The Coleman Foundation Blog

Coleman Foundation Expands Fellowship Program, Announces 2013-2014 Grantees

The Coleman Foundation Faculty Entrepreneurship Fellows program expands into a fifth year with ramped up efforts to extend self-employment education across 19 university and college campuses.  The Coleman Foundation is committing nearly $500,000 for fellowship grants and program support to campuses involved in the 2013-2014 academic year program, representing a 70% increase over 2012-2013 levels.

Coleman Faculty Fellows are typically professors from outside the school of business at their institution.  They engage in the development of courses and leadership of projects in support of entrepreneurship education on their campus, inspiring students in non-business disciplines to gain self-employment skills and experience.  In the 2013-2014 campaign, 58 Coleman Foundation Faculty Entrepreneurship Fellows in departments ranging from Anthropology and Biology to Robotics and Visual Arts will create new courses within their disciplines or modify existing ones to incorporate elements of self-employment education.

The 2012-2013 Class was comprised of faculty members from 16 colleges and universities.  This year, 13 of those schools will receive new Fellows grants and are joined by two institutions receiving funding for the first time as well as four schools which will rejoin the program.  In addition, funding will be provided to support the continuing efforts of 76 faculty members who had Fellowships in prior years as well as many project directors who lead Fellows activities on campus.

Over the five years of the program, the Coleman Foundation has committed almost $1.6 million to fellowships and campus support grants and an additional amount nearing $500,000 for related program support.

Colleges and universities participating in the Coleman Fellows program will include:

• Beloit College (WI)
• California Polytechnical State University, San Luis Obispo (CA)
• California State University, Fresno (CA)
• Colorado Mesa University (CO)
• DePaul University (IL)
• Finlandia University (MI)
• Illinois State University (IL)
• Lawrence University (WI)
• Lawrence Technical University (MI)
• McPherson College (KS)
• Millikin University (IL)
• North Central College (IL)
• Quincy University (IL)
• Saint Louis University (MO)
• Texas Christian University (TX)
• University of North Carolina at Greensboro (NC)
• Webster University (MO)
• Wichita State University (KS)
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute (MA)

NFTE Event Elevates Chicago Entrepreneurship

More than 350 of Chicago’s business and education leaders celebrated NFTE Chicago’s 10-year anniversary at the 3^rd Annual Elevating Entrepreneurship Benefit, held on March 13^th at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). The Benefit was a true celebration of entrepreneurship’s impact on over 15,000 Chicago youth. The evening began with a reception and student business expo in the MCA’s modern atrium. Students and supporters of youth entrepreneurship were afforded a wonderfully enthusiastic networking opportunity, while NFTE students and alumni showcased their businesses, which ranged from clothing lines and beauty products to party planning services and mobile apps.

Guests convened in the MCA’s auditorium for a look back at NFTE’s decade of impact in Chicago. NFTE alumni, NFTE volunteers, students, teachers, principals, and staff gathered on stage to discuss NFTE’s impact on Chicago’s students.

One of the highlights of the evening was a moving video that underscored NFTE’s effect on 10 alumni-- one for each year they have served in Chicago. The evening culminated with a lively and insightful discussion between Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO of Citadel, and Larry Levy, CEO of Levy Restaurants. The discussion was moderated by Mellody Hobson, President of Ariel Investments.

Michael Hennessy, Coleman Foundation President, visited Steve Mariotti and an emerging NFTE program in New York in 1987.  The Coleman Foundation awarded its first grant to NFTE National in 1988. Hennessy worked with NFTE to develop a multi-year grant to bring NFTE to Chicago in 1993 and the Foundation has been the lead supporter since that time. 

“We whole heartedly believe in self-employment and the value it creates for individuals and communities," Hennessy said. "NFTE and Youth Entrepreneurship provide essential self-employment educational and experiential activities whereby students can learn, develop skills and take action.  We have been are very pleased to see the NFTE Chicago program continue to develop and attract strong program and financial partners over the last ten years.  There is however, still plenty of work for all of us to do."

1st Quarter Grants Advance Three Primary Program Areas

In the 1^st quarter of 2013, The Coleman Foundation approved four grants totalling $270,000 which advance multiple strategies articulated in the Foundation’s Impact Plans.

A $125,000 award to IFF (Chicago, IL) supports its Home First Illinois - Community Living Initiative which advances the Foundation's Disabilities Impact Plan strategy to fund efforts to increase the supply of housing alternatives for individuals with developmental disabilities, including emerging models which allow for ownership by residents or other parties.

