PropelNext 2021 Cohort

In 2018, twelve youth-serving nonprofits in California joined the third cohort of PropelNext to strengthen their program designs and build their capacity for data use and learning. The concluding years of the three-year program would be marked by unprecedented crisis and upheaval, from a global pandemic to national racial reckoning. Throughout this time, PropelNext not only provided foundational support to strengthen organizational performance but also helped grantees build resilience to weather internal and external crises.

This report highlights key results and insights about the facilitators, barriers, and nuances of building a learning organization, even in the most challenging of times. We share how participants translated their learning into action and turned pandemic stumbling blocks into stepping stones for progress. The report concludes with key considerations for the field based on PropelNext’s work with more than forty organizations over the past nine years.