Learn Fresh is a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding access to high-quality STEM learning experiences for students in third through eighth grade. Through signature programs like NBA Math Hoops, Learn Fresh taps into students’ passion for sports to build math skills, confidence, and engagement both in and out of the classroom.
Overdeck Family Foundation began funding Learn Fresh in 2020. Alongside general operating support focused on generating credible evidence of impact, the Foundation provided a complementary set of capacity-building opportunities to advance key milestones in the organization’s evidence-building journey. The work began with a targeted technical assistance project to articulate a clear theory of change and develop a comprehensive monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) framework. By investing in these foundational capabilities, Learn Fresh was able to better align its programming with intended outcomes and create the internal systems needed to consistently collect, analyze, and use data.
Building on this groundwork, the Foundation supported Learn Fresh to hire a Strategic Data Project Fellow, Dr. Megan Darnley, to strengthen its data infrastructure and prepare for a rigorous evaluation. Megan’s work not only improved data quality and clarified key research questions, but also built lasting capacity; following the fellowship, Megan joined Learn Fresh full-time as senior director of data and evaluation strategy. Throughout this period, our program and research team also provided ongoing coaching to prepare Learn Fresh to launch a validation study of NBA Math Hoops.
The resulting study, funded by the Foundation in 2024 and conducted by WestEd, found positive impacts on students’ math achievement, providing ESSA Tier 1 evidence of Learn Fresh’s effectiveness. The organization is now being supported by the Foundation’s research and communications teams in designing a multi-pronged dissemination plan to ensure the findings reach all stakeholders and primary audiences.
Together, these strategically sequenced capacity-building supports have positioned Learn Fresh with both the infrastructure and evidence needed to scale its work while contributing to the broader field’s understanding of what drives meaningful gains in math.
“Support from Overdeck Family Foundation has provided important stability for our evaluation journey, allowing us to strengthen our internal capabilities while activating third-party research,” said Nick Monzi, CEO and co-founder of Learn Fresh. “Moving forward, we are committed to investing in Dr. Darnley’s important internal work while pursuing additional experimental research opportunities with partners like WestEd.”
