Impact Report
A Letter to Our Community
SkillUp turned four years old in July 2024. On the right is what it looked like in July 2020. Yep, SkillUp’s founder—the inimitable Josh Jarrett—from his Zoom shack office outside Seattle.
Well, we’ve come a long since those early days! An evolution of partnership models, intense product enhancements designed specifically for STARs (skilled through alternative routes), more confidence in data than ever before, a proprietary remote jobs catalog, a 5,000+ member survey panel, a growing team, and more.
Last year we announced an ambitious North Star goal: to help 100,000 SkillUp users secure high-opportunity employment by 2025. We’re thrilled to share that we’re on track to achieve that goal, with 62,616 users securing high-opportunity employment through June 2024. The goal is in sight!
Since July 2020, we have achieved:
• 2.3 million SkillUp users
• 64,118 job placements
• $4.7 billion in increased wages to workers
• 234:1 return on invesment
• 23 local sites + 1 fully remote job catalog
• 100+ coalition partners
Don’t get us wrong. Results are important. If we’re not demonstrating impact, then bad on us. But what also sustains us, are the organizations and people that we get to call friends, without whom none of this is possible.
Partners—like Verizon, Guild, JFF, Opportunity@Work, OneTen, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Multiverse, and so many others—inspire us with their passion, compassion, and willingness to collaborate (and break some rules on occasion!). A board that elevates us, but also keeps us grounded and humble. And most importantly, an incredible staff of 17 amazing, talented people
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR INITIAL JOURNEY
who live and embody our SkillUp core values of Worker-centric, Impact , Collaboration, Curiosity, and Accountability. What an honor and privilege it is to not only call you colleagues but more importantly, friends.
Now let’s not sugarcoat it. The journey hasn’t been easy. It’s been paved with potholes and pitfalls, many of our own making. A rapidly evolving labor marketplace that has required us to make hard decisions. Initiatives that have stumbled and failed. And if we’re truly honest, fundraising can be a bear.
And yet, here we are, four years in. And if we think about the one aspect that has allowed us to get here, through successes and failures alike, the word that strikes us is “grace.” Most importantly, the grace of our users, who have put their faith in SkillUp and entrusted us to be their partner on their career exploration journey. We take this responsibility very seriously.
So four years is great. What’s next?
While recognizing that what’s past is often prologue, the rapidly shifting tides of technology and the labor market would make even Shakespeare wonder. So we’ll answer with a sporting reference. It’s undisputed that one of the greatest athletes of all time was the peerless
Wayne Gretzky, the GOAT in hockey. Many skills made him great, but his true superpower was to think three steps ahead, to know where “the puck is going.” We use this term a lot at SkillUp, sometimes ad nauseam.
Now none of us truly know where the puck is going. But at SkillUp, we have to embrace our inner Gretzky. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce that SkillUp will soon be launching an innovation hub to put some intentionality and purpose to our involvement in this rapidly shifting marketplace. At its heart, the hub will center on the same core values mentioned above, with the ultimate aim to partner with leading-edge organizations on projects that will advance the field and drive system change. The hub will leverage the platform that we’ve built over the last four years and ultimately go “beyond the platform” to put learning into scaled practice.
None of this will come easy. We’ll be delving into the unknown. Many initiatives, may, and perhaps likely will, fail. But the team—staff and board—are pumped to try. We’re pumped to partner with others to advance the field. We’re pumped to push a worker voice learning agenda backed by data— something we believe is missing in the field at scale—to help educate where employers, government, and higher education should allocate their resources, and where they shouldn’t.
But most importantly, we’re pumped to do it with you! We know we can’t do this work alone. To our partners, workers, learners, and friends, we say thank you; let’s continue this collective journey together!
Steve Lee Chief Executive Officer
Josh Jarrett Board Chair
Who We Are & Where We Started
SkillUp was created in July 2020 as a coalition of partners to help workers across the country find quality employment by learning to upskill and reskill at scale.
Now, with over 100 coalition partners and more than 2.3 million workers supported, we enable individuals Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs) to break into new careers regardless of their degree-holding status. We focus on non-degree career pathways that pay a living wage, feature high-quality training with low risk and high return, and support job-seekers from start to finish.
OUR MISSION
Provide a guided and supported path to ensure every worker has high-opportunity employment.
OUR PROMISE
Help people discover their potential, determine their career destination, and get there faster and more confidently with SkillUp.
