This week, Laura and John Arnold, our founders and co-chairs, joined Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt for an interview with KOCO 5 News to announce a new partnership that will help support the state’s “Be A Neighbor” initiative. The partnership will provide $10 million in new resources, driving additional investment to create more opportunities and better outcomes for Oklahoma’s children and youth.
This marks the third state to join Arnold Ventures (AV) in a partnership for proven programs, providing dollar-for-dollar philanthropic funding to support and scale public policies backed by rigorous, causal research.
Here are the top four takeaways from their interview:
This work is built on a growing foundation of policy research.
It may seem obvious to let evidence guide policymaking. However, that approach was not possible until recently. Only over the past few decades have researchers begun to build the body of evidence necessary to identify which programs actually achieve their intended aims.
“A lot of these debates are about how much money gets allocated,” said John Arnold, “when as important a question is, how does that money get allocated?”
That is why AV is teaming up with leaders like Governor Stitt who want to use data to drive their decisions. In doing so, we are working together to double down on the policies and programs that we are confident drive real, measurable improvements to people’s lives.
Philanthropy can play a unique role in working with policymakers to address the problems facing constituents.
In every community, there are areas where the public sector struggles to address complex, long-standing challenges. Sometimes, the barrier is limited resources. Often, it is because partisanship has spiraled into policy paralysis.
“The government needs help from the private sector,” said Governor Stitt. Philanthropies are uniquely positioned to fill that gap.
By taking a long-term vision and lifting rigorous research, philanthropy can help policymakers identify proven solutions to the pressing problems facing their communities and support their implementation. In Oklahoma, that means addressing challenges in K‑12 student achievement and improving adoption rates.
“The government can step in and say, hey, here’s the need that we have,” Stitt said.
AV’s Partnerships for Proven Programs are about long-term change.
The benefits of AV’s Partnerships for Proven Programs model are twofold. First, the funding helps immediately — directing needed resources into the programs with the greatest potential to have a measurable positive impact on communities in the short term, such as adoption or tutoring services.. Second, the model helps catalyze a new way of thinking about policymaking.
By providing matching dollars, AV is shining a spotlight on the most effective policy solutions, helping lawmakers decide which programs to invest more in over time. By demonstrating success in Oklahoma, AV can help other states see how prioritizing research and evidence in public policy can help them, too, deliver for their constituents.
“We’re in the business of creating better options for people in the long run,” said Laura Arnold. “And you can expect to see a commitment to replicate things that work.”
This is the future of public policy: testing assumptions, tracking outcomes, and letting evidence be the guide.
These partnerships can be a model for other philanthropies.
AV’s partnerships like the one in Oklahoma are just the beginning.
“If we can prove that the system works,” Governor Stitt said, “then we’ll have other foundations come in and help where government maybe can’t.”
There is a virtually limitless list of issues that demand the attention of policymakers. Other foundations can, and we hope will, join AV in supporting evidence-backed programs in states all across the country, amplifying the impact of the best solutions America has to offer.
As Governor Stitt said on KOCO 5 News, prioritizing evidence-based policy presents “an amazing opportunity to really move the needle” on key priorities everyone can all get behind.
