EDUCATION POLICY WORKING GROUP (EPWG)

With public budgets under extraordinary pressure and philanthropy’s resources in decline, grantmakers of all sizes must be strategic about influencing local, state and federal policies to leverage their investments. More than two-thirds of GFE’s members already invest in public policy related initiatives by funding policy research and dissemination, building public will, supporting advocacy and educating lawmakers.

GFE’s Education Policy Working Group (EPWG) is a network of education grantmakers who share an interest in, and respect for, the role policy plays in shaping education in America. Participants have joined the working group with three broad objectives in mind: deepening their understanding of education policy and advocacy among education grantmakers, developing grantmaking skills in policy, and identifying promising practices and opportunities for collaboration with other education funders.

      PURPOSE
GFE’s Education Policy Working Group is focused on:
• Building strategic relationships among education grantmakers interested in education public policy to promote greater alignment and coordination;
• Increasing GFE members’ familiarity with education policy and advocacy;
• Assisting GFE members in identifying and sharing promising strategies for building public will to enact and sustain supportive public policies;
• Learning from successes – and missteps – of significant policy initiatives in education and other fields; and
• Supporting this web presence to serve as a platform for relationship-building, engagement, impact documentation, and knowledge-sharing.

      HISTORY
EPWG began at GFE’s 2007 Annual Conference, where the network’s now-steering committee members developed a policy-focused conference track. Since then participation in the Group has grown steadily, and the Group has supported and advised GFE in creating policy-focused programs including web seminars and conference calls featuring senior Department of Education staff. The Group’s members were also instrumental in the development of this year’s three-day, policy-focused Education Grantmakers Institute held in conjunction with Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. The group also planned a policy-focused convening at GFE’s 2009 Annual Conference.

      PARTICIPANTS
Membership in EPWG is open to all GFE member-eligible education grantmakers. All participants are GFE members although being so is not a requirement. There is no cost to join the network, however membership with GFE is encouraged. More than 25 foundations large and small are represented within the EPWG, reflecting the breadth and diversity of GFE’s membership.

      UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
Please register to join us for "New Opportunities, New Impacts: Using Title I and ARRA Funding to Support Early Education and K-12 Success," a web seminar on November 17 from 11-12:15 PT.  

      CONTACT INFO
Jenna Davis, Consultant
policy@edfunders.org
 
The Education Policy Working Group operates under the co-leadership of Ada Sanchez, Executive Director of the Peppercorn Foundation, and Nichole Gallant, Program Executive with The Atlantic Philanthropies. The group’s efforts are directed by a steering committee drawn from its membership