The Community Living Initiative builds upon the prior goal of the  Home First Illinois project to develop, own and manage accessible homes that will remain permanently affordable to very low income people with disabilities.  This new Initiative will focus on the development of 50 small, group homes in downstate Illinois for adults with developmental disabilities who are transitioning out of the State of Illinois' Murray Developmental Center in Centralia, IL.  Murray is one of seven large institutions which house individuals with developmental disabilities.  The scope of this project is to organize and plan the initiative and to begin implementation in time to transition individuals as early as fall, 2013.

A $70,000 award to Northpointe Resources, Inc. (Zion, IL) will support organization's Nursing Services Program & Self Advocacy Program which will address the healthcare needs of residents, and help teach individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities to be advocates for their healthcare needs utilizing the Ask Me 3^TM program.  This program employs the Foundation's Disabilities Impact Plan strategy to improve client health outcomes enabling them to reach vocational and residential goals.

A $50,000 award to Rainbow Hospice and Palliative Care (Mount Prospect, IL) supports the organization's Rest in Comfort Campaign for capital improvements for the Rainbow Hospice Ark inpatient hospice unit. Improvements to the space are intended to upgrade furniture, equipment, and patient and staff areas.  This grant advances the Foundation's Cancer Impact Plan strategy to fund  capital and program projects that enable the delivery of comprehensive treatment.

A $25,000 award to DePaul University (Chicago, IL) supports a re-launch of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center through seminars, enhanced advising and social media efforts. The project components support Coleman’s Entrepreneurship Impact Strategies that: increase the quality and frequency of experiential/co-curricular activities and increase stakeholder engagement on campus and in the community.  Activities seek to build core self-employment skills not through the curriculum, but through co-curricular engagement.

Lonier to lead Coleman Center at DePaul; Welsch receives USASBE's Hughes Award

Dr. Terri Lonier was recently named the Executive Director of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center.  Prior to joining the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, Terri was founder and CEO of Working Solo Inc., a strategy consulting firm with offices in New York and San Francisco.  The company advised Fortune 100 and high-tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft, HP, Toshiba, DuPont, and Visa USA on how to connect with small business and microventures.  She is a pioneer in the solopreneur movement and a nationally recognized authority on microbusiness.  She is the author of five books (John Wiley & Sons), numerous articles, and three audio programs.  Her entrepreneurial startup guide, Working Solo, was named "the #1 choice for solo entrepreneurs" in an Inc. magazine cover story and "the free agent's bible" by Fast Company magazine.

As Executive Director of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, Terri (pictured at right) will be spearheading new projects to help DePaul University students create and grow successful entrepreneurial ventures. She’ll also be bringing entrepreneurship to many parts of the DePaul campus, and building partnerships with members of the Chicago entrepreneurial community.

At the recent United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Conference, Dr. Harold Welsch was awarded the John E. Hughes Award for Entrepreneurial Advocacy. This annual award recognizes an individual who has consistently contributed encouragement, support, resources, time, talent, and/or financial contribution to further the cause of entrepreneurship.

 

Dr. Welsch (pictured at left with Coleman Foundation President Michael Hennessy) is well known for his expertise in entrepreneurship education, business gestation patterns, privatization, technology commercialization, entrepreneurship career paths, formal and informal strategic planning, information seeking and decision behavior, ethnic entrepreneurship, economic development, and small business problems. He founded the entrepreneurship program at DePaul University in Chicago and holds the Coleman Chair in Entrepreneurship, which was established in 1985. 

He has served the field as President of USASBE & ICSB and as Chairman of the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division. Through the years, Harold has served as a mentor for countless numbers of business owners and new entrepreneurship faculty.

A History of the SEA Conference

When the Coleman Foundation began its journey into entrepreneurship education, much of our focus was on promoting the concept of self-employment and supporting activities that could inspire students to consider creating a job rather than just getting one.  Business schools were home to Entrepreneurship program development.  Over time, with help from the Coleman Professors and our experiences with aspiring entrepreneurs, we began to see other groups of students – including artists - that could benefit from exposure to entrepreneurship. Professors Gary Ernst at North Central College and Joseph Roberts, then at Columbia College, along with Michael Hennessy, President of the Foundation, took interest in this area. 

The first Coleman Arts Entrepreneurship Forum was hosted by Columbia College in 2001. It was a modest 1 day event, held in one large room. From the beginning the presenters had to be practicing artists earning the majority of their income from their art. The presenters and participants were so enthusiastic; we knew we were on to something.   