Our Core Values
We aim to be about the worker in everything we do. We intentionally craft our products, partnerships, and decisions to empower individuals to reach their fullest potential, achieve their goals, and enhance their quality of life with confidence and dignity.
Exemplify Curiosity
We stay ahead of the curve by being nimble and letting tenacious curiosity drive our innovation. We embrace the unknown, push boundaries, learn from successes and failures, and implement solutions.
OUR VISION
Every worker gains equity and dignity in the workforce through access to high-opportunity and quality employment.
We are a data-driven, heart-led organization committed to meaningful outcomes. Grounded in continuous improvement, we turn learnings into action and action into the greatest possible impact.
Embody Accountability
We walk the walk and get sh*t done. We ensure that our values, beliefs, and relationships align with our commitments to our workers, partners, and ourselves, bringing full transparency and accountability to our mistakes.
Embrace Collaboration
We believe in purposeful connections and build deep relationships that generate mutual value among our teams and partners. Embracing empathy, humility, and shared learnings along the way, we are better together.
Empower Impact
Our Coalition Partners
SkillUp has a coalition of over 100 partners spanning training and education providers, tech firms, intermediaries, employers, and philanthropies nationwide. SPECIAL
Founding
Guild
JFF
Opportunity@Work
Funding
Allstate Foundation
Ascendium
Bank Of America
Barclays
Charles D. and Mary A.
Bauer Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Catalyze Challenge
Charles Koch Foundation
Cognizant Foundation
GitLab Foundation
Google.Org (Google)
Hersch Family Foundation
Macquarie Foundation
Mark IV Capital
New York Workers Fund
The State of Colorado, Office of Economic
Development and Trade, Opportunity
Now Colorado
Rainwater Charitable
Foundation
Schultz Family Foundation
State of Washington
Sobrato Family Foundation
Stand Together Trust
State Of Ohio
Strada Education
Tarsadia Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation
Truist Foundation
Walmart Foundation
Walton Family Foundation
Workday Foundation
Yield Giving
Employer
Accenture/FutureofU
Bender
Bright Horizons
BuildWithin Cloudera
Cognizant
CSAA Five Guys
Hamilton HCL America
HYATT
Jason’s Deli
Multiverse
Now Foods
Renown
Sunrun
Tech Elevator TTEC
UC Health
UKG (Kronos, Inc)
Verizon
Worthington Industries
Young Adult Institute (YAI)
YUPRO
Localization
Dallas
Array Education, Inc. (Opportunity College)
Dallas College
Education is Freedom
Eastern Kentucky
SOAR
Nevada
Western Nevada College
New York City
Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
Hebrew Free Loan Society
Philadelphia
Philadelphia Works
Pittsburgh CAEL
Outreach
Social Capital Builders
Training & SkillUp Network
View even more partners here
About Our Team
We believe that diverse teams make the strongest teams, and being inclusive is part of who we are—it’s why we continue to build a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills that we are excited to embrace and celebrate.
As a team, we’re passionate about the impactful work that we get to do together and we’re as committed as ever to living out our core values each and every day—values that we built alongside one another through deep vetting and team collaboration.
Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors works diligently to bring subject matter expertise to the forefront and keep worker voice front and center in all we do.
Andre Bennin
Managing Director, Rethink Education
Sarah Croft
Director of Product, Navigating Cancer
Emily M. Dickens
Chief of Staff & Head of Government Affairs, SHRM
Maria Flynn
President & CEO, Jobs for the Future
Josh Jarrett
SkillUp Founder & Board Chair, SVP Strategy, Wiley
Des Lovell
VP Finance, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools Benjamin Geyerhahn CEO, Workers Benefits Fund
Who We Serve
We work with job-ready individuals Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs) and other non-degree-holding workers across the country. Our goal is to empower these individuals and help them elevate their careers through coaching, training, and career development .
Source for Income: Pulse Survey Wave II (Account created between June 2023–April 2024)
With SkillUp, there’s a lot of training available, remote training opportunities, and an expanded jobs section to help you redesign yourself to feel good about where you’re going. I’ve learned how to recognize my value and what I’m capable of—a skill I’ve had to develop to be able to articulate my worth in a different way.
