Powering possibility across decades.

Opportunity begins with a community willing to try.

1966—1986 | The Founding Years

Kansas Citians helped shape early health and youth initiatives, establishing a hands-on approach grounded in participation, learning, and evidence.

GROUNDED IN KANSAS CITY: Community health • Youth development • Research and evaluation
PRESIDENT & CEO: Ewing Kauffman (1966-1987)

01 Opportunity

Kansas City families and young people needed practical tools to build healthier lives and make informed choices.

02 Action

The Foundation created and operated CPR NOW, Project STAR, and the Kauffman Teen Survey, pairing direct community engagement with sustained research and evaluation.

03 Impact

125,000

people learned CPR as the program expanded from Marion Laboratories to public training across the Kansas City region.

04 Legacy

This era established a lasting approach: work alongside the community, test ideas locally, measure what works, and carry the learning forward.

Featured stories from 1966—1986

A closer look at the people, programs, and partnerships that shaped this chapter.

Creating opportunity: The Foundation’s early programs

1966-1986

The Founding Years

Education
1966-1986

The Founding Years

At that time, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation was managing and running many of its own programs – Project Choice, Project Essential, Project Early – and the idea was to help our community become self-sufficient and to offer the opportunity for both young people and adults to make a job rather than just take a job, which is priority of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. We were deeply invested in the community, but the reality was Project Choice, and I think most people would agree with this, was significant [in] how it informed us about the realities of addressing the issues, the opportunities, and the problems of our at-risk community.

— Lou Smith, former Foundation president and CEO, 1995-2002

Entrepreneurship
A life-saving idea takes the field: The legacy of CPR NOW

1966-1986

The Founding Years

Education
Building the Marion spirit: A culture of opportunity and shared success

1966-1986

The Founding Years

Kansas City

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Lasting opportunity takes more than a promise.

1987—1994 | Building an Enduring Foundation

The Foundation paired long-term support for young people with practical entrepreneurship