in the first bullet and responses can be integrated into one response.

See Required Attachments here.

To learn more about when you will hear from us regarding your grant request submission, please click here.

Grant Reporting

All grantees are asked to submit a grant report at the end of the grant period.  Your grant award letter will indicate the suggested timeframe for submitting your report. The grant report shall include a discussion of your accomplishments for the grant period compared to the stated goals and targets that you previously laid out in your proposal.  Please also share lessons learned and an identification of where you fell short of your goals or identified areas for improvement or opportunity.  The suggested length is two pages.

Our Current Grantees:

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Education to Career:

Accelerate U (Chicago)

Braven (Chicago)

Genesys Works (Chicago)

i.c. stars (Chicago)

JobPath (Tucson)

One Million Degrees (Chicago)

Progressive Pathways Fund (Chicago)

Rebuilding Exchange (Chicago)

Sunnyside High School EV CTE Program (Tucson)

Youth Job Center (Chicago)

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College Access, Completion, and Success:

Chicago Scholars (Chicago)

High Jump (Chicago)

iMentor (Chicago)

National Louis University - Learn & Earn in Three (Chicago)

OneGoal (Chicago)

Partnership for College Completion (Chicago)

Scholarships AZ (Tucson)

Sunnyside Unified School District, University of AZ and Pima Community College Tri-School Partnership (Tucson)

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Grantee Blogs

We are honored to highlight blogs written by our grantees. We invite you to read how they are making an impact. We look forward to showcasing recent blogs from other grantees each month. 

Featured Blog

LEAP Innovations, Chicago | September 2025

New Report Highlights Practitioner-Tested Priorities for AI in Education

LEAP Innovations, a Chicago-based nonprofit elevating best practices for education innovation and personalized learning, and the Chicagoland Coalition for Human-Centered AI in Education released Powering the Future of Learning, a co-designed report offering a roadmap to ensure AI adoption strengthens teaching, personalizes learning and equips every student to thrive in a future powered by AI.

Launched in Fall 2024, LEAP Innovations created the Coalition to address a critical gap: AI entered classrooms before schools had clear policies, educator training, or alignment to instructional practice. LEAP Innovations convened more than 130 educators, district leaders, high education institutions, nonprofits, edtech companies, researchers, and partners from 45+ schools and organizations across Chicagoland to explore a human-centered approach to artificial intelligence. The Coalition is part of LEAP’s AI Education Network, which supports schools, districts and education organizations across the country to design and implement human-centered AI initiatives that accelerate the impact of high-quality teaching and learning practices.

“Artificial intelligence is reshaping learning and work. The urgent question is whether it will create opportunity or widen a digital divide that leaves some behind,” said Scott Frauenheim, CEO of LEAP Innovations. “Ensuring that Chicagoland’s educators and students are prepared to succeed in a future powered by AI is not just an education priority, but necessary to equip our region and our nation with a workforce for the future.”

Read More

The Springboard Collaborative

September 2025

In NAEP’s Aftermath, Will We Finally Support Parents?

Research finds parental involvement in their children’s learning is a more powerful predictor of academic success than any other variable, including race and class. One study concluded that 80% of the variation in public school performance results from parents’ influence, not teachers’.

Our society has enabled privileged parents to put their kids on the path to academic and economic success. At the same time, we’ve made it painfully difficult for marginalized parents to do the same. Unless and until we help marginalized families support learning at home, inequities will persist. Parents are their children’s first and best teachers, yet we fail to provide them the basic resources we’d give any teacher: curriculum and coaching.

Read More

Springpoint Schools

May 2025

Connection by Design: How the Primary Person Model Reengages Students and Fuels Learning

Disengagement remains one of the most urgent challenges in high schools across the U.S. —especially in settings where students’ educational journeys have been interrupted or disrupted. There’s no quick fix; reengagement takes consistent, relational work over time. The Primary Person Model is one approach we’ve seen shift that dynamic in lasting, meaningful ways.

Grounded in research on learning partnerships, this model pairs every student with a consistent adult who knows them deeply, holds high expectations, and supports them through structured academic conferencing.

Read More

Partnership for College Completion

August 2025

PCC to Department of Education: Make the Rulemaking Table Representative of Students and Borrowers

I first want to encourage the Department to ensure essential constituencies have voices at the upcoming negotiating tables. We thank the Department for its attention to students and borrower representation. For both rounds of rulemaking the Department has proposed to take on, however, tables should also include a distinct seat for representatives from civil rights organizations. The substantial, historic changes to loan programs, Pell, and other proposed areas will have especially direct effects on student populations most often marginalized by our country’s economic and educational systems. Accordingly, organizations that center advocacy for these diverse populations should have a seat to present data and give voice to students and borrowers who stand to gain or lose the most because of the Department’s actions. Further, proposed topics directly implicate campus-based financial aid administrators, yet the Register notice does not include them as stakeholders at the expected tables. We encourage the Department to include a distinct seat for financial aid professionals or their professional association during the upcoming rounds of negotiations.

Read More

The Modern Classrooms Project

October 2025

Adding Inquiry to My Modern Classroom Through Building Thinking Classrooms

To strengthen my Modern Classroom Project course with inquiry-based learning, I attended a workshop focused on using inquiry in Modern Classroom settings. I was especially struck by research presented in the workshop, which highlighted how inquiry-based learning increases student engagement, boosts academic achievement, and enhances learners’ ability to direct their own learning. The workshop introduced the 5E instructional model—a constructivist framework developed in the late 1980s by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) under the leadership of Roger Bybee—as a common structure for implementing inquiry. The model is grounded in Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Lev Vygotsky’s social learning theory. The five Es are: engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate.

Read More

Boys To Men Tucson

September 2024

BOYS TO MEN IS CHANGING LIVES

“I saw violence in the home as a kid,” McKenna said. “I just didn’t see violence, but there were also subtle versions of misogyny.”

McKenna, 29, is working to combat that with Boys to Men Tucson. The nonprofit is helping local boys by providing safe and nurturing spaces. Boys to Men Tucson, which was formed in 2018, served 371 young men in 2023. Seventy mentors were kind enough to donate more than 12,000 hours in 2023.

“We need to get beyond what society deems culturally appropriate,” McKenna said. “It’s beyond considering violence and how violence is not OK. It’s also about how that it’s OK for boys to cry and to be emotional.

Read More

The Chicago Public Education Fund

October 2025

Growth in Trust and Attendance Through Family Engagement at Carver Elementary School

Stepping into the principalship, Venus saw that student attendance had plummeted to 78% and chronic absenteeism was impeding academic progress. Rather than act on assumptions, Venus gathered both quantitative and qualitative data to understand the root causes of absenteeism and student and community disengagement. She reviewed school-wide attendance trends, analyzed participation rates at events like report card pickup (which stood at just 24%), and conducted one-on-one interviews and surveys with staff and families. These data sources revealed a pattern: many parents felt alienated from the school due to prior negative interactions and inconsistent leadership. The data also showed that parents wanted more transparent communication and a stronger voice in their children’s education.

Venus saw this as an opportunity to build a foundation of trust, shared accountability, and collaboration. Firmly believing in listening to all stakeholders — including students, staff, and families — she prioritized family engagement as a key strategy for improving attendance and accelerating learning.

Read More

Contact Us: 

Please direct all correspondence and communication to: 

The Osa Foundation
info@theosafoundation.org

Robin Lavin
President
robin@theosafoundation.org

Amy Sauer
Strategic Advisor
amy@theosafoundation.org

 

 

© 2019 | The Osa Foundation