All News Releases

Hundreds of apprentices in the Wisconsin Technical College System receive Tools of the Trade scholarships from Ascendium in 2024. 

As Literacy Network celebrates 50 years of transforming lives through literacy, the organization faces an unprecedented demand for its services. More than 55,000 adults in Dane County struggle with low literacy — enough to fill more than three Kohl Centers (source: Literacy Network). Literacy Network supports them by offeri...

On this Giving Tuesday, a day that spotlights generosity around the world, Ascendium gifts Good Neighbor Grants to 20 nonprofits in the various communities where our employees live and work. Each nonprofit will receive a $50,000 grant to fund essential community projects, such as educational initiatives, workforce training ...

As communities address the impacts of climate change, opportunities exist to prepare youth for a changing economy. Industries such as construction and land management are evolving, and with them comes the need for a future workforce ready to build upon that evolution to improve our future. Unfortunately, many low-income you...

As one school year ends, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County (BBBS) is already planning for the next, looking to build on the success of an innovative school-based mentoring program, called MentorU, that it launched at Marshall High School during the 2022-23 school year with the help of a grant from Ascendium.

As high school seniors start counting down to the moment they can march across the stage to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance, move that tassel to the left, and get on with life, one junior at La Follette High School is looking forward to joining their ranks. He’ll be graduating a year early thanks in part to an innovati...

Ascendium Education Group has released its 2022 Education Philanthropy report, Meeting the Moment. The report tells the story of Ascendium's philanthropy during 2022 as we provided $122 million in new grants to meet the challenges created and compounded by our changing world.

Ascendium's grantmaking strategy focuses on hel...

Ascendium is celebrating its 10th year of the Tools of the Trade Scholarship Program with a record breaking 771 apprentices receiving scholarships for a total of $1,542,000. Since 2013, Ascendium has awarded scholarships to eligible construction and industrial trade apprentices in the Wisconsin Technical College System to a...

Ascendium is pleased to announce Keith Witham has been selected to serve as our new vice president of education philanthropy. A national search for this highly impactful position brought forward many good and interested candidates. After a comprehensive search and review process, Keith’s extensive knowledge of the field and...

Ascendium is pleased to announce the grant partners selected to receive funding through our Building Evidence to Increase Rural Learner Success initiative.

Building Evidence to Increase Rural Learner Success focuses on generating insights about strategies that can improve postsecondary education and workforce training oppo...