Power Program (KIPP) in 2004 with a gift of $30,000 which was then based in Houston, and two years later he and his wife pledged $10 million to help KIPP expand to other cities. Other multi-million gifts followed to other education programs, for example to Washington, D.C. city schools for merit pay, to Teach for America, and to StudentsFirst. Arnold has also given to The City Fund, an organization focused on growing the number of charter schools in the USA, and its political arm, Public School Allies. The Laura and John Arnold Foundation was a private foundation founded by Arnold and his wife Laura. The organization was founded in 2010. In 2008, the Arnolds were original signatories of the Giving Pledge, a pledge by some high-net-worth individuals to donate the majority of their income to philanthropic causes during their lifetimes. From 2010-2013, the Arnolds were heavily involved in the Innocence Project which led to their interest in criminal reform. The Foundation is focused on evidence-backed giving for systematic change. In 2013, the Arnolds donated $10 million as a private donation to the National Head Start Association after the United States federal government shutdown of 2013 had closed the pre-K Head Start programs. In October 2018, it was reported that Arnold had spent more than $100 million in health-care related grants since 2014, with a particular focus on reducing pharmaceutical drug costs. Arnold funds Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), a nonprofit that created a formula to price drugs. Those who support ICER’s formula believe it could lower prices while critics argue that the formula is discriminator toward the elderly and those with disabilities or rare diseases. Arnold also has been an influential supporter of Democrats’ efforts to pass a drug-price reform bill. In 2019, the organization was transformed into a limited-liability company composed of the former foundation, a donor-advised fund, and the Action Now Initiative advocacy organization, effectively combining philanthropy, research, policy, and advocacy efforts. The new entity is known as Arnold Ventures LLC with the charter "to remove barriers between data and decisive action, working swiftly across the policy-change spectrum." In 2019, Arnold spoke out against donor-advised funds (DAF), criticizing them for delaying charitable giving and promoting giving to institutions that are less likely to need the money. He proposed that foundations and DAFs should spend at least 7% annually, which would result in billions of dollars more