New Venture Fund
Project Title
As a final grant for core support of LAUNCH Pathways
Date
Jun. 05, 2025
Duration
12 months
Description
The LAUNCH Pathways is a collaborative initiative of five leading national non-profits that addresses critical challenges in education and workforce systems by providing targeted, implementation-focused support to fourteen state teams. Initiated in 2022 as a collaborative effort by five leading national organizations, LAUNCH Pathways aims to create scalable and sustainable solutions for college and career pathways. In its first phase, the program supported states in analyzing their pathway systems and identifying specific barriers to access and success. With $300,000 in final core support, LAUNCH will provide technical assistance, cross-state learning, and resource development. The project will include the “Accelerator” track, providing intensive support to three to six states, and the “Amplify” track, offering broader field learning opportunities. Success will be measured through states’ progress in implementation and improvements in student outcomes. LAUNCH’s collaborative approach will bring together expertise from various stakeholders to enhance career and economic mobility opportunities.
Website
Project Title
As a final grant for core support to the Research Partnership for Professional Learning
Date
Sep. 12, 2024
Duration
15 months
Description
Founded in 2021, the Research Partnership for Professional Learning (RPPL) brings together professional learning organizations, school districts, and education researchers who study teacher learning to identify specific features of curriculum-based professional learning to improve academic outcomes for students. With six professional learning organizations, over 70 affiliates serving more than 700 school systems, RPPL has been able to create a productive network of learning partnerships, conduct research on teacher professional learning, collect comparative data, and engage in meta-analyses across member organizations. Corporation support will allow them to partner with five school districts implementing high-quality math curricula to co-design and conduct targeted studies with teachers and district leaders focused on improving outcomes for students.
Website
Project Title
For core support of the Trusted Elections Fund
Date
Mar. 07, 2024
Duration
15 months
Description
In the aftermath of the unprecedented events surrounding the 2020 election, including widespread misinformation and the January 6 insurrection, it is evident there is a need for continuous and well-coordinated efforts to respond to unexpected issues that arise during elections. The Trusted Elections Fund (TEF), a pooled donor fund, was established in 2019 to confront emerging threats to U.S. elections, acknowledging the ever-evolving nature of these challenges by countering election sabotage, building resilience to political violence, and strengthening infrastructure to respond to election crises. As the United States approaches the 2024 elections, and with Corporation support, TEF will continue to play a vital role in providing rapid response funding to unforeseen challenges to election administration across the nation.
Website
Project Title
For core support of the Census Equity Initiative
Date
Dec. 12, 2024
Duration
24 months
Description
The United States Constitution mandates a full count of the populations of each state and the country every ten years. This data is used to reapportion seats for the U.S. House of Representatives and to direct more than $2.1 trillion in federal resources to the states. Housed at the New Venture Fund, the Census Equity Initiative is a partnership of national, state, and regional funders dedicated to implementing a fair and accurate census. In preparation for the 2020 Census, the initiative helped coordinate more than 100 national, state, and regional funders in pooling resources and coordinating strategies to support public education campaigns and mobilization efforts nationwide. With Corporation support, the initiative will continue to serve as a vehicle for strategic collaboration to reduce census-related funding redundancies improve the accuracy of the census, promote broad participation among the public, and increase national and state-based organizations’ capacity to address emerging challenges and opportunities related to the 2030 Census and the annual American Community Surveys.
Website
Project Title
As a final core support of Seek Common Ground's Action Accelerator
Date
Mar. 07, 2024
Duration
15 months
Description
Seek Common Ground (SCG) serves independent state-and community-facing education advocacy efforts to promote coalition building that honors the power of local, authentic agenda-setting to drive sustainable educational excellence and equity. SCG coalitions seek to empower those most impacted by education policies and practices—students, families, and educators—with support from allies across a broad range of interests and identities. Through this final core support grant from the Corporation, SCG will continue working with leaders and policymakers to ensure that all stakeholders’ concerns and needs are centered in education decisions that affect them. SCG will also double the size of their Action Accelerator: “Immigration is American”, from 16 to 30 groups serving 50,000 immigrant and refugee students and families. This will deepen their support of organizations that focus on the needs of underserved immigrant and refugee students, families, educators, and communities.
Website
Project Title
For core support of LAUNCH: Equitable & Accelerated Pathways for All Project
Date
Sep. 14, 2023
Duration
24 months
Description
Led by a collaborative of five national college and career pathway experts and philanthropic organizations, the LAUNCH Pathways initiative works with elevenstates and local partnerships across the U.S. to tackle entrenched inequities in education and workforce systems that have led to persistent gaps in pathways outcomes, especially for Black and Latinx students and those experiencing poverty. College and career pathways strategies have proven effective at improving outcomes for those involved, but access remains uneven. Continued Corporation support will allow LAUNCH partners to leverage their collective expertise and knowledge to help build partnerships, allow intermediary organizations to develop scalable and sustainable systems and next-generation solutions, and catalyze momentum in the field to transform our systems of career preparation.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Collaborative for Student Success
Date
Jun. 08, 2023
Duration
10 months
Description
It has been over a decade since the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards were released. These documents are transforming the way science is taught nationwide, but there is significant progress to be made to increase access to high-quality instructional materials and curriculum-based professional learning to support science educators. An emerging set of states are taking promising steps towards this effort. Thus, this is an opportune moment to convene state teams of K-12 science educators, advocates, and stakeholders to develop a shared agenda to expand high-quality science education. This grant will allow Collaborative for Student Success, in partnership with the National Science Teaching Association and the Council of State Science Supervisors, to organize a two-day convening designed to create cohorts of state teams to a) develop strategic communications tactics and techniques and b) support policies and practices that advance high-quality K-12 science education.
