iCivics Annual Report 2017

ANNUAL REPORT 2017

ON THE RISE:

5 MILLION STUDENTS REACHED

CIVIC

EDUCATION

Dear Friends of iCivics,

The old adage goes that politics is not a spectator sport. In this time of polarization and division we must renew our civic commitment.

We need our citizens, young and old, to be part of the political process,

unequal for students of lesser means. Our challenge is monumental...

to be engaged in our communities, in our democracy.

but so is iCivics’ achievement today in braving it.

“Citizenship is a gift” remarked Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, our founder.

We are now a scaled solution grounded in innovation, grit, and deep

“And it starts well before one votes.” Such words deserve reflection.

consideration for the needs of teachers. Our model is successful with

It is now 230 years since our Constitution – our republican pact – was

educators because we address a fundamental need in our field: high-

formed and signed. Our society is a free, open, and pluralistic one;

quality, non-partisan, and inspiring civic education. For free.

supreme power resides in its citizens. Truly, there is nothing obvious

iCivics is at a turning point. Last year’s election, in all of its surprise

nor common about this pact. Young adults will soon be tasked to take

and fervent spirit, brought teachers in droves to our gaming platform.

up the mantle of our republic. It is our responsibility to educate and

Site traffic surged because teachers were pressed to find a safe way –

prepare them to make use of this exceptionally precious gift.

a deeply inspiring way – to teach the Electoral College, the presidency,

iCivics began as an idea, some 10 years ago, to tackle a dangerous

and the issues that mattered without getting caught up in the

and pressing reality: many young people were growing ignorant and

political turmoil.

unconcerned about their government. American civic education

The result: 5,250,000 students reaped the benefits of iCivics in 2017

has come up short. It has failed to inspire young people and remains

alone – a 28% growth.

Our teachers were far from taciturn in their gratitude. Countless retold the following story: their students had finally made sense of the complicated political process; they were more energized, more eager

5,250,000 STUDENTS

to come into class than ever before; and where it had not been before,

REAPED THE BENEFITS

our common civic life had become a source of wonder and significance

OF ICIVICS IN 2017 ALONE – A 28% GROWTH.

for these young citizens.

Each day, iCivics moves closer to ensuring all students get a great civic education. We have only gotten this far because of your continued trust and commitment to our cause. We must not stop.

Good citizenship is a lifelong endeavor. It is what happens when we each respect our most basic rights and duties towards one another; when we each understand how and why government works; and when we care enough about a problem to seek a solution and fix it together.

Like a gift, our citizenship should not be taken for granted.

Respectfully,

Louise Dubé

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iCivics Annual Re p or t 20 17

iCivics Board

iCivics

of Directors

Advisory Board

HONORABLE SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR Chairwoman Emeritus, Retired Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States

PAUL BAUMANN Director, National Center for Learning and Civic Engagement

JOSEPH KAHNE Dutton Presidential Chair, The University of California, Riverside

JOCELYN BENSON CEO, The Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE)

ERIC KLOPFER Professor and Director, MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program

WENDY MAY Chairwoman, Partner, Hartline Dacus Barger Dreyer, LLP BRENDAN CULLEN Principal, Cause First Consulting HONORABLE ROBERT HENRY President, Oklahoma City University RALPH IANNELLI President and CEO, Essex Capital Corporation TOM LUE Senior Counsel, Google Advanced Technology and Projects LAIRD MALAMED COO, Oculus JAY O’CONNOR Advisory Partner, Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital ANN M. RAVEL Fellow, New America CA KATHLEEN SMALLEY Partner, Locke Lord JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR Associate, Justice, Supreme Court of the United States ABIGAIL TAYLOR Assistant Attorney General, Child and Youth Protection Unit; Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General

REBECCA BURGESS Program Manager, Program on American Citizenship, AEI CHRISTOPHER CERF Superintendent, Newark Public Schools JEFF CURLEY iCivics Co-Founder CHRISTINE GARVEY Director, Union Bank of California ALAN GERSHENFELD Co-Founder and President, E-Line Media DIANA HESS Dean, School of Education, University of WisconsinMadison HONORABLE LEE HAMILTON Director, Center on Congress, Indiana University

iCivics welcomes two distinguished members to our Governing Board: Ann Ravel and Laird Malamed.

