Recently, The Motorola Foundation gave away 7.5 million bucks. Just up and handed it out in support of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs across the country. Their Innovation Generation Grants support programs for little kids and high school students; graduate students with exciting new ideas and teachers who want to up their game. For the 3rd year in a row they simply gave away buckets of money hoping that their passion for unlocking the secrets of all things geeky could be nurtured in young people and their instructors across the country.
This year, after wading through hundreds (and hundreds) of applications, Eileen Sweeney (Director of the Motorola Foundation and one of the original promoters of their grant program) and her team awarded 111 grants to organizations and groups across the country. Recipients are chosen based on many criteria, but two of them in particular caught my fancy.
1. They look for grantees located near Motorola employees or with programs that could involve employees.
So, it’s a two-way street. Money isn’t just handed off with a tip of the hat and “good luck, kids.” These newly funded programs now also have “a friend in the business,” as Sweeney described it in a recent interview. At the same time, Motorola employees stay connected to the world outside their potentially insulated high tech or corporate bubble. Relationships are being built that will far outlast any summer camp or seminar. No student can ever have too many mentors; no professional working in a business so reliant on new ideas can ever have too many acolytes.
2. They seek innovative ideas.
Although many grants are to on-going programs that have a solid track record, last year the Motorola Foundation decided to give 25% of the money to programs that are less than two years old. They wanted people to think creatively, so they decided to invest in new ideas and new approaches. Yikes. That’s a $1.8 million bet with no guarantee of success. Sweeney likened it to Research and Development, only in the community instead of in a company lab. How great is that for a young engineer or mathematician? To see the value in trying; to discover that something is always learned, always gained, even when an experiment fails.
Another aspect of the grant process that really takes it up a notch is their use of social media. Sweeney realized that “we know them, but they don’t know each other.” So, they set up an online community using WeaveThePeople.com that allowed grantees to share their experiences with each other. Never content, Sweeney and her cohorts took it a step further thi
s year by bringing recipients to corporate headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois. “That’s when the magic really happened,” said Sweeney. “When this group of individual programs met there was an explosion of ideas and best practices and let’s work together… they took off!” They also have a Facebook page and use Twitter to stay in touch. “We never leave them alone,” said Sweeney, laughing.
Sweeney explained the reason behind the grants as simply trying to “bridge the gap between what’s available to kids and what might be needed or necessary to turn them onto and sticking with these professions.” She feels, “you can’t not know some of this stuff and really expect to have any career. Retail, medicine, entertainment, whatever it is, at some point you’re going to be better at it if you understand these kinds of skills. We think we’re equipping a generation to live fully in the 21st century.”
That’s a daunting goal in an era when our public school funding is being slashed and teachers are using their own money to buy classroom supplies. But Sweeney is already looking forward to next year. “We connect the unconnected,” she said. Let’s hope no one pulls the plug on this great alignment of corporate mission and public service any time soon.
Grant recipients gather at Motorola headquarters in July, 2010.
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Tags: education, innovation, Innovation Generation Grants Program, Motorola Foundation, STEM
