Ascendium Education Group Announces New Philanthropy Website, Investment Priorities

Madison, WI— Ascendium Education Group has launched a new website for its philanthropy (https://www.ascendiumphilanthropy.org) centered around the four focus areas announced last year.

Over the past year, Ascendium’s grantmaking team has been listening, learning and strategizing about specific investment priorities and desired outcomes in these areas. Input from existing and new partners and grantees in the field has shaped the organization’s focused philanthropic approach. The new website points partners to critical information on how Ascendium is working to change postsecondary and workforce training systems so that learners from low-income backgrounds can achieve upward socioeconomic mobility.

Ascendium’s focus areas, and examples of investment priorities in each, are: 

• Remove Structural Barriers to Success
  • Developing leadership in postsecondary education and supporting institutional policies and practices that ensure students complete their degree or credentials.
• Streamline Key Learner Transitions
  • Supporting initiatives that promote or scale diverse pathways into and through postsecondary educational systems and from postsecondary education into the workforce.
• Expand Postsecondary Education in Prison
  • Supporting efforts to help the field better understand what types of postsecondary education in prison programs are effective and cultivating systemic networks to develop policies and practices that catalyze change.
• Support Rural Postsecondary Education and Workforce Training
  • Expanding relationships takeholders in the rural postsecondary education and workforce training fields, building data capacity and sharing and solidifying systems that align educational training and workforce needs.

The website also highlights several of the data points Ascendium uses to assess the progress of its strategy related to first-year persistence, degree and credential completion, time to completion and job placement.

“We hope that providing this additional clarity around Ascendium’s investment priorities and desired outcomes will maximize our opportunities to collaborate with partners and grantees who share our mission,” said Amy Kerwin, Vice President of Education Philanthropy.