What if the workforce programs you fund today are not creating lasting change —and you’d never know?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most funders measure success for workforce programs at graduation. The participant gained skills. A smaller number measure success at six months. A graduate lands a job. The placement rate looks impressive. Everyone celebrates and moves on to the next cohort.

But economic mobility doesn’t happen in six months.

It takes years. And without tracking what happens after graduation or that initial placement, you’re investing in programs that might deliver a temporary win but fail to create lasting change.

The sector is waking up to this gap. Forward-thinking funders like you are demanding proof that change lasts beyond the initial intervention. You’re asking harder questions: Do graduates get good jobs? Are they still employed two years later? Five years later? Are they earning enough to support their families? Are they advancing in their careers, or stuck in the same entry-level role?

This shift from short-term placement metrics to sustained economic mobility isn’t just a trend. It’s the future of workforce philanthropy. And a new movement is leading the way.

The Invisible Gap in Workforce Outcomes

Traditional placement metrics tell an incomplete story.

High initial placement rates don’t guarantee sustained economic mobility. You can fund a program that graduates 90% of participants and still fail to create lasting change. Without durability measurement, you’re flying blind.

This is why measuring what happens at years later matters.

Take Seema. She joined Generation India’s General Duty Assistant program as a young widow with three children and no marketable skills. After her husband died, her family pressured her to abandon her children and remarry. She refused.

“After my husband died, I came to understand that the word ‘support’ doesn’t exist in my life,” she told us. “Before Generation, I had no hope.”

Six months after graduating, Seema had a stable job at a hospital. That’s where most programs would stop tracking. But here’s what happened next: she held that job for over a year and a half, saved money, moved out of her in-laws’ home, and created her own household. Then she pivoted into sales. The mindset and behavioral skills she learned at Generation proved valuable in her new role. She got promoted. Today, she’s a Sales Supervisor with her own team.

“I am focusing on my children’s education and fulfilling their dreams,” Seema said. “Life is a lot better. I learned to save. I learned not to give up.”

That’s the difference between graduation, placement, and durable impact.

→ Read more about Seema’s story

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Enter The Durability Collective

Smart funders recognize that impact without durability is just a temporary fix.

That’s why The Durability Collective launched in 2025. It’s a community of funders, practitioners, and researchers building collective capability to measure social impact and create change that lasts. Generation is an inaugural member.

The Collective operates on three pillars:

• Durability Academy: A two-year program that helps nonprofits and others deepen their capabilities for medium and long-term measurement
• Research: Commitment to understanding durable impact and how to accelerate and sustain living wage attainment and personal well-being
• Thought leadership and advocacy: Community building and knowledge sharing to increase interest and awareness to make durability measurement mainstream

You might be thinking: isn’t long-term measurement too expensive or complex?

The Collective demonostrates it’s not. Contrary to conventional wisdom, medium and long-term outcomes measurement can be feasible and cost-effective. The key is building the right capabilities and systems.

Generation has spent a decade doing exactly that.

What Durability Looks Like in Practice

Generation has graduated over 145,000 people across 17 countries. We’ve tracked outcomes using 57 million data points. And we’ve learned what works. Our global hub and network of in-country affiliates work together to deliver programs locally while maintaining rigorous measurement standards.

Our 2025 Global Alumni Survey tracked graduates two to five years after program completion. The results show what happens when you design for durability:

• 76% remain employed two to five years post-graduation (compared to 83% at six months)
• 75% earn above living wage long-term
• 83% work in high-quality jobs with stable contracts, full-time hours, and a sense of purpose
• 71% advance beyond entry-level roles by year five

But the impact goes deeper than individual careers. Eighty percent of our alumni support their households financially. They’re paying down debts, investing in better housing, and funding education for their children. The percentage of Generation grads with a university degree nearly doubles compared to pre-Generation levels.

That’s intergenerational mobility.

Murendeni’s story illustrates this. He graduated from Generation UK’s Data Analytics program in 2023 after moving from South Africa with his partner and young daughter. He couldn’t find work in his previous field (chemistry) and was unemployed for months.

“You’ve always wanted to do a career change,” he thought. “So why don’t you just take that leap?”

Two years after the program, Murendeni is thriving at 1st Energy on the business intelligence team. His new salary created real economic mobility.

“There’s now a new sense of: I can escape the working class if I just strategize, if I save, if I invest,” he shared. “For my daughter, it opens doors both financially and also when it comes to examples of careers that she can think about or aspire to.”

Employment transforms lives and communities. But only when it lasts.

→ Read more about Murendeni’s story

Why This Matters for Your Philanthropy Focus

Here’s what durability measurement gives you.

First, true ROI. You’ll understand if your investment creates lasting change or temporary relief. For every dollar invested in Generation, funders see three to seven times the impact compared to other workforce programs over five years. Graduates earn six to 22 times more than their baseline over the same period.

Second, strategic allocation. You’ll identify which program elements drive sustained outcomes. Our data shows that continuous employment support in the first two years is critical. Professional development, career coaching, and support with placement boost living wage attainment significantly.

Third, competitive advantage. You’ll partner with organizations that can prove durable impact. In a crowded philanthropy landscape, funders who can demonstrate long-term outcomes will attract more strategic partnerships, board confidence, and co-investment opportunities. 

Over 100 funders already partner with Generation, including major foundations. They’re investing in programs that deliver measurable, lasting, nonpartisan impact.

Join the Movement

Here’s the key takeaway: durability measurement is no longer optional.

In a world of AI disruption and economic volatility, sustained economic mobility matters more than ever. Funders who understand this will lead the next decade of workforce philanthropy. 

Here’s what you can do:

• Learn more about The Durability Collective and how to join the movement
• Review Generation’s impact data to see what durability looks like in practice
• Partner with Generation to fund programs with proven, durable outcomes.

Generation offers valuable insights from more than a decade of rigorous measurement. We’ve tracked over 145,000 graduates, worked with 23,000 employers, and helped our alumni earn $2.1 billion in wages. Access this knowledge to strengthen your portfolio.

The question isn’t whether you can afford to measure durability. It’s whether you can afford not to.