Our resources grew, new initiatives blossomed, long-nurtured programs matured, and our scaleup work helped companies expand. As a result of the Foundation’s investments in the region, students cultivated grit and resilience through development of the entrepreneurial mindset, the Enspire youth educator conference increased attendance by more than 30%, the NEOLaunchNET program expanded its footprint, and Northeast Ohio hosted the inaugural Deshpande Symposium On the Road. These are a few of the stories we will share in our 2018 annual report GROW.

In years to come, we will look back on 2018 as a time of growth not only for the programs we fund, but also for our own organizational culture. In 2018, we took a deep breath and examined how our processes align with our mission. We decided to make some changes to ensure we are able to continue vigorously pursuing our mission as champion of the entrepreneurial spirit, contributor to a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, and a leader in the field of entrepreneurship education.

As we crafted our new strategic framework, we realized how important it is for foundations to model entrepreneurial behavior through the funding of experimental programs. In response, we are initiating the Morgan Scout Fund structured to support more experimental grant initiatives.

We also considered how critical it is for philanthropy to play a significant role in our communities, above and beyond traditional grantmaking. Because of the knowledge housed in our organization, we can have a tremendous influence on the connectivity that contributes to robust networks in support of entrepreneurial activity. In response, we will be deepening our focus on knowledge sharing in order to continually strengthen our efficacy as a transparent grantmaker, informed thought leader, and engaged ecosystem builder.

Foundations can embrace the evolution of experimental programs, reward the learning that flows from pivots along the way, and through this approach build the adaptive capacity of the programs and institutions they fund. The knowledge garnered from experimental initiatives can be shared broadly, thereby amplifying the impact of the experiments and the resultant lessons many times over. Over time, philanthropy can develop a birds-eye view of ecosystem components and become a promoter of the strategic pathways that connect one critical opportunity to the next and the next.

We never pursue this work in isolation and greatly value the fertile partnerships we share with fellow ecosystem builders across our region. Through these relationships, we will continue growing as an organization and contributing to the growth of our region and its courageous entrepreneurs.

Sincerely,

Deborah D. Hoover
President and CEO

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We are witnessing a movement in youth entrepreneurship education. Once unheard of in K-12 classrooms, entrepreneurship has expanded its reach and begun to solidify its role in a well-rounded education. The antiquated definition of entrepreneurship as “starting a business” has given way to a more dynamic understanding of entrepreneurship not as a singular act or standalone subject, but an interdisciplinary approach and mindset applicable in any field. K-12 educators and administrators are heeding the call and rapidly building entrepreneurship into their curricula.

Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in Northeast Ohio. Enspire, an annual conference for youth entrepreneurship educators sponsored by Burton D. Morgan Foundation in partnership with the Young Entrepreneur Institute (YEI), is a vivid demonstration of just how much the horizons of youth entrepreneurship have expanded. Four years ago, about 150 educators attended the inaugural conference. By 2018, the number had more than tripled to over 500, with attendees from as far away as Italy. In her opening remarks, Foundation President and CEO Deborah Hoover noted that “it is an expression of the dynamism and power of our youth entrepreneurship ecosystem that we are able to gather here today in such numbers with educators from across Northeast Ohio and beyond. I would now characterize what is happening in Northeast Ohio as an education movement. It is a movement to help our students…be active learners through the development of the entrepreneurial mindset.”

The entrepreneurial mindset was the theme of the 2018 conference. Author Ted Dintersmith spoke on the power of entrepreneurship in preparing students for the rapidly changing 21st century economy. Attendees were treated to a screening of Ted’s documentary on the subject, Most Likely to Succeed, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015.

At the event, participating educators expressed their enthusiasm for the conference.

Emerald Hall, an intervention specialist with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, said: “A lot of kids at this age…don’t think about entrepreneurship. But if you plant a seed, it grows.” Added Lisa Simon, an instructor at the Northern Career Institute in Willoughby: “When my students are inspired, they tell other students who are inspired…it’s like a trickle-down effect.”

In an interview with WKYC TV, Deborah captured the importance of an event like Enspire in the growing field of youth entrepreneurship: “Because entrepreneurship education is such an emerging and evolving field, it’s really important that the teachers…are able to have opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, comparing notes, and figuring out what works best for their own school culture.”

