The founder and the family are concerned about the future of our country, its economy and the need to graduate more students with four-year college degrees in an environment of rapidly increasing costs in higher education. Concern also exists for the “forgotten half” of students who either cannot or choose not to pursue a four-year degree.

Some post-secondary education and credential seems essential to family-supporting careers in today’s workforce.  Declining levels of achievement among U.S. students (K-12) compared to their worldwide peers needs to be reversed and is a family priority. Although funding certain programs in public district schools remains a possibility, the majority of school funding will be directed at charter, Catholic or private schools, particularly those that serve the working- and middle-class and are high performing.

Recent research on the developing brain underscores the vital importance of quality early-childhood education, which the Foundation considers a priority. The Foundation, its founder and founding family also have a strong appreciation for the role entrepreneurship can play in job creation and in strengthening the economy.

The Foundation, in its areas of geographic emphasis, will issue grants to:

  • Build the capacity of high-performing schools, by invitation only, to provide more children with a quality education and a better start in life and promote sharing of best practices with schools having that potential;
  • Support best-in-class early childhood education providers through capacity building and quality enhancements;
  • Positively affect the excellence and enrollments of Minnesota’s 152 Catholic elementary schools;
  • Support high-quality, out-of-school-time activities to increase exposure to instruction and allow for greater progress in learning and the development of resiliency;
  • Attempt to improve the success rates of the next generation of entrepreneurs through degree-granting higher education programs and schools for students of entrepreneurship;
  • Lessen the negative impact of rising costs in higher and professional education on middle- and working-class students by offering college scholarships primarily in the foundation’s areas of geographic focus; and
  • Support the development of alternative career pathways through schools demonstrating excellence in career and technical education and a willingness to partner with employers and high schools;
  • Attempt to incentivize high-achieving students into careers in education through scholarship programs designed to reduce the debt burden assumed by education school graduates.