Other Coleman Professors took interest in the event and a working group was established.  The conference was to be rotated among Coleman funded entrepreneurship programs at a series of campuses.  North Central College would host the second followed by Illinois State University.  North Central’s first successful event in 2002 built upon the inaugural forum and served as further proof of the concept. During the planning of the event to be hosted by Illinois State University, the entrepreneurship program director succumbed to an aggressive form of cancer, so Gary Ernst and Amy Rogers at North Central volunteered to host again.  Since Amy and Gary had become great hosts and the hotel interested in the event provided a convenient, cost effective venue, the conference continues to be held there.

As the Self-Employment in the Arts Conference (SEA) continues to evolve, it has remained one of the Foundation’s favorite annual events.  The energy and creativity remain high as does the level of personal contact.  Students can schedule one-on-one time with practicing artists and get advice on everything from business plans to portfolios reviews.  By supporting 4 regional conferences and conducting arts tracks at the Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization (CEO) conference, SEA provides program activity beyond its own conference and outside of its primary service area.  Professors in Coleman funded programs actively engage students and serve on an advisory board with local stakeholders.

Overall artists and arts educators are much more aware of and interested in the business side of their art. As with entrepreneurship education in general, arts entrepreneurship has evolved from awareness and inspiration to information and competence.  It is much more readily viewed as interdisciplinary education.   SEA’s goal is to help artists develop the skills, experiences, knowledge, resources, and contacts to be successful.

 The Foundation's Entrepreneurship Impact plan can be found in the entrepreneurship section of what we fund.  The SEA conference continues to support strategies that: increase the quality and frequency of experiential activities and promote interdisciplinary learning and stakeholder engagement. 

See the “Save The Date” posting under recent events on the homepage of our site for specific details on the upcoming 13^th annual Self Employment Arts conference or go to their website.

Coleman Foundation to Fund Successful Entrepreneur Engagement Practices at 10th NACCE Conference

On Monday, October 8, 2012, from 2:30 – 5:30 pm, as part of the 10^th Annual NACCE Conference, The Coleman Foundation will conduct an elevator grant session to advance successful practices for creatively involving entrepreneurs in self-employment education and award up to $80,000 to contest winners. The session will provide community college faculty members with the opportunity to compete for grants to implement approaches to increase engagement by entrepreneurs in their local community colleges. 

Elevator grants awarded in 2011 to assist eleven community colleges in implementing Entrepreneurship Engagement Plans resulted in the identification of several successful practices.  In the 2012-13 program, community colleges are invited to propose the launch of such practices on their campuses.  Successful practices include:

• Active leadership by college presidents to advance self-employment education
• Bringing entrepreneurs into the classroom
• Establishment of alumni and entrepreneur councils to inform the development and improvement of entrepreneurship education
• Student field trips to the businesses of local entrepreneurs
• Students working closely with local entrepreneurs in internships in their businesses
• Informal meetings of entrepreneurs to build networks among them as well as others on campus
• “Start-up weekends” and “boot-camp” activities for aspiring local entrepreneurs

At the 10^th NACCE conference, the Foundation will not only award new elevator grants to programs advancing the successful practices identified above, but it will also award $25,000 to the 2011 elevator grant winner which had the most impactful implementation of its Entrepreneurship Engagement Plan.

The Foundation is targeting as many as sixteen $5,000 launch grants (totaling up to $80,000) to fund the implementation of successful practices to increase the engagement of entrepreneurs in campus activities.  Applicants may be colleges initiating self-employment education activities as well as those with existing programs.

The elevator grant program highlight activities which are part of NACCE recommended “Community College Presidents Commitment to Entrepreneurship”, an initiative outlining five actions which college presidents should take to advance self-employment education.  One of the commitments – to “increase entrepreneur engagement in community colleges” – aligns with one of the Foundation’s key beliefs — that successful practitioners, including local and alumni entrepreneurs, must be part of a student’s learning experien.

The elevator grant method is based upon the business presentation model which involves describing a new business venture in a short pitch that could be given to a potential investor during an elevator ride.  Using these same concepts, the Foundation has conducted similar sessions for secondary, community college and collegiate educators over the past nine years, employing a rapid grant making process to award well-placed, small grants in support of entrepreneurship education.

Interested applicants must be NACCE members and must submit a three-page description of their plans to increase the engagement of entrepreneurs in campus activities, including a plan budget, which will be evaluated in advance of the elevator grant session by the Foundation and NACCE.  Select applicants will be invited to participate in the session.  At the session, the Project Director from each invited community college will present an overview of their proposed project, 3 minutes in duration, to a panel of representatives of the Foundation and NACCE.  Questions from Foundation and NACCE representatives will follow.  Presentations must be made by the Project Director.  Winners may be invited to present their project at future NACCE events.

