Awarded Grants | Ascendium’s Education Philanthropy - Grants Page 28 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.

Optimizing Delivery Systems for Higher Education in Prison

University of Wisconsin-Madison|$150,000|8/2021 - 7/2023
This grant supports the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in partnership with the State of Wisconsin Department of Corrections, in preparing to launch their Prison Education Initiative to offer baccalaureate degrees, competency-based degrees, certificate programs and stackable credentials to incarcerated adults across Wisconsin.

Catalyzing Rural Community Colleges Through a Design Challenge

Education Design Lab|$1,996,925|4/2020 - 6/2023
This grant supports Education Design Lab in executing a three-year design challenge to develop and pilot new solutions to the question: “How might we improve the ability of rural community colleges to be a critical engine (or catalyst) of growth in their local communities?” Education Design Lab will partner with five rural community colleges to collaboratively structure, design and evaluate new programs.

Maintain Momentum: Supporting Postsecondary Education Membership Organizations and Networks

American Association of Colleges and Universities|$1,848,800|8/2020 - 6/2023
This grant supports the Association of American Colleges and Universities and its members in continuing to advance student success reforms despite COVID‐19‐related impacts.

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Research Capacity Building Initiative

APIA Scholars|$500,000|5/2021 - 6/2023
This grant supports the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund in building the capacity of rural Pacific Island postsecondary institutions to analyze data and use collaborative research strategies to improve their policies and practices. The initiative will increase Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander student success by developing pathways that lead to workforce participation through partnerships and institutional innovation.

Future U. Podcast

Academic Intelligence|$55,000|9/2022 - 6/2023
As part of Ascendium’s 2022 Strategic Media Partnerships, this grant supports Academic Intelligence’s production of the Future U. podcast series featuring interviews and stories about topics related to removing barriers to success in postsecondary education. The series will include four themed episodes under Ascendium’s direction dedicated to Ascendium’s focus areas and highlighting its grantees.

UnlockED Feature Documentary

Unlocked The Film LLC|$204,400|7/2022 - 6/2023
This grant supports Unlocked The Film LLC in creating a documentary film featuring four incarcerated learners’ journeys to create an open-source learning management system they named UnlockED.

College Promise Careers Institute & Expanding Ecosystems for Promise Student Support

College Promise|$250,000|7/2022 - 6/2023
This grant supports College Promise Campaign in identifying and disseminating insights about the most effective elements of College Promise programs for supporting low-income learners in key populations, including adult students, student veterans, justice-impacted students, undocumented students, parents, first-generation students, foster care students and students with disabilities.

Reporting of Postsecondary Education

The Hechinger Report|$220,000|7/2021 - 6/2023
This grant supports The Hechinger Report in exposing the challenges and elevating possible solutions to problems facing our postsecondary education system.

Maintain Momentum: Supporting Postsecondary Education Membership Organizations and Networks

University Innovation Alliance|$436,250|11/2020 - 6/2023
This grant supports the University Innovation Alliance and its members in continuing to advance student success reforms despite COVID‐19‐related impacts.

Expanding Access to Postsecondary Pathways in Louisiana State Prisons

Operation Restoration|$650,000|6/2020 - 5/2023
This grant supports Operation Restoration in the planning and implementation of a bachelor’s degree program that will leverage technology to support incarcerated students in multiple facilities across the Louisiana State Prison System. The organization will also pilot an innovative advising model that trains students with long-term sentences as academic advisors.