Ascendium Education Philanthropy: Grants for College Readiness
/OVERVIEW: The Ascendium Education Philanthropy, formerly known as the Great Lakes Education Philanthropy, aims to close the equity gap in education and remove barriers to college education for underserved and marginalized students.
IP TAKE: This funder’s college readiness grants generally support educational research, program evaluation and program expansion for highly effective interventions and programs. Ascendium does not accept unsolicted requests for funding and accepts applications by invitation only. However, it does encourage grantseekers to reach out with questions or general inquiries. Despite its closed application system, this is one funder for education organizations to keep on their radar.
PROFILE: Ascendium Education Philanthropy is the philanthropic program of the Ascendium Educational Group, a loan servicing company formerly known as the Great Lakes Education Group. The organization’s grantmaking is based on the “guiding belief that postsecondary degrees, credentials, apprenticeships and certificates are the surest path to economic success,” and its aim is simply to get “students to and through college.” Ascendium’s four focus areas are removing systemic barriers to success, streamlining transitions, expanding higher education in prison and developing rural education and workforce training.
Grants for College Readiness
Ascendium supports college readiness through its removing systemic barriers and streamlining transitions initiatives. Removing systemic barriers to success supports “efforts to identify and adopt evidence-based policies and practices that reduce or eliminate obstacles to student success,” including K-12 academic achievement. The streamlining transitions program aims to streamline the transition to postsecondary education for first-time, transfer and re-entry students.
In each focus area, Ascenndium awards exploration, validation and scaling grants. Exploration grants support investigations of innovative approaches to Ascendium’s initiatives, and validation grants support evaluations of implemented programs. Scaling grants work toward expanding upon the implemented programs that have been most successful at supporting college completion.
Grants for Higher Education, Work and Economic Opportunity, and Criminal Justice Reform
While it is primarily a college readiness funder, Ascendium’s grantmaking does touch upon other areas of interest. Its Support Rural Postsecondary Education and Workforce Training program focuses on the unique needs and challenges faced by rural learners and supports research into methods of removing systemic barriers faced by these students. The Expand Postsecondary Education in Prison program works to remove educational barriers faced by currently incarcerated adults and increase access to postsecondary educational opportunities in prison.
Important Grant Details
Grant amounts vary widely and can range from $1,000 to $2 million, but the majority of grants fall in the $100,000 to $500,000 range. Most grants are directed towards organizations conducting educational research or program evaluation. While priority is given to projects operating in the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Iowa, Arkansas, and North Dakota, research institutes and university-based research teams have been funded across the U.S. Ascendium gave $10 million to postsecondary education networks and membership organizations during the COVID-19 health crisis.
Ascendium does not accept unsolicited proposals or requests for funding; it accepts applications by invitation only. A list of current funding opportunities is available at Ascendium’s website.
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