Website
Project Title
For core support of The Campaign for Our Shared Future
Date
Sep. 14, 2023
Duration
18 months
Description
In the midst of growing political polarization in the United States schools are getting caught up in local social and cultural debates. This follows a global pandemic that revealed to parents, among others, ongoing inequities in the public school system nationwide. Amidst these challenges, misinformation is spreading, and some families are questioning curriculum choices, which are posing threats to the public education system. Parental turnout in local school board meetings, community engagements, and local elections has been low. There is a need for a nonpartisan campaign that provides unbiased information to actively engage all parents in support of public schools. The Campaign for Our Shared Future (COSF) is such an initiative, seeking to amplify the voices of American families and mobilize them for equity and inclusion in K-12 education. With a renewal grant from the Corporation, COSF will continue its efforts to restore public trust and support for the education system by offering direct communications support, targeted outreach, and promoting stakeholder engagement for families, communities, and education leaders at the local level.
Website
Project Title
As a final core support grant of Collaborative for Student Success
Date
Dec. 14, 2023
Duration
12 months
Description
It has been over a decade since the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards were released. These documents have transformed science education, but there is significant progress to be made to increase students’ access to high-quality instructional materials and curriculum-based professional learning for teachers. The Collaborative for Student Success (CSS) advocates for strong practices and policies driving improved outcomes for students through capacity-building efforts and promotion of fact-based public discourse. Through this renewal grant, CSS will continue promotion of high-quality science education through dissemination of research and case studies of states and policies. They plan to conduct science communication and advocacy sessions, as well as facilitate a science advocacy learning network with teachers and state leaders.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Collaborative Student Success, including science-related work
Date
Mar. 10, 2022
Duration
9 months
Description
The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as our nation’s reckoning on race relations and the politicization of classroom curricula, have strained our education system nearly to the breaking point. To help mitigate the effects we need communications and advocacy approaches to meet the needs of the relevant education policies and politics. The Collaborative for Student Success, a leading strategist and central communications hub founded as a collaborative effort of eight foundations including the Corporation, leverages the capacity of state-based partners and provides direct support as needed to allies on the ground. With continued support from the Corporation, the Collaborative will raise awareness of examples of strategic investments in academic programs, interventions and supports that aid student achievement in math, ELA and science. By elevating highly rated materials, the Collaborative will encourage state and local adoption of policies that support the greater use of such material and the deliberate inclusion of meaningful professional development aligned to high-quality curriculum.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Campaign for Our Shared Future
Date
Sep. 15, 2022
Duration
12 months
Description
This mix of pressures and discouraging realities our society has faced in the last few years poses an existential threat to public education, and to the long-term investments in student well-being, access, and achievements that were just beginning to bear fruit.The Campaign for Our Shared Future (COSF) was established in 2021 in response to the alarming anti-Critical Race Theory movement and policies spreading across the country. Recognizing the need to elevate the perspective of those who support high-quality, accurate, and safe education for all students—and the urgency of doing so in a unifying, common-ground fashion—the campaign was created to ensure that educators could continue to focus on work that matters most: meeting the needs of students. With support from the Corporation, COSF will build upon its non-partisan efforts to mobilize school stakeholders to advocate for equity in education. The campaign will preserve meaningful content, engage and inform parents, combat misinformation, build strong alliances with community organizations, increase their capacity to lead this work, and provide research and communications support to the field.
Website
Project Title
For core support of the Stimulus Supports Technical Assistance Project
Date
Sep. 15, 2022
Duration
12 months
Description
Led by a collaborative of national college and career pathway experts and philanthropic organizations, the Stimulus to Systems (S2S) initiative will invite state and local partnerships to tackle entrenched inequities in education and workforce systems that have led to persistent gaps in pathways outcomes, especially for Black and Latinx students and those experiencing poverty. College and career pathways strategies (e.g., high-quality work-based learning and dual enrollment), have proven effective at improving outcomes for those involved, but access remains uneven, too few students are attaining credentials of value, and many who enroll in postsecondary education do not finish and take on hard-to-pay debt, further perpetuating economic inequity. Corporation support will allow for strategic oversight, direction, and project management for this initiative that brings together the best-qualified experts in the field from partner organizations.
