Location: Boston, MA

Breakthrough Greater Boston (BTGB) is a six-year program comprised of an academically intensive middle school program and a high school support program that works with students until college matriculation. Unique to Breakthrough is the “students teaching students” model that inspires the next generation of educators by offering talented high school and college students the opportunity to teach classes in our middle school program. An independent 501c3 nonprofit, Breakthrough Greater Boston is part of a national educational movement called The Breakthrough Collaborative, which consists of 34 sites across the country.  After 20 years of success and demonstrable outcomes in Cambridge, BTGB has embarked on a significant program expansion that will bring its model to Boston.

Location: Boston, MA

Founded in 2000, Year Up is a non-profit organization with a mission to close the Opportunity Divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experiences and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Year Up recognizes that the Opportunity Divide—specifically, historical barriers to education and professional work—is driven by race, ethnicity, national origin and socio-economic status. Year Up seeks to close the divide by setting high expectations and providing high support for our young adults.

Through a one-year intensive training program, Year Up provides urban young adults ages 18-24 with a unique combination of hands-on technical and professional skills, college credit, and corporate internships. Year Up lives by and adheres to a core set of values that reflects an unshakable belief in the talent and full potential of our young adults. With a $40 million operating budget, Year Up will serve more than 1,400 students in 2011 across eight sites in Atlanta, Baltimore (community college pilot program), Boston, Chicago, New York City, Providence, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. In 2009, when 75% of   non-profits either did not grow or remained flat, Year Up grew its revenue by 23%, enabling us to increase the number of students we serve by 56%.

Year Up has the distinction of being rated one of the Top 10 non-profits in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, one of the 50 best nonprofits to work for by the NonProfit Times, and one of the best non-profits to work for by Opportunity Knocks. Other awards include Fast Company Magazine’s Social Capitalist Award for innovative business model and social impact in 2005, 2007, and 2008.  In 2009, the Harvard Business School published a case study on Year Up’s origins and success.

Please visit http://www.youtube.com/yearupinc to hear Founder and CEO, Gerald Chertavian share his motivation for starting Year Up.

Location: New York, NY

Turnaround for Children, Inc. (Turnaround) works to transform low-performing, high-poverty public schools to bring about dramatically improved academic and life outcomes for children growing up in poverty.  Through work in over 60 high-poverty schools since 2002, Turnaround has developed a model for equipping schools to address recurring and predictable barriers to learning and healthy youth development that arise from the circumstances of poverty.  The model is delivered through a methodical, three-year process that instills fundamental instructional and behavioral practices in teachers and administrators, realigns community mental health services, creates permanent student support systems and fosters leadership practices essential for the success of high poverty schools.  Through these processes, the schools develop the essential student support systems, adult competencies, organizational practices, culture and climate that are the foundation of a high-performing school.
 
Turnaround aspires to national impact through demonstrating the effectiveness of this model, implementing it in a growing number of schools and school districts, and advocating the adoption of the underlying principles and values in national education policies.

Turnaround for Children is at an incredibly exciting time in its development, as its highly effective school transformation model has begun to attract significant attention both from policy makers and philanthropists both locally and nationally, and it has become an important voice in the discourse around education policy at the federal level.

With a central office in midtown Manhattan and programs in Harlem, the Bronx, and Washington DC, Turnaround expects to continue to grow and add programs in NYC as well as new areas around the Northeast next year.

Location: Arlington, VA

NCB Capital Impact helps people and communities reach their highest potential at every stage of life. As a national Community Development Finance Institution, Capital Impact provides financial services and technical assistance to help make high-quality health care, housing, and education more accessible and attainable, and eldercare more dignified and respectful. Capital Impact has used its depth of experience, cooperative approach, and diverse network of alliances to generate over $1.6 billion in critical investments for low income people and communities.

Location: San Francisco, CA

Peer Health Exchange (“PHE”), is a national non-profit organization that gives teenagers the knowledge and skills they need to making healthy decisions. We do this by training college students to teach a comprehensive health curriculum in public high schools that lack health education. Since our founding in 2003, we have trained more than 4,000 college student volunteers to deliver effective health education to over 40,000 public high school students in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area. We recently completed our next major strategic plan with the help of New Profit, Inc. and the Monitor Group, two significant investors. The plan has three major priorities—deepening impact, investing in more robust program evaluation, and developing and testing additional methods for impact, all while serving 120,000 teens over the next four years. To achieve these priorities, we will grow from a staff of 28 and a budget of $3MM today to a staff of over 100 and a budget of $14MM in 2015.

