Case File 05

Founders & Funding

PragerU is a media nonprofit, not an academic institution — a distinction its own leadership acknowledges. Here's who built it, who financed its early growth, and what its CEO has said about its goals.

Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager is a syndicated conservative radio host who started his media career decades before PragerU existed, including a 2002 documentary on the Israeli experience of the Second Intifada. He founded PragerU — formally the Prager University Foundation — in 2009 as a vehicle for short videos promoting his conservative social and economic views. source He holds an honorary doctorate of laws from Pepperdine University. PragerU itself isn't an accredited university and confers no degrees. source

Early funding: the Wilks brothers

PragerU's growth was kickstarted with venture funding from Dan and Farris Wilks, brothers who built their fortune in fracking services and have separately funded a range of conservative media and political causes. source

What PragerU's leadership says its goal is

CEO Marissa Streit hasn't been shy about the organization's aim. She's said PragerU's goal is to give teachers and parents an alternative curriculum where the existing one doesn't align with their values, and has told reporters that "America's education system has been hijacked by one side." source source

PragerU has also framed criticism of its school expansion as an attempt by opponents to "deplatform" it and keep it out of classrooms. Separately, it sued Google/YouTube over restrictions placed on more than 200 of its videos. Both lawsuits were dismissed. source source

For balance: PragerU describes itself as a free alternative to what it calls "the dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education," and says its approval process in each state is the same one used by long-established curriculum vendors like Scholastic and BrainPOP. source source

Related: Is PragerU legit? · Who funds PragerU?

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