In 2025, Burton D. Morgan Foundation advanced a more intentional and structured approach to championing free enterprise — the system that underpins entrepreneurship, innovation, and opportunity. While the foundation has long focused on supporting entrepreneurs, this work reflects a growing emphasis on strengthening understanding of the system that enables them to succeed.

Rooted in Burt Morgan’s conviction that private enterprise is one of America’s greatest advantages, the foundation launched the Free Enterprise Speaker Series to deepen understanding of what free enterprise is, why it matters, and how individuals can participate in and strengthen it.

The foundation collaborated with five partners to execute the series - Ashland University’s Ashbrook Center, the Barker Center for Economics Education at The University of Akron, Conscious Capitalism, the Foundation for Teaching Economics, and The Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit at Case Western Reserve University. These organizations delivered 12 programs over the course of the year, offering a range of perspectives and entry points for students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and community members.

Across the series, 472 total participants attended programming, reflecting meaningful interest in opportunities to explore the principles, benefits, complexities, and real-world application of free enterprise.

As a first-year effort, the series provided valuable insight into the types of programming, topics, formats, and audiences that may be most effective going forward. The foundation is using what it learned in 2025 to refine future offerings that encourage thoughtful dialogue, broaden understanding, and reinforce the foundation’s longstanding commitment to the free enterprise system.

In 2025, Burton D. Morgan Foundation’s YIPPEE platform continued to evolve as a dynamic marketplace connecting educators with high-quality entrepreneurship education experiences. Designed to expand access and choice, YIPPEE enables teachers to bring real-world, hands-on learning into their classrooms — helping students build creativity, confidence, problem-solving skills, and an entrepreneurial mindset.

The platform grew to 4,722 registered educators, with 8,672 orders placed through the marketplace, reflecting strong and sustained demand for accessible, classroom-ready entrepreneurship resources. YIPPEE also expanded its offerings with 50 new products added, bringing the total products available on the platform to 221 by year’s end and increasing the breadth of experiences available to educators and their students.

Alongside continued platform growth, 2025 brought a renewed focus on listening to educators and learning from their experiences. Through educator and provider surveys, focus groups, and conversations with community partners, the foundation worked to better understand user experiences, barriers, and opportunities for improvement. We launched the YIPPEE Voices initiative to more intentionally capture educator experiences with products in real classroom settings and use that feedback to inform future platform and product development. Insights gathered through this work are helping to shape YIPPEE’s next phase of growth and refinement.

To further illustrate impact, YIPPEE produced three video stories in 2025, highlighting how educators are using the platform to connect students with entrepreneurs, expose them to new possibilities, and bring learning beyond the classroom. As the platform continues to mature, YIPPEE is helping expand access to entrepreneurship education while equipping students with skills and perspectives they can carry into the future.

To strengthen support for startup and early-stage ventures, Burton D. Morgan Foundation continued core programs while introducing new opportunities in 2025 for founders to connect, learn, and grow. We focused on creating multiple access points for entrepreneurs, helping them find the right support at the right time as they move from idea to early traction.

NEOLaunchNET remained a cornerstone of Morgan Foundation’s early-stage venture work, serving 425 ventures across five campuses through coaching and supplemental experiences designed to support founder development and venture growth. Participating schools include Baldwin Wallace University, Case Western Reserve University, John Carroll University, Kent State University, and Lorain County Community College.

Morgan Startup Grants, also referred to as microgrants, continued to provide small, catalytic awards for emerging founders, often serving as one of their first sources of funding. In 2025, 82% of Morgan Startup Grants supported revenue-generating businesses rather than pre-revenue concepts, reflecting the program’s role in helping early-stage entrepreneurs build traction, strengthen operations, and continue moving their ventures forward.

New initiatives introduced in 2025 include BASE Roundtables — Business Acceleration through Shared Experience — created in partnership with Bounce Innovation Hub and Cleveland State University’s Weston Ideation Lab. Using the Edward Lowe Foundation’s PeerSpectives© model, the foundation supported the launch of five year-long roundtable cohorts, which began mid-year and enrolled 53 early-stage businesses.

We also launched the Rooted & Rising event series, in partnership with Baldwin Wallace University LaunchNET, TRI-C Center for Entrepreneurs, and Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development. The three events welcomed 225 total attendees and offered accessible learning and networking opportunities for emerging founders and entrepreneurial support professionals. Participants noted the importance of connecting with others who are navigating similar challenges and appreciated the chance to learn in a supportive environment, prompting planning for future Rooted & Rising events.

Recognizing that early-stage entrepreneurs need different types of resources at different points in their journeys, the foundation invested in programs that help address ecosystem gaps in areas such as customer discovery, accessible business education, sector-specific acceleration, and resources for socially minded enterprises. These efforts included support for SEA Change, NEOMED Bench to Bedside, I-Corps, Cuyahoga Community College’s Center for Entrepreneurs, and select work through anchor entrepreneurial support organizations such as Bounce Innovation Hub and JumpStart.

Burton D. Morgan Foundation deepened its support of second-stage entrepreneurs in 2025, helping established companies tap into the knowledge, networks, and strategic support needed to grow. The foundation defines second-stage companies as privately held, growth-oriented businesses with annual revenues between $1 million and $50 million and at least 10 employees.

Through Scalerator NEO, Edward Lowe Foundation programming, events, and one-on-one support, the foundation expanded its engagement with entrepreneurs leading growth-oriented companies across Northeast Ohio.

Scalerator’s 2025 cohort included nine graduating companies, with 47 individuals participating. Designed for second-stage companies with strong ambition to scale quickly and sustainably, Scalerator NEO is a seven-month, cohort-based program that helps entrepreneurs and their leadership teams focus on the 3 Cs of growth: Customers, Capacity, and Cash. Since 2017, 104 Northeast Ohio companies have completed the program, which is offered at no cost to participating companies through funding from Burton D. Morgan Foundation and the Fasenmyer Fund.

Through the foundation’s partnership with the Edward Lowe Foundation, second-stage programming engaged 63 unique individuals, who collectively took part in a variety of on-site and virtual programs 179 times, reflecting strong repeat engagement. New Edward Lowe Foundation offerings in 2025 included an operating systems program, a tariff roundtable, and an AI retreat, expanding the range of educational programming available to entrepreneurs.

The foundation also hosted and supported second-stage and alumni events throughout the year, including programs focused on succession planning, company culture, networking, and entrepreneurial leadership. This growing continuum of support is helping second-stage entrepreneurs strengthen their companies, build meaningful peer relationships, and contribute to the region’s economic vitality.