Civics PlaybookFounding Forward
- Mission: To create an informed and engaged citizenry through education about the principles, rights and responsibilities enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States, empowering individuals to participate in and uphold our system of self-government.
- Geographic Focus: Nationwide; based in Philadelphia and Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
- Audience: 6-12th grade students and teachers, school administrators, civic organizations and the public
- Budget: $9.2 million
- Focus Areas and Core Competencies:
- Civics education based on founding principles, philosophies and documents
- In-person immersive educational experiences
- Teacher education programs
Engaged Citizenry at the Birthplace of our Country Brings People Together
Impact: Founding Forward
Founding Forward educates approximately 3,000 middle and high school students and 350 teachers from around the country each year through in-person civics education programs in Philadelphia and Valley Forge.
A Conversation with Jason Raia, Chief Learning Officer at Founding Forward
Q: What is the mission of Founding Forward? What problem(s) in civics education is your nonprofit working to solve?
Founding Forward is a newly formed organization that resulted from the merger of two established, venerable organizations: The Union League Legacy Foundation and the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. Our mission is to create an informed and engaged citizenry. We are proudly located in Philadelphia and Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the heart of the founding of our country.
We believe that civic education must be about the principles, rights and responsibilities of citizenship enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. We do that by bringing people to Philadelphia and Valley Forge and teaching the history that happened here – why it happened and why it is fundamentally important to our nation today.
One of the big challenges in our country today is civic literacy. Recent National Assessment of Educational Progress scores show that only 22% of American eighth graders are at or above the proficient level in civics. This data clearly supports the need for greater civic knowledge. But beyond that, we at Founding Forward believe the crisis our country is currently experiencing is one based in ignorance, even hostility, about the fundamental principles upon which our country was founded. We believe that by educating others about the why of our founding, even more than the what, we will help solve this problem on a national scale.
Q: How do you describe the big goals Founding Forward is working to achieve? How do you measure impact?
Our vision is to renew interest in American civics, and to ground that interest in the founding principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as articulated in the Declaration of Independence. We believe our vision will result in a citizenry that will actively participate, uphold and improve our system of self-government, as established in the United States Constitution.
Our big goal is to scale our programs to reach even more students and teachers. Today, we educate approximately 3,000 middle and high school students from around the country each year. Our goal is to grow these programs many times over, and within three to five years, we expect that number to grow to 10,000 students. Today, we educate 350 teachers each year. In five years, we anticipate 3,000 teachers will take part in our programs annually.
We believe that by educating teachers, we can have the most significant impact. Over the course of a 20-year teaching career, an educator will influence the lives of 2,000 students. By sharing our mission with 3,000 educators each year, we will impact the lives of six million students.
Measuring impact beyond participant totals is a bigger challenge. We ask standard questions about their civic involvement, such as voting and volunteering. But we also try to ascertain if our program made an impact (on) their willingness to engage in difficult conversations with their friends about policy or political topics.
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges Founding Forward has experienced in working to accomplish its mission? How did your organization overcome those challenges?
We use low-tech, high-touch programming. We fill a room with people and teach them something. It broadens their perspective of other people’s positions. Then they can factor that into their own experiences and beliefs. Nothing replaces doing that in person. That means we bring them together from around the nation. Middle school and high school students gather at our residential Valley Forge campus, educators convene at our state-of-the-art conference center in Lafayette Hill (Liberty Hill) and adults of all ages participate in our programs at the historic Union League of Philadelphia.
Bringing together participants is becoming more and more challenging. Travel is expensive. We rely on the generous support of our donors to underwrite both the tuition and travel for all of our participants because we know that the return on investment is huge. We are committed to place-based, in-person programming.
Q: What is Founding Forward’s biggest need? Where can philanthropists help your organization achieve its goals?
Founding Forward is in a growth mode. Our biggest need is for funding that will support that growth – both in our existing programs and in new, innovative programs that will reach new audiences. To support this growth, we will need to raise an additional $50 million over the next five years.
We are making significant capital investments to the campus in Valley Forge that serves our middle and high school students. The beautiful campus was designed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, built by the Army Corp of Engineers and has had little in the way of capital investment in decades.
In addition, we’ve moved the location for our teacher education programs from the Valley Forge campus to Liberty Hill, the Union League conference center in Lafayette Hill. Not only is the center specifically designed for adult learners, but it also features a hotel with amenities, which all enhance the residential experience for educators.
We are also currently exploring new formats for our programs to reach new audiences, and are planning to pilot several, such as weekend conferences for educators, summer camp-like experiences for students and new educational experiences for the public.
Q: Beyond Founding Forward, where should philanthropists who care about advancing civic knowledge invest their charitable dollars?
The Bill of Rights Institute does great work, and they are bringing a group of students to participate in our programs in Philadelphia this summer. Also, the American Legion, Boys State and Girls State—that kind of active, experiential learning about how our politics and policy work is really valuable. Last, and perhaps most importantly, there are charter, private and parochial schools around our country that are doing amazing work with civic education. I encourage philanthropists who care about this important work to find them and to fund them.
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