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Shaun@AdamecCommunications.com 617-888-2213

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The Nellie Mae Education Foundation

A Grantmaking Strategy to Build Public Will

The Nellie Mae Education Foundation is New England's largest foundation dedicated solely to education. It supports the adoption of policies and practices that promote student-centered learning, learning that is competency-based, personalized, engaging, and not restricted to the traditional classroom or class day. Nellie Mae believes that without building public support, long-term, systemic change is impossible.
What We Did

Strategic Positioning
Planning
Grant Strategy

Challenge

Nellie Mae had a bold ambition – to move the New England region to 80% college and career readiness by 2030 – a shift that would dramatically increase the rate of change thus far. In order to inspire the kind of systemic change that would be necessary to reach that goal, they needed to pay close attention to the dominant public narrative and how public systems – like education systems – were responding to public will. How can a Foundation inspire a shift in public will and build support for dramatic change in an institution like public school?

Solution

As Director of Strategic Communications for the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, Shaun Adamec built a strategic approach to build public will. Every grant awarded, every contract granted, and every partnership executed would be charted along a continuum of building awareness, understanding, support, or demand for student-centered approaches to learning in New England. In one year, Adamec and his team designed and deployed a $10 million annual grant initiative for the Foundation that combined grassroots advocacy, public engagement support for school districts, state-based policy alliances, and strategic investments in journalism throughout the region.

Results

Nellie Mae's Public Understanding & Demand Initiative has become a model for Foundations seeking to invest in public will-building. It remains a critical component of the Foundation's theory of change, even as the focus of the Foundation's broader grants have shifted. Since launching the initiative, the Foundation has tracked an increase in awareness and understanding of student-centered learning among the New England public, and has tracked an expansion of the voices contributing to the public dialogue regarding student-centered learning through the media.

“One of Shaun’s strongest assets is taking his deep professional expertise, attending to the variation of context, and adapting and joining both. He does not approach situations with a preconcieved solution. This is a great example of knowing his clients, meeting them where they are, and exercising strong professional judgement.”

Nick Donohue

President & CEO, Nellie Mae Education Foundation