Growth and Learning in Action

Peer-to-peer learning and connecting teachers to resources is part of what Enspire does best. Its effects are far-reaching and central to the growth of the youth entrepreneurship movement.

The Selling Bee

The Selling Bee, a business pitch competition for K-8 students, provides a hands-on learning experience for young entrepreneurs eager to sell their ideas. Karen Sunderhaft, an English teacher at Harmon Middle School, worked with all 75 of her students to enter their pitches in the competition. A 20-year veteran of the classroom, Karen values learning from other educators and has been attending Enspire since 2016. She implemented a seven-part process to instill the entrepreneurial mindset in her students and help prepare them for the Selling Bee. Almost every step of this process incorporated an approach Karen learned from other educators at Enspire. The results? Her efforts produced three finalists and a winner, sixth-grader Arabella Rodi.

Mini-Grants Program

With the growth of youth entrepreneurship has come a host of new workshops, field trips, and professional development opportunities, but educators often lack the resources to take advantage of them. In response, the Foundation partnered with YEI and the Ernst & Young Cleveland Office to roll out a new mini-grants program at Enspire 2018. The mini-grants program allows educators to try new programs and services, increase their confidence in entrepreneurship education, and promote adoption of entrepreneurial methodologies that work best for their classroom. Educators can select from a menu of offerings, including Junior Achievement opportunities, a field trip to the Veale thinkBig! Innovation Challenge and Summit, a scholarship for a Wildfire Education 3-day educator workshop, and more.

We thank all our partners who together serve as a leading example of what a collaborative and successful youth entrepreneurship ecosystem looks like. As Deborah noted at Enspire, “Each and every one of you is on the forefront of that movement, and we could not be more pleased to be sharing this journey with you.”

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Through the shared efforts of our partners and collaborators in the regional entrepreneurship ecosystem, Northeast Ohio has built a reputation as a welcoming and supportive community for high-growth ventures. Akron is becoming a breeding ground for entrepreneurs, and Burton D. Morgan Foundation is proud to cultivate this growth.

Since being elected Mayor of Akron in 2015, Dan Horrigan has preached a gospel of growth. In his 2018 State of the City Address, Mayor Horrigan gave a preview of his aspirations for the city, noting that “thriving cities have growing, entrepreneurial economies.”

The Foundation’s work with Scalerator NEO, the Choose Growth Akron campaign, and the Bounce Innovation Hub form an innovation network to support that aspiration – one that would have been heartily shared by our founder, Burt Morgan.

“Scalerator is a program. Choose Growth is a message. But the ideas are identical, and that’s the beauty of this,” says Chris Thompson, a consultant to both initiatives. “Scalerator makes it very evident that any company at any time in its life cycle can make a conscious choice to grow.” By choosing growth, these companies help build a more vibrant city.

Scalerator is the brainchild of Dan Isenberg, renowned scaleup expert and influential founder of the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Platform. The six-month educational program focuses on leveraging the “Three C’s,” Customers, Cash, and Capacity, to help companies scale. Taught by an internationally-recognized team from Babson College and other top universities, the program consists of faculty-led workshops and peer-to-peer exercises. Unlike programs exclusively for CEOs, Scalerator NEO works with leadership teams to help foster company-wide buy-in of new practices. Scalerator NEO is free to the participating companies thanks to the Fasenmyer Fund at Burton D. Morgan Foundation and direct Foundation support.

Isenberg’s message is simple: more companies growing more rapidly more often. “Whether you call them entrepreneurs, gazelles, startups, scaleups, established companies, it doesn’t matter what label you put on them,” says Thompson. “Every company can choose to grow, regardless of size, age, or market.”

The Choose Growth Akron campaign, while separate from the Scalerator program, reinforces this message and bolsters Morgan Foundation’s scaleup work. “Choose Growth delivers the message to every business in Akron that if you want to grow, that’s a choice, and we want to celebrate those companies that have chosen to grow, and hopefully inspire other companies to grow as well,” says Thompson.

“Part of the idea of this grassroots media campaign is to help businesses inspire each other,” says Heather Roszczyk, the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Advocate for the City of Akron, and facilitator for the Choose Growth campaign. “The amount of coordination between all these players in the last three years has been incredible.”

