About Ascendium
Ascendium Education Group's philanthropy is grounded in our commitment to ensuring all learners have a path to upward mobility, and the recognition that good jobs increasingly require some kind of postsecondary education or specialized workforce training. As a national funder, our investments aim to transform postsecondary education and workforce training systems so that more learners from low-income backgrounds - regardless of race, rurality, history of incarceration, or other factors - have an opportunity to succeed. In early 2025, Ascendium released a refined grantmaking strategy that centers three priorities: 1) Expand Opportunity by increasing postsecondary education and workforce training options that lead to good jobs; 2) Support Learner Success by strengthening systems of academic and non-academic support for learners; and 3) Connect and Align Systems by improving how state and regional education and workforce systems enable the upward mobility of learners from low-income backgrounds. Our grantees include postsecondary education and workforce training providers, intermediary organizations, researchers, and media organizations.
Why does Ascendium support Workforce Matters?
Ascendium joined Workforce Matters in 2021 when Ascendium was a relatively new funder in the workforce training sector. Our involvement with the Workforce Matters network has helped our team strengthen our knowledge of the sector, establish relationships with and learn from other funders, and enabled opportunities for co-funding that identified promising practices and approaches to supporting workforce training. For example, Ascendium was an initial investor in the Fund for Workforce Equity, including the Workforce Grantmaking in Native Nations and Communities initiative. As a national funder, this pooled fund has allowed Ascendium to support locally-focused, Native-led organizations, and deepened our understanding of both the assets and challenges unique to workforce training organizations in rural, Native communities. We've applied lessons from this pooled fund to other grantmaking efforts.
What is something Ascendium is excited about in 2025?
Maryann Rainey, Senior Program Officer
As part of our refined grantmaking strategy launched earlier this year, we are doubling down on our commitment to workforce training investments through two new portfolios of work: one focused on scaling sectoral workforce training programs (led by Senior Program Officer Maryann Rainey) and another focused on accelerating the implementation of apprenticeship programs in high-demand sectors (led by Senior Program Officer Brittany Corde). Recently, Ascendium made a $20 million grant to Merit America to support their continued efforts in scaling high-quality technical training to more low-income learners and workers by adding new program tracks in fields such as human resources, semiconductor and advanced manufacturing and supply chain and logistics. Across all of our grantmaking, we aim to work with partners to build evidence that supports their own continuous improvement, sustainability, and pathways to scale. We're excited to continue generating evidence with partners like Merit America about the effective workforce training programs, practices, and approaches that can propel more learners from low-income backgrounds to economic mobility.
What’s something in Ascendium's workforce grantmaking you’d like others to know about?
As we implement our new grantmaking strategy, we will continue to focus on improving postsecondary and workforce training outcomes, but with a priority on programs that ensure learners have pathways to good jobs and upward mobility. Simply earning a degree or credential is not enough. We know that good jobs - those that provide a living wage, benefits, and opportunities for career growth - require postsecondary education or workforce training that meaningfully prepares learners with the knowledge and skills aligned with the needs of employers. Across all of our investments, we are exploring innovative solutions, generating evidence about effective programs and reforms, and scaling the practices and conditions that will help learners get on that path to upward mobility. We are eager to connect with others - including local, regional, or national funders - who share the same vision and commitment, and welcome opportunities to learn and explore co-funding opportunities.
