Children's Scholarship Fund of New York, our national partner, was founded in 1998 by the late Ted Forstmann and the late John Walton. Their goal was to enable parents to choose the type of education that best fit their childrens’ needs, regardless of income. The program offered partial-tuition scholarships to low-income students in grades K-8 whose parents also contributed financially to help strengthen their commitment to their child’s education. To learn more about the founding ideas behind CSF, please read "Forstmann’s Not So Little Idea”.
In 1999, a group of 13 Omaha donors matched a $1 million challenge grant from Children's Scholarship Fund of New York, and Children’s Scholarship Fund of Omaha (CSF) was incorporated as a 501(c)3 that same year. CSF began under the umbrella of the Archdiocese in Omaha. In 2011, the board of directors decided to make CSF an independent and secular organization in order to serve more families and communities. We are exceedingly grateful for the generosity and commitment of these founding donors (see names at right), whose vision has enabled thousands of children to pursue their future.
