the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation Moving the Needle 2.0 2014 2019 strategic plan
The Vision arkansas ranks among the top states in major measures of child and family well-being with practices, public policies, and a nonprofit infrastructure that work together to increase prosperity.
introduction After close to four decades, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation (wrf) is still described as the beloved foundation of Arkansas. We have awarded more than $140 million in grants and technical assistance support to groups, organizations, and agencies to improve the lives of Arkansans. We are invaluable partners in supporting community and economic development; contributing to advocacy efforts and public policies that benefit all Arkansans; promoting racial, economic, and social justice; and building the capacity of numerous nonprofit organizations that serve Arkansans. wrf is a state leader in strategic philanthropy and a strong advocate for philanthropic support of marginalized communities. wrf has unquestionably contributed to improving how philanthropy is practiced in Arkansas. With a bold, strategic, disciplined, and sustained plan over the next five years, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation has the opportunity to continue to help move the needle to prosperity in Arkansas.
2 MTN 2.0 The Rationale In 2007, the Board of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation (WRF) charged staff with creating a strategic plan that was relevant to the needs of Arkansas. Moving the Needle (MTN) was developed with feedback from more than 100 stakeholders and several focus groups throughout the state. Stakeholders told us that supporting education reform, communities and places in the state, and nonprofit organizations that serve marginalized communities were critical to increasing prosperity in Arkansas. MTN was the bold next step. It was described as audacious but attainable, and from 2008 2013 we made progress in some very important ways.
MTN 2.0 3 Impact Influence Leverage WRF investments have supported securing more resources for low-income families, helped to create student support systems that are positively impacting struggling kids in college, provided longterm evidence that quality early care makes a difference in the achievement gap, increased the collaborative capacity in rural communities, and helped to strengthen some of our state s critical nonprofits. WRF s investments, voice, and convening power led to the creation of the state s first taskforce on poverty reduction, equipped Arkansas educational leaders with the data necessary to make positive change, created a collaborative space for community change agents, and helped to begin coordinating our state s nonprofit capacitybuilding resources. WRF investments have leveraged nearly $1 million in small business loan funds from federal sources. Our voice and knowledge was leveraged to help the state taskforce set targets for poverty reduction. Our relationships have been leveraged to bring the attention and resources of many national philanthropies to the state. And our approach has been leveraged to facilitate a noticeable change in the way state philanthropists see the value of strategic grantmaking. MTN 2.0 intended to guide our work from 2014 2019 reflects the lessons learned in the first five years of MTN, builds on our core competencies as a Foundation, and is relevant to moving the needle in Arkansas from poverty to prosperity.
4 MTN 2.0 The Goals: MTN 2.0 from 2014 2019 wrf will use its resources to 1 understand poverty in Arkansas and develop long-term sustainable action plans to address the underlying issues; 2 work with people and communities with the least wealth and opportunity; and 3 hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards of integrity and openness. Those operational values support our strategic goals to: Increase Prosperity Reduce the number of Arkansas families living below 200 percent of the federal poverty line. Increase Educational Attainment Increase high school, career education, and college graduation rates in the state. Strengthen Communities Increase educational attainment and economic mobility in select communities in Arkansas. Build Up the Nonprofit Infrastructure Show that strategic support and good grantmaking practices can help nonprofits achieve our MTN goals and their missions.
MTN 2.0 5 The Refined Strategies: MTN 2.0 Increase Prosperity MTN 2.0 continues Moving the Needle s goal to reduce the number of families living below 200 percent of the federal poverty line. In order for the state to make progress on poverty reduction, we believe that: Arkansans must make poverty reduction a priority for the state. The state must implement policies that support poverty reduction. Individuals must be able to accumulate resources that move them out of poverty. Individuals and businesses must have access to capital to create and sustain jobs. Strategy 1 Strategy 2 Finance research, policy, and advocacy; small business and individual asset development initiatives; and direct services that show measurable good practices and constructively criticize practices that need to be improved Partner with policymakers, the business community, funders, nonprofits, and other stakeholders to set targets to reduce poverty in Arkansas and adopt the benchmarks set by the Arkansas Legislative Taskforce on Reducing Poverty and Promoting Economic Opportunity (Poverty Taskforce) Expected Outcomes by 2019: An increased number of citizens and stakeholders actively support policies and practices that reduce the number of families living below 200 percent of the federal poverty line; policy proposals that support progress toward the goal of increased economic prosperity are developed and advanced through state legislation; best practices in asset development and small business development are identified through program demonstrations.
