The Studio @ Blue Meridian

The Studio @ Blue Meridian embraces experimentation and provides flexible resources to help organizations accelerate their readiness for significant scaling.

Accelerating Readiness for Scaling

We believe in the power of scale – expanding reach, impact, or influence – to address both emerging and intractable social challenges. We also know that promising approaches often face barriers on their path to becoming scalable solutions. In order to accelerate more organizations’ readiness for significant scaling, The Studio @ Blue Meridian invests in the implementation of 2- to 3- year action plans created by participating organizations. These investments provide visionary social sector leaders with the space, flexible resources, and support they need to test and refine their strategies.

The Studio is central to Blue Meridian Partners’ commitment to innovation and experimentation in pursuit of boosting the economic mobility of young people and families in poverty.

The Problem

Promising solutions advanced by visionary leaders do exist, but these leaders often face barriers in their quest to tackle the magnitude of the problem they’re addressing. A gap in the funding market restricts social sector leaders who seek the flexibility to innovate and iterate on their existing models in preparation for significant scaling. Furthermore, systemic inequities limit the flow of funds to leaders of color at every stage of their organizations’ growth. In the wake of COVID-19, it is critical that funders address these gaps in the social sector market and ensure that leaders have the resources they need to support communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the crisis.

A Gap

in social sector funding limits opportunities for leaders and organizations to experiment and refine their strategies

The Solution

The Studio @ Blue Meridian aims to fill clear gaps in the social sector market to accelerate more organizations’ readiness to significantly scale their reach, impact, and influence. These investments provide visionary leaders who desire to think big and prepare for transformational growth with the flexible capital and tailored coaching required to innovate, test, and enhance their existing approach to solving complex or emerging social challenges. In our investing, The Studio considers the historical racial inequities in funding, and believes it is important to support leaders who share lived experiences with the people they serve. The Studio is also prepared to address pressing needs, such as inequalities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly $260M

committed to date to organizations looking to accelerate their readiness for scale

Learn more about The Studio @ Blue Meridian

Learn more about The Studio @ Blue Meridian

Participants in The Studio

The Studio supports accelerating readiness for scaling across a range of strategies that address issues of poverty and economic mobility. To date, we have funded a number of exemplary organizations, each working on a range of barriers to scale over a span of two to three years.

BellXcel

Benefits Data Trust

Beyond 12

CodePath

Communities in Schools

Equal Opportunity Schools

Grameen America

Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT)

MDRC SUCCESS

Merit America

OneGoal

Per Scholas

Saga Education

TRAILS

Youth Guidance

Zearn

Click here to learn more about our Past Investments.

Latest Investments

In 2022, The Studio @ Blue Meridian invested in 7 organizations who are supporting student engagement and laying the groundwork for future systemic improvement to combat the disruption to the education system caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

Learn more about our Latest Investments

Current Investments

Since 2019, The Studio @ Blue Meridian has invested in organizations who seek to overcome barriers to scale and are poised to support an equitable recovery.

Learn more about our Current Investments