In the 1908s and 1990s African societies responded to reduced state educational capacity by expanding the reach of civil society--non-state societal organizations that sought to organize individuals and mobilize local resources for education and development. In this paper, I argue that rural African families were differentially prepared to respond to these changes in state-society relations. I develop a model of family contributions to self help schooling that integrates a range of theoretical perspectives emphasizing the importance of social capital, family economy, family background, and family structure. Then, I utilize original, household survey data to apply the model across diverse national and regional contexts. One major analytical finding points to the importance of family memberships in local civil society for predicting self help schooling. Another contribution of the paper is that it demonstrates both similarities and differences in factors influencing family contributions to self help schooling across nations and regions.