Close Up Foundation
Inform. Inspire. Empower.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Never has there been a greater need and more important time for young people to connect across distance and divides to understand the key issues impacting our democracy, their lives, and communities across the country. Recent events – challenges to certified election results, the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and the rise of misinformation—highlight the critical need for investments in civic education to strengthen our democracy. There is a youth civic participation gap in American public life that threatens the core principle that our democracy represents and includes all its citizens. The results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, considered the “nations report card", reveal that less than one-quarter of U.S. high school seniors are “proficient" in civics, while more than a third scored below even the “basic" level.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Civic Education Programs for Middle & High School Students & Teachers
The overarching goal of all Close Up’s student programs is to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for effective and responsible participation in the processes of democratic society and the American political system. Given that goal, their core commitment to experiential learning becomes clear: Citizenship in a democracy demands a readiness and capacity to act. Close Up’s role in helping students develop that readiness and capacity lies in direct exposure to the historical foundations, institutional structures, and day-to-day practices that underlie reasoned discourse, debate and cooperative decision-making.
Close Up’s in-person program offerings include: their flagship Washington Program, a Program for New Americans specifically designed for recently-immigrated students, an Asia Pacific Program set in Hawaii where students discuss foreign policy issues in depth, the Founding of a Nation program where students visit five historic East Coast sites, and a Teacher Program that runs parallel to each of their student offerings.
Since 1971, almost one million students and educators have participated in Close Up's weeklong government studies programs in the nation's capital. Each year, more than 20,000 participants partake in Close Up's Washington, D.C.-based programs, while thousands more across the country utilize the organization’s in-class resources. They see the primary role of the Close Up experience as complementary to classroom civic learning; their part is to take learning out of the book and place it in the lived experience of the student. In order to move from the conceptual basis of civic education to an empowering engagement with the concrete processes and controversies of contemporary politics, Close Up provides students with practical opportunities to experience for themselves the problems and prospects of political activity. Close Up’s teaching methodology and participant diversity more accurately reflects what students will face in their adult lives and is unlike anything that could be simulated in a classroom.
More information on Close Up programs can be found on its Web site (www.closeup.org).
Virtual Programming
After the official declaration of the pandemic in March 2020, Close Up quickly transitioned to provide virtual civic education program opportunities to serve young people eager to stay engaged with the issues impacting their communities. Each session brings together and engages students to learn about various current issues, consider pro and con arguments, and deliberate to seek common understanding. These programs create lasting online communities, where students gain the confidence to discuss important issues, learn how to respectfully disagree, and work together to build consensus and connection to their communities and the world around them. For every online program, Close Up assesses the landscape to develop relevant and engaging programming that addresses the most pertinent current events and political issues.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of participants attending course/session/workshop
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Civic Education Programs for Middle & High School Students & Teachers
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our 2023 figures reflects an upward trajectory of pre-COVID activity. Our 2020 figures were severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Number of unique website visitors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of briefings or presentations held
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Civic Education Programs for Middle & High School Students & Teachers
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Includes all Capitol Hill meetings, seminars, and site visit presentations for students and teachers during Close Up’s program year.
Percentage of student participants receiving financial aid.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Civic Education Programs for Middle & High School Students & Teachers
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Percentage of teacher participants who would recommend Close Up's programs to other schools.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Civic Education Programs for Middle & High School Students & Teachers
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Close Up has accepted the challenge to reverse this trend, and to create generations of informed and inspired young citizens who realize their power to make change. Research shows that when young people have opportunities to practice citizenship skills, they are more likely to become active and engaged citizens for life. Our goal is not to tell young people what to think, but how to think. For us, learning through experience means learning citizenship by acting as a citizen. In a functioning democracy, citizens seek and use information, debate, hold each other and political representatives accountable, and work together to solve problems. Close Up's approach is to model and practice these democratic functions in the classroom and on its programs. We create conditions that stimulate the students' own powers of problem-solving, acquiring and using information, communicating and cooperating with others, experimenting, and thinking creatively and critically.
