Knowledgeworks Foundation

“Certain knowledgeworks foundation board members are also members of the boards of certain knowledgeworks foundation affiliates. These overlapping board memberships constitute a business relationship as defined by the form 990 instructions.”

“Knowledgeworks foundation contracted with nelnet to administer its student lending programs.”

“After completion by the preparer, the draft form 990 is reviewed by the accounting director and the coo/vp of finance. The final draft of the form 990 is reviewed with the audit committee. After it receives the approval of the audit committee, the final form 990 is distributed to all members of the board of directors before it is filed.”

“On an annual basis a conflict of interest questionnaire is completed by directors, officers and key employees and reviewed by management. Items reported are discussed with legal counsel, who advises management and the board of any required actions. The conflict of interest policy is distributed with the annual questionnaire and is also accessible on the secure director's portion of the foundation's website.”

“The compensation of the CEO, other officers, and key employees are set by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors utilizing a compensation study performed by an independent compensation consulting firm comparing similar positions in similar organizations, including review of Form 990s for other organizations. Members of the Board of Directors have in the past received reasonable compensation for their services as members of the Board of Directors.”

“The consolidated financial statements of knowledgeworks foundation and its subsidiaries are available on the knowledgeworks foundation website. Knowledgeworks foundation's form 990 is also available on its own website. The governing documents and conflict of interest policy are available upon request.”

“Description of Organization Mission By delivering innovative education approaches and advancing aligned policies, KnowledgeWorks activates and develops the capacity of communities and educators to imagine, build and sustain vibrant learning ecosystems that allow each student to thrive.”

“Significant changes to program services knowledgeworks ended the sponsorship of strivepartnership llc as of 6/30/2020. Recognizing the value that strivepartnership llc provides to the greater cincinnati community, the board of knowledgeworks authorized a grant of $750,000 to the young men's christian association of greater cincinnati (ymca) to assist in the continuation of strivepartership llc activities. In connection with this transition, strivepartnership llc entered into an agreement with the ymca to transfer substantially all of its assets to the ymca. The total amount of strivepartnership llc grants transferred was approximately $785,000.”

“Program service accomplishments - Knowledgeworks in schools KnowledgeWorks is committed to the equitable redesign of systemic learning structures through personalized, competency-based learning. We believe personalized learning is an equity catalyst for our children, but also for the educators and communities who serve them. This belief is at the heart of our work to help learning communities implement a new learning infrastructure that is more inclusive and learner centered. Over the last five years, KnowledgeWorks has collaborated deeply with learning communities, state departments of education, policy makers, and other organizations who have also put learners at the center of their designs. In FY2020, those partnerships have expanded to support more than 90,000 learners. KnowledgeWorks and its learning community partners recognize that equitable and sustainable systemic change requires significant collaboration and shared leadership in the design of new learning processes. Systems change is difficult, takes time and requires diverse stakeholder groups to build and act within a culture of trust and equity. This year, with the help from 11 new organizational partnerships, KnowledgeWorks has supported the development of this learning culture through personalization with 19 individual learning communities. These learning communities are as small as one school building with 200 learners to large learning communities consisting of 20 schools and over 37,000 learners. Additionally, KnowledgeWorks has partnered with six state departments of education to develop regional cohorts of learning communities to serve as incubators for personalized competency-based learning across each state. Under the guidance of KnowledgeWorks, each of these state cohorts, and learning communities within them, are collaborating and learning with one another to leverage new policy, pedagogy, and systemic learning designs to demonstrate and illustrate the effectives of PCBL as a driver for equity and deeper learning.”

“Program Service Accomplishments - StrivePartnership StrivePartnership continued to advance its work under the following systems-level strategies. Early Learning Alignment - StrivePartnership worked with two collaborative action networks among early learning and service providers in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky to allow low-income families with children prenatal to kindergarten to be connected to high-quality, development and social-emotional support services. Through the six-month ImpactU continuous improvement course, conducted in partnership with Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), StrivePartnership concluded the program's 4th cohort of participants, teaching 24 leaders how to accelerate improvement by utilizing Continuous Quality Improvement tools. Middle Grade Math - StrivePartnership completed its work with Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) administrators, principals, teachers and students and CCHMC to establish a Network for School Improvement to improve 8th-grade math beginning in ten CPS schools. An assessment tool was also developed to determine readiness, selection and maturation of school to ensure success. K-12 / Postsecondary Data Agreements - StrivePartnership designed a web-based tool for parents and caregivers that provides information on Cincinnati K-12 schools including ratings, school resources and student outcomes. Using school profiles, the tool displays a variety of indicators of school quality to provide a well-rounded picture of how effectively each school serves all of its students. Ohio Achievement Goal "Stopped-out" Student Ground Game - StrivePartnership, in collaboration with Learn 2 Earn Dayton and Summit Education Initiative, continued its work with six Ohio cradle-to-career organizations to lead local strategies and state policy efforts to re-enroll residents who "stopped-out" of college before obtaining a degree. Talent Hub Career Pathway Initiative - StrivePartnership continued to deliver work as a designated Talent Hub supported by a 3-year grant from the Lumina Foundation that is focused on helping 1,400 local Black, Latinx and low-income single mothers pursue a postsecondary credential.”

