December 3, 2019
In 2019, Root Change collaborated with the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) to integrate systems thinking and practice into the Vanguard for Financial Capacity Building Initiative. The Capacity Building Initiative supported six Philadelphia-based early childhood education programs to strengthen financial resilience and program delivery through a combination of funding and capacity-building support with the aim of strengthening financial resilience and program delivery. A Community Development Financial Institution, the NFF engaged Root Change to understand the larger system of actors that support early childhood development and kindergarten readiness in Philadelphia.
Root Change used its proprietary analytical tool Pando to visualize and analyze the system that supports early childhood development in Philadelphia, the funding landscape and the potential challenges and opportunities for small, up-and-coming programs and providers. NFF used Pando to identify potential organizations that would qualify apply for the capacity building initiative and pioneer new approaches to advance its capacity building methodology.
Root Change customized a network map and trained NFF to use and manage it on Pando. The network map was then shared with the wider early childhood education community. Participants were invited to use the tool to learn more about the ecosystem of support for early childhood education in Philadelphia.