A message from Sandro Olivieri, CEO, Project FoundED
A year in review and an update from the team
Project FoundED has come a LONG way since it’s virtual soft launch at ASU/GSV in 2020. With a small, part time team we’ve grown the community to over 1500 members - making up a thriving and diverse community comprised of 55% founders of color and 44% women founders.
Just this year alone, we’ve:
received official 501(c)3 designation!!!💰
produced 14 events resulting in new connections and knowledge shared within the community🎤
held 1 school technology roundtable series uncovering insights about edtech adoption🗣
held 1 in person meetup at SXSWedu, just for fun 🎉
facilitated 73 office hour sessions with experts and investors⏳
produced 24 newsletters sharing information about events, funding opportunities, partner opportunities, jobs and edtech industry insights and thoughts🗞
launched advisory services & office hours🚀
launched a new website👩💻
hosted a Slack channel with over 9k posts in public channels and thousands more private messages 📬
But don’t take our word for it! Two founders recently told us:
“Project FoundEd has provided an incredible community of edtech founders with unique and diverse perspectives. There is a lot of intentionality around building the community, sharing resources, celebrating wins, and pushing each other forward"
and
“Loved meeting up with people at the various conferences. That sense of community was super motivational!”
And a school principal who participated in the School Technology Roundtable had this to say:
“Successful technology integration is more than just getting the tools into the classroom, it is providing innovative approaches to engage authentic learning in and outside the classroom. Our teachers need this support to be successful”
And a participating Superintendent said this:
“Just to add, what I appreciate about the conversation and the group today is that it really does bring people from both sides of this work together…Really cool that we’ve been able to bring folks together.”
We’re very proud of accomplishing as much as we have with such a small team, and we’re not done. We’re excited to take Project FoundED to the next level, and it’s time to start to grow the team that will do it.
I’m pleased to announce that I’m stepping down as CEO, transitioning to the Chair of the Board. We’ll be launching a search for a full time CEO to take Project FoundED to the next level. You can read more about the position here and if you’d like refer someone, reach out to amy@projectfounded.org.
Funding Opportunities 💰
STEM Education Research Grants (Due Feb 24, 2023)The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Schmidt Futures and Walton Family Foundation have collaborated to create a specific funding opportunity within the greater BCSER program that prioritizes proposals targeting K-12 STEM education, particularly those with a mathematics focus, and emerging technologies such as learning analytics, natural language processing, sensor technology, and tools for analysis of educational datasets. Proposals should focus on building STEM researcher capacity, including proposals for the implementation of institutes with a budget of up to $1M and individualized plans with a budget of up to $350K. Researchers from minority-serving and two-year institutions are especially encouraged to apply.
New Request for Applications from IES (Due February 23, 2023) regarding research on Digital Learning Platforms. Up to ten Research Teams will join the Digital Learning Platforms (DLPs) to Enable Efficient Education Research Network (SEERNet), which currently includes a Network Lead and five Platform Teams. Applicants can learn more about SEERNet here.
edinno.lab | Getting Started with Efficacy (Jan. 12th and 19th, 12:00pm-2:30pm ET) edinno.lab | Getting Started with Efficacy is intended for entrepreneurs to learn the fundamentals for documenting and ensuring the efficacy of their education products and services and will help to develop a strategy that defines and integrates impact and efficacy across business functions, including product design and development.
Recommended Reading 📚
Schools are back in person, and the balance of activities that will remain virtual is still being defined. Looks like the increase in virtual Professional Development and Tutoring will stick.
Is there a teacher shortage? Yes! well, it depends. Where do you live?
Public school enrollment is declining as parents stick with the private options they sought during COVID closures.
Project FoundED is a community of EdTech founders that aim to influence our industry to focus on equitable learning outcomes for all learners. We provide our community access to sales, fundraising, and networking resources so that the most impactful EdTech solutions can rise to the top.