Location: Boston, MA; Washington D.C.; or New York, NY

Reading Partners launched in 2001 with the mission to expand opportunities for children in underserved communities by fostering a lifelong love of reading, developing strong literacy skills, and building the confidence and self-esteem critical to empowerment and community development.  Reading Partners provides children with robust one-on-one reading support through a structured, research-based curriculum that engages students and provides basic building blocks to supplement their academic growth. Working in partnership with teachers, schools, and community volunteers, Reading Partners has established 60+ programs nationwide.  Currently, Reading Partners serves over 2,800 students in California, Washington DC, New York, Texas and Maryland with plans for growth into other regions in the near future. Reading Partners launched in 2001 with the mission to expand opportunities for children in underserved communities by fostering a lifelong love of reading, developing strong literacy skills, and building the confidence and self-esteem critical to empowerment and community development.  Reading Partners provides children with robust one-on-one reading support through a structured, research-based curriculum that engages students and provides basic building blocks to supplement their academic growth. Working in partnership with teachers, schools, and community volunteers, Reading Partners has established 60+ programs nationwide.  Currently, Reading Partners serves over 2,800 students in California, Washington DC, New York, Texas and Maryland with plans for growth into other regions in the near future.

Location: Chicago, IL

The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) is a nonprofit organization and the nation’s leading authority on financial services for underbanked consumers.  CFSI’s programs are based on the belief that addressing the needs of underbanked consumers as a market will deliver broad, long-term change throughout the financial services landscape by creating mutual benefit for both the underbanked and the companies serving them.  Therefore, CFSI works with leaders and innovators in the business, government and nonprofit sectors to transform the financial services landscape with programs focused on informing, connecting and investing – gathering enhanced intelligence, brokering and supporting productive industry relationships and fostering best-in-class products and strategies.  CFSI seeks to improve the quality and quantity of financial products and services, better shape them to the needs and desires of underbanked customers, and expand effective savings and asset acquisition opportunities. The organization spurs innovation to bridge the gaps that remain in creating a path to prosperity for underbanked consumers by:

• Developing market intelligence;
• Assessing existing products, services and strategies;
 
• Promoting and facilitating marketplace partnerships;
 
• Influencing public policy;
 
• Investing in promising innovations and encouraging others to do so as well

 
CFSI is nearly eight years old, has experienced dramatic growth in the last two years and is poised for further growth in 2012. The organization currently has a staff of 22 plus interns and consultants, with offices in Chicago, New York and Washington, DC. CFSI is a fast-paced, entrepreneurial and highly collaborative environment. We are looking for people who share our values of innovation, passion, excellence, impact and directness. For more on CFSI, go to http://www.cfsinnovation.com. 

Location: Battle Creek, MI

“Growing up, I experienced the impact of mediocre schools that serve students of color. Over the course of my life, I’ve heard my former classmates say ‘school just didn’t work for me.’ This deeply troubles me, and is also what brought me to PartnersSI.  As a teacher, I got great results with the students in my class, and felt a need to impact educational outcomes for more than just my 20 children.  I see our work at PartnersSI - working alongside school leaders to transform schools into systems that work for all students - as a way to achieve that broader impact.”
– Nefertiti Orrin, School Innovation Partner Alumna

Partners in School Innovation (or “PartnersSI”) is a nonprofit organization that partners with teachers and leaders of public elementary schools and districts in low-income urban communities to develop the capacity and expertise necessary to accelerate the literacy achievement of routinely underserved African American, Latino and English Learner students.  We provide a combination of on-site strategy, coaching and side-by-side implementation.  We build core knowledge and skills at multiple levels – district leaders, principals, mid-level leaders and classroom teachers – to ensure that improvement is aligned and sustained across the system.  Led by a District Partnership Director (DPD), our School Innovation Partners (or SIPs) collaborate with principals and teacher leaders to develop results-oriented leaders, create systems and structures that support teacher professional learning and build a strong core instructional program at schools with the ultimate goal of dramatically increasing student achievement.

