Read our full StoryCycles Impact Report!

Last February I found myself at a Full Circle Fund event in front of a room full of professionals interested in donating their time, expertise and money to worthy nonprofits, trying to convince them to fund a project with an early education nonprofit. I quoted the research of James Heckman about the high rate of return on investment in early education. I stressed the inequity that exists in California between families who have resources to prepare their kids for kindergarten and those who don’t. Although the group seemed interested, it seemed they were more intrigued by other projects. Much to my relief, a woman spoke up and joined me in my pitch. That woman was Rebecca Haskell, the Vice President of Tandem’s Board of Directors, and it was this moment that started what would eventually become a successful partnership between the Full Circle Fund and Tandem.

Full Circle Fund is made up of  Bay Area professionals who contribute their time, resources and intellectual capital to accelerate nonprofits and build a better Bay Area. Each year it partners with local nonprofits to provide them with a team to work on a capacity building project and an unrestricted donation of $15,000. Once our team was assembled, we considered a number of early education nonprofits but ultimately chose Tandem as our grant partner based on its experience and impact in the field.

We quickly agreed that a project focusing on impact would benefit Tandem and use the skill sets of our team members. Tandem had tons of data on how impactful its programs were, but lacked the time and resources to fully analyze and present the data. In less than six months, Tandem and the Full Circle team:

• Revised Tandem’s user survey
• Adapted the survey so it could be used to collect data before, during and after the program to better track results
• Piloted a program to migrate from paper surveys to electronic collection
• Updated academic research used to support the program model
• Reviewed all impact data collected from 2016-2018
• Drafted the impact report and hired a graphic designer to create the final report

We were all extremely proud of the work we did and of the StoryCycles 2019 Impact Report. It was a testament to the hard work, flexibility, and cooperative spirit of both Tandem and the Full Circle Fund team members. Full Circle Fund is currently using this project as a case study of a successful collaboration between a nonprofit and a Full Circle team. For me, the project was an invaluable opportunity to use my passion for early childhood education to collaborate with others to help Tandem fulfill its mission and amplify the transformative work that Tandem does for the families of young Bay Area children.

 Full Circle Team Members include: Lisa Olson (team lead), Samina Diamond, Bunmi Esho, Kelsey Nelson, Mark Pan, Hannah Taylor, and Connor Vande Wege.