Growth and Learning in Action

The power of entrepreneurship education and peer inspiration is evident through the experience of one recent graduate of the Scalerator NEO program.
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Michelle Panik, owner of Cleveland-based Marine Services International, was a member of the 2018 Scalerator NEO cohort. She has been in the freight forwarding business for 33 years, and always prided herself on being a student of the industry. Says Michelle, “In 2006 we opened for the love of freight forwarding. I knew how to be a freight forwarder but not a business owner. In 2014 I bought my business partner out and was on my own to run the business. In 2016, I retained a business coach to help me develop and strengthen my business mindset and skill set.” When Michelle learned of the Scalerator program through Crain’s Cleveland Business Magazine, she took the initiative to apply, with the encouragement of her coach.

“I walked into the first [Scalerator] meeting...and it was a little intimidating,” Panik admits. With two foreign business trips planned during the program, and not having a formal college education, she had concerns about the workload and wondered if she had the capacity to complete the program.

As the program’s learnings took root, she was better positioned to diagnose her situation. “We identified that we are a culture of care, and that’s a good and bad thing. We also needed to have a culture of results.” As her confidence and comfort with change grew, she promoted a general manager from within and hired a global sales manager, which gave her more capacity to work on the business.

“My newfound insight has given confidence to pursue high volume accounts. We have been included on several large bids for 600+ containers in annual volume, we’ve captured new clients, added additional staff, and are in a continuous growth mode. What I learn, I pass on. We operate our company with structure, process, and key performance indicators. We challenge and champion one another and have higher level communication. It’s a great feeling to know we are doing it!”
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Even now that Scalerator is over, she reaches out to faculty members for advice, and her cohort group regularly stays in touch. “For all those years, I felt alone in business,” she says. “But now I have a family.”

Michelle’s journey is just one of many growth stories blooming around Northeast Ohio. In 2019, Scalerator NEO will welcome its third cohort, Choose Growth Akron will continue broadcasting local growth stories, and the Foundation will continue cultivating the soil for a strong and robust entrepreneurial ecosystem.

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Photo credit: Ron Jantz

In order to grow a healthy and vibrant entrepreneurial community, a focus on retaining the next generation of talent and innovation is critical. This is why Burton D. Morgan Foundation champions the work of Northeast Ohio’s colleges and universities to advance entrepreneurship and support collegiate founders. Central to this work is NEOLaunchNET, a signature initiative of the Foundation that seeks to inspire a culture of innovation on college and university campuses and build upon the unique assets and strengths of each school to spark the entrepreneurial mindset in enterprising students.

2018 was a year of growth, particularly on NEOLaunchNET campuses. John Carroll University was inducted as the fifth member of NEOLaunchNET, joining sister institutions Baldwin Wallace University, Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, and Lorain County Community College in a unique peer learning network.

NEOLaunchNET meets students where they are, offering mentorship, advice, connections, and specialized programming–such as hackathons and sessions with successful entrepreneurs–to support their fledgling ventures. On each campus, NEOLaunchNET is independent of classes and coursework to encourage students to pursue their entrepreneurial ideas without worrying about grades.

John Carroll’s rich, century-plus heritage of producing successful entrepreneurs combined with its wide curricular and extracurricular offerings in the field made it a logical fit for the network. On a campus of just over 3,000 undergraduate students, more than 1,000 have taken an entrepreneurship class, including classes on social entrepreneurship.

“Having LaunchNET here on campus gives us a focal point, a place for students to focus on their idea,” says Tom Bonda, executive professor of entrepreneurship and LaunchNET JCU Program Director. “Our entrepreneurship program is a minor on purpose, because we want to work with every major.”

Growth and Learning in Action

NEOLaunchNET’s role in the growth and cultivation of successful student entrepreneurs is manifest in stories like that of Remesh, a student-founded software company that raised $10 million in Series A funding last April.

Remesh’s story began in 2013 when Andrew Konya, a graduate student studying physics at Kent State University, wanted to build something to help capture, organize, and mollify the divisive discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He began experimenting with algorithms that might facilitate productive conversations between the two sides. During an on-campus hackathon organized by LaunchNET, he built a prototype of the software program and soon began working with LaunchNET staff to refine his idea.