Source for Race: MongoDB Profile Data (July 2023–June 2024)
Source for Gender: MongoDB Profile Data (July 2023–June 2024)
Source for Age: MongoDB Profile Data (July 2023–June 2024)
Source for Work Experience: MongoDB Profile Data (July 2023–June 2024)
SKILLUP USERS
SKILLUP USERS Work Experience Level
Tear the Paper Ceiling & Hire STARs
We continue to work alongside more than 30 corporate and nonprofit partners to champion the Tear the Paper Ceiling campaign and the 50% of American workers who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs) instead of a traditional 4-year degree. We are committed to creating a more equitable labor market with inclusive hiring practices and championing STARs both inside and outside of our organization.
Thriving SkillUp Workers
Our coalition is continuing to change the narrative about what work means. We empower workers seeking better jobs and economic mobility by providing the tools and support to help them change their lives.
July 2023–June 2024
FIND NON-DEGREE CAREER PATHWAYS
Reach and Awareness workers SUPPORTED
847,538
LOCAL SITE EXPERIENCES 23 and 1 FULLY REMOTE JOB CATALOG
93,340 USER PROFILES created
Engagement and Activation
EXPLORE TRAINING, JOBS & RESOURCES
26,847 with more than workers showing interest in 75% REMOTE WORK of
Outcomes and Success SECURE HIGH-OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYMENT
37% of workers report enrolling in TRAINING within 6 MONTHS
23,498 registrants of live CAREER COACHING 3,625 of workers start a new or better JOB within 6 MONTHS 24%
20,559 JOB PLACEMENTS
214:1 ROI for SkillUp users
Product Innovation
SkillUp offers the full-service start-to-finish career platform and support system for job seekers without a degree. Over the last year, we have implemented even more personalized product updates, proprietary technology, and comprehensive solutions to help workers, specifically those Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs), find a career path that aligns with their aspirations.
Increasing Remote Job Opportunities
Partners, Truist Foundation, and GitLab Foundation, allow our platform to serve up thousands of high-quality, well-paying remote job opportunities to individuals nationwide, regardless of their degree-holding status. This year alone, our custom API sourced over 100,000 unique remote jobs
Our comprehensive platform offers:
• 35 non-degree career pathways spanning five in-demand industries
• 3,600+ quality, short-term training programs that can all be completed in 12 months or less
• 17,000+ quality, open jobs with no degree requirements
• 140+ career and life resources including coaching and financial aid
• Coming soon! Guided, personalized generative AI support through our chat feature, “SkillUp AI”
Product Expansion : SkillUp AI
Guiding SkillUp Users with Generative AI
In partnership with Brighthive, AdeptID, MDRC, and Burning Glass Institute, we are using the latest generative AI technology to build on our worker journey and product experience to ensure that the most up-to-date tools are in the hands of our users.
Available for beta testing this summer, we are implementing a supportive AI chat feature, SkillUp AI, powered by our proprietary technology, Career NavGPT. This fine-tuned, open-source large language model and agent framework for career navigation will connect job seekers Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs) with curated opportunities specifically tailored to their skills, experience, location and interests. Our platform evolution will provide an optimized experience enabling users to find skills-based and aligned career matching within the SkillUp platform all within a human-to-human like guided chat experience.
About SkillUp AI
At SkillUp Coalition, we are committed to fostering an inclusive, fair, and transparent AI ecosystem.
TRUSTED AI BUILT BY CAREER EXPERTS
• All career, training, and job materials sourced with SkillUp quality standards
• Follows strict data and privacy guidelines
• Developed in collaboration with diverse stakeholders for relevancy and fairness
• Ethical principles inspired in partnership with EDSAFE AI Alliance
Localization Partners
Leveraging Local Experience
We continue to bring the best of SkillUp’s resources together to 23 local regions across the country. Building on deep labor market analysis, local training program vetting, and collaboration with committed regional employer partners we can help workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs) find the best high-opportunity career paths, trainings, and job listings tailored to local job markets.
Supporting Northern Nevadans with Career Advising
SkillUp has launched a total of 23 local partnerships in:
The following additional sites are targeted for July–December 2024 launch:
In partnership with Western Nevada College, SkillUp Northern Nevada users have the opportunity to meet with a local career advisor for dedicated 1:1 advising sessions, regardless of where they may be in their career journeys. REGIONS COMING SOON EXISTING REGIONS
Inspiring Dallas Youth
Through generous funding from philanthropic partners Bloomberg , Schultz Family Foundation, and Rainwater Charitable Foundation, we continue to inspire Dallas youth to rethink career paths, explore skill-building programs, and embrace earn-and-learn jobs and apprenticeships that allow for learning on the job. In 2024, individuals ages 16-24 years old represent nearly 70% of all SkillUp Dallas users.