Since its founding in 1993, PartnersSI has partnered with over 10 districts and 50 schools serving over 65,000 students, teachers, and principals in the San Francisco Bay Area and is currently beginning its first expansion outside of the Bay Area, to Battle Creek, Michigan. With funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the program will begin its work in select Battle Creek schools in the fall of 2012 and this expansion will serve as a pilot for future expansion into other communities in Michigan and elsewhere.

By 2021, the organization plans to enable the successful transformation of at least three diverse urban school districts outside of the Bay Area, help to train 10,000 educator change agents in districts around the country, and inform federal, state, and local policy arenas on districts, school, and teacher effectiveness. To learn more about PartnersSI, please visit http://www.partnersinschools.org/.

Location: Seattle, WA

THE OPPORTUNITY
Stand for Children’s mission is to ensure that all children, regardless of their background, graduate from high school prepared for, and with access to, a college education. The Washington Executive Director will lead and develop a high-performing team to effectively support and move forward campaigns that are underway and lay the path for future initiatives and expansion within the state. Stand for Children is a vehicle for change in Washington and the Executive Director will play an integral part in continuing collaboration among a diverse group of stakeholders who work together to improve student outcomes statewide. In 2012, Stand for Children Washington is in a better position than ever before to achieve their ambitious goals. These include playing a role in passing important education legislation, electing education champions in key districts, and continuing to advocate for stable and adequate funding for public education. The Washington Executive Director will have an exciting opportunity to lead a mature team of professionals into the next phase of development for the affiliate, reach to new heights with legislative impact, strategize for growth in the coming years, and have an impact on students across the state. S/he must be an assertive, entrepreneurial leader who is ready to help Stand for Children continue to boldly advance our public education system by educating and empowering parents and teachers, influencing policy at the local and state levels, and electing courageous leaders to the school board and state legislature. 

THE ORGANIZATIONS
The Stand for Children family consists of two separate organizations—Stand for Children, a grassroots membership lobby for children exempt under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code, and Stand for Children Leadership Center, a leadership development organization exempt under section 501(c)(3).

Stand for Children is a powerful voice for students whose mission is to ensure that all children, regardless of their background, graduate from high school prepared for, and with access to, a college education.  To date, Stand for Children’s ten state affiliates (AZ, CO, IL, IN, LA, MA, OR, TN, TX, and WA) have won more than one hundred victories that have impacted the lives of millions of children, work which has included playing a key role in passing important education legislation in five states in 2010 and six states in 2011.

Stand for Children and the Stand for Children Leadership Center work together to:

• Educate and empower parents, teachers, and community members to demand excellent schools;
• Advocate for effective local, state, and national education polities and investments and ensure that those policies impact classrooms and students; and
• Elect courageous leaders who will stand up for our priorities.*

We believe all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed in life.  Education is the key that unlocks the door to success, but far too many children, through no fault of their own, aren’t getting the education they need to make it in life. We are passionately committed to righting this wrong. 

Our vision is of vibrant schools where:

• Strong leaders, strong teachers, and engaged communities of parents work effectively together with a shared vision of success;
• Educators receive the support of mentors, relevant professional development, and meaningful feedback so they stay engaged and inspired;
• Educators hold high expectations and are accountable for their own and students’ success; and
• Funding is stable and adequate.

Location: New York, NY

NPower is a national nonprofit that provides IT services and training to nonprofits and young adults. NPower’s services are delivered through three programs – The Community Corps, Technology Services Corps, and IT Professional Services.  Our community of corporate partners, nonprofits, foundations, dedicated staff, and skilled IT volunteers provides NPower with unparalleled reach that allows us to have a profound impact on thousands of local communities and hundreds of young adults. Learn more at http://www.npower.org

Location: Brooklyn, NY

NPower is a national nonprofit that provides IT services and training to nonprofits and young adults. NPower’s services are delivered through three programs – The Community Corps, Technology Services Corps, and IT Professional Services.  Our community of corporate partners, nonprofits, foundations, dedicated staff, and skilled IT volunteers provides NPower with unparalleled reach that allows us to have a profound impact on thousands of local communities and hundreds of young adults. Learn more at http://www.npower.org

A signature program of NPower, the Community Corps represents a unique and powerful community of nonprofits, corporations and skilled professionals, who share a passion for using technology to make a difference in people’s lives. The Community Corps achieves this by utilizing a web-based platform to match IT pro bono volunteers with nonprofits in need of support.

