Lumina Foundation for Education Announces Second-Quarter Grants

Indianapolis, July 27, 2009 — Lumina Foundation for Education awarded grants totaling more than $18.3 million in the second quarter of 2009. These grants went to 25 organizations in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

"Lumina's mission is directed toward a single, overarching big goal—to increase the percentage of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025," said Jamie Merisotis, Lumina's president and chief executive officer. To reach that goal, Lumina and the nation must strategically direct attention to three critical outcomes:

* Students are prepared academically, financially and socially for success in education beyond high school.
* Higher education completion rates are improved significantly.
* Higher education productivity is increased to expand capacity and serve more students.

As listed below, Lumina's grantmaking reflects the Foundation's commitment to these three primary areas.

PREPARING STUDENTS FOR SUCCESS
Academy for Educational Development (Washington, D.C.)—$2,600,000 to strengthen and sustain the KnowHow2GO ground campaign by providing technical assistance to state partners, involving additional collaborators and organizing an improved learning community for all partners.

Advertising Council, Inc. (New York, N.Y.)—$1,544,400 to support the KnowHow2GO campaign that encourages more low-income students and their families to take the necessary steps toward postsecondary education.

Corporation for Enterprise Development (Washington, D.C.) - $10,000 to support the 2009 National Conference on Children and Youth Savings and to showcase the current impact and potential scale of Children's Development Accounts — universal savings accounts for children and youth.

Encouragement Services, Inc. (Bloomington, Ind.)—$10,000 to create a plan to integrate Encouragement Services, Inc., into the Indiana KnowHow2GO work and the national college access library.

Martin University (Indianapolis, Ind.)—$75,000 for special services at Martin University.

Ohio College Access Network (Columbus, Ohio)—$80,500 to provide bridge funding for the Ohio College Access Network to continue as the coordinator for KnowHow2GO.

YMCA of the USA (Chicago, Ill.)—$5,127,600 to manage, expand and integrate the College Goal Sunday program into the national YMCA movement.

SUPPORTING SUCCESS
Education Writers Association (Washington, D.C.)—$10,000 to support a panel discussion regarding degree quality with reporters at the Education Writers Association's annual meeting.

Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)—$2,577,700 to conduct and disseminate research on the relationship between higher education and the economy, including projecting the supply and demand for college-educated workers.

MDRC (New York, N.Y.)—$4,000,500 to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count.

Women in Government (Washington, D.C.)—$200,000 to promote adult learning through state policy work among state legislators.

ENHANCING PRODUCTIVITY
Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (Washington, D.C.)—$600,000 to inform boards and presidents of America's college and universities to improve student success rates.

Business Innovation Factory (Providence, R.I.)—$280,000 to map the student experience in higher education to put a face on Lumina's big goal and identify opportunities where experiences may be enhanced in order to graduate more students.

Capitol Beat (Raleigh, N.C.)—$10,000 to educate journalists nationally who cover state government about state finance and higher education productivity issues affecting college access and student academic success.

CEOs for Cities (Chicago, Ill.)—$240,000 to systematically uncover new ideas on how to reduce the cost of getting students into and then out of college with a degree, without sacrificing quality.

The Education Sector (Washington, D.C.)—$750,000 to provide research and analysis, strategic communication and policy promotion aimed to reorient the public conversation around higher education to focus on quality of teaching and learning, student attainment and reduced student cost.

Investigative Reporters and Editors (Columbia, Mo.)—$10,000 to support higher education training for journalists at the four-day 2009 IRE conference.

The Public Agenda Foundation (New York, N.Y.)—$103,100 to work with CEOs for Cities to design and promote dialogue sessions in eight Talent Dividend cities to encourage integration of the Talent Dividend framework and concepts into local strategic planning efforts as a means of advancing the Talent Dividend.

OTHER GRANTS
Community Investment Network (Raleigh, N.C.)—$10,000 to support the 2009 Community Investment Network Conference.

Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (New York, N.Y.)—$10,000 to provide professional development opportunities to young grantmakers.

The Foundation Center (New York, N.Y.)—$10,000 to support the Foundation Center's Funding for Education Month programming in June 2009.

The Greenwich Roundtable, Inc. (Cos Cob, Conn.)—$49,000 to develop and disseminate an alternative investment curriculum guide for foundations' chief investment officers.

Guidestar (Williamsburg, Va.)—$10,000 to support a project to provide the new 990 tax forms to nonprofit organizations and to implement the Guidestar Exchange Program.

Keep Indianapolis Beautiful (Indianapolis, Ind.)—$10,000 to provide general operating support.

Portland State University Center for Academic Excellence (Portland, Ore.)—$7,500 to support community partner attendance of the Partnership Institute which seeks to enhance understanding of higher education-community partnerships through research dissemination and shared learning.

About Lumina Foundation
Lumina Foundation for Education is committed to enrolling and graduating more students from college — especially low-income students, students of color, first-generation students and adult learners. Our goal is to increase the percentage of Americans who hold high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025. Lumina pursues this goal in three ways: by identifying and supporting effective practice, through public policy advocacy, and by using our communications and convening power to build public will for change.