Remembering Doris Fisher

Doris Fisher believed in KIPP before there was a KIPP. When our network was two schools and an idea, she saw a future that did not exist and committed herself to bringing that vision to pass. With her husband Don, she founded the KIPP Foundation so that KIPP could expand to serve kids nationwide and stand as permanent evidence of the transformational power of an excellent education. From that moment forward, she gave herself to the conviction that is our reason for being: every child, regardless of zip code or income, has boundless potential and deserves a school worthy of it.

As a founder and board member, Doris championed the work of KIPP with both urgency and heart. She was tireless in recruiting stakeholders to our work, often saying she started each morning with one essential question: Who can I take to a KIPP school today?

She knew that our kids, our teachers, and our schools proved themselves—nothing spoke more for the power of a KIPP education than seeing it up close. And she knew that for every student in KIPP, many more deserved the opportunity to receive a KIPP education, and so she was dogged in enrolling anyone she could in our mission.

Even as KIPP grew, Doris was clear-eyed about what mattered most. Her devotion to students was personal. Many leaders who operate at scale have trouble seeing the uniqueness of individuals. Doris wasn’t one of them. She poured into each KIPPster she encountered. She sought out their stories, stayed in touch over the years as a pen pal and mentor, and took genuine joy in supporting them through their successes and challenges. She measured impact not only in scale, but one child at a time.

Doris could have chosen to invest her time and energy anywhere, and she chose KIPP. She dedicated herself wholeheartedly to our mission and to our students and families. She brought a compassion, vision, and deep belief that made KIPP what it is today. Over 200,000 students and alumni, and the 16,000 teammates who serve them, are her legacy—as are the individuals, families, and communities transformed by the power of a KIPP education. One can approach immortality by serving and empowering others, by leaving a part of oneself in the people and institutions one touches. Doris may no longer be with us, but a piece of her lives forever—in the bones of KIPP and in the lives we have changed and in the lives we will.