That’s when Remesh really began to flourish, thanks to LaunchNET’s strong network and connections across the regional ecosystem.
Andrew soon joined forces with co-founder Aaron Slodov, a former Google engineer who was then a graduate student at Case Western Reserve University, and later, Gary Ellis, another Northeast Ohioan. LaunchNET KSU staff helped Remesh apply for and land an Innovation Fund Northeast Ohio grant, which bought more time to refine the product, and later helped them prepare for acceptance into the Flashstarts software accelerator program. “They really moved through the ideal steps in that pipeline process of the ecosystem,” says Zach Mikrut, Program Manager of Kent State’s LaunchNET.

Eventually, these efforts led to the company’s acceptance into the Barclays fintech accelerator, powered by Techstars, in New York.
In just five years, Remesh blossomed from a seed of an idea to a high-growth artificial intelligence software company.

Says Mikrut: “When somebody comes into our offices and asks us what kind of businesses we work with, it’s nice to be able to say we work with everything from Etsy shops and freelancers to tech startups like Remesh that just pulled in $10 million.”

Of course, not all college students raise $10 million, or even start a venture of their own. Morgan Foundation’s primary focus in the collegiate space is helping students develop the entrepreneurial mindset, which is applicable in any field. Entrepreneurially-minded students are sprouting up on campuses across the region. Morgan Foundation’s goal? Provide the support systems to keep them rooted and growing in Northeast Ohio.

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There was once a time in philanthropy when funding was awarded for reasons that were arguably more emotional than empirical. Today, effective foundations and other grant-making institutions—and the organizations they support—are growing and thriving as a direct result of an evidence-based approach.

It was with precisely this in mind that Burton D. Morgan Foundation established the Entrepreneurship Education Experiment (E3) in 2015 to more systematically gather our lessons learned, disseminate those findings, and collaborate more broadly with like-minded colleagues. Under this umbrella, we carefully evaluate the results of our own work and others in the field of entrepreneurship education to do the same. E3 activities in 2018 included engaging our next Burton D. Morgan Fellow, hosting the inaugural Deshpande Symposium On the Road, and participating in numerous conferences and events as a thought leader in entrepreneurship education.

The Burton D. Morgan Fellowship is one of the integral pieces of E3. In 2018, we named Greg Malkin our second Morgan fellow. After establishing his own entrepreneurial roots as the founder of a computer-aided design company and earning a Master’s degree in Education, Greg founded the Young Entrepreneur Institute (YEI) at University School on the belief that every child should understand and experience entrepreneurship. Through his work as Director of YEI, Greg has been a thought leader in Northeast Ohio, widely consulting with schools and teachers interested in fostering an entrepreneurial culture in their schools.

As part of his focus on advancing knowledge sharing and best practices, Greg has leveraged his experience building programs such as Selling Bee and Teen Pitch Tank to assist others hoping to launch or enhance youth entrepreneurship initiatives. Greg maintains a comprehensive understanding of the youth entrepreneurship landscape, not just regionally but nationally as well, through collaboration with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, SEED SPOT, and others. He keeps Foundation Staff informed of major trends and learnings to ensure our work fits into the larger youth entrepreneurship movement.

Also in our youth work, and in alignment with our E3 focus on evaluation and assessment, Morgan Foundation funded the National Inventors Hall of Fame to partner with Dr. John Falk to study the effectiveness of its youth summer program, Camp Invention. Findings showed that students who attended multiple sessions of Camp Invention over a four-year period demonstrated significantly higher levels of creativity, STEM interest, and problem-solving aptitude as compared to students with no previous (or only limited) Camp Invention experience.

Morgan Foundation branched out of Northeast Ohio in exciting ways in our collegiate work. In November, we partnered with JumpStart and the Deshpande Foundation to bring the inaugural Deshpande Symposium On the Road to Northeast Ohio. Entitled “Universities as Catalysts in Driving Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystems,” the two-day convening highlighted the region’s unique and robust community of more than 20 colleges and universities committed to advancing collegiate entrepreneurship. We welcomed higher education representatives from Princeton to Texas A&M with an agenda that included tours of JumpStart, Bounce Innovation Hub, Kent State University LaunchNET, and Sears think[box] at Case Western Reserve University as well as roundtable discussions on topics such as Corporate and Community Innovation Engagement.

