Why Funders Sponsor SDP Fellows
Working with Foundations
SDP has a track record of successfully working with foundations seeking to build analytic capacity at grantee sites. By placing fellows, they build their ability to report on the impact of their investments and help organizations learn more with data.
Overdeck Family Foundation
“Overdeck Family Foundation seeks to support our partners with developing best-in-class data infrastructure and strong cultures of learning and improvement, as we believe this will enable them to do their best work and make a greater impact. Placing talented Strategic Data Project Fellows with multiple partners has helped each organization make meaningful progress towards this goal, and also created opportunities for collaboration and surfacing measurement best practices across similar work. This year we are excited to sponsor four fellows with our partners at CityBridge Education, Highlander Institute, New England Basecamp and EdReports, and look forward to learning alongside them.”
S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation
“The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation has supported systemic improvements to the California State University system’s teacher preparation programming since 2014. A crucial component of the work has been supporting the transition of the system’s internal teacher preparation data shop, the Educator Quality Center, from a focus on data for accountability and grant reporting to a focus on the use of data for continuous improvement. In 2016, the Foundation supported the system to bring on an SDP Fellow, Sarah Kolbe, who has been essential in catalyzing this change. Among her other roles, Sarah spearheaded the design and implementation of a new teacher preparation data dashboard system, which has become a critical tool for the system’s twenty three teacher preparation programs as they identify opportunities for continuous improvement. The project would likely not have been possible on the aggressive timeline it was completed were it not for Sarah’s hard work. Sarah’s data savvy and change management chops impressed system leaders so much that they have found sustainable funds to continue her position even after Foundation support ends!”
- Macy Parker, Senior Program Officer
Learn More
If you are interested in sponsoring a fellowship partner or specific type of fellowship project, or are a partner looking for strategies to identify a funder for participation in the fellowship, please contact us.