Growth Philanthropy Network (GPN)

Social Impact Exchange investigates charities on request and produces an index of well-run groups that seek to improve the lives of disadvantaged children via education, improved health, and economic progress.  ²

Formation and History

Growth Philanthropy Network (GPN) was founded in 2009 with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As of 2023, funding is provided by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation among others. ^{3 4 5}

The organization formed Social Impact Exchange in partnership with Duke University’s Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society (CASE) and operates as SIE. The organization follows an investment model in which donors are provided analysis and tools to better judge the potential effectiveness of their investments in nonprofit organizations. ^{6 3}

The group claims to have approximately 5,000 members. ⁵

Activities

Systems Summits

Growth Philanthropy Network presented a virtual Systems Summit in 2021. It generated $24,170 in reported revenue. ⁷ Featured topics included equalizing cross-racial outcomes, empowering communities, equalizing outcomes in income, and promoting multi-sector collaboration. Featured speakers included William M. Rodgers III, vice president and director Institute for Economic Equity, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; Gary L. Cunningham, president and CEO of left-of-center Prosperity Now; and Tonya Allen, president of left-of-center McKnight Foundation. ^{8 8}

Business Plan Competition

Social Impact Exchange awarded $250,000 each to the winners of its business plan competition, The Parent-Child Home Program, an organization that uses twice a week low-income home visits to improve the educational success of two-and three-year old children, and Rubicon National Social Innovations, an organization that helps create job training opportunities, at its 2010 summit. Friends of the Children, an organization that pairs children with unique talents with a paid professional tutor, won the 2014 competition and as a result received a $6 million matching gift from the Echo fund. ^{9 10 11 12 13}

S&I 100

GPN published a list of 100 nonprofits that it recommended donors invest in. The list and documentation of those on it offers an “investment clearinghouse” for nonprofit organizations and government agencies. The list last appeared on its website in 2019. ¹⁴

Groups listed include After School All Stars, a group that provides after school programs that provide safety and foster success in school and life; Big Brothers and Sisters of America, a group that provides mentors and programs to help the disadvantaged achieve their potential; “I Have a Dream” Foundation, an organization that works to help children in under resourced communities pursue higher education; and UNH Institute on Disability, a University of New Hampshire group that builds capacities to address the needs of those with disabilities and their families. ^{15 16 17 18 19}

A Literature Toolkit for Funders

In 2012, Duke University and SIE published “Scaling Social Impact: A Literature Toolkit for Funders” that shares knowledge for funders seeking grantmaking opportunities. ²⁰

Learning Community

Growth Philanthropy Network organized a group of foundation, nonprofit and government leaders that created a curriculum to address racism, stating that it is “an integral part of all our country’s systems and structures, and racial equity is a core theme underlying the Learning Community curriculum.” ²¹

Health

SIE manages a network of more than 60 funders and cross-sector leaders that seeks to achieve equal outcomes in vulnerable communities. ²²

Education

The organization has enlisted 50 cross-sector leaders that have placed equal outcomes at the center of strategies to improve education systems. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided a targeted $20,000 grant in 2019 followed by $20,000 in 2022 to fund Learning Communities. ^{23 24 25}

Systems Transformation Fund

Social Impact Exchange formed the Systems Transformation Fund to finance a series of initiatives designed to produce equal outcomes in economic resources, education, and health in communities in California, Massachusetts, New York, and North Carolina. ²⁶

Funding

Growth Philanthropy Network is supported by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, American Express, Carnegie Corporation of New York, California Health Care Foundation, Pritzker Early Childhood Foundation, and Morgan Stanley. ²⁷

Grantmaking

Growth Philanthropy Network made 2019 grants of $810,000 to Say Yes to Education Inc.(SYTE) and $500,000 to left-of-center Community Partners (CP). SYTE was founded by George Weiss whose first act was to promise 112 economically disadvantaged sixth graders that he would pay for their college education if they graduated high school. CP is a grant making group that provides grants and fiscally sponsors left-of-center organizations including New Venture Fund (NVF) and Tides Advocacy (The Advocacy Fund). ^{28 29 30}

Leadership

The group’s founder and president is Alexander Rossides who helped found Video Technologies and was managing director of Digital Evolution Venture Capital. ³¹

Financials

GPN generated $866,417 in revenue in 2021, a decline from 2018 revenues of $3,288,979. The group received government grants totaling $206,493. Total expenses were $837,640. Net assets at the end of the year totaled $1,256,757. ³²