Case
study

Elevate Impact Assessment

The issue

One of the biggest issues displaced younger refugees face is inaccessibility to a quality education. To help alleviate this, Elevate was formed to connect talented young refugees with world class universities and provide them the opportunity to acquire a postsecondary education.

However, Elevate also faced a challenge of its own – it didn’t have great visibility into whether its efforts are enacting significant change for graduates of its program. The organization wanted to measure the impact of its efforts so that it can demonstrate to its donors that their contributions do result in great socioeconomical value. In order to have a more holistic understanding of its social mission, Elevate engaged the stepupNYC chapter at Deloitte, a skills based volunteering group at the firm, to conduct an impact analysis of its investments and assess its socioeconomical influence on its graduates.

Objectives

  • Create an executive report detailing the qualitative and quantitative benefits of a post-secondary education for refugees compared to refugees that stayed back in the camp

  • Build a return on investment model to quantify the value of a post-secondary education for refugee students

  • Interview previous Elevate graduates to deeply understand how a post-secondary education has influenced their lives and encouraged them to be leaders of change in their local communities

Elevate Impact Summary

  • Elevate graduates’ quality of life significantly improves after leaving their host country. They are openly accepted in the countries where they conducted their studies and have access to basic necessities like food, shelter, and healthcare

  • Elevate puts in place many support structures to ensure refugee students have a smooth transition into university and are able to succeed. And after the students graduate, Elevate connects them with key connections that lead to potential internship or full-time job opportunities.

  • With their higher income levels, Elevate graduates like to use their financial resources to support their friends and family who are still located in refugee camps; they help with paying for shelter, utility bills, medical expenses, food, and tuition so that their younger siblings can further their education

  • Many Elevate graduates continue making an impact by volunteering in community initiatives, mentoring underprivileged students, or taking on leadership roles at immigrant advocacy organizations including Elevate

ROI Summary

ROI is a measure of Net Present Value of scholar’s total income after graduation compared to Net Present Value of the education cost invested by donor.