In addition to providing resources and programs, Close Up works to ensure that it is accessible to students and teachers from all backgrounds, including economically disadvantaged and politically underrepresented communities. Through the support of our philanthropic partners, Close Up works to close the access and engagement gap by providing scholarships and resources to students and teachers from economically disadvantaged communities.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Close Up fulfills its mission through: week-long education programs in Washington, DC, intensive virtual learning training sessions, professional development for educators, and online educational resources for educators to integrate into their lessons. We know what it takes to deliver effective civic education, and the latest findings validate what we have been doing in our methodology and pedagogy for 50 years. According to research by the Civic Mission of Schools, students who receive opportunities to: 1) engage in simulations of trials, legislative deliberation, and diplomacy, and 2) engage in debates about current local, national, and international issues have heightened political knowledge, greater interest in politics, improved critical thinking and communications skills, more civic knowledge, and more interest in discussing public affairs out of school. Close Up's civic education programs for middle and high school students and their teachers employ all of these principles.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Close Up programs provide students and teachers with inspiring and skill-building experiences that give students the opportunity to discuss and debate current issues with peers, interact with key policy experts and elected officials and their staffs, and participate in legislative simulations.
Close Up also designs and conducts numerous local and Washington-based programs for specialized constituencies. Some of these programs include: newly immigrated and migrant youth; Native Americans; young Latino leaders; Pacific Islanders; the children of military families; mentoring for at-risk youth and others. Some of our current and previous program partners and sponsors include: Bank of America Foundation; AT&T Foundation; Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); American Bar Association (ABA); Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI); and United South and Eastern Tribes (USET).
In addition to our programs, Close Up provides valuable classroom resources that help teachers make connections to history and explore the critical policy choices facing the country. The Close Up in Class resource libraries help students and teachers investigate current events and long-standing debates, develop real-world skills for community engagement, and research and understand the critical issues facing our democracy.
Thanks to support of our philanthropic supporters, Close Up was able to provide over 30% of its participants with scholarships during the 2019-2020 academic year.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Thanks to the support of our philanthropic partners, Close Up provides more than 24% of its participants with scholarships, but it's not enough. From CIRCLE research, we know that “students attending higher socio-economic-status schools, those who are college-bound get more…school-based civic learning opportunities that promote voting and broader forms of civic engagement…than low-income students, those not heading to college, and students of color." We believe that our democracy is strengthened by the participation of citizens from all backgrounds. Therefore, we must continue to expand our outreach to young people and schools in economically disadvantaged communities with quality citizenship education and the tools to tackle the challenges faced in communities and our nation.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Close Up Foundation
Board of directorsas of 02/13/2024
Mr. Joel Jankowsky
Partner Emeritus, eAkin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Mr. E. Ivan Zapien
(Vice Chairman, Board of Directors) / Hogan Lovells US LLP
Eric Adydan
Chief Executive Officer / Close Up Foundation
Joel Jankowsky, Esq.
(Chairman, Board of Directors) / Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
E. Ivan Zapien
(Co-Chairman, Board of Directors) / Hogan Lovells US LLP
Eric Rosenfeld
(Chairman, Finance Committee) / Crescendo Partners
Janet Hale
(Chairman, Audit Committee) / Fmr. Deloitte & Touche LLP
Honorable Michael Andrews
King & Spalding
Peter Cherukuri
Leviathan News
Kirk Francis
Penobscot Indian Nation
Christopher Goode
The Roosevelt Group
Bruce Jentleson
Duke University, Sanford School of Public Policy
Margery Kraus
APCO Worldwide
Thomas Spulak
King & Spalding
Ryan Thompson
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Honorable Kendrick Meek
King & Spalding
Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
W. Michael House
Oak Grove Strategies, LLC
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
No data
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data