Finally, we made a conscious effort as a Foundation to take part in a broad range of conversations and events on emerging trends in entrepreneurship and innovation, to both share our expertise with others and bolster our own understanding of the space in which we work. Foundation President and CEO Deborah Hoover authored a chapter in the newly released book from the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship, Community Colleges as Incubators of Innovation: Unleashing Entrepreneurial Opportunities for Communities and Students. Focusing on the key players and approaches that enable entrepreneurial ecosystems to thrive, Deborah drew on examples across Northeast Ohio and the role that both community colleges and philanthropic organizations, such as Morgan Foundation, have played in its success.

In April, we convened in Washington, D.C. with the Entrepreneurship Funders Network, an alliance of 40 funders from across the country that are exploring the role of philanthropy in entrepreneurship. In October, we took part in the inaugural Scaleup Practitioners Summit at Babson College with colleagues from around the globe. Representing the only U.S.-based scaleup initiative (Scalerator NEO) in attendance, we shared strategies around mentorship and ecosystem building while gaining valuable, actionable recommendations for our scaleup work in Northeast Ohio.

Throughout 2018, the Foundation leveraged these and other experiences to spread our seeds of knowledge. Just as in medicine or public policy, sharing proven practices with colleagues in the field facilitates continual improvement that further drives quality outcomes for the communities in which we work.

Home

Dear Foundation Friends,

GROW IS THE THREAD THAT BEST CAPTURES THE FOCUS OF BURTON D. MORGAN FOUNDATION’S WORK IN 2018.

The Young Entrepreneur

Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Mindset

Growth and Learning in Action

The Selling Bee

Mini-Grants Program

The Adult Entrepreneur

Scaling Companies in Northeast Ohio

Growth and Learning in Action

The Collegiate Entrepreneur

Founding Startups on Campus

Growth and Learning in Action

Knowledge Sharing

Growing a Communal Body of Expertise

Richard J. Fasenmyer Foundation Leaves Legacy Gift

Continue

2018 Annual Report

Our Work

In 2018, Burton D. Morgan Foundation planted the seeds of entrepreneurship around Northeast Ohio through our work in grantmaking, ecosystem building, and knowledge sharing. Below, we are pleased to present the fruits of our labor.

Dear FOUNDATION Friends,

GROW IS THE THREAD THAT BEST CAPTURES THE FOCUS OF BURTON D. MORGAN FOUNDATION’S WORK IN 2018.

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Youth

View Grants

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Collegiate

View Grants

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Adult

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Hudson

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Knowledge

SHARING

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Richard J. Fasenmyer Foundation Leaves Legacy Gift

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Financial Summary

$4,893,800

In Grants Awarded

VIEW FULL FINANCIAL INFO (PDF)

Trustees

Keith A.Brown

Trustee

J. Martin Erbaugh

Trustee

Patrick T.Finley

Trustee

J. MichaelHochschwender

Trustee

Mark D.Robeson

Trustee

Richard N.Seaman

Trustee

EddieTaylor, Jr.

Trustee

Keith A.Brown

Trustee

J. Martin Erbaugh

Trustee

Patrick T.Finley

Trustee

J. MichaelHochschwender

Trustee

Mark D.Robeson

Trustee

Richard N.Seaman

Trustee

EddieTaylor, Jr.

Trustee

Staff

Deborah D.Hoover

President & CEO‍

DeniseGriggs

Keith A.
Brown

J. Martin
Erbaugh

Patrick T.
Finley

J. Michael
Hochschwender

Mark D.
Robeson

Richard N.
Seaman

Eddie
Taylor, Jr.

Keith A.
Brown

J. Martin
Erbaugh

Patrick T.
Finley

J. Michael
Hochschwender

Mark D.
Robeson

Richard N.
Seaman

Eddie
Taylor, Jr.

Deborah D.
Hoover

President & CEO
‍

Denise
Griggs

Vice President &
Chief Financial Officer

Angela
Kwallek Evans

Senior Program Officer
‍

Emily
Bean

Program Officer
‍

Victoria
Broer

Special Initiatives Officer
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Gina
Dotson

Sharon
Lingo

Office Manager
‍

Mary
McHenry

Program Officer
‍

Jeanne
Silcox

Executive Assistant
‍

Deborah D.
Hoover

Denise
Griggs

Vice President &
Chief Financial Officer

Angela
Kwallek Evans

Emily
Bean

Victoria
Broer

Gina
Dotson

Sharon
Lingo

Mary
McHenry

Jeanne
Silcox