By Ascendium Education Group
Ascendium takes pride in its ties to the Northside and Madison area communities. It’s why we support local organizations and give back through programs that allow our staff to get out in the community and donate their time and skills to help local nonprofits succeed.
You may have seen us serving the community at River Food Pantry or the East Madison Community Center, but you may not know that Ascendium also makes an impact across the nation through our philanthropy.
Some challenges cannot be overcome by personal grit alone. That’s why as a national funder, Ascendium is working to improve postsecondary education and workforce training systems. Our philanthropy addresses the persistent barriers that stand in the way of success for learners from low-income backgrounds, especially first-generation students, rural community members, veterans, students of color and incarcerated adults.
As one of the nation’s largest and most active postsecondary education and workforce training philanthropies, we channel the net proceeds from the services we provide and investments we make into our philanthropy programs. In 2022, we awarded $122 million in new grants supporting partners working on innovations to create paths for these learners.
Keith Witham, our vice president of education philanthropy shared, “We know that the opportunity to succeed in education after high school, whether through college or a high-quality skilled trades program, is critical to finding rewarding work that offers family-sustaining wages and benefits. Our grant partners work to address the barriers that stand in the way of that opportunity, especially for those from low-income backgrounds.”
What does the future hold? Ascendium knows that today’s students need supportive, affordable and flexible pathways through postsecondary education to good jobs. Changing learner demographics and enrollment patterns coupled with the COVID-19 health crisis have given birth to learning innovations such as hybrid learning pathways, new ways to count credit for work done toward a degree and short-term, workforce validated credentials, among others. In addition, policy developments like the opening of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated learners in July 2023 create new opportunities.
Some of our activities this year include our investment in the work of organizations supporting incarcerated learners’ success, continuing to place rural learners at the front and center of our strategy and assessing the outcomes of workforce training credentials that target adults in low-wage jobs. In addition, our philanthropy is looking beyond enrollment and credential completion to determine which credentials truly lead to economic mobility and a brighter future for all.
Learn about Ascendium and our philanthropy at ascendiumphilanthrophy.org.