First Steps
Our Initial Strategic Direction
In late 2022 and early 2023, our team devoted considerable time to developing an initial strategy for our giving. We met with dozens of experts in philanthropy, economic mobility, workforce development, international development, and impact measurement to help shape our thinking. We reviewed randomized controlled trial (RCT) data and other evidence to form a fact base that informed our strategy. We developed our first impact model and experimented with real and fictional data sets to help understand which interventions and investments types might maximize our impact. And we drafted, debated, and repeatedly revised our vision, mission, and theory of change.
We are happy with where we landed, though we recognize that any strategy is a work in progress. We expect to iterate our approach as we learn more from practical experience and exposure to other experts and advice.
We have set ourselves an ambitious vision to strive for a world in which one million more people can afford a better life. This means that as a result of the programs we fund, at least one million people will have gained new skills or employment that has increased their lifetime earnings. Our strategy aims to bring this bold vision to life by leaning on what makes us unique as a foundation, and focusing our activities to make us as effective as possible.
Who: Focus communities
We will focus on individuals or families making below a living wage, recognizing that living wages differ from country to country and context to context. We are also exploring a deeper focus on individuals who are disadvantaged in access to training or employment due to factors such as their gender, disability status, or racial or ethnic background.
What: Intervention areas
We have narrowed our near-term focus to training and job placement interventions, helping people build the skills and access the opportunities they need to increase their lifetime earnings. Our work may also address removing barriers to these services, for example by increasing access to broadband internet, child care, transportation, stipends, or other supports.
Where: Geographic markets
Using multiple criteria, including data on local income inequality, ease of doing business, and presence of other funders, we have narrowed our focus to six markets of interest: Colombia, Kenya, Mexico, Rwanda, South Africa, and the United States. Over the next six months we plan to select three of these markets for entry in 2023.
How: Portfolio approach
In developing the following portfolio of investments and activities, we have sought to maximize our potential impact by drawing on the best current research, and by seeking a thorough understanding of the problems at play.
We hope that these three lines of work will add up to more than the sum of their parts - that these activities will be mutually complementary and reinforcing. We expect, for example, that our lessons learned from investments in training providers will help inform our systems change work to improve labor market efficiencies.
Create opportunities for individuals through investments in job training and job placement organizations that expand their institutional reach, reduce barriers to accessing services, and improve cost efficiency.
Improve labor market efficiencies through investments that address human capital supply/demand mismatches and create platforms and tools to tackle market failures.
Strengthen collective action by mobilizing more actors and resources toward a shared agenda.
Our Handbook has further detail on our strategic direction and rationale behind it. Please take a look and feel free to share your thoughts, suggestions, or questions.
