How Promising Models Gain Momentum
Traditional philanthropy historically waits for organizations to demonstrate years of traction before making investments, but in fields evolving as quickly as AI-enabled economic mobility, waiting for certainty can mean missing a window to help promising ideas grow. The future of economic opportunity is being shaped in pilot programs that are still building evidence and refining their models. It’s also where the biggest funding gaps exist.
At GitLab Foundation, we’ve intentionally chosen to fund organizations at early stages in their development as they test new models or deploy technology in ways the broader sector hasn’t caught up to. We also focus on identifying the projects most capable of moving more people into better jobs and higher incomes, then supporting those models as they scale.
Over time, we’ve seen a pattern emerge. Since our earliest grants, 47 unique funders have joined us in supporting organizations across our portfolio, contributing more than $90 million in additional funding after our initial investments. While follow-on funding isn’t the sole indicator of success for our Foundation or the organizations we invest in, it highlights that by going first, we are taking on early stage risk that makes it easier for other funders to say yes.
The organizations attracting the strongest ecosystem support are not always the ones with the longest histories or the most polished data. Increasingly, they are organizations closest to workforce challenges and most willing to rethink how opportunity is delivered. As GitLab Foundation CEO Ellie Bertani recently wrote in Work Shift, “technology — particularly AI — is moving faster than philanthropy can adapt.” If philanthropy waits until organizations are fully proven before investing, the sector risks overlooking the models most adept at reshaping access to opportunity. Early-stage funding determines which ideas can scale and become visible for the broader system to support.
Digital Green is a prime example. GitLab Foundation invested $350,000 to support the deployment of an AI-enabled assistant for agricultural extension agents in Kenya, increasing incomes for 155,000 farmers and generating an estimated $236 million in lifetime earnings. Since our investment, the organization has attracted 21 additional grants totaling $14.45 million from funders including the Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Ezrah Charitable Trust and Livelihood Impact Fund.
FreeWorld connects formerly incarcerated individuals to in-demand careers by integrating its platform with public workforce systems and American Job Centers. GitLab Foundation invested $700,000 to support the organization’s expansion. The model is estimated to generate $486.3 million in lifetime earnings and has since attracted more than $11.5 million in follow-on funding from Crankstart and Rippleworks.
Another grantee, Per Scholas, had a decades-long track record of helping low-income adults access technology careers when GitLab Foundation funded an AI-native classroom model designed to expand instructional capacity while lowering costs for learners. The project is estimated to generate more than $110 million in additional lifetime earnings, and Blue Meridian later invested $8.9 million to support the model’s continued scale.
This momentum is not isolated to a handful of grantees. Across GitLab Foundation’s portfolio, follow-on funding patterns point to growing ecosystem alignment around which economic mobility models are best positioned to scale. For instance, the following organizations have collectively received more than $3 million in follow-on support:
Beyond the amount of funding, the diversity of follow-on investments also demonstrates that large national foundations, family and corporate philanthropies, and impact-focused funds all arrived at the same conclusion we did: these models are worth scaling.
GitLab Foundation is relentlessly focused on ensuring more people secure better jobs, earn higher wages and have stable futures. But validation from our peers matters, too, and builds the kind of momentum that attracts more support and increases the likelihood that successful models will reach more people.
The future of economic opportunity will depend on whether philanthropy is willing to identify and support transformative models before they become obvious. The highest-leverage role funders can play is not just financing proven solutions, but helping promising ones become impossible to ignore.
Learn more about our grantees and approach.
