Work with Us: Funders
WORKING WITH FUNDERS
We work with education research funders to evaluate and strengthen the design of their grant programs so that:
- Funded efforts generate practical insight in real time, grounded in local context and shaped by the people doing the work;
- Research is not just reported after the work, but part of how the work gets designed, improved, and used;
- Learning for grantees is embedded into grant programming.
We partner to shape RFPs and proposal processes so expectations for collaboration, learning, and knowledge mobilization are clear, feasible, and aligned to on-the-ground realities.
We help funders design and facilitate learning structures that support grantees in making sense of challenges, sharing cross-site learning, and adapting strategies as conditions change.
We help foundations trace the impact of funded research and translate that learning into dissemination and communication strategies that actually support uptake.
Deep knowledge of research on research use, knowledge mobilization, and Research-Practice Partnerships.
Convening and facilitation strategies to bring together the right people, clarify shared aims, and design processes that lead to actionable learning.
Tools, facilitation, and partnership expertise to help grantees move from broad goals to specific, tractable designs for systems change.
Methods for meaningfully evaluating portfolio structure and downstream impacts.
EXAMPLES OF OUR WORK WITH FUNDERS
How can research be powerfully brought into ongoing design of initiatives?
We partnered with the Wallace Foundation to identify new ways for research to be brought into their broader initiatives, not as after-the-fact studies, but as a tool for learning and improvement as the work unfolds.
How can a grant line be redesigned to encourage collaborative research?
We supported the Spencer Foundation with the design of the Transformational grants line to encourage research that is more collaborative, practice-connected, and positioned for real-world impact.
How is a portfolio structured in relation to the particular, complex challenge of improving preK-12 teaching and learning?
We are in the midst of an NSF-funded study to critically map the landscape of preK-12 STEM education research between 2013 and 2026. Leveraging partnership with computer and network scientists at CU Boulder we are developing methods meaningfully and efficiently characterize studies and analyze relationships across a portfolio of 3,613 NSF-funded studies.
How has funded research made it into practice and policy?
With colleagues, we are working with the Wallace Foundation to trace the influence of funded research to inform knowledge mobilization and dissemination strategies, including regular strategy memos to key staff.