BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO ERGO CONCEPT

Something New:  the ERGO Concept in a Nutshell

The model of NGO-schools partnership created and advanced by The Umkhumbane Schools Project introduces a new entity into the education landscape to equip disadvantaged, struggling schools with their own, specialised workhorse constituted in the nonprofit sector. This entity is an innovative type of nonprofit organisation called an “Educational Resource Generating Organization,” or “ERGO,” taking the form of a small, localised nonprofit established on-site within a cluster of under-resourced schools.   The sole purpose for which an individual ERGO is chartered is to work within the cluster of schools for the benefit of that cluster of schools.  

We are passionate about the potential for this model to make a meaningful difference in advancing education equity in disadvantaged communities wherever they may be.

What does an ERGO bring to its small community of schools?

• A new funding stream for programs or other resources that are locally-driven and locally responsive.
• Economies of Scale -- programs can be organized and shared among a small cluster of schools in a more cost effective way than if the group of separate schools were vying/competing/overlapping/colliding over time, space, and cost.
• Resource sharing (Example: Resource Centre of The Umkhumbane Schools Project).
• Syllabus-enhancing programming/after-school.
• ERGO-sponsored educator salaries.
• Job creation for the local community, as the ERGO hires locally wherever possible.
• Benefits of friendly competition among schools in the cluster.
• Enhanced/more streamlined links to outside communities and providers of enrichment programming.