MICHAEL LEVINE Founding Director, Joan Ganz Cooney Center PETER LEVINE Associate Dean for Research, Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University PAUL MIHAILIDIS Associate Dean for Research, Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University TED MCCONNELL Executive Director, Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools JULIE O’SULLIVAN Professor of Law, Georgetown University ELOISE PASACHOFF Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University

MICHELLE M. HERCZOG Former President, National Council for the Social Studies

JOHN RICHARDS President, Consulting Services for Education, Inc

BARRY JOSEPH Associate Director of Digital Learning, American Museum of Natural History

VALERIE SHUTE Professor, College of Education, Florida State University BENJAMIN STOKES Assistant Professor, School of Communication, American University

Both members bring great value and expertise to our leadership, strengthening areas of technology innovation, civic engagement, and government rules and ethics. Mr. Malamed heads CORE Ops and Oculus Seattle, the leader in virtual reality and 2014 acquisition of Facebook; Ms. Ravel is a Fellow at New America addressing issues of civic engagement and also teaches at the UC Berkeley School of Law. “I have been incredibly impressed by the mission of iCivics,” she says. “This work is so necessary now, and the games and teacher trainings are as well thought out as they are effective.”

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INNOVATION AND IMPACT THE KEY QUESTION THAT DRIVES OUR CREATIVE PROCESS:

Innovation is the hallmark of the iCivics brand.

Technology in the classroom is a new reality. It is changing how civics can be taught. More and more teachers are turning to digital solutions to make learning more efficient and more impactful for their students. iCivics continues to innovate, releasing 8 games as apps this year.

Our continued ability to combine teacher-friendly, non-partisan, and highly engaging materials makes for scaled and meaningful impact in the classroom.

Our simulations help students make the bridge to civic engagement in the world.

What iCivics usage looks like today Used nationally across all

HOW TO MAKE ABSTRACT CONCEPTS Of all teacher-users: ABOUT GOVERNMENT work in RELEVANT public schools TO KIDS?

70%

50

states

Of all teacher-users:

76% 49%

work in public schools work in Title I schools

work in Title I schools

iCivics continues to draw national visibility and recognition.

influential people of 2017 for her leadership in building

For example, iCivics won the Fast Company award for Top

iCivics from the ground-up – and making great civic

10 Most Innovative Companies in Education. This list covers

education available to all.

36 sectors and geographies and includes companies like

As a result of our reach and impact, iCivics has been featured

Duolingo, NASA, and Newsela.

in numerous national publications this year, including

In addition, we were awarded the People’s Voice Award

Education Week and the Wall Street Journal, along with

from the Diller-Von Furstenberg Foundation; and Justice

a range of local news outlets across states.

O’Connor was recognized in Time Magazine’s 100 most 4 |

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A TEACHER DRIVEN PLATFORM In 2017, our success is blending innovation with

Teachers use our games to capture students’ imagination

impactful learning.

for civic life. Our extensive library of resources – lesson

We strive to get the product right by talking to teachers,

plans and activities, web-extensions, digital learning tools

understanding their classroom needs, and leveraging the

for argumentative writing and evidence-based learning –

power of affordable digitally available civic education.

deepens the learning experience.

’’

I am grateful every day for the bipartisan and factual information iCivics provides my students. One of my students told me the other day that I was the first teacher to ever explain to her how voting works… I would not have been as effective or as

’’

engaging without iCivics.

Leasa Graves, Santa Rosa, CA

Engagement is the key to good

It is a constant challenge to find ways to make the arcane processes

learning. And our power rests in a single observation: iCivics gets

of government interesting and accessible for the kids. I was thrilled

students interested in civic life before

to find iCivics – I had always fantasized about a future in which my

it is even “taught.” Young people make

students could learn through game play.

sense of once-difficult concepts, like

The most enjoyable part has been watching kids try to win the

and explore their implications on

Presidential election in “Win the White House” and pass a law in

our shared society. As a result, they

“search and seizures” or “federalism”

“Lawcraft.” They don’t realize they’re learning – they think they’re competing (and doing so badly!). Only after we debrief do students understand the depth of their learning experience in the game.

’’

better understand their roles as participants in our democracy …

And all before they break for lunch.

Joseph Cortese, Homer, NY

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’’

YEAR IN REVIEW

In 2017, 83,000 teachers

iCivics was created so that every student in America receives an excellent civic education.

came to our website for help – 28% annual growth

Each year, our resources become more varied, while remaining entirely free: poverty must not be a barrier to learning about – and participating in – our government systems. Teachers agree.

Overall, some 5.25 million students across all 50 states learned with iCivics in 2017 alone. While this landmark success is partly attributed to iCivics’ strategic growth, the larger context was a raucous and unique election cycle that drove civics teachers, by the thousands, seeking high-quality materials that would awaken their students’ interest while promoting even-handed and fact-based learning.