Location: Chicago, IL

Founded in 2000, Year Up is a non-profit organization with a mission to close the Opportunity Divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experiences and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Year Up recognizes that the Opportunity Divide—specifically, historical barriers to education and professional work—is driven by race, ethnicity, national origin and socio-economic status. Year Up seeks to close the divide by setting high expectations and providing high support for our young adults.

Through a one-year intensive training program, Year Up provides urban young adults ages 18-24 with a unique combination of hands-on technical and professional skills, college credit, and corporate internships. Year Up lives by and adheres to a core set of values that reflects an unshakable belief in the talent and full potential of our young adults. With a $46 million operating budget, Year Up will serve more than 1,500 students in 2012 across nine cities including Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore (community college pilot program), Chicago, New York, Providence, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. In 2009, when 75% of non-profits either did not grow or remained flat, Year Up grew its revenue by 23%, enabling us to increase the number of students we serve by 56%.

Year Up has the distinction of being rated one of the Top 10 non-profits in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, one of the 50 best nonprofits to work for by the NonProfit Times, and one of the best non-profits to work for by Opportunity Knocks. Other awards include Fast Company Magazine’s Social Capitalist Award for innovative business model and social impact in 2005, 2007, and 2008. In 2009, the Harvard Business School published a case study on Year Up’s origins and success.

Please visit http://www.youtube.com/yearupinc to hear Founder and CEO Gerald Chertavian share his motivation for starting Year Up.

Year Up Chicago
Year Up Chicago opened in September 2010 with a startup team of 6 serving 25 students.  A high growth environment, the site now serves 120 students per year and plans to continue to grow at a similar pace.  Year Up has an entrepreneurial, face-paced, collaborative high support/high expectations/high feedback culture.  All staff members interact with students, facilitate student activities; and serve students as formal mentors and advisors.

Location: Boston, MA

Ceres is a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges such as climate change and water scarcity. Ceres also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a group of 100 leading institutional investors with collective assets of over $10 trillion.

Ceres plays a unique role in the sustainability movement by bringing the perspective and power of investors to environmental and social issues, and specifically to the performance, practices and policies of corporations. Today Ceres is a growing organization with expanding influence in the investment, environmental, corporate and policy arenas. Our program activities seek to foster greater public disclosure of environmental and social impacts by corporations, encourage engagement between companies and their stakeholders, and create opportunities for collaborative dialogue leading to positive change on key sustainability issues. To this end, we are harnessing the influence of the nation’s largest investors to move high-impact companies, the financial and insurance industries, and policymakers toward bold action on climate change, water and other sustainability issues. For more information about Ceres, please visit our web site (http://www.ceres.org).

Location: New York, NY; Newark, NJ; Washington, D.C.

Turnaround for Children, Inc.(“TFC”) strives to fulfill the promise of public education by helping high-poverty low-performing public schools create positive learning environments that foster healthy intellectual, social and emotional growth in every student. TFC envisions an America in which every public school, in every community, enables each student to reach his or her potential as a learner and citizen. TFC partners with schools serving high-poverty communities, increasing each school’s capacity to anticipate and better serve the needs of students. TFC’s 3-4 year School Transformation Program focuses on building the school-wide proficiency of all staff in targeted behavioral and instructional practices, implementing critical systems of intervention and intensive support, and realigning mental health and social service systems, all of which enhance the school climate and optimize student performance.
 
With a central office in midtown Manhattan and programs in Harlem, the Bronx, and Washington DC, Turnaround expects to continue to grow and add programs in NYC as well as new areas around the Northeast next year.

Location: New York, NY; Newark, NJ; Washington, DC

Turnaround for Children, Inc.(“TFC”) strives to fulfill the promise of public education by helping high-poverty low-performing public schools create positive learning environments that foster healthy intellectual, social and emotional growth in every student. TFC envisions an America in which every public school, in every community, enables each student to reach his or her potential as a learner and citizen. TFC partners with schools serving high-poverty communities, increasing each school’s capacity to anticipate and better serve the needs of students. TFC’s 3-4 year School Transformation Program focuses on building the school-wide proficiency of all staff in targeted behavioral and instructional practices, implementing critical systems of intervention and intensive support, and realigning mental health and social service systems, all of which enhance the school climate and optimize student performance.

