Awarded Grants | Ascendium’s Education Philanthropy - Grants Page 14 Skip to main content

Ascendium Education Philanthropy is a division of Ascendium Education Group.

Awarded Grants

The grants we award advance our core strategies to Expand Opportunity, Support Learner Success, and Connect and Align Systems. They also promote field support and development efforts across strategies.

Scaling IT Support and Data Analytics Certificate Programming for Learners from Low-Income Backgrounds

Merit America|$10,000,000|9/2022 - 8/2025
This grant supports Merit America in its goal to help 20,000 learners move from low-wage jobs to in-demand technology careers over the next three years. This investment will enable Merit America to scale their operations and leverage up to $45 million in funding from the $100 million Google Career Certificates Fund.

Curricular Analytics

Colorado State University|$1,997,600|9/2021 - 8/2025
This grant supports the Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities, hosted at Colorado State University, in validating the relationship between curricular structure and equitable student outcomes. A network of national senior leaders will collaborate to develop and test strategies for using their institutional data to engage faculty in revising university curriculum.

Non-Credit Mobility Academy

State Higher Education Executive Officers Association|$750,000|9/2023 - 8/2025
This grant supports the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association in supporting four to six states to strengthen policy and data infrastructure around non-credit postsecondary education. Participating states will work to ensure that learners have access to high-quality non-credit postsecondary training, and that clear pathways exist from that training into credit-bearing credentials in fields where those are required qualifications for high-demand jobs.

Launching Civic Sector Apprenticeships in Rural Communities

The Council of State Governments|$693,800|9/2022 - 8/2025
This grant supports the Council of State Governments and the Urban Institute in working with state and local governments and public sector employers in Maine and Idaho to implement apprenticeship programs targeted to learners from low-income backgrounds. New apprenticeships will provide paid training and onramps to good civic sector jobs that are currently experiencing a shortage of qualified workers in rural communities.

Supporting the Expansion of the THRIVE Program

The College & Community Fellowship Inc|$522,710|9/2024 - 8/2025
This grant supports College & Community Fellowship to refine and expand its THRIVE training and coaching program, which helps college campuses and employers strengthen their ability to serve individuals after release from incarceration.

Prevalence of Lived Experience in Leadership Positions

The Urban Institute |$100,000|9/2024 - 8/2025
This grant supports Urban Institute in understanding the prevalence of lived experiences in or adjacent to the criminal justice system, including personal history of incarceration, among nonprofit organizational leaders. The project will identify best practices and develop data collection tools funders can use to understand the extent to which their grantees are led by individuals with relevant lived experience.

Creating a National Movement for Emergency Aid

Scholarship America Inc|$750,000|9/2024 - 8/2025
This grant supports Scholarship America in launching a national campaign communicating the impact of emergency aid for learners from low-income backgrounds in an effort to broaden the donor base for emergency aid nationwide.

Enhancing and Expanding the Transfer Explorer Tool

Ithaka Harbors Inc|$1,716,350|9/2022 - 8/2025
This grant supports Ithaka Harbors in enhancing and expanding the Transfer Explorer tool so that more transfer students have prior credits applied to a four-year degree, leading to reduced cost, reduced time-to-degree and a greater chance of completion.

Formerly Incarcerated Leaders Fellowship

Rockwood Leadership Institute|$938,239|8/2023 - 8/2025
This grant supports Rockwood Leadership Institute in developing and piloting a professional learning cohort for formerly incarcerated leaders working within the field of postsecondary education in prison.

Implementing an Evaluability Assessment

Reentry Campus Program|$250,000|12/2022 - 8/2025
This grant supports Reentry Campus Program in continuing to strengthen its core programming aimed at helping incarcerated and formerly incarcerated learners identify a career path, gain college credit and complete degrees and certificates. The grant also supports their capacity to work with an external evaluator to define their unique program model and lay the groundwork for future evaluation.