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For a PDF of the full Statement of Purpose and list of questions, please click here.

Statement of Purpose

Economic mobility is widely considered to be a cornerstone of the American story, but in reality, upward mobility has been declining steadily since the 1940s.[1] This decline limits economic growth, sustains inequality, and prevents millions of Americans from achieving economic security. It also means those who grow up in poverty today are likely to remain at the bottom of the economic ladder.[2]

Nationally, there are countless nonprofit organizations that provide critical programs—whether on job or skills training, postsecondary education support, housing assistance, food security, and so much more—to millions of Americans. As part of our commitment to effective and equitable programs that support economic mobility for all, Camber Collective issues this Call for Interest for direct service organizations [3] seeking to create or improve a program that supports the economic mobility of Americans. Specifically, this Call is for organizations interested in applying the seminal body of Mobility Experiences data and research to their programmatic/service delivery efforts.

Five organizations who respond to this Call will each receive strategic consulting services from Camber Collective’s Shared Prosperity advisors and a general operating grant of $10,000 to support program design or improvement efforts within their organization. Participating organizations will engage in a cohort-based learning environment to further support innovative idea generation and problem solving, supplemented with 1:1 thought partnership and analytical support in applying the Mobility Experiences data and insights. The engagement will launch in late January and wrap at the end of April 2025.

Respondents to this Call should identify program design and evaluation needs for one program that has a specific focus on supporting access to two or more of the 28 Mobility Experiences. This program can be new to your organization or a strategic re-focusing of an existing or past program.

Background

Camber Collective is a field-building organization dedicated to creating a thriving future for people and communities around the world – systemically, sustainably, and equitably. In partnership with the Gates Foundation, Camber has released seminal research on 28 life experiences — the Mobility Experiences — that have a proven impact on lifetime income and varying levels of public support/demand. These experiences span six domains (education, financial well-being, community interactions, career progression, social/familial relationships, physical/mental health) from birth through adulthood and have varying quantified impacts. The research also includes Americans’ perspectives on the value of the Mobility Experiences in their lives as well as a mapping of how federal and philanthropic capital are being invested to support access to the Mobility Experiences.

One purpose of this research is to bring supportive data to the design and implementation of direct service programs. For instance, a synthesis of more than 200 program evaluations found that more effective programs tend to:

• Offer wrap-around services or comprehensive support, such as offering housing support in addition to job and skills training;

• Provide sustained support over time, such as supporting those incarcerated prepare for re-entry during incarceration and after release for up to one year to improve positive outcomes; and

• Integrate beneficiary input across the program lifecycle, from design through adaptation and evaluation.

Objectives 

Each organization will receive strategic advisory services to design a program that seeks to impact economic mobility via two or more of the Mobility Experiences. A grant of $10,000 will support each organization’s participation in this engagement and funds can be used flexibly.

Proposals should identify the type of program your organization aims to implement, why it is needed, and how it draws from the Mobility Experiences research. Programs should be intended to reach a specific population that experiences economic exclusion.

Camber aims to achieve three objectives through this engagement:

1. Help share best practices in equitable program design with place-based, service delivery organizations

2. Provide capacity and assistance to organizations that are working with economically marginalized or insecure populations across the United States

3. Provide tangible tools and resources that will help support the sustainability of programs improving access to the Mobility Experiences

Commitment to Equity

Camber is committed to systemic solutions that create equitable, regenerative impact. Our approach seeks to explicitly center people, especially those who have historically been excluded from setting the direction for change, in social impact solutions. We seek to work not only with philanthropic, public, and private entities but also with those who aim to reduce the harmful impacts of structural racism, discrimination, and institutional exclusion on the economic mobility of populations that have been under-resourced. We appreciate that these are complex issues that must be addressed with intentionality and precision, and as such, prioritize partners who share an authentic commitment to equity in their own work.
 
Structure and Scope

This grant will be executed in three key phases that will include workshops, cohort-based learning, and 1:1 advisory support from Camber:

1.  Needs Assessment and Theory of Change: Identify gaps and opportunities and develop a comprehensive Theory of Change that integrates learnings from the Mobility Experiences research, which will underpin your program’s objectives and design. Included in this phase will be a focus on equitable program design, including effective beneficiary engagement.