With a central office in midtown Manhattan and programs in Harlem, the Bronx, and Washington DC, Turnaround expects to continue to grow and add programs in NYC as well as new areas around the Northeast next year.

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Achievement First is a non-profit charter school management organization which is creating a network of achievement-gap closing public schools in New York, Connecticut, and other high-need cities in the Northeast.  Achievement First currently operates 20 schools in Brooklyn, NY, and in New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford, CT and will likely expand to Rhode Island in 2012.  Over the next five years, AF plans to open 10-15 additional schools, spanning the full K-12 spectrum and creating college-prep opportunities for more than 12,000 urban students.  Beyond our students and schools, Achievement First is an engaged and prominent partner in the larger conversation about how to improve public education and student achievement in our country.  For more information about the Achievement First mission, model, our schools and team, please visit our website at http://www.achievementfirst.org.

Location: Boston, MA

Breakthrough Cambridge is a six-year program comprised of an academically intensive middle school program and a high school support program that works with students until college matriculation. Unique to Breakthrough is the “students teaching students” model that inspires the next generation of educators by offering talented high school and college students the opportunity to teach classes in our middle school program. An independent 501c3 nonprofit, Breakthrough Cambridge is part of a national educational movement called The Breakthrough Collaborative, which consists of 32 sites across the country.  After 20 years of success and demonstrable outcomes in Cambridge, BTC is embarking on a significant program expansion that will bring its model to Boston.  The Board has led an in-depth expansion planning process that resulted in a full board vote to approve the opening of Breakthrough Boston.  The Founding Site Director will be the key staff member working to ensure the success of this new site.

Location: Boston, MA

Commongood Careers was launched by a group of nonprofit leaders in 2005 to address the pressing need for talent throughout the nonprofit sector.  Located in downtown Boston, the dynamic Commongood Careers team leverages an innovative approach to supporting the recruitment and hiring needs of today’s leading nonprofit organizations and social entrepreneurs.  Having worked with over 175 clients to fill over 500 positions so far, Commongood Careers is now one of the largest nonprofit search firms in the country.  In order to continuously add to our national talent network we actively engage connectors, leaders, and strategic organizational partners throughout the country to build strong pipelines of talent for our clients.  Commongood Careers has an entrepreneurial culture and a collaborative work environment based on the organizational values of Purpose, Diversity, Innovation, Respect, Accountability, and Fun.  Please visit http://www.cgcareers.org for more information.

Location: San Francisco, CA

Summer Search is a dynamic, national nonprofit organization that identifies resilient low-income high school students and inspires them to become responsible and altruistic leaders. Through year-round mentoring, life-changing summer experiences, college advising, and a lasting alumni support network, students are supported to matriculate to and graduate from college while also learning the importance of giving back. Founded in 1990, Summer Search currently operates offices in Boston, New York City, the North San Francisco Bay, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Silicon Valley, and transforms the lives of more than 1,600 students and 1,700 alumni across the country every year. Summer Search is headquartered in San Francisco.

Summer Search is in the midst of launching a new strategic plan focus on serving more students and innovating to increase efficiency and effectiveness. As a result, the National Support Center and the seven sites will be charged with significantly increasing their annual funds in order to sustain the anticipated growth over time. In order to help meet this challenge, Summer Search is seeking a Director of Development who will play a lead role in raising the funds required to support the program’s future expansion throughout the nine Bay Area counties.

For more information, please visit http://www.summersearch.org/

Location: San Francisco, CA

The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) is a nonprofit organization focused on the development of comparative data to enable higher-performing funders. YouthTruth, a CEP initiative, is a national survey project that gathers comparative feedback from the ultimate beneficiaries of education reform efforts—students—about what is and isn’t working in their schools. YouthTruth then shares students’ feedback with school leaders, district/network leaders, education funders, and students themselves to enable more informed decisions in pursuit of better long-term outcomes for youth. YouthTruth was developed by CEP, with seed funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2008, and has rapidly expanded since then. By the end of the 2011-2012 school year, YouthTruth will have surveyed more than 100,000 students from 220 schools across 27 districts. According to a third-party evaluation, more than 98 percent of school leaders surveyed said they have made changes or have plans to make changes based on the data received through YouthTruth.

