Case Study: Lincoln Foundation

From 98% Poverty to National Excellence: How Data Confidence Secured Sustainable Funding for Lincoln Foundation

Challenge: Addressing the "Post-Graduation Cliff" The Lincoln Foundation serves high-potential students, 98% of whom experience poverty. While their Whitney M. Young Scholars program achieved a remarkable 100% high school graduation rate, leadership identified a critical gap: students often lacked the specialized network of support required to navigate the transition to college. To address this, the Foundation needed to move from anecdotal evidence of student struggles to a quantifiable, evidence-based program model that could attract significant, multi-year investment.

Solution: Moving from Anecdote to "Data Confidence" Sagebird Consulting stepped in as a long-term strategic thought partner to help the Lincoln Foundation codify their "secret sauce." We worked to translate vision into a rigorous framework for the College Transition Enrichment Program (CTEP).

• Actionable Research: We utilized student and parent surveys to pinpoint the specific barriers families faced in post-secondary education.

• Establishing the "Floor": We helped the leadership team move past vanity metrics by setting research-based benchmarks to ensure the program stayed impactful.

• The Confidence Shift:The primary value of the partnership was that "the data gives us confidence." We provided high-quality, consumable outputs that allowed the Board and leadership to speak with authority about their outcomes.

Results: National Recognition and Sustainable Growth This partnership transformed how Lincoln Foundation communicates its impact, leading to several landmark achievements:

• Secured Multi-Year Funding: By presenting a data-backed narrative, LincolnFoundation secured a three-year sustainable funding commitment from a prominent private foundation.

• Unrivaled Outcomes: The CTEP program has achieved a first-to-second-year persistence rate for Black men that exceeds national, state, and local averages.

• Thought Leadership: The Lincoln Foundation recently presented their findings at a national grant-making conference. Standing "shoulder-to-shoulder" with their funders, they were able to demonstrate that their program is an "indestructible" model for youth development.

Through eight years of collaboration and a leadership transition, Sagebird has remained a trusted partner, helping the Lincoln Foundation prove that when you have data confidence, your impact is undeniable.