Website
Project Title
For a final grant of the N Square innovation collaborative
Date
Jun. 09, 2022
Duration
18 months
Description
The N Square funder collaborative was established in 2014 in partnership with several major foundations with the goal of bringing new ideas, resources, and talent to the nuclear security sector. While nuclear risk remains acute, public engagement on these issues is sporadic, in part because of high barriers to entry. To address this challenge, N Square has cultivated a network of innovators, with special emphasis on individual within the sectors of technology, media, and the arts. During the next phase, N Square will focus on the Horizon 2045 initiative—one of the promising initiatives that came out of the N Square network. Its objective is to mobilize organizations and thought leaders who believe that humanity can, and will, move beyond nuclear deterrence as a security doctrine by 2045. N Square will offer a series of skill-building opportunities for current and next generation leaders in human centered design and innovation, design research, persuasion, engagement and communication, systems thinking, strategic foresight, and wicked problems.
Website
Project Title
For core support of the Civic Responsibility Project, which incubates Power the Polls, an initiative to recruit a new generation of poll workers
Date
Sep. 15, 2022
Duration
15 months
Description
In 2020, the New Venture Fund’s Civic Responsibility Project launched Power the Polls, an initiative for recruiting poll workers in response to the nationwide poll worker shortage. Having a sustainable, diverse pool of available poll workers is necessary to ensure safe and fair access to the ballot box in American elections. Power the Polls manages a technology platform that helps people express interest in the role of poll workers and provides reliable information about requirements, applications, training, and compensation in more than 5,000 jurisdictions. With Corporation support, Power the Polls will work with election officials and other relevant partners, such as media groups, employers, nonprofits, and influencers, to encourage, assist, and train people to become poll workers.
Website
Project Title
For core support to the Research Partnership for Professional Learning at New Venture Fund to conduct a multi-site study of the efficacy of curriculum-based professional learning
Date
Sep. 15, 2022
Duration
25 months
Description
As states and districts gradually adopt high-quality instructional materials, it has been seen that implementing these materials can be challenging without quality professional learning. Teachers need curriculum-based professional learning (CBPL) that is evidence-based and job-embedded to effectively use new instructional materials with integrity. However, this type of professional learning is not widely available. Most professional learning is disconnected from the curriculum or consists of one-time training and does not engage teachers deeply with the content and curriculum. With Corporation support, the Research Partnership for Professional Learning (RPPL) was launched to bring together professional learning organizations and researchers to study curriculum-based professional learning and identify the features that improve teachers’ practice leading to better student learning experiences and academic growth, focusing on historically marginalized students.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Seek Common Ground
Date
Dec. 08, 2022
Duration
12 months
Description
Seek Common Ground (SCG) serves independent state-and community-facing education advocacy efforts to promote coalition building that honors the power of local, authentic agenda-setting to drive sustainable educational excellence and equity. SCG coalitions seek to empower those most impacted by education policies and practices—students,families, and educators—with support from allies across a broad range of interests and identities. Renewed support from the Corporation will enable SCG to continue working with leaders and policymakers to ensure that all stakeholders’ concerns and needs are centered in education decisions that affect them. SCG will also deepen family and community engagement through their Action Accelerator: “Immigration is American”, with a specific objective of supporting organizations that focus on the needs of underserved immigrant and refugee students, families, educators, and communities.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Collaborative for Student Success
Date
Dec. 08, 2022
Duration
12 months
Description
The education system is strained not only by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also our nation’s reckoning on race relations and the rise of the politicization of classroom curriculum. To advance educational equity, we must redouble efforts to protect policies that improve student outcomes and look for opportunities to make advancements in policies that promote equitable educational practices. The Collaborative for Student Success promotes fact-based public discourse and aligns stories and messages with advocacy strategies. Through this grant, the Collaborative will: a) promote the use of innovative assessment practices to have data guide programming and interventions to help raise student achievement in math, English language arts (ELA) and science, b) advocate for and promote state and district investment in high quality instructional materials and curriculum-based professional learning in core subjects, c) elevate exemplars of strategic investments as states and districts make financial decisions regarding pandemic recovery and the use of newly provided federal funds, and d) advocate for and promote high-quality science education by naming and amplifying state and district investments in and use of proven strategies to accelerate student learning.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Learning Heroes
Date
Dec. 02, 2021
Duration
12 months
Description
The pandemic, coupled with the social justice movement, has emphasized that to ensure nondominant students thrive socially and academically, families and educators need support around student success. Learning Heroes does precisely this by supporting parents and guardians as a child’s most effective education advocate. Through this renewal grant, Learning Heroes will share their actionable, research-based, parent-facing communications, tools, and resources throughout the year to help parents and teachers partner up in support of student success. They will equip teachers, school leaders, parent coordinators, and out-of-school time providers to team up with parents and guardians to deliver a holistic view of their children’s achievement and co-create a tailored learning plan. Finally, they will also continue to strengthen their internal operations capacity as they expand their technical assistance and fee-based product development workstreams over the next year.
Website
Project Title
For core support of The Sentry investigative and policy team
Date
Sep. 02, 2021
Duration
24 months
Description
The Sentry, headed by human rights and anti-corruption activist,John Prendergast, conducts investigations to map and expose the financial networks used to hide assets and fund mass atrocities. In addition to in-depth research on funding flows, The Sentry’s strength is a proven ability to mobilize international actors’ attention around these long-term and often over-looked conflicts. Through these efforts, The Sentry seeks to support peace processes that are increasingly accountable to local and well-informed constituencies operating in the public interest.