Strategic Game Upgrades As the 2016 election approached, iCivics upgraded two games and led marketing campaigns around each to seize the national momentum for civic learning. The games – Win the White House and Executive Command – underwent a full technical conversion from Flash to Unity, receiving content upgrades and a sleeker visual design. These upgrades ensure students have a more seamless gaming experience.

Both games address the electoral process and role of the presidency – and proved astonishingly timely to the civics classroom. Exceeding

3M

even our highest expectations for usage, the games collected a total 10,000,000 gameplays.

NOV 2016

October is always our best month– this year, we shatered our previous record plays

1.6M

(Unique game plays)

950K 280K OCT 2011 6 |

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OCT 2012

740K

840K

OCT 2013

OCT 2014

970K OCT 2015

OCT 2016

In April, iCivics also

Expanding the Curriculum

released an upgrade of

to High School

our game Counties Work.

Early on, we understood that gamifying

In this game, students get to tackle local problems by stepping into the shoes of a county administrator: addressing the many needs of their demanding county residents, all while regulating taxes and growing the county infrastructure...

civic education was a prominent start... but it could not stand on its own.

Teachers, especially at the high school level where government and history is taught the most, have expressly asked us to come up with new teaching materials to support game-based learning. Their urgency was clear.

and holding on to public support!

Counties Work conveys the value of local

These teachers need a

government to young students. The game is also

curriculum of greater:

sandwiched within lesson activities that encourage

Breadth – Covering more

students to go out into their communities, search

subjects and curricular

for potential remedies to local problems, and

standards.

tackle them.

Technology upgrades

Depth – Driving students’ ties to civic skills and behaviors.

iCivics has worked to convert its most reliable games to apps. The work has paid off: in a little over one year, iCivics has published 8 games for tablet-play. Altogether, they have been installed 3.8 million times.

In 2017, iCivics made tremendous inroads. We added 29 new lesson plans, on topics ranging from the Constitution to State and Local Government as well as News and Media Literacy.

The result is over 1.6M lesson plan downloads just in 2017.

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BUILDING A CIVICS 2.0 Addressing the unmet needs of English Language Learners

Our mission to serve all students equitably would be undercut by not focusing on the fastest growing student group in America.

While our nation’s schools count 3.75 million students

ONLY 1 IN 5 ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER HAS EVEN “BASIC” UNDERSTANDING

learning English – often termed “ELL” – they often get

IN CIVICS

lesser quality civic education than their peers. Both they, and their teachers, lack adapted materials.

(NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS, 2014)

The problem runs deep.

Civic education deals with advanced concepts and terminology, which prevents ELLs from absorbing the material in the first place. Civics teachers face great challenges too. They often lack experience and resources in teaching to the specific needs of ELLs. Even more difficult: these students have wide differences in language and academic levels, and are often mixed in with non-ELLs in the classroom. As a result, teachers are left with few options and their students struggle as a result.

In 2017, iCivics took the steps to benefit millions of young ELLs. Embarking on a dedicated project to address their unique needs, iCivics is preparing for a set of exciting

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iCivics Annual Re p o r t 20 17

new releases in coming years. We will not only re-adapt our games and lessons to support student scaffolding – or “step-by-step” learning – but engage educators in a national campaign to strengthen instructional strategies around ELL teaching.

Our goal is to develop civic literacy for these young members of society. By reinforcing their civic knowledge, skills, and appetite for participation, we reinforce our democracy. iCivics is committed to delivering the same high-quality civic education their peers get.

Our Commitment to Professional Development iCivics is intent on promoting demand for civic education nationwide. While school districts need to adopt pro-civic learning policies, iCivics has begun to offer professional development for civics teachers. Many registered teachers – and various school districts – have expressed demand for this.

Civics teachers want to nurture their content mastery and instructional skills.

In fact, a large teacher-survey this year confirmed this. Many stressed wanting to improve their content knowledge in civics as well as better integrating gamebased learning into their curriculum. iCivics is well-suited to carry out this program at scale. Most current options for professional development in civics are not affordable or not accessible to the average teacher. iCivics is offering a suite of low-priced, flexible, and on-demand options for them to access “blended” training – mixing in-person and online modules. Our opportunity is to fuel educators’ potential for great civic education.

92% of teachers want some form of professional development from iCivics.

Our cause is urgent.

In the wake of the 2016 election, incivility and misinformation grows while communities grow only more polarized. At the root is a crisis in civic education – one that iCivics is determined to combat.

