Foundation Support

Our Work with Foundations

ACE works with many of the nation’s leading foundations and other partner organizations to support American higher education as it educates millions, anchors local economies, and drives innovation that ensures prosperity, national security, and opportunity for every community while embodying the American promise that anyone can rise, achieve, and contribute to our shared well-being.

Grants from foundations and other organizations enable ACE to:

Develop and share timely research and novel insights on pressing issues facing higher education.
Share policies and practices that support student retention, persistence, and completion and disseminate findings on institutional characteristics and success.
Facilitate collaboration and coordination among colleges and universities across the United States.
Improve and increase public understanding that higher ed builds pathways to jobs, careers, and upward mobility for individuals, families, communities, and industries.
Increase degree attainment for adults and other learners by expanding quality assurance for prior learning and modernizing transcripts to align job skills with workforce needs.

Impact

ACE thanks our foundation partners for their generous support. Highlights of our efforts include:

In 2022 through generous philanthropic support, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education partnered to re-envision the future of the Carnegie Classifications and better reflect the public purpose, mission, focus, and impact of higher education. The 2025 Carnegie Classifications were the first release through this partnership. The Carnegie Classifications will be updated next in 2028. ACE is expanding the use of credit for prior learning (CPL) for learners, employers, and educational institutions, thanks to support from Walmart. Through this initiative ACE is building a transfer equivalency database to share valuable data about where learners can receive college credit for their professional skills and credentials. The funding will support data interoperability and exchange to increase transparency of CPL opportunities for learners seeking to advance their educational and career goals.
TIAA Institute generously supports ACE’s American College President Study, the leading and most comprehensive assessment of the college presidency and the higher education leadership pipeline. The 2017 edition includes data on the demographics of college presidents and their career trajectories. For the first time, it also examines presidents’ views in three key areas: diversity and inclusion, state funding and political climate, and areas of importance for the future.

Looking Ahead

Support from foundations and other organizations is critical to our work. With input from our members and other stakeholders, ACE has developed a strategic framework and operating model to guide our efforts in the coming years. Current and emerging initiatives will center on shaping effective public policy, cultivating a resilient institutional leadership pipeline, and forming partnerships to address the complex challenges of today’s learners.

ACE looks forward to working with foundations and other organizations across these areas of focus to deliver in-depth research, programs, services, communities, networks, and other partnerships.

Connect With Us

To learn more, please email advancement@acenet.edu.

Foundation Support

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