Website
Project Title
For core support of the Collaborative for Student Success
Date
Jun. 03, 2021
Duration
3 months
Description
The abrupt discontinuation of schooling continues to exacerbate the achievement gap as underserved students increasingly struggle from the lack of resources and adequate support. To help mitigate learning loss among our most vulnerable students the Collaborative for Student Success, a leading strategist and central communications hub founded as a collaborative effort of eight foundations including the Corporation, leverages the capacity of state-based partners and provides direct support as needed to allies on the ground. With continued support from the Corporation, the Collaborative will document policies at the state level and highlight promising policies and practices, including both state and local exemplars to share with state and district leaders still struggling to emerge from this crisis. Additionally, they will continue to promote their media coverage—nationally and in states—to elevate the voice of important allies.
Website
Project Title
Date
Dec. 02, 2021
Duration
36 months
Description
The United States Constitution mandates a full count of the populations of each state and the country every ten years. This data is used to reapportion seats for the U.S. House of Representatives and to direct more than $1.5 trillion in federal resources to the states. Housed at the New Venture Fund, the Census Equity Initiative is a partnership of national, state, and regional funders dedicated to implementing a fair and accurate census. In preparation for the 2020 Census, the initiative helped coordinate more than 100 national, state, and regional funders in pooling resources and coordinating strategies to support public education campaigns and mobilization efforts nationwide. With Corporation support, the initiative will continue to serve as a vehicle for strategic collaboration to reduce census-related funding redundancies, minimize time spent on fundraising, and increase national and state-based organizations’ capacity to address emerging challenges and opportunities related to the 2030 Census and the American Community Surveys.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Seek Common Ground
Date
Dec. 02, 2021
Duration
12 months
Description
Seek Common Ground (SCG) serves independent state-and community-facing education advocacy efforts to promote coalition building that honors the power of local, authentic agenda-setting to drive sustainable educational excellence and equity. SCG coalitions seek to empower those most impacted by education policies and practices—students,families, and educators—with support from allies across a broad range of interests and identities. Renewed support from the Corporation will enable SCG to continue to support independent statewide and community-facing efforts in two critical ways: first, it will enable SCG to continue to incubate, support, and serve as a critical partner to advocates—to empower them to improve students’ educational prospects by supporting their core functions and provision of counsel, coaching, and connection. Second, using the American Rescue Plan-K-12 School Funding Action Accelerator as a unique model in the field: providing capacity, networking, and research to project participants as they develop impactful projects for their communities.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Seek Common Ground
Date
Dec. 10, 2020
Duration
12 months
Description
Seek Common Ground (SCG) serves independent state-and community-facing education advocacy efforts to promote coalition building that honors the power of local, authentic agenda setting to drive sustainable educational excellence and equity. SCG coalitions seek to empower those most impacted by education policies and practices—students, families and educators—with support from allies across a broad range of interests and identities. Renewed support from the Corporation will enable SCG to continue to support independent statewide and community-facing efforts in two critical ways: first, it will enable SCG to continue to incubate, support, and serve as a critical partner to advocates—to empower them to improve students’ educational prospects by supporting their core functions and provision of counsel, coaching, and connection. Second, it will enable SCG to continue their Community-led COVID-19 Recovery Action Accelerator for family and student engagement by starting a second round to enable statewide and community efforts to continue to transform what school looks like in this year of unprecedented challenges.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Learning Heroes
Date
Dec. 10, 2020
Duration
12 months
Description
Due to school closures and the digital gap it is estimated that students could be a year behind in math and months behind in reading at the beginning of the new academic year. This loss is in addition to an already existing achievement gap, and 2019 PISA results that expose American education lagging behind comparable education systems globally. The gaps in information, understanding and resources have led to parents overestimating their child’s academic standing and the risks of this gap widening during the pandemic are high. Learning Heroes, a nonprofit organization founded with Corporation support in 2016, is an expert on parent mindsets, listening to families to create content that engages them at a national scale. Learning Heroes’ core communications strategies inform and equip parents with actions they can take on behalf of their child’s academic success. Renewed support from the Corporation will allow Learning Heroes to build upon their current efforts and execute their core priorities and operations objectives in 2021.
Website
Project Title
For core support of the Collaborative for Student Success
Date
Sep. 10, 2020
Duration
12 months
Description
The abrupt discontinuation of schooling due to COVID-19 will exacerbate the achievement gap as underserved students increasingly struggle from the lack of resources and adequate support. To help mitigate learning loss among our most vulnerable students the Collaborative for Student Success, a leading strategist and central communications hub founded as a collaborative effort of eight foundations including the Corporation, leverages the capacity of state-based partners and provides direct support as needed to allies on the ground. With continued support from the Corporation, the Collaborative will continue its longstanding focus on equity and supports for disadvantaged students both throughout the COVID-19 crisis and when students inevitably return to school. They will provide targeted state investments to the field, identify and fill communications gaps in key strategic areas, and further build out our coalitions of support (faith, military, and teachers) and strong bipartisan surrogate voices.
