Annual Report

2025

Advancing evidence where it matters most.

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    I always felt driven to ensure that children have a good future ahead of them.

    Klaus J. Jacobs
    Klaus J. Jacobs

    In 2025, the Jacobs Foundation surpassed 1 billion Swiss francs in cumulative giving — 1 billion invested in the learning and development of children.

    But this is not a retrospective milestone, it is a forward-facing commitment.

    It signals our determination to take what we have learned over more than three decades and apply it with greater scale and with deeper ambition.

    In the same year, we assumed full control over our assets and implemented an independent investment strategy. This step strengthens our ability to act decisively and to invest patiently — in discovery research, and in systemic reform — even amid global funding volatility.

    The global education landscape is shifting. Major financing flows have contracted. Priorities are being reassessed. Yet, within this disruption lies opportunity. Progress in education has never depended on funding alone, rather it depends on whether resources are directed where they create the greatest impact.

    The challenge before philanthropy is not simply to mobilize more resources, it is to mobilize better resources. To ensure that every franc, every dollar, works harder by being guided by evidence.

    Highlights

    2025 in review: transforming education around the world

    Featured Image
    Reflection
    31 January 2025

    A wishlist for advancing global education in 2025

    There is growing recognition that evidence should play a central role in shaping education policies and programs. But for this to happen, we need to rethink how research is generated, shared, and applied. Too often, education studies sit behind paywalls, remain disconnected from the realities of classrooms, or fail to engage the very communities they aim […]
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    News
    25 March 2025

    One year of CEPE: Strengthening Education Through Evidence in Colombia

    March 2025 marks one year since the inception of Colombia Evidencia Potencial en Educación (CEPE) , one of our innovative country programs dedicated to embedding evidence into Colombia’s education system Designed to foster collaboration between researchers, policymakers, and educators, CEPE is focused on improving learning outcomes through three key components: Over the past year, CEPE has […]
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    News
    08 May 2025

    LEVANTE welcomes first cohort of participating sites to global research network

    The Jacobs Foundation is pleased to announce the first cohort of participating sites selected to join the Learning Variability Network Exchange (LEVANTE)—its flagship global initiative focused on advancing our understanding of children’s learning variability. Following a highly competitive call for proposals in August 2024, which attracted 182 applications from around the world, six sites have now been selected […]

    Voices of Evidence in Motion

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    Brenda Warire
    Brenda Wawire
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    James Canton
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    Yves Karlen
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    Clement Abas Apaak
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    Alison Spence Montillet
    Brenda Warire
    Brenda Wawire
    2025-27 Jacobs CIFAR Research Fellow
    Participating in the Jacobs CIFAR Research Fellowship has been a significant professional development opportunity, allowing me to conduct critical research that sheds light on the causes of reading difficulties and individual differences among multilingual learners at risk of reading failure in low-resource contexts. There is an urgent need to combat the persistent learning crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, making evidence- based policy directions and interventions crucial to addressing severe reading difficulties and learning disabilities while accounting for individual differences among children in these contexts.
    Brenda Warire
    Brenda Wawire
    2025-27 Jacobs CIFAR Research Fellow
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    James Canton
    Deputy Director for Innovation and Public Policy at the Economic and Social Research Council
    Strengthening the global evidence architecture
    A major missing ingredient has been the coordination of researchers, evidence intermediaries, funders, and evidence users. The Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative (ESIC) has created a shared roadmap and collaboration architecture across funders, intermediaries, governments, multilateral organizations, and civil society, including through the Cape Town Consensus Charter. That makes it easier to align investments and funding, and avoid fragmentation.
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    James Canton
    Deputy Director for Innovation and Public Policy at the Economic and Social Research Council
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    Dr. Yves Karlen
    Professor of Secondary Education, University of Zürich
    Embedding evidence within schools
    When evidence becomes part of everyday routines, it stops feeling like an add-on and starts shaping how teachers think, notice, and talk about learning. It is no longer something that is consulted occasionally or required externally, but something that informs everyday professional judgment. In my experience, this often happens through simple, shared practices, such as regularly reflecting on how students approached a task, not just how well they performed.
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    Dr. Yves Karlen
    Professor of Secondary Education, University of Zürich
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    Dr. Clement Abas Apaak
    Deputy Minister of Education, Ghana
    Embedding evidence inside government systems
    Ghana’s experience with SCALE shows that sustainable education reform does not come from isolated initiatives, but from strengthening the systems that connect evidence, policy, and classroom practice. By embedding credible evidence into government decision-making, from planning and resource allocation to teacher support, we are building a system capable of translating knowledge into better learning outcomes for children.
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    Dr. Clement Abas Apaak
    Deputy Minister of Education, Ghana
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    Alison Spence Montillet
    English Language Educator & CLIL Practitioner
    Translating evidence for teachers
    As an English as a Second Language teacher working with students aged 6 to 13 in schools in Switzerland, I use the Digital Museum of Learning to support my language‑based teaching. Its stories and resources help me enhance course book material and extend vocabulary. My students love the interactive elements, the certificates, and learning about the lives of children in the past. I used the game “Can you crack the dress code?” in the Fabrics of Identity exhibition to build clothing vocabulary and expand it with adjectives.
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    Alison Spence Montillet
    English Language Educator & CLIL Practitioner

    Learning Outreach

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    Learning Outreach
    A girl blows a dandelion
    Digital Museum of Learning artwork including a picture of a kingfisher an aquatic model and a book of plants
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    new BOLD publications
    0
    new interviewees
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    new educators signed up
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    countries visited Digital Museum of Learning

    The Jacobs Foundation in Figures

    CHF
    0bn
    Cumulative Grants
    CHF
    0m
    Projects approved in 2025
    CHF
    0m
    Payments to projects in 2025

    Projects Approved in 2025 by Portfolio

    109m
    Global Evidence Architecture
    17
    Global Research Programs
    31
    West Africa
    20
    Colombia
    34
    Switzerland
    3.8
    Learning Outreach
    3.0
    Charitable Activities
    0.5
    All numbers are rounded to the nearest million.

    Payments for Projects in 2025 by Portfolio

    28m
    Global Evidence Architecture
    1.4
    Global Research Programs
    12
    West Africa
    3.5
    Colombia
    0.1
    Switzerland
    5.5
    Learning Outreach
    4.7
    Charitable Activities
    0.6

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