Earning While Learning with Apprenticeships
In partnership with BuildWithin and Multiverse, SkillUp has introduced dozens of new apprenticeship programs and placements across the country. These opportunities include many non-traditional apprenticeship roles such as marketing, customer service, data analysis, office management, and more!
Making New York Job Training More Accessible
In partnership with the Hebrew Free Loan Society, New York residents can receive up to $5,000 in interest free loans to support costs associated with SkillUp-approved retraining or upskilling programs and/or living expenses while enrolled in such a program.
Training & Employer Partners
TRAINING
We’ve developed quality standards to deeply vet and assess occupations, training programs, and jobs that enable our users to make valuable educational investments. We feature high-quality training programs that match the most in-demand skills, certifications, and industry-recognized credentials needed to gain high-opportunity employment.
Our training and jobs catalog has been validated to ensure that the nearly 3,600+ programs featured will increase a user’s chances of entering a new career and qualifying for employment.
OUR TRAINING CRITERIA:
• Transparency on cost, duration, and support services
• Programs can be completed in less than 12 months, with some exceptions for apprenticeships or multiple credential programs
• Programs are less than $10,000 in cost, with nearly 80% of our catalog training programs offered for under $2,000
EMPLOYER PARTNERS
OUR JOB CRITERIA:
• In-demand and/or demonstrate high growth projections
• Present opportunities for advancement
• Backed by credentialing
• Offer living wages in alignment with MIT Living Wage Calculator
Our Employer Partners are firmly committed to hiring job-ready individuals without a degree. Our employer partner badge allows users to connect to these carefully vetted employers offering a variety of roles across two defined job levels:
GATEWAY JOBS:
For individuals with previous work experience, job skills, or credentials in a desired field of work. These opportunities open doors for career advancement and better wages.
EARN & LEARN JOBS:
Entry-level roles designed to help individuals grow their skills on the job while earning a living wage.
Earn & Learn employer partners offer jobs that require little to no previous experience
VERIFIED EMPLOYER PARTNERS:
VIEW ALL EMPLOYER PARTNERS HERE
Our Learning Lab
Evolution of Learning & Innovation
Our goal is to help workers define their futures through proactive outreach, personalized career exploration, and training and employer connections.
To achieve this, we work to learn quickly, fail fast, iterate, and start again. By gleaning insights from the 2.3 million workers we’ve served, we can turn our data-driven learnings into comprehensive solutions to support more workers and advance the workforce landscape at large to drive systems and policy change, improve research and evaluation, and be part of continuous technology innovation.
WE’RE
Remote Job Learnings
In partnership with the Truist Foundation and GitLab Foundation, we developed a STARs-focused remote jobs catalog to provide increased access to remote work. This catalog continues to surface thousands of high-quality remote jobs, particularly for job seekers without a college degree and living in rural areas, making previously unattainable employment a possibility. It also levels the playing field between rural and urban areas with high-paying and highskilled work. More than 5,000 of the 17,000+ vetted, open roles we connected that meet our highest job standards and do not require a degree are fully remote opportunities
Skills-Based Matching in Partnership with AI
As we implement and test our SkillUp AI feature, we continue to have evolving technology conversations with development partners. We are exploring all possibilities available including generative AI skills-based matching which would allow a user to upload a current resume or share select bullets around their existing work experience to be matched to top career fields, training programs, and open opportunities within their areas of interest.
Partner Spotlights
Putting Qualitative Data to Use
Through a partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, SkillUp provided thousands of data points on topics including household budgets, what workers want from new jobs, and their general job market outlook. These qualitative insights helped to create an understanding of worker sentiment and confidence—insights valuable to monetary policy analysis.
Stipends & Skills Training
In partnership with Barclays, Stand Together, and Per Scholas, we have not only increased the graduation rates and employment rates of our users, thanks to stipends, but have also thoroughly researched and reported their measure of impact.