Website
Project Title
For the N Square Incubation/Acceleration Project
Date
Jun. 04, 2020
Duration
23 months
Description
Problem solvers in the nuclear security sector generally lack experience with business model development, making it hard to scale promising initiatives. This grant will support New Venture Fund’s efforts to accelerate projects emerging from the N Square Innovators Network. The Innovators Network is a community of cross-sector leaders working to pilot new approaches to address the nuclear threat. Members include, among others, data scientists, designers, screenwriters, entrepreneurs, and global security experts. This investmentwill accelerate pilot projects that have not yet received significant philanthropic funding. Priority will be given to initiatives that have committed leadership, a plausible path to sustainability, and that can raise matching resources.
Website
Project Title
For the N Square innovation collaborative
Date
Jun. 04, 2020
Duration
24 months
Description
The N Square funder collaborative was established in partnership with several major foundations with the goal of bringing new ideas, resources, and talent to the nuclear security sector. While nuclear risk remains acute, public engagement on these issues is sporadic, in part because of high barriers to entry. To address this challenge, N Square has cultivated a network of innovators, with special emphasis on experts in technology, media, and the arts. The collaborative seeks to catalyze new approaches that help practitioners to adapt, scale, and amplify their work of relevance to nuclear security. N Square’s mission is to promote a renaissance in the nuclear security field that could lead to breakthroughs in reducing the nuclear risk.
Website
Project Title
For core support of the Supermajority Education Fund and its efforts to engage women around civic issues
Date
Jun. 04, 2020
Duration
12 months
Description
Women are the majority of voters, volunteers, and grassroots donors in the United States. They also comprise nearly 50 percent of the workforce and are the primary wage earners in 40 percent of families with children. Yet, women are also the majority in groups most targeted by voter suppression, including communities of color, low-income people, college students, and the elderly. Fiscally sponsored by New Venture Fund, Supermajority Education Fund is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and public engagement around women’s civic participation, with the aim of advancing true equity for women in American society. With Corporation support, Supermajority Education Fund will educate and mobilize millions of women in all fifty states around civic issues, including nonpartisan voter registration and policy advocacy.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Learning Heroes
Date
Jun. 04, 2020
Duration
6 months
Description
Families have high hopes for their children but despite rising high school graduation rates, only thirty-seven percent of graduates are prepared for college-level reading, and only twenty-five percent are prepared for college-level math. Research shows that when parents are informed about student progress and equipped with actions to support their child, student achievement improves. It is essential to improve parents’ access to information and resources in order to increase student achievement. Learning Heroes, a nonprofit organization founded with Corporation support in 2016, is an expert on parent mindsets, listening to families in order to create content that engages them at a national scale. Renewed support from the Corporation will enable Learning Heroes to continue to inform the field about family and teacher mindsets, specifically what happens when parents gain an “accurate picture” of their children’s progress, and furthermore, equipping families with research-based information, resources, and simple actions they can take to support their child’s academic and social-emotional success, especially in the aftermath of the school closures due to the 2020 public health crisis.
Website
Project Title
For core support of the 2020 Census Project
Date
Jun. 13, 2019
Duration
15 months
Description
The United States Constitution mandates a full and accurate count of the country’s total population every ten years, and the Fourteenth Amendment requires that each person be counted equally. The decennial census is used to not only reapportion seats for the U.S. House of Representatives, but also to direct more than $800 billion in federal resources. The 2020 Census will be the first to be conducted primarily online, raising new apprehensions about confidentiality, cybersecurity, and the digital divide that exists across the country. Established in early 2016, the 2020 Census Project has been the vehicle for pooled funding and shared campaign expenses for efforts to ensure an accurate count. With Corporation support, the project, which is fiscally sponsored by the New Venture Fund, will continue to fund key organizations that are working on census issues. These organizations are supporting state-based initiatives for mobilizing constituencies and advocating for increased investments in local-level census education and outreach.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Learning Heroes
Date
Jun. 13, 2019
Duration
12 months
Description
While we know parents and families are on the front lines of their children’s education, engaged and deeply committed to their children’s success, they are frequently underserved and overlooked as a key stakeholder and customer of their children’s education. Gaps in information and understanding often prevent parents from playing an active role in helping to ensure their children’s academic success. There is a critical need to address these gaps in order to enable parents to actively support their children’s academic success. Founded in 2016 with Corporation support, Learning Heroes has emerged as a national organization supporting and challenging the field to incorporate parent perspectives into new solutions, while translating research on parent perspectives into actionable messaging and tools for educators, the advocacy community, academia, and philanthropy. With continued support from the Corporation, Learning Heroes conduct its annual parent survey and three seasonal informational campaigns, disseminate its research through its extensive network of partners.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Seek Common Ground
Date
Dec. 05, 2019
Duration
12 months
Description
Seek Common Ground (SCG) serves independent state-and community-facing education advocacy efforts to promote coalition building that honors the power of local, authentic agenda setting to drive sustainable educational excellence and equity. SCG coalitions seek to empower those most impacted by education policies and practices—students, families and educators—with support from allies across a broad range of interests and identities. Renewed support from the Corporation will enable SCG to continue efforts to support independent state- and community-based coalition efforts in two critical ways: first, it will enable SCG to continue its work incubating, supporting, and being a critical partner in elevating advocates, including students, families, and community voices, to improve students’ educational prospects across the country. In addition, this grant will enable SCG to focus efforts in new and promising ways through the creation of a Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Impact Group to foster a learning community of dedicated change agents who seek to identify shared innovative, replicable, and scalable solutions to bolster student, family, and community engagement efforts that address local education challenges, promote promising practices and policies, and advance equity
Website
Project Title
For core support of the Collaborative for Student Success
Date
Mar. 07, 2019
Duration
12 months
Description
Supporters of educational equity span diverse ideologies and backgrounds, yet there are opponents that are weakening public support for education reform. With limited federal oversight, a dynamic legislative landscape, and new initiatives sparked by Every Students Succeed Act (ESSA), states need targeted support by way of strategic communications, while the public needs to be able to hold states accountable. The Collaborative for Student Success was founded in 2009 by eight foundations (Carnegie, Gates, Helios Education Foundation, Helmsley Charitable Trust, Hewlett, Lumina, Broad, and Schusterman) as a non-profit organization working to defend high standards, high-quality assessments, and strong systems of accountability. The Collaborative identifies the communications gaps in key strategic areas, in turn building out its coalitions of support in order to increase awareness and support for educational equity. With continued support from the Corporation, the Collaborative will amplify positive trends, offer response communications to push back on threats, and build a strategic and sustainability plan to support their future efforts.