As we enter a new year, our goal is to reach 6 million students. This scale is possible at our current growth rate ... but it cannot happen on its own. Our priority is innovation: expanding our programming to new and underserved audiences while making existing resources ever more accessible.

iCivics remains steadfast in its strategic goals for 2020: 1. Scale our reach to 10 million students per year. We are expanding our offerings to new and underserved student populations and ensuring greater access to our free resources.

2. Deepen our impact on students’ ties to literacy and civic engagement.

To achieve this, iCivics is developing new digital literacy tools; offering professional development opportunities for civics teachers; and growing key partnerships with ed-tech providers.

3. Push rigorous mandates for civic education forward. iCivics is working in several key initiatives at the state level to create demand for high-quality civic education. Our goal is to rally educators, project-based civic education providers, and funders to drive demand for meaningful policy change. i C i v i cs A nnua l Re p o r t 2017

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THOSE WHO MAKE iCIVICS POSSIBLE We are tremendously grateful for the support we receive from our donors. Their investment keeps iCivics free.

THE iCIVICS TEAM

Foundation of the International Association of Defense Counsel

Wendy May

Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Ralph Iannelli

National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations

Leonard Lauder

Norman Raab Foundation

Jacqueline Mars

O’Melveny & Myers, LLP

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The Honorable Bonnie McElveen-Hunter

Kit Pannill

OLIVIA BRODE-ROGER

Mark Perry

Data Analyst

Kenan Charitable Trust

Park Foundation

Craig Primis

KRISTEN CHAPRON

Library of Congress

Wallace Genetic Foundation

Victoria Radd Rollins

ELL Project Lead

Martin Rodgers

AMBER COLEMAN-MORTLEY

LEADER (+ $100,000) S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation Carnegie Corporation of New York Ford Foundation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation National Association of Counties Robert R. McCormick Foundation Arthur Rock and Toni Rembe Rock

SUSTAINER ($1,000 -$24,999)

Oren Root

Barbara B. Allbritton

Seneca Women

Scott Barshay

Kathleen Smalley

Christine Begley

Robert H. Smith Family Foundation

Cranaleith Foundation Daniel Bussel Kevin Chou

PARTNER ($25,000-$99,999)

Diane Cooley

Amazon Web Services

Jim and Janet D’Addario

Bernstein Family Foundation Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation Christopher Dewey Dagmar Dolby Entertainment Software Association Foundation Diller-Von Furstenberg Foundation

Craig and Susan McCaw Foundation

Louis Dejoy and Aldona Z. Wos Family Foundation Evolve Foundation Patrick and Pam Goodenough The Honorable James Hormel

State Government Affairs Council Foundation Maurice Stewart Silvija Strikis

LOUISE DUBÉ

Executive Director ALISON ATWATER

Senior Curriculum Developer

Digital Media Manager TAYLOR DAVIS

Curriculum Associate LYUBO DOPCHEV

Web Developer MEGHAN ECKNER

Executive Assistant

Patricia Warner

DR. EMMA HUMPHRIES

William B. Wiener, Jr. Foundation

Chief Education Officer NASH KAMAL

Thomas Wilner

Principal Engineer

Harriet Wiser and Duke Woods

SUE MEEHAN Chief Operating &

Anne Irwin

Financial Officer

Kirkland & Ellis, LLP

MOLLY MORRISON

Lincoln and Therese Filene Foundation Robert Long, Jr. Thomas Lue

Chief Development Officer GABRIEL NEHER

Development Associate CARRIE RAY-HILL

Director of Content DR. KELLY LEAHY WHITNEY Chief Product and Partnerships Officer

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iCivics Annual Re p or t 20 17

FY2017 FINANCIAL REPORT Students Reached vs. Expenses* For every $.53 invested, a student learns with iCivics.

6M

5M

Students reached 4M

Expenses (in $) 3M

2M

1M FY14

FY15

FY16

FY17

June 30, 2017

June 30, 2016

2,611,331

2,411,901

In-Kind

740,450

826,399

Royalties & Contract Income

633,100

304,000

Support and Revenue Contributions

Interest Income & Other Revenue

90,472

18,677

Total Support

4,075,353

3,560,977

Program Expenses

2,746,511

(78%)

2,734,407

(80%)

Management & General

298,285

(9%)

409,009

(12%)

Fundraising

471,153

(13%)

269,265

(8%)

Total Expenses

3,515,949

3,412,681

Net assets, Beginning of Year

2,328,470

2,180,174

Net Assets, End of Year

2,887,874

2,328,470

559,404

148,296

Change in Net Assets *Excludes in-kind donations

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CIVIC

EDUCATION

info@icivics.org | 1035 Cambridge Street, Suite 21B | Cambridge, MA 02141 (617) 356-8311 | www.icivics.org |

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