“Program Service Accomplishments - impact & improvement In FY2020, the Impact and Improvement team launched formative data collection in North Dakota (year one of a four-year study); initiated a cross-organizational process to develop KnowledgeWorks first Theory of Change; and published a research report on "Analysis and Reflections on Student Outcomes in RSU2". The team hosted three meetings of the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative grantees (six Distinguished Fellows and four research-practice teams) and supported 10 youth researchers to develop their projects. Data sharing agreements were completed with three of five states to release student-level data for the major multi-year REMIQS (Robust and Equitable Measures to Inspire Quality Schools) effort. The Impact and Improvement staff were invited speakers at the Lowenstein Foundation Personalized Learning Research meeting, Aurora Institute, and GFE and served on the advisory board of CompetencyWorks, CCSSO's Certification and Licensure Task Force, and GFE's Data Partners. The team launched the REMIQS.org website; provided resources to EngagingAlLearners.Org; and maintained the StudentsattheCenterHub.org website, averaging 10,000 visitors per month, publishing over 20 blogs on student-centered learning, research, and equity by staff and research partners.”

“PROGRAM SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS - Other Services include policy & advocacy, Strategic Foresight, grantmaking and student loan programs. Policy & Advocacy In FY2020 the policy team produced several written resources, including articles and blog posts, state guidance for responding to the pandemic and a brief written for Education Commission of the States (ECS). The team presented at a variety of events including the Aurora Institute Symposium, the Center for Innovation in Education's event on balanced assessments and their Interstate Learning Network, the ECS Whole Child Symposium, a college in high school technical assistance virtual convening, and Council of Chief State School Officer's (CCSSO) and ExcelinEd's COVID network, among several others. The policy team also joined two collaborative efforts: creating a state needs assessment for and being a member of the CCSSO Student-Centered Learning Collaborative and participating in the Georgia Innovative Assessment Technical Advisory Council. A significant effort during the year was the yearlong, deep engagement with North Dakota, Ohio and South Carolina. These efforts included the creation opportunity analysis reports which required thorough research on the full state policy landscapes surrounding personalized learning. Following two convenings per state that included a variety of stakeholders, the policy team also released a next steps report for each state with recommendations to advance their personalized learning systems toward statewide transformation. Finally, in addition to the deep engagements, the policy team also did work with Washington, Utah, Idaho and Georgia. Strategic Foresight KnowledgeWorks continued to exercise national thought leadership around the future of learning through publications, partnerships, and stakeholder engagements. It published a retrospective blog series looking back at how drivers of change from its 2020 Forecast: Creating the Future of Learning (2009) had unfolded, along with a blog series exploring how education systems could apply futures thinking tools to education relatively near-term in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. KnowledgeWorks also released a guide to applying tools and mindsets from the field of systems thinking to education, Looking Beneath the Surface: The Education Changemaker's Guide to Systems Thinking. In addition, KnowledgeWorks expanded its use of strategic foresight by publishing its first-ever forecast on the futures of young children and their families, Foundations for Flourishing Futures: A Look Ahead for Young Children and Families, in partnership with Capita, a nonprofit organization. KnowledgeWorks' strategic foresight team continued to give presentations and to design and facilitate workshops and webinars based on these and earlier publications. Venues included the Future of Learning New Zealand; a Southern Oregon University convening; EdSurge's Fusion conference; the National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education and Families; and Education Elements' "Return to School" conference. In addition, KnowledgeWorks published a variety of articles related to the future of learning on other organizations' platforms, with particular emphasis on promoting ideas from its 2019 Navigating the Future of Learning: A Strategy Guide; published an article about its organizational journey with futures thinking in the journal On the Horizon; and secured a grant from The Grable Foundation to create a short publication exploring post-pandemic futures in the greater Pittsburgh region. Grant-making The Grant making program provided approximately $3.2 million in grants and contributions to 67 organizations. Student Lending Programs KnowledgeWorks served approximately 1,500 students during the fiscal year through its student lending programs.”

“Effective 10/3/19, KnowledgeWorks Foundation (KWF) joined ADP's Professional Employer Organization (PEO). From 1/1/19 - 10/3/19, KWFs payroll was processed under its EIN (31-1321973) with 60 employees receiving Form W-2s from KWF. Form W-2's for 10/4/19 - 12/31/19 were issued from ADP TotalSource EIN (84-1185682) with 55 employees receiving these Form W-2's.”

“Other Changes in Net Assets Unrealized Loss on Liability for Student Loan Residual (936,674) Amortization of Discount on Student Loans 452,629 Transfer from Tax-Exempt Subsidiary - KWI 7,740,153 Total to Form 990, PART XI, Line 9 7,256,108”

“Description:business consultants total fees:25814”

“Description:marketing & communications total fees:169592”

“Description:payroll, comp & benefits total fees:74305”

“Description:technology total fees:44947”

“Description:advocacy total fees:186836”

“Description:data, research & evaluation total fees:967725”

“Description:teaching & learning consult total fees:520135”

“Description:strategic foresight total fees:67895”