YouthTruth is poised to become a leading national student survey project. CEP completed a comprehensive four- year sustainability plan in January 2012 detailing how the project will reduce its reliance on philanthropic capital and transition to a much more significant earned revenue strategy by 2016. During this time, CEP anticipates expanding the project from serving 100 schools annually to more than 500, surveying more than 750,000 students cumulatively by 2016. CEP has secured multi-year philanthropic funds from leading education funders to support this next phase of the project’s advancement. For more information about YouthTruth, please visit http://www.youthtruthsurvey.org.

Location: Boston, MA

The Klarman Family Foundation is a Boston-based family foundation, granting approximately $20 million each year to advance its philanthropic interests in the following areas:

• Enriching our local community and working collaboratively to address its urgent needs
• Advancing medical and scientific research, with a particular interest in behavioral health
• Promoting democratic ideals in the US and around the world
• Ensuring a strong and secure democratic, Jewish State of Israel
• Building a vibrant, engaged and inclusive Jewish community with connections to Israel and to the history of the Jewish people
• Promoting access to music for learning, listening and performing

Location: Boston, MA

Boston Rising is working to end the cycle of poverty in Boston by clearing the way for the Rising Class through catalyzing resources and investing for huge impact. At Boston Rising, we think of all Americans as part of a single class—the “Rising Class.” The Rising Class represents an entire community of self-determined people committed to achieving their own American Dream. We believe that families and communities experiencing poverty are not the poor. They are part of the Rising Class to which we all belong. The Rising Class is made up of those who, through their aspirations and their progress, are the basis on which we build opportunity and growth.

Boston Rising believes that each individual best knows his or her own goals and ambitions. We invest in programs and leaders who believe the same and do business accordingly. By connecting and engaging an unprecedented number of advocates for the Rising Class, we will end the cycle of poverty in Boston.

To learn more about Boston Rising, please visit http://www.bostonrising.org.

Location: Houston, TX

In the Chicago Public Schools, only 18 percent of incoming ninth graders enroll in four-year universities after high school, and only eight percent are expected to graduate from college by age 25. Nationally, the rates are not much better: only one in ten students growing up in poverty is expected to graduate from college by 25, and 60 percent of minority students from low-income communities drop out of college after successfully enrolling and starting to pursue their degrees. Urban Students Empowered (US Empowered) works to systemically change these statistics throughout the country. We identify and train highly effective teachers to lead students attending non-selective high schools in low-income communities to enroll in and graduate from college. US Empowered leverages exceptional teachers to equip students with a system of best practices and collaborative networks of support. Our students, called Fellows, are then armed with the tools and resources they need not only to enroll in their best-fit match college, but also to graduate once they arrive on campus. To date, 98 percent of Fellows have been admitted to four-year colleges; and 85 percent of US Empowered alumni are currently persisting in college and are on track to graduate.

US Empowered was founded in 2007 and is in the midst of an aggressive expansion campaign. Currently, we work with nearly 1,000 students in 20 high schools across Chicago. By 2017, we will grow to serve more than 4,000 students in 3-5 regions around the country and operate with an annual budget of $8 million, moving us closer to the day when every student in America has the opportunity to enroll in and graduate from college.

Location: Houston, TX

Founded in 2002, Genesys Works changes the trajectory of life for low income students from one destined to a lifetime of low-wage occupations to one where they will fully participate in the economic mainstream as professionals. As one of the most innovative social enterprises in America, Genesys Works gives high school seniors the knowledge and opportunity to work and succeed in a corporate environment before they graduate from high school, and therefore helps them realize that they can engage into a much higher socio-economic path in life.  Genesys Works has an impressive and proven track record of success with 95% of their program graduates going on to enroll in college.  During the 2011 program year, Genesys Works experienced significant growth; the percentage of students served increased by 63%.  Highlighted by President Obama as an example of a results-oriented social enterprise that must be replicated throughout the country, Genesys Works has plans to grow to several more major US cities by 2015.  Most recently, the Genesys Works Founder, Rafael Alvarez was named to the inaugural Forbes list of top 30 social entrepreneurs.  Learn more about Genesys Works at:  http://www.genesysworks.org

