Open the doors

Help build the most ambitious school in America.

We are raising $5 million to open the first campus of The Whetstone School in Greater Nashville, Tennessee — enough to pay instructors what they are worth, build the shops and labs the five pillars require, and ensure that a family's income is never the reason a child doesn't attend.

$5M
Phase 1 Goal Open the doors · First campus · 2027

Two phases · $10M total vision

Phase 1 opens the doors.
Phase 2 opens them for everyone.

Phase 1

Open the Doors

$5M· Target: 2027
  • Facility lease, buildout, and trade shops
  • First two years of full instructor salaries
  • Tech lab, robotics, AI hardware
  • Music and arts studio
  • Financial assistance fund — first class
  • First 30–40 students enrolled

Phase 2

Deepen & Open-Source

$5M· Target: 2028–29
  • Expand to full enrollment capacity
  • Endow instructor positions permanently
  • Full financial assistance — no family turned away
  • The Archive — permanent Forum lecture library
  • At most one more campus, hand-built by us
  • Open-source the method — a thousand schools, zero franchises

Where the money goes

Every dollar is accounted for before we ask for it.

48%

Instructor salaries

Master tradespeople, tech builders, and academic guides — paid at or above market. This is where schools always cut first. We won't.

30%

Facility & equipment

Trade shops, robotics lab, AI hardware, music and arts studio, culinary kitchen. The physical environment the five pillars require.

12%

Financial assistance

A dedicated fund so that a family's income is never the reason a child can't attend. No means-testing theater — real support.

10%

Operations & reserve

Insurance, curriculum, enrollment, technology infrastructure — and a 6-month operating reserve so we never scramble in year one.

Join the founding

Every contribution opens a door.

Small and large. Individual and institutional. The school is being built by the people who believe in it before it exists.

Seed
$25 – $499
Your name in the founding registry — printed in the school on opening day. You were here before the doors opened.
Give now
Classroom
$500 – $4,999
Name on the founding wall + quarterly founder updates as the school takes shape.
Give now
Pillar
$5,000 – $24,999
Named pillar sponsorship (Mind, Machine, Hand, Soul, or Voice) + advisory seat at the founding table.
Give now
Foundation
$25,000 – $99,999
Named room, lab, or program. Your contribution is physically embedded in the school for its lifetime.
Give now
Legacy
$100,000+
Named building or endowed instructor position + founding board seat. You help govern the school you made possible.
Give now

Make a pledge

Tell us you're in.

Submit your pledge below. We'll follow up within 48 hours with next steps, tax documentation, and how your contribution will be recognized in the school.

For wire transfers, stock gifts, or institutional grants, note it in your message and we'll send the relevant details directly.

Strategic partnerships

Companies that should be in this room.

The Whetstone School is a natural home for organizations that believe in the complete human. We are actively seeking founding institutional partners.

Anthropic

Mind + Machine

Claude powers the AI tutoring core. Anthropic's mission — AI that benefits humanity — maps directly onto a school designed to make humans AI can't replace.

Apple

Machine + Soul

Education has been Apple's identity since 1984. Device grants, curriculum partnership, and Distinguished School designation — a natural fit.

Sony

Soul

The Sony Foundation funds arts education programs globally. Music studio, creative tech, and performance — the Soul pillar is built for this partnership.

Mike Rowe Works Foundation

Hand

Mike Rowe has spent 20 years making the case for the trades. Whetstone is the school he's been describing. This is the most natural partnership on the list.

Khan Academy

Mind

Khanmigo and the AI tutoring model is exactly what the Mind pillar runs on. A curriculum and platform partnership that benefits both organizations.

NVIDIA

Machine

AI hardware, robotics labs, and education grants. NVIDIA has deep interest in building the pipeline of people who understand how to build with AI.

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Mind

CZI funds personalized mastery learning — that is the Mind pillar. Their education portfolio is the closest existing work to what Whetstone is building.

Home Depot Foundation

Hand

The Foundation funds skilled trades training across the country. Whetstone creates the pipeline of tradespeople the industry is desperately short of.

Gates Foundation

Mind + Voice

Education reform and AI in schools. Gates has the longest track record of any foundation in reimagining K–12 — and the resources to back a proven new model.

Become a founding institutional partner

If your organization belongs in this room, reach out. We're building the curriculum, the lab specs, and the partnership structure now — while there's still room to shape what the school becomes.

Start a conversation →