6 MTN 2.0 Increase Educational Attainment The strategic goal to increase educational attainment is tied closely to each of our other goals. For WRF, the strength of the state s education system directly correlates with the opportunity to expand prosperity for all citizens. Based on what we have learned, we hold that: Schools, communities, and families must collaborate effectively to ensure that students meet the critical benchmark of third-grade reading. Arkansas must have a comprehensive strategic plan for K-12 and higher education. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education in Arkansas must be robust and rigorous to prepare Arkansas graduates to compete in the 21st century. Arkansas must develop a comprehensive career education strategy that closes the skills/jobs gap.
MTN 2.0 7 Strategy 1 Strategy 3 Strategy 5 Support the development and implementation of a comprehensive plan for pre-k to 12 and higher education Strategy 2 Collaborate on public willbuilding campaigns that foster a culture of high aspiration and educational achievement in Arkansas including the Arkansas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and the Arkansas Opportunity to Learn Campaign Advance state policy that supports increased educational attainment by encouraging the state to adopt formal goals and implement plans that are specific, challenging, and focused on addressing the attainment gaps for high-poverty areas of the state Strategy 4 Mobilize career and higher education institutions and systems to increase the adoption of data- and evidence-based policies, partnerships, and practices that increase the state s college completion rate Finance initiatives and programs that reduce the achievement gap, reduce levels of postsecondary remediation and promote STEM education Strategy 6 Support research and the development of demonstration projects that strengthen the state s high school career readiness infrastructure and higher education connection to local and regional businesses Expected Outcome by 2019: Arkansas s pre-k to 12 and higher education systems adopt formal goals and commit to implement plans for increasing educational attainment that are challenging, quantifiable, and long-term that address attainment gaps for underserved students and improve overall completion rates.
8 MTN 2.0 Theory of Change strategic approaches strategies short-term outcomes long-term outcomes impact Reduce the number of families living below 200% of the federal poverty line Increase high school, career education, and college graduation rates in the state Increase educational attainment and economic mobility in select communities in Arkansas by supporting local community change efforts Show that strategic support and good grantmaking practices can help select grantees achieve MTN goals within the parameters of their missions Place-Based Grantmaking Public Policy & Advocacy Program Support Direct Services PRI/MRI Research Policymakers and the public recognize the need to set targets for reducing poverty in Arkansas Increased awareness and understanding of good practices in increasing educational attainment Increased awareness and understanding of good practices in improving economic mobility Increased civic engagement, advocacy, and community organizing in select communities in Arkansas Increased capacity in communities in Arkansas to address local educational attainment and economic mobility State of Arkansas sets targets to reduce poverty Statewide and locally based practices that effectively increase education outcomes and economic mobility Select Arkansas communities have more capacity (systems, skills, tools, staff, knowledge, leadership, etc.) to improve education outcomes and economic mobility State of Arkansas actively pursues a poverty reduction strategy WRF contributes to more working-age adults pursuing education and/ or workforce training to improve economic mobility WRF contributes to supporting local community change strategies that may be replicated throughout the state WRF contributes to moving Arkansas out of the bottom five ranking among states in major measures of child and family wellbeing
MTN 2.0 9 Strengthen Communities Strong communities and neighborhoods are the precursor to better outcomes for children and families. Research shows that families do better when they have the opportunity to live in supportive communities. MTN 2.0 continues Moving the Needle s goal to support comprehensive community change initiatives in select communities. Our strategy is based on the ideas that: Sustainable community change must engage a diversity of stakeholders, most importantly, the residents of the communities. Intermediaries will play a vital role in mobilizing residents and stakeholders. The Foundation must support collaboration, capacity building, and leadership development for comprehensive community change. Strategy 1 Strategy 2 Strategy 3 Mobilize stakeholders across Arkansas around issues of educational attainment and economic mobility Support through grants and technical assistance resident engagement, advocacy, and community organizing in communities across Arkansas Build public awareness to increase Arkansans willingness to support, contribute to, and demand better outcomes for children and families Expected Outcomes by 2019: Active partnerships involving employers, K-12 education, postsecondary and career education, local and state government, community-based organizations, business, media, and other stakeholders commit to MTN 2.0 and act to reduce poverty to increase educational attainment.
