As a young man in his 30s, founder Doug Mabie convinced nine of his friends to contribute $5000 each and become the first members of Springboard Foundation (now Springboard Foundation Fund), an early form of venture philanthropy and giving circles. He wanted to build a different organization; it was to be hands-on, support afterschool educational programs, and find and fund organizations in the difficult start-up phase of growth.
While Doug understood growth could be counted in different ways especially as it related to young people and their academic achievements, Doug always wanted organizations to grow larger, stronger, and more sustainable to serve more kids. As part of Springboard’s program, nonprofits would come together several times a year to discuss operational plans with their fellow grantees in something called The Roundtable. Furthermore, Springboard would provide additional dollars for nonprofits to tackle capacity-building projects like developing a strategic plan or enabling the Executive Director to attend a leadership class.
For 26 years, our founder and members would visit start-up afterschool programs and decide which organizations Springboard would fund based on their leadership, potential for growth, and engagement of young people in the program. In September of 2024, we lost our founder and visionary. However, the vision of Springboard continues to live on: in the incredible after-school programs that have received their funding from Springboard and go on to become community resources that neighborhoods and families depend on. And in the young people who have benefited from programs as diverse as tutoring, STEM, mentoring, dance, boxing, soccer, and debate, are "springboarded" into the world as confident and capable young people looking to make a difference.
