Sponsor

Sponsor

Only one sponsor is needed

Think proactive

Every federal agency and major corporation—one hundred percent self-motivated—should proactively arrange a meeting with a presentation team, conduct due diligence, and consider sponsoring the free-access HSe4Metrics platform—a societal innovation and potentially unmatched U.S. force multiplier across countless sectors.

A federal agency as the sponsor 

High-risk, high-impact innovation. 

The federal government routinely funds high-risk, high-impact innovation (DARPA, NIH, the space program, semiconductor research, etc.).

Broadly speaking, the leadership of every federal agency holds an obligation to support U.S. K–12 students in excelling on NAEP assessments—including reading, math, and other core subjects—as well as across other critical performance metrics.

Due diligence

An immediate reason for every federal agency to conduct HSe4Metrics platform sponsorship due diligence is the nation’s NAEP results.

A textbook example is the Department of Labor (DOL). The DOL may recognize that unleashing nationwide K–12 student performance would tap into the vast reservoir of the sidelined demographic—those currently destined to languish at the bottom of NAEP assessments.

Logically, rescuing that cohort could hypothetically double the number of students graduating prepared to become trainable employees—or to pursue higher education and other opportunities.

Make the platform available early

A proactive DOL may also recognize that the free-access HSe4Metrics platform should be made available as early as possible in a young person’s life—ideally 15 to 18 years before high school graduation, meaning years before pre-K.

Congressional leadership

After decades of failure by the U.S. Department of Education to elevate national K–12 student performance—evidenced by roughly 50% of U.S. students failing to reach minimum NAEP proficiency or reaching it only marginally in core subjects such as reading and math—Congress could put the nation on a different path, beginning with a straightforward rewrite of the DOE’s founding legislation.

Congress can make K–12 student performance the department’s central—if not singular—mission.

  • It can move all other functions and oversight to appropriate entities outside the Department.
  • It can make the Secretary of Education’s continued service subject to a rigorously enforced performance contract tied to hard-number K–12 student-performance metrics. (see U.S. Department of Education link).

Sponsorship flexibility

Although a relegislated U.S. Department of Education may be the most logical agency to house the HSe4Metrics platform, funding could come from another federal agency—such as the Department of Labor or the Space Administration (NASA). Click Federal Agencies to see other possibilities.

Alternatively, a publicly traded, socially conscious corporation could serve as the platform’s strategic funding sponsor.

A major corporation as the sponsor

Differentiation

Perhaps think of a sponsorship of the HSe4Metrics platform as a path to brand differentiation to an extent not possible any other way.

Every major corporation has compelling reasons to remain relevant—and equally compelling reasons to sponsor the nationwide HSe4Metrics platform. (As an aside, “HSe4Metrics” is merely a temporary placeholder. A name selected by the sponsor could carry significant strategic branding value.)

Too expensive to do this alone? Share the cost. 

If the cost of sponsorship seems prohibitive, it should not become an obstacle to a creative workaround. Contact HSe4Metrics about forming a corporation–federal agency public-private partnership to share the funding.

Moreover, with or without such a partnership, the corporate sponsorship cost may be insignificant relative to the potential for landmark gains in key corporate metrics, including free cash flow, brand-equity strength, and sustained shareholder-value creation.

Value to shareholders may be unmatched

Together, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) obligations, high-profile sponsorship visibility, the transformation of tens of millions upon tens of millions of students’ lives, expanded market share, and improved margins for the sponsoring corporation offer potential value to shareholders that may be unmatched.

In a letter to JPMorgan shareholders, CEO Jamie Dimon highlighted a $30 billion commitment to a JPMorgan initiative aimed at advancing societal good—a figure that likely stunned many of his CEO peers, who are more comfortable operating at levels an order of magnitude lower. Dimon urged major corporations to follow his societal innovation lead, while also cautioning that the outcome of true innovation is inherently uncertain.

Dimon did not mention Xerox, but the cautionary tale is worth recalling (see the Jamie Dimon link). On the desk of Xerox’s CEO once sat an industry-changing innovation—complete with patents and a working prototype. Yet rather than take the leadership risk to implement it, Xerox passed. The company fell from market dominance into decline and ultimately into bankruptcy.

Click Procter & Gamble (P&G) to explore how a corporate sponsorship scenario might unfold. 

It is the presentation team’s obligation to ensure that every potential sponsor receives a brilliant presentation. A decision to decline sponsorship should never result from a failure of the presentation itself.

The best presenter of this explainer site is a professional presentation team.

Given the high stakes for nationwide K–12 student performance, every presenter of this explainer site must be trained by HSe4Metrics. HSe4Metrics itself is not a professional presenter.

A presentation team could be funded by a federal agency, corporation, HSe4Metrics, or socially responsible individual or organization—or it could agree to work pro bono.

HSe4Metrics could train a potential sponsor’s staff or designee to present the opportunity within that organization; fund a professional team directly to make presentations to potential sponsors; seek a socially conscious team willing to work pro bono in support of K–12 student performance; or launch a fundraising campaign to fund the team’s training and presentations.

When a $5 fundraising campaign may be needed

HSe4Metrics could launch a temporary $5 fundraising campaign to retain the team.

One potential delay is that HSe4Metrics would prefer to conduct the campaign after transitioning to a private family foundation—a process already underway that might prove unnecessary if a federal entity becomes the sponsor—hence HSe4Metrics’ hesitation.

Once the presentation team has completed its work and a sponsor has been secured, the temporary fundraising campaign would end.

Provide funding for the HSe4Metrics platform—including implementation, testing, and ongoing operations.

Simultaneously—but in no way as a condition of sponsorship—encourage Congress to consider re-legislating the U.S. Department of Education’s founding framework (see the U.S. Department of Education link) to make K–12 student performance its central mission.

As explained throughout this site, such re-legislation could provide a strategic advantage for K–12 student performance while also supporting the potential of a change-agent innovation such as the HSe4Metrics platform.

A corporation’s sponsorship decision may ultimately come down to a cost–benefit analysis.

In evaluating whether to sponsor the HSe4Metrics innovation platform, potential sponsors will consider several key factors: the cost of sponsorship, the platform’s K–12 mission, its contribution to the public good, the corporation’s responsibility to its shareholders, and the potential benefits the sponsorship may deliver to those shareholders.

Every Fortune 1000 company—or any leading publicly traded corporation—should step up, regardless of innovation uncertainty, to conduct due diligence and consider funding the free-access K–12 student performance platform, even though the platform itself has no direct financial engine.

Certainly, every mega-cap corporation valued in the hundreds of billions should be eager to conduct due diligence and consider sponsorship. Even the slightest uptick in national goodwill and demonstrated societal responsibility could more than offset the sponsorship costs, given the potential for unparalleled public awareness, respect, and loyalty—and, for shareholders, the resulting impact on market share, margins, and long-term performance.

Tax status. The conversion of HSe4Metrics into a 501(c)(3) private foundation—currently being handled pro bono by one of the nation’s top 100 law firms—has not yet been finalized. While this designation may be irrelevant to a government sponsor, it could serve as a motivating factor for a corporate sponsor.

To protect the interests of the eventual sponsor—and those of K–12 students—HSe4Metrics maintains a strict nondisclosure policy covering the platform’s proprietary innovations, including its design and operation.

In this context, protecting the sponsor’s interests also helps safeguard the interests of the nation and its K–12 population.

Have an idea for a sponsor? Let’s talk 
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