Registration materials must be received BY 8 a.m. Central Time on Thursday, September 27, 2012.  Late and incomplete entries will not be accepted.  Registration forms are available here: Download Elevator Grant Form Oct 2012.  Forms must be submitted as MS Word or Adobe Acrobat documents to The Coleman Foundation via e-mail at info@colemanfoundation.org.

Sixteen Colleges and Universities to Award Coleman Fellowships for 2012-2013 Academic Year

The Coleman Foundation Faculty Entrepreneurship Fellows program will continue into a fourth year in an effort to extend self-employment education across 16 university and college campuses.  Including funding for new and returning Fellows, the Coleman Foundation has committed $285,000 to the 2012-2013 academic year program. 

Faculty Fellows are typically professors from outside the school of business at their institution.  They engage in the development of courses and leadership of projects in support of entrepreneurship education on their campus, inspiring students in non-business disciplines to gain self-employment skills and experience.  For the 2012-2013 academic year, 46 Coleman Foundation Faculty Entrepreneurship Fellows from departments all across campus will create new courses within their disciplines or modify existing ones to incorporate elements of self-employment education.

The 2011-2012 Class was comprised of 62 faculty members from 20 colleges and universities.  This year, 15 of these schools received new Fellows grants and are joined by one institution which will receive Fellowship funding for the first time.  In addition, limited funding will be provided to support the continuing efforts of 60 faculty members who received Fellowships in prior years. 

Colleges and universities continuing their participation in the Coleman Fellows Program include:

• California State University, Fresno (CA)
• Canisius College (NY)
• Colorado Mesa University (CO)
• DePaul University (IL)
• Finlandia University (MI)
• Juniata College (PA)
• Lawrence Technological University (MI)
• Millikin University (IL)
• Qunicy University (IL)
• Saint Louis University (MO)
• Simmons College (MA)
• Texas Christian University (TX)
• University of North Carolina at Greensboro (NC)
• Western Kentucky University (KY) **
• Wichita State University (KS)
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute (MA)

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo will join the program in 2012-2013.

The Coleman Foundation has awarded Coleman Fellowship grants in excess of $1.1 million during the four years of this program.

** Note on May 22:  Western Kentucky University withdrew from the Fellows Program due to staffing changes.

Coleman Fellows Website Reaches 100,000 Visits

The website supporting the Coleman Foundation Faculty Entrepreneurship Fellows Program recently experienced its 100,000 site visit.  Created in August, 2010, the site (located at www.colemanfellows.com) is an element of the Coleman Foundation Entrepreneurship Community of Practice, comprised of college and university faculty who are advancing self-employment education across their campuses and in many departments and disciplines.

During the 2011-2012 academic year, more than 120 faculty members have been part of the program.  Coleman Fellows contribute to the site by publishing articles which reflect their work developing or modifying courses in their discipline to include self-employment educational content.  Project Directors who lead Fellows on their campuses provide additional contributions to the site.  A forum/message board serves as a venue for ongoing dialogue on topics of interest.

In the three years of the program, over 150 fellowships have been awarded to faculty from 24 colleges and universities who teach in diverse departments ranging from Anthropology to Visual Arts.  In addition, post-fellowship support has been provided to more than 100 faculty members.  With more than 100,000 site visits, the web site has become a resource for individuals within as well as outside the Coleman Fellows Program to learn how self-employment education is delivered in many different academic settings.

Coleman Foundation Announces Entrepreneurship Education Impact Plan

The Coleman Foundation has focused on three program areas for over twenty years – Cancer, Developmental Disabilities and Entrepreneurship Education.  Over the past several months, program staff has employed the “Getting to Impact” framework developed by the Association for Small Foundations as part of a strategic planning process to more clearly make the connection between grant strategies and intended outcomes in these three major areas.  On March 1, 2012, the Board of Directors approved these Impact Plans to provide a basic outline of the goals for the Foundation’s grantmaking in 2012. 

The Entrepreneurship Education Impact Plan has curricular and co-curricular elements.  Within the curriculum, strategies aim to foster development of core skills (defined in footnotes to the Plan) and the promotion of entrepreneurship as interdisciplinary learning.   The Plan also seeks to improve the quality and quantity of experiential activities across disciplines to develop applied knowledge and experiences in self-employment. 

The Foundation’s Impact Plans should inform potential grantees as to the particular strategies the Foundation seeks to fund. The Foundation welcomes potential grantees to review our grantmaking process which is available on our website.   Download Entrepreneurship Education Impact Plan

Lawrence University Expands Entrepreneurship Program

Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin has participated in the Coleman Foundation Faculty Fellows Program the past three academic years.  Recently, the school's campus newspaper profiled the university's growing entrepreneurship program.