10 MTN 2.0 Build Up the Nonprofit Infrastructure MTN 2.0 continues the goal of our current strategic plan to increase grantees effectiveness. WRF s theory of change articulates these assumptions for organizational effectiveness: Grantees and potential grantees must have: Access to adequate funding Sustainable funding sources Effective leadership Capacity builders who can help nonprofits achieve their goals must be coordinated to be more effective. Strategy 1 Strategy 2 Strategy 3 Build the ability of grantees to operate effectively through technical assistance and general operating support Promote leadership effectiveness and strengthen nonprofit infrastructure by supporting learning networks, staff development, and outcomes assessment; fostering peer-to-peer interaction; and providing one-on-one assistance Support organizations such as the Arkansas Nonprofit Alliance to build the nonprofit infrastructure in the state Expected Outcome by 2019: Models, approaches, and best practices that inform how to build and sustain the nonprofit infrastructure in Arkansas.
MTN 2.0 11 The Challenges: MTN 2.0 The MTN strategy has good traction, but there are also still serious challenges to address: our strategy to increase prosperity is hampered by: - The slow pace of poverty reform at the state level - The lack of public understanding about workable solutions and their potential impact - Tight state budgets that limit support of proven policies like a state Earned Income Tax Credit - The magnitude of the challenges faced by the state our strategy to increase educational attainment is challenged by: - Entrenched institutional resistance to reform pre-k through higher education - The lack of support for innovation at the state level - Our own limited staff capacity our strategy to strengthen communities is challenged by: - An emergent local nonprofit and civic infrastructure - Underdeveloped community capacity to develop and implement comprehensive change strategies - Lack of wide-scale civic engagement our strategy to build up the nonprofit infrastructure is challenged by: - Low local nonprofit capacity - A lack of coordination between existing capacity-building resources - A lack of public and private resources to support nonprofits For this iteration of WRF s strategic plan, our goal is to address the abovementioned challenges head-on, and continue to refine our grantmaking, technical assistance, and communications strategies. Using the lessons we have learned in MTN 1.0 (as summarized in Looking Back, Going Forward), we aim to build on our successes and increase our impact in Arkansas.
Call to Action from the President we are proud of our progress, but that does not mean we are blind to reality or the obstacles that stand in our path. In fact, the goals of Moving the Needle acknowledge those challenges explicitly in articulating the extensive changes that need to happen. However, the poverty data and graduation rates depicting the challenges in our state do not define us; rather, they are what drive us. And to realize our vision, we need more Ambassadors, people willing to spread the word about how our state is uniquely positioned to meet the challenges that are present all over the country. We need more Activists, individuals and organizations that make it their business to demand positive change and that will not settle for the status quo in southern and rural America. And, we need more Advocates, those willing to build and share the evidence case in every forum and venue they can find. Ultimately, we want to change the lens through which we view our challenges in Arkansas. Our investments and the work of our partners show that together, we can move the needle to prosperity in Arkansas. Half the battle is simply knowing that it is possible. Sherece West-Scantlebury, Ph.D. President and CEO Design & Production: Shagas Design / Photos: Dan Kenyon, Jason Miczek
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