Website
Project Title
For support of Seek Common Ground's project to build equity, conduct research, and develop a new business model
Date
Mar. 07, 2019
Duration
9 months
Description
Though a bipartisan issue at its core, education reform today is often politicized, and in the current policy environment, improving student outcomes and advancing equity is at risk. To address this need, Seek Common Ground, a network of independent coalitions across thirteen states, aims to develop diverse coalitions that ensure high-quality public education for all children. Seek Common Ground provides backbone support to state-based coalitions, assisting them in meeting their policy, advocacy, and communications goals and supporting them in building broad-based coalitions. Through their unique model which supports authentic, independent state and community organizations while using research-based ideas to advance student achievement, Seek Common Ground is able to create a collaborative environment for improving public education. With renewed support from the Corporation, Seek Common Ground will advance the mission of equity, conduct research on the impact of their coalition-building model and grassroots strategies, and develop a new business model to support the work of the backbone organization and its state and community coalitions.
Website
Project Title
As a final core support grant for The Sentry project
Date
Dec. 06, 2018
Duration
24 months
Description
A number of countries in Central and Eastern Africa have been locked in a cycle of conflict and fragility. Illicit financing is one of the causes of the perpetual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan, and South Sudan. The Sentry, headed by John Prendergast, conducts investigation to map and expose the financial networks used to hide assets and fund mass atrocities. In addition to in-depth research on funding flows, The Sentry’s strength is a proven ability to mobilize international actors’ attention around these long-term and often over-looked conflicts. Through these efforts, The Sentry seeks to support peace processes that are increasingly accountable to local and well-informed constituencies operating in the public interest.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Learning Heroes
Date
Jun. 14, 2018
Duration
12 months
Description
Parents across the country have high hopes for their children but despite rising high school graduation rates, only thirty-seven percent of graduates are prepared for college-level reading, and only twenty-five percent are prepared for college-level math. Research shows that when parents are informed about student progress and equipped with actions to support their child, student achievement improves. We believe it is essential to improve parents’ access to information and resources in order to increase student achievement. Learning Heroes, a nonprofit organization founded with Corporation support three years ago, is the expert on parent mindsets, listening to families in order to create content that engages them at a national scale. With renewed support from the Corporation, Learning Heroes will execute three informational campaigns including Back to School 2018, disseminate their research, and plan for their annual poll measuring parent attitudes and behaviors, activities that will support parents in taking steps to support their children’s learning.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Seek Common Ground
Date
Mar. 08, 2018
Duration
15 months
Description
Over the past decade, states and communities across the country have been involved in education reform through a variety of policies and efforts. However, while communities try to implement reforms in the context of their populations and geographies, tension grows toward these reforms due to the missing support from diverse and bi-partisan stakeholders. There is an opportunity to ensure a lasting impact by increasing shared ownership in these reforms and by tying diverse groups together in one common cause. Seek Common Ground, a new organization emerging from Achieve Inc., represents a network of locally controlled and state-based advocacy coalitions who collectively aim to improve educational prospects for all children and promote policies, practices, and strategies that engage stakeholders and harness diverse viewpoints. With the Corporation’s support, Seek Common Ground will effectively transition to an independent entity of its own, serve as a backbone of support for twelve state-based coalitions, pilot innovative and replicable ideas, and share learnings across its network.
Website
Project Title
For the N Square innovation collaborative
Date
Jun. 14, 2018
Duration
24 months
Description
The N Square funder collaborative, formerly housed at the Ploughshares Fund, was established in partnership with the MacArthur, Hewlett, and Skoll foundations with the goal of bringing new ideas, resources, and energy to the nuclear security sector. While nuclear risk remains acute, engagement on these issues is sporadic, in part because of high barriers to entry. To address this challenge, N Square is building a network of innovators, with special emphasis on experts in technology, media, and the arts. The collaborative seeks to catalyze new approaches that help practitioners to adapt, scale, and amplify their work. N Square does not seek specific policy goals, working instead toward a renaissance in the nuclear security field itself that will lead to breakthroughs.
