Bellwether is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. We’re using this moment to look back on some of the work we’re most proud of — work that we plan on scaling as new trends and challenges emerge.
Over the last 15 years, our team of experts has partnered with hundreds of organizations who work tirelessly to improve the lives of young people at all ages, from early childhood to postsecondary to career pathways and beyond. Getting to witness the impact they have on students across the country is one of the most rewarding aspects of our work, so we wanted to share those accomplishments more widely. We asked three of our enduring partners how they’ve expanded their organizations’ impact over the course of our work together and what they’re especially proud of today.
Today, we’re featuring the Stranahan Foundation, a family-fueled foundation that supports self-sufficiency and contributes to improving society and the environment. Formed in 1944, the Stranahan Foundation runs a national funding program aimed at increasing access to high-quality early childhood teaching and learning. In addition to their work in early childhood education, the Stranahan Foundation engages family members to support nonprofits addressing community needs in five key areas: human services, ecological well-being, arts and culture, the broader education space, and physical and mental health.
Bellwether has supported the Foundation’s work in high-quality early childhood teaching and learning since 2012. We recently spoke with CEO Breta Cooper and Program Director Hillary Beuschel about how the organization has supported early childhood education in partnership with our team; here’s what they said:
“In late 2010, the Foundation recognized that early childhood education was a key area for a strategic grantmaking initiative. Bellwether served as an early thought partner in the subsequent development efforts, using their expertise in the education sector to help us narrow our focus and identify an area where we could make a meaningful difference with our limited resources. This collaboration led to the development of three overarching strategies focused on improving teacher effectiveness. Since then, as the field’s needs have shifted, Bellwether has assisted us in evolving the program from a scattered approach — characterized by a multitude of good projects that were not always clearly connected — into a more focused, responsive portfolio aimed at learning and growing alongside our grantees.
Over the years, the Bellwether team has provided expertise and hands-on support, helping us to extend our capacity, clarify our priorities, and refine our core strategies. With their assistance, our grantmaking has become more responsive, measurable, and impactful. For instance, they supported the creation of an open request for proposals to promote equity and increase access for a wider range of grantees. They continue to assist us as we grow our understanding of evaluation and seek to balance evolving field trends with our learning goals that focus on creating and sustaining high-quality teaching and learning environments.
Bellwether has also helped us make our grantmaking process more participatory. They played a key role in shaping the Foundation’s learning portfolios, making our work more accessible to a broader audience of Stranahan family members. Accessibility is especially important for how we work — family members are our grantmakers, and early childhood education is widely seen among them as our most complex and technical grantmaking program. Recently, Bellwether also helped facilitate the Foundation’s first-ever grantee listening session, which led us to immediately adjust our provider cycle based on their valuable feedback.
Our program has evolved significantly in recent years because of our intentional focus on learning and applying what we’ve learned. It’s energizing to be part of a program that’s rooted in learning, dedicated to improvement, and responsive to the voices of those we support. Over time, our grantees have demonstrated remarkable resilience and innovation, especially considering the current challenges in the field. We’re eager to grow alongside them and see the outcomes of our initial learning portfolios. We hope our portfolio’s insights will help us identify patterns and make more informed decisions across all our programs — not just in early childhood.”