Location: Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven, CT

Achievement First is a non-profit charter school management organization which is creating a network of achievement-gap closing public schools in New York, Connecticut, and other high-need cities in the Northeast.  Achievement First currently operates 20 schools in Brooklyn, NY, and in New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford, CT and will likely expand to Rhode Island in 2012.  Over the next five years, AF plans to open 10-15 additional schools, spanning the full K-12 spectrum and creating college-prep opportunities for more than 12,000 urban students.  Beyond our students and schools, Achievement First is an engaged and prominent partner in the larger conversation about how to improve public education and student achievement in our country.  For more information about the Achievement First mission, model, our schools and team, please visit our website at http://www.achievementfirst.org.

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Achievement First is a non-profit charter school management organization which is creating a network of achievement-gap closing public schools in New York, Connecticut, and other high-need cities in the Northeast.  Achievement First currently operates 20 schools in Brooklyn, NY, and in New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford, CT and will likely expand to Rhode Island in 2012.  Over the next five years, AF plans to open 10-15 additional schools, spanning the full K-12 spectrum and creating college-prep opportunities for more than 12,000 urban students.  Beyond our students and schools, Achievement First is an engaged and prominent partner in the larger conversation about how to improve public education and student achievement in our country.  For more information about the Achievement First mission, model, our schools and team, please visit our website at http://www.achievementfirst.org.

Location: Richmond, CA

Launched more than 20 years ago, Making Waves Foundation is an educational preparation program that has seen unparalleled success in propelling children in underserved communities through the entire educational process to college graduation. Making Waves Education Program, a nonprofit organization based in Richmond, Calif., currently operates two large-scale, comprehensive after-school programs at the Making Waves Education Centers in Richmond and San Francisco and, in 2007, established in Richmond the first Making Waves Academy, a public charter school for students in grades five through eight. To date, Making Waves has changed the lives of more than 1,000 students and plans to broaden its reach substantially through development of new education centers and charter schools in California and around the nation. For more information, please visit http://www.making-waves.org.

Location: Cambridge, MA

NEW PROFIT INC.’S MISSION AND GOALS
New Profit is a nonprofit venture philanthropy fund that exists to help innovative social entrepreneurs and their organizations bring about widespread and transformative impact on critical social problems. We work to fulfill this mission with two approaches: 1) providing multi-year financial and strategic support to help a portfolio of innovative social entrepreneurs and their organizations to realize their full potential for social impact; and 2) helping to build an environment in which all innovative organizations may achieve significantly greater impact on the problems they are trying to solve. New Profit believes that just as entrepreneurship and invention have driven our nation’s progress, so too can we harness America’s spirit of innovation, vision, and optimism to help solve our most pressing social problems.
With the support of individual investors and our signature partner, Monitor Group, New Profit works with social entrepreneur-led organizations tackling persistent social problems in education, workforce development, public health, and other areas. In addition, we bring together social innovators from across sectors at the annual Gathering of Leaders, and also drive other initiatives to release the potential of social entrepreneurship. Included among these is America Forward, a nonpartisan initiative that connects social sector innovators and their partners with policymakers, legislators, and thought leaders to advance an infrastructure for innovators and government to act together to scale the impact of proven and promising solutions.

PATHWAYS FUND
The Social Innovation Fund (SIF) is a new competitive grant program housed at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) designed to expand innovative solutions to social sector problems with evidence of strong results in communities throughout America. The SIF represents an exciting opportunity at a critical moment for the nonprofit world, creating a new role for government as a catalyst for philanthropic partnerships that invests in proven solutions and taps into existing expertise and resources within the private and philanthropic sectors.  The SIF is tackling some of the country’s greatest social challenges by enabling effective ideas and organizations to grow and replicate to reach more children, families, and communities. 

New Profit is honored to be selected as a SIF intermediary organization.  In this capacity we have launched the Pathways Fund, which is dedicated to serving low-income youth transitioning from high-school to post-secondary education and productive employment.  The Fund grants dollars and provides necessary support to scale six of our nation’s most promising social innovations that focus on youth development.  The Pathways Fund is helping them to develop their base of evidence and expand their programs to serve 20,000 more low-income people in their teens and twenties in addition to the thousands they already serve.  These organizations are also collectively replicating to several new cities over the next five years, reaching many locations across the country that have not yet benefited from their innovative programs.

Location: Washington, DC

Free the Slaves (FTS) knows that slavery flourishes when people cannot meet their basic needs, and lack economic opportunities, social protections, and knowledge about or ability to exercise their rights. We know that a holistic approach is required to eradicate slavery, and we believe it is possible to end slavery in our lifetime. To that end, FTS works with grassroots organizations to free people from slavery and help them rebuild their lives. We record and share survivors’ stories so people in power can see slavery and be inspired to work for freedom. We enlist businesses to clean slavery out of their product chains and empower consumers to stop buying into slavery. We work with governments to implement effective anti-slavery laws and hold them to their commitments, and we research what works and what doesn’t so that governments use resources effectively to end slavery.

To learn more about Free the Slaves, please visit http://www.freetheslaves.net.

Location: San Francisco, CA

About the Foundation:
The Stupski Foundation is a private, not-for-profit operating foundation whose mission is to improve life options for children of color and poverty through transformation of the public education system.

The Stupski Foundation believes we need a public education system that meets the demands, realities and needs of today’s youth, and engages them actively in their own learning. To get there, we see youth and teachers leading a learning revolution that reinvents American education. To learn more about Stupski Foundation, please visit us at:  http://www.stupski.org/

The Learning Lab Network:
To help spark innovation in learning, The Stupski Foundation, alongside key partners, has built a Learning Lab Network of public high schools. The Network will use rapid improvement cycles and a variety of assessments in classrooms to transform instruction by incorporating student ownership of learning. By sharing the pioneering learning already underway in these schools, we can connect, accelerate and ignite new activities in classrooms that engage youth in the important work facing our schools: conquer academic content, learn to work together, solve complex problems, and apply what works. To ensure that learnings are shared across networks and catalyze important changes in policy, this initiative is aligned with the Council of Chief State School Officers’ Partnership for Next Generation learning and the Innovation Lab Network.

The Learning Labs will design and test new tools and practices to transform learning. To build a shared evidence base, Labs will take common assessments, exchange data with each other, and engage in continuous improvement cycles as we learn what works. Through these repeated cycles, the Labs will discover and document concrete practices that improve student agency, embed technology and ultimately result in dramatically increased student learning. Over time, this vital Network will champion the learning successes and promote the practices that empower and educate young people. Together as a network, armed with data, student work, and stories of transformation, we will reinvent American education and expand life opportunities for all youth.

Location: Boston, MA

The District Management Council (DMC) is a fast-growing, entrepreneurial organization that supports CEO’s of public school districts as they seek to dramatically improve public education through helping them identify and implement management best practices.  DMC’s work falls into three major buckets:  consulting, leadership events and best practices.  Utilizing these three avenues, we serve primarily the largest 2,000 school districts in the nation, some of whom serve more than 1 million students and manage over a billion dollars in annual budgets.  Additionally, District and Community Partners, which is a division of DMC, is recognized as being on the leading edge in improving achievement of students with special needs.

The District Management Council is the nation’s premier network of public school district leaders and believes in creating lasting, positive change by focusing the best strategic and analytical consulting minds in the country on solving the most urgent questions facing public school districts in the United States.

Location: Boston, MA

Currently the nation’s largest search firm working specifically with social entrepreneurs and growth-oriented nonprofits, Commongood Careers is committed to providing best-in-class search services to organizations such as New Profit, Inc., Year Up, Center for Effective Philanthropy, Citizens Schools, Playworks, BUILD, Peer Health Exchange and KIPP.  Founded in 2005 by a group of nonprofit professionals, we just celebrated our 7th anniversary and later this year, Commongood Careers will begin implementation of a strategic plan to better serve the changing talent needs of our clients.  Commongood Careers is a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, and mission-driven work environment guided by the values of Purpose, Diversity, Respect, Innovation, Accountability, and Fun.  To learn more about us, please visit our website at http://www.cgcareers.org