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Project Title
For support of the Pluribus Project
Date
Mar. 08, 2018
Duration
24 months
Description
With the proliferation of money in politics and in the United States electoral campaign system, federal policymaking has become increasingly biased toward the interests of economic elites and influential corporations. Partisan gridlock has become the norm and the average constituent feels disincentivized from participating in the democratic process. The Pluribus Project works with a broad range of stakeholders from across the political spectrum to advocate for a more equitable and engaging democratic process. With Corporation support, the Pluribus Project will promote a new model for civic engagement that enables a true diversity of people to interact with their local leaders and political representatives. The Pluribus Project is fiscally sponsored by New Venture Fund.
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Project Title
For core support of the Collaborative for Student Success
Date
Sep. 07, 2017
Duration
12 months
Description
The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) marks a watershed moment in education policy. States now are solely responsible for setting standards, defining proficiency rates, establishing teacher evaluation systems and school accountability systems. While the scope of ESSA is wide ranging, the Collaborative for Student Success, an eight foundation partnership formed to be a nimble, fast-moving communications operation, will act and react to situations as they present themselves, both on the national stage and at the state level in education. The Collaborative will focus specifically on accountability systems as the important third leg of the education reform stool (standards, assessments, accountability) in ESSA communications. Corporation funding will continue to support the work of the Collaborative to proactively address communication needs around the following issues: framing the narrative and supporting state partners around the accountability provisions in ESSA; communicating the importance of high-quality assessments aligned to high standards; and continuing to defend the high standards (Common Core) by providing state-based support to partners on the ground where necessary.
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Project Title
For core support of Learning Heroes and project support for a listening tour and development and design of a Readiness Roadmap guide for parents
Date
Jun. 01, 2017
Duration
12 months
Description
Too many students do not graduate high school prepared for success in life. Yet, according to a RAND report, individual and family characteristics may have four to eight times the impact on student achievement compared with teachers. And while we know parents and guardians are on the front lines of their children’s education, engaged and deeply committed to their children’s success, they are frequently underserved and overlooked as a key constituent and customer of their children’s education. Learning Heroes, a new organization seeded by the Corporation along with other national foundations, helps parents become effective advocates of their children’s learning, by driving awareness of and improving the information parents can turn to for an accurate picture of their child’s academic success and enabling actions they can take to best support their children’s learning needs. This renewal grant to Learning Heroes is for continued general operating support and their core communications work to inform and equip parents with research-based information, resources, and simple actions they can take to support their child’s academic and social-emotional success. They are also going to develop a new interactive diagnostic tool to provide parents individualized information about their child’s academic progress and connect them to resources they can access and actions they can take.
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Project Title
As a one-time only grant in support of the Markle Foundation, Skillful National Collective
Date
Sep. 07, 2017
Duration
12 months
Description
Nearly seven out of ten American adults do not have a college degree nor the necessary skills that employers seek in today’s highly specialized skills-based labor market. Jobseekers in fact do not know which skills are relevant, and employers find it difficult to recruit qualified labor that is needed to compete in a global market. In 2014, the Markle Foundation launched the Skillful National Collective in Colorado to help coordinate efforts among stakeholders – educators, employers and job seekers alike – to better align job training with work opportunities for more meaningful and sustained employment. With Corporation support, the Collective will build on the Colorado initiative in an effort to scale their work to a national scale. Core elements of the Skillful approach include community outreach; using automation, technology and a networked world as tools for access and engagement; and data sharing.
Website
Project Title
For support of the 2020 Census Project
Date
Sep. 07, 2017
Duration
24 months
Description
The U.S. Constitution mandates a full and accurate enumeration of the total population in each state and the country as a whole every ten years. A precise count of the population is vital to the basic functions of government. The census not only serves to apportion seats for the U.S. House of Representatives, it also provides a vital source of information to a wide range of other stakeholders. However, faced with significant budget constraints, the U.S. Census Bureau is likely to experience severe challenges in completing an accurate census in 2020. Recognizing the extent of these challenges, as well as the importance of the census, multiple foundations have come together to develop a plan to ensure a complete count. With Corporation support, New Venture Fund’s 2020 Census Project will fund key organizations to educate decision makers on census design and implementation, organize and coordinate key stakeholders, and respond to arising challenges that would impede an accurate count.
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Project Title
For project support of Learning Heroes to generate a version two of the Readiness Roadmap, a diagnostic guide for parents
Date
Dec. 07, 2017
Duration
12 months
Description
A growing body of research shows that nine in ten parents believe their child performs at or above grade level though barely 40 percent of students perform at grade level in math and reading. This disconnect is more pronounced among parents of students of color. In order to bridge the gap in parental perceptions, Learning Heroes has designed a Readiness Check, an interactive tool for parents to gauge the performance of their children through a series of standards-aligned questions. The Readiness Check will help parents understand if their child has the necessary key foundational skills in math and reading, provide specific parental guidance and techniques to track progress at home, as well as easy-to-use resources to support their children’s remediation and enrichment. With the Corporation’s support, Learning Heroes will launch its Readiness Check version 2, strengthen the quality of its content, and partner with leading organizations such as the National PTA and Denver Public Schools to market its tool at scale.
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Project Title
As a one-time grant for core support to The Sentry project
Date
Dec. 08, 2016
Duration
24 months
Description
A number of countries in Central and Eastern Africa have been locked in a cycle of conflict and fragility. Illicit financing is one of the causes of the perpetual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, and Sudan and South Sudan. The Sentry, headed by John Prendergast, conducts investigation to map and expose the financial networks used to hide assets and fund mass atrocities. In addition to in-depth research on funding flows, The Sentry’s strength is a proven ability to mobilize international actors’ attention around these long-term and often over-looked conflicts. Through these efforts, The Sentry seeks to support peace processes that are increasingly accountable to local and well-informed constituencies operating in the public interest.
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Project Title
For support of Fair Elections Legal Network’s Campus Vote Project
Date
Sep. 08, 2016
Duration
18 months
Description
Only 19.9 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds cast a ballot in the 2014 elections—the lowest rate in forty years. Surveys of non-voting students indicate that, rather than a lack of interest, barriers stemming from a lack of information and planning, like missing an absentee ballot request deadline, more often keep youth from the polls. In order to overcome this fact and increase student participation, college administrators could make student voting an ongoing and central part of their schools’ educational missions. With Corporation support, Fair Elections Legal Network’s Campus Vote Project will help 130 college campuses in twenty-one states—including community colleges—institutionalize reforms that provide extensive voter registration opportunities, clarify election rules that confuse college students, create a regular flow of information to remind students of important deadlines, and facilitate direct participation in democracy by getting polling places on campus and encouraging students to work at the polls.
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Project Title
For general support for the parent engagement initiative Learning Heroes and project support for a parent survey
Date
Jun. 09, 2016
Duration
12 months
Description
Founded in 2015 with multi-foundation and Corporation support, Learning Heroes seeks to be a trusted, non-political source of information for parents about changes happening in the classroom and to equip them to support their child’s academic success. The Learning Heroes 2016 parent survey found that parents overwhelmingly believe that their child is academically on track, even though testing data shows that many students are not. With general support from this grant, Learning Heroes will provide parents with information through: communications campaigns, with a focus on new assessments and social and emotional learning; work with State Education Agencies and districts to conduct research and provide communications counsel; and work with national partners to reach more parents. This grant also provides project support for a 2017 version of the parent survey, this time focusing on parents of high school students.
Website
Project Title
For Learning Heroes parent survey research
Date
Mar. 03, 2016
Duration
4 months
Description
Founded in 2015 with multi-foundation and Corporation support, Learning Heroes seeks to be a trusted source of information for parents about changes happening in the classroom and to equip them to support their child’s academic success. Their new research project, “On the Hearts & Minds of Moms and Dads,” will be a comprehensive, national survey to understand what matters most to parents and what keeps them up at night when it comes to their child’s education. The survey will be designed to provide meaningful, actionable insights on parents’ impressions, expectations, and priorities regarding changes taking place in the nation’s classrooms. Findings will be shared through a publicly launched report, and will drive Learning Heroes’ communication throughout 2016.
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Project Title
As a final grant for continued support of the Collaborative for Student Success, a foundation collaborative on strategic communications efforts on the Common Core State Standards
Date
Mar. 03, 2016
Duration
12 months
Description
The Collaborative for Student Success (the Collaborative) was formed three years ago, made up of regional and national foundations committed to pooling their financial resources to support strategic communications efforts across states. The Collaborative’s goal is to help build public and political will, and create sustainable demand, for the successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards (Common Core) and related assessments through strategic and targeted communications support. Corporation support will continue to enable the Collaborative to address communications needs proactively as they arise in critical states and nationally over the next year. The Collaborative has emerged as the leading strategist and central communications hub, leveraging the capacity of state-based partners and providing direct support as needed to partners on the ground.
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Project Title
For production of videos to generate educators' support for Common Core
Date
Sep. 17, 2015
Duration
9 months
Website
Project Title
For general operating support and a Common Core parent engagement initiative
Date
Jun. 04, 2015
Duration
12 months
Website
Project Title
As a one-time only grant for support of the Pluribus Project
Date
Sep. 17, 2015
Duration
19 months
Website
Project Title
For the foundation collaboration on strategic communications efforts on the Common Core State Standards
Date
Mar. 05, 2015
Duration
12 months
Website
Project Title
For support of Fair Elections Legal Network’s Campus Vote Project
Date
Sep. 11, 2014
Duration
12 months
Website
Project Title
For the Collaborative for Student Success through Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and English
Date
Jun. 12, 2014
Duration
12 months
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Project Title
For the Fund for a Safer Future's gun violence prevention research
Date
Mar. 06, 2014
Duration
12 months
Website
Project Title
For the Common Core Communications Collaborative project
Date
Mar. 07, 2013
Duration
12 months
Website
Project Title
For a project to remove barriers to registration and voting for students and youth
Date
Sep. 22, 2011
Duration
8 months
Website
Project Title
Toward development of a comprehensive framework and plan to address the U.S. Department of Education's capacity for analysis, evaluation and knowledge management
Date
Sep. 16, 2010
Duration
2 months