In our inaugural Donor Spotlight we are pleased to feature Fund II Foundation and its founding director Robert F. Smith, a steadfast supporter of the Eagle Academies for Young Men. Through the grant-making organization, Mr. Smith has supported the important work of the Eagle Academies, along with many other charities focused on improving the lives of African Americans.

The goals of the Eagle Academies are in sync with Mr. Smith’s own philosophies of academic excellence and hard work, and his philanthropic interests of promoting educational opportunities for young men of color and encouraging at-risk students to achieve greatness. Mr. Smith is also Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners and most recently, in partnership with Goalsetter app technology, donated nearly 15,000 shares of stock in Vista Equity Partners’ publicly traded portfolio companies to each of the approximately 2,900 students, teachers, and staff members of the Eagle Academies for Young Men. In January, Mr. Smith engaged our cohort of Eagle Ambassadors on the weekly Eagle Up Fridays Virtual Town Hall. During the program, our Ambassadors had the rare opportunity to converse with Mr. Smith and benefit from tremendous and insightful advice for their lives, career aspirations, economic empowerment, and more. Check out the conversation here.

The Fund II Foundation is a grant-making organization, which aims to improve the lives of underserved individuals, namely African Americans, and the communities they live in. They focus their efforts in five primary areas:

• Preserve and share the cultural heritage of African Americans, to broaden understanding and inspire the next generation of African American leaders.
• Promote human rights and give voice to the voiceless by fighting rights abuses including human trafficking, homelessness, and injustices.
• Conserve the environment by promoting the outdoors, expanding access to parks, and inspiring young people to explore the natural world around them.
• Expand access to music education in public schools by exposing students to music and the arts to nurture talent and inspire dreams, along with discipline and commitment to study and performance of the arts.
• Sustain the American values of entrepreneurship and scholarship with a focus on increasing STEM education, driving greater access to technology and inspire leadership to promote America’s important work in the technology field.

In addition, the Fund II Foundation administers internX, a paid internship program that matches talented students of color with opportunities across many business sectors, from technology to marketing. Both employers and students benefit from a rigorous internship program that helps to connect promising college students to high-profile job tracks.

Fund II Foundation and the Eagle Academies

The Fund II Foundation has been a financial supporter of the Eagle Academies since their first grant was administered in 2016. They’ve become one of the Eagle Academies’ top donors, supporting programs for teacher training and coaching, among other initiatives. The work to lift up and educate thousands of male students of color from the New York public schools and in Newark, NJ is an honor for Fund II Foundation to support.

The two organizations both work tirelessly to inspire and promote educational opportunities for young Black men. Their hope is that these students will not only find themselves supported by school staff, their family and mentors, but that they will also return to their communities as sources of inspiration to others who might follow in their footsteps. In this way, Fund II Foundation hopes to help initiate a sea change of both educational opportunity and promotion of African American culture and heritage within these communities in New York and New Jersey that the Eagle Academies serve.

Having already donated over a $1M in support of Eagle programs such as college and career readiness, the Eagle Institute, professional development for educators, Parent University, and others initiatives, Mr. Smith recently donated additional funding to Eagle families most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Eagle Academy Foundation is truly grateful to be in partnership with Mr. Smith as he remains committed to helping our Eagles soar.