Neeru Khosla’s children enjoyed a superb, individualized education at the highly regarded Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA, where she also volunteered. This sparked the wife of famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla to ask herself: “Why is it that we cannot provide this kind of education for every kid?”
It was a question she sought to answer with the founding of CK-12. The California-based nonprofit’s mission is to produce free and open-source K-12 materials, aligned to state curriculum standards and customized to meet student and teacher needs. Established in 2007 by Khosla and Murugan Pal to support K-12 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), CK-12 generates and distributes educational content via web-based “Flexbooks,” that can be customized and either downloaded or printed.
CK-12’s materials have been adopted by Washington, Utah and California – the last with “phenomenal success,” Khosla says. CK-12 continues to evolve new technologies, such as interactivity, and embodies Khosla’s drive for continuous improvement.
All of which reflect her belief that philanthropy has two essential meanings: To provide services of true value to the recipient, and to supply “the tools to grow,” rather than create a deepening dependency. As she explains, “I think it's really criminal to give money and then say, ‘go improve your life,’ and walk away to the next thing,"
More Remarkable GiversNeeru Khosla's Videos
- ‘Make impact now’: Why Neeru Khosla and husband Vinod signed the Giving Pledge
- “Ah-ha moment”: Neeru Khosla’s CK-12 grew from the insight that U.S. education can’t be a one-size-fits-all system
- Beyond textbooks: Neeru Khosla aims to create free content with customizable materials for students
- Do it yourself: Neeru Khosla has some hands-on advice for new philanthropists
- Easier to learn: Neeru Khosla’s CK-12 added interactivity to its flexible content
- Envisioning U.S. education: Neeru Khosla’s brainstorming session with Stanford’s David Kelley led to CK-12's design
- Going viral: Neeru Khosla says CK-12 is growing internationally and is likely to expand into elementary schools
- Guidance systems: Neeru Khosla’s newest educational technologies aim toward ‘navigated’ learning
- Lifelong learner: Neeru Khosla pursued education for herself, her children and eventually to help others
- Making Wikipedia self-sustaining: How Neeru Khosla funded and helped this online community
- Mass customization: Neeru Khosla’s children received individualized learning. ‘Why can’t every kid?’
- Neeru Khosla’s nonprofit, CK-12, initially provides high school content online, an area with space for innovation
- Neeru Khosla decided to add microfinance to her giving portfolio to help people sustain themselves
- Neeru Khosla finds input from students to be so critical that she hired a team of them
- Neeru Khosla is proud of CK-12’s process of constant improvement
- Neeru Khosla spent a lot of time in conversations at the federal and state levels pushing the digital learning agenda, with success in California
- “No man is an island”: Neeru Khosla explains why her philanthropy is a responsibility, not something to make her feel good
- Online or on paper: How Neeru Khosla’s educational nonprofit bridges schools’ digital divide
- Opportunity, not dependency: Neeru Khosla’s philanthropies provide ‘tools to grow’
- Something of value: Neeru Khosla says philanthropy must be meaningful to the recipient