SkillUp Worker Insights
Quantitative and qualitative data for trust and credibility—The SkillUp Pulse Survey gives us insights into worker behavior with access to a survey panel of upwards of 8,000-panel members. This data shows us the most pressing issues for workers across the country and the efficacy of stakeholders across the ecosystem to provide meaningful support and worker opportunities.
Because we survey panel members on a quarterly basis, we can collect longitudinal data over time. This is the first survey of its kind to exist to date in the workforce and education sector, and we believe, if done well and at scale, we can help more workers transition to promising career paths, find high-opportunity employment, and have their voices inform policy, programmatic, and funding decisions.
API Integration Partnerships
We are actively partnering with workforce boards, training providers, K-12 partners, and other nonprofit organizations to build technology integrations to allow our deeply vetted career, training, and job catalogs to feed into other technology platforms. With the intent of being a public good, SkillUp’s career resources have the ability to reach millions of additional beneficiaries outside of our platform.
Alternative Talent Financing
We are making an intentional effort to bring a variety of funding options to our users. While we are able to bring in low-cost short-term training programs, we understand many of our users still need additional funding, stipends, and financial aid during their upskilling journeys. We’re looking at how we can offer additional stipend opportunities with the help of stipend partners, apprenticeship and “learn on the job” partners, and zero-interest lending partners. This is an effort to expand our service areas to ensure we’re providing the most comprehensive support for our users.
User Data & Product Experience
We’ve built a worker outreach strategy and product experience with connected data touchpoints throughout a worker’s jobseeking journey. This learning agenda doesn’t exist at scale and provides the opportunity to partner and share these learnings with employers, higher education, and government, to inform for the greatest impact.
The skills that I learned through the programs with SkillUp helped me overcome the doubt I had about navigating a career change. SkillUp presented me with a cluster of opportunities for training and jobs and it’s given me a lot of confidence.
Ron Ruiz
Vet Tech to IT through Social Capital Builders, IT Training, SkillUp Advocate
VIEW MORE OF RON’S JOURNEY
The Future of SkillUp
At SkillUp, we strive to be data-driven, heart (worker) led. Thus, we are thrilled to lead a “worker-first” learning agenda backed by data and action research, which we believe is essential in the field. Building on SkillUp’s momentum over the past four years, we embark on the launch of an innovation hub in early 2025.
The innovation hub will leverage SkillUp’s unique capabilities—access to workers skilled through alternative routes (STARs) at scale and in-depth career journey data—to drive innovation and actionable “worker-first” insights for the workforce ecosystem. It will utilize our internal expertise, real-time platform and campaign analytics, qualitative research, and partnerships with leading organizations, positioning us to adapt to the shifting marketplace and drive systemic change.
Additionally, the innovation hub will enable our team to turn learning into practice. With our SkillUp platform reaching millions of STARs, we can quickly apply insights to enhance our product , create authentic connections, and better serve STARs on their path to high-opportunity employment. All while continuing to test, learn, iterate, then test again.
We look forward to sharing more in the coming months and engaging with you as we champion workers, empower impact, embrace collaboration, exemplify curiosity, and embody accountability TOGETHER.
Innovation through testing , learning , iterating
100,000 individuals to high-opportunity employment by 2025
It all started because I discovered SkillUp—it helped me grow my current skillset and find other programs that allowed me to grow. I was able to find programs that allowed me to progress the way I wanted to and helped me with job placement.
Tareakubore E. From Jobless-to-Tech with resources and job support, SkillUp Advocate
VIEW MORE OF TAREAKUBORE’S JOURNEY
Grant Revenue Expenses
Unrestricted $5,602,749
TOTAL SUPPORT
Restricted $2,597,995 $8,200,744
Management & General $160,964
Fundraising $533,852
TOTAL FUNCTIONAL EXPENSES
Program Services $4,737,727 $5,432,543
In the News
News & Thought Leadership Features
I’m doing the medical coding and billing certification with SkillUp. The SkillUp survey showed me that there is a healthcare medical coding and billing field, that is remote work, which I’m grateful for. Don’t lose hope—go for it—you can do anything!
Faryal S.
Remote Training/Remote Healthcare Job, SkillUp Advocate
Coalition’s Steve Lee on Combating Intergenerational Poverty & the Skilled Labor Crisis
Evaluating the Impact of Direct Funding for Workers
Nonprofit Launches Platform To Help People Without Degrees Find High-Paying Jobs
VIEW MORE OF FARYAL’S JOURNEY