2.  Implementation Plan: Develop a detailed implementation plan to support the launch and sustainability of your program, including participant journey mapping, timeline and key milestones, and resource planning.

3.  Evaluation Plan: Build a framework to support the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of your program’s impact, including identifying key evaluation questions, indicators, and data collection and analysis approaches.

In addition to the $10,000 grant, you will receive ongoing technical support from Camber’s advisory team throughout each phase, with freedom to engage Camber to support strategic decision making and the development of each phase’s deliverable in the ways most useful to your organization. Camber can support in a number of ways, such as facilitating an internal Theory of Change design workshop, supporting resource allocation planning, and advising on indicator selection and data collection approaches, among others.

The final deliverable of this engagement will be a completed program deck that can be used to generate funding support and guide implementation.

Example Program Design Projects

This process is designed to offer grantees flexibility to design a program that meets the unique needs of your beneficiaries. Examples of programs could include:

Mentorship in an afterschool program; food security initiative in a healthcare system; job/skills program for justice-involved individuals; mental health counseling program for youth

Note: These examples are meant to provide further context on the intention of this grant and should not be considered preferences. Given the diversity of the 28 Mobility Experiences, programs related to various issue areas are encouraged to apply.

Applicant Evaluation Criteria

We seek to partner with organizations that align with our goal of advancing economic mobility by implementing programs that improve access to the Mobility Experiences for marginalized or vulnerable Americans. Specifically, we are interested in organizations that meet the following criteria:

Capacity to Participate Meaningfully in Engagement:

Organizations must be equipped to dedicate staff time to engaging in the program design learning and development process over the course of three months and have the capacity and resources to pursue implementation of the designed program at the close of this grant engagement.

Delivering Programs Related to Mobility Experiences:

Organizations should be delivering programs that directly or indirectly drive economic mobility via two or more of the Mobility Experiences. The full list of experiences can be found here.

Defined, Sizeable Reach:

We are interested in partnering with established organizations that have a strong local presence and/or a targeted group of beneficiaries.

Registered and Operating within the United States:

Organizations must be 501(c)3 nonprofits or fiscally sponsored organizations, delivering programs to people within the United States.

Small to Medium Sized Annual Budget:

Organizations must have an annual budget of less than $5 million.

Logistics

This engagement will last approximately 12-14 weeks. Please ensure availability from your team for the full duration of the engagement. Please see below for key dates:

• Applications will be accepted & reviewed on a rolling basis, closing at midnight (PST) on January 10, 2025; please find the online application form here

Note: Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as they are able; applications will be reviewed as they come in and may be fully allocated before the January 10th deadline.

• Finalist interviews will occur in early January

• Final grantees will be announced & grants will be issued in mid-January

• Program design and technical assistance will begin in late January

• Program design engagement will conclude & final deliverable submitted by April 30, 2025

For any questions, concerns, or technical issues, please contact [email protected].

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Learning Resources

To learn more about the Mobility Experiences, we encourage you to review the findings from the Mobility Experiences research series.

Life Experiences that Power Lifetime Income

Americans’ Perspectives on Economic Mobility

Federal and Philanthropic Funding Trends in Economic Mobility

Interactive Data Dashboard








[1] Raj Chetty, David Grusky, Maximilian Hell, Nathaniel Hendren, Robert Manduca, And Jimmy Narang, The fading American dream: Trends in absolute income mobility since 1940, National Bureau of Economic Research, December 2016. https://opportunityinsights.org/paper/the-fading-american-dream/

[2] Dearing, E., Bustamante, A. S., Zachrisson, H. D., & Vandell, D. L. (2024). Accumulation of opportunities predicts the educational attainment and adulthood earnings of children born into low- versus higher-income households. Educational Researcher. Prepublished September 26, 2024. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X241283456

[3] Organizations managing or delivering tangible, hands-on programs to individuals or communities in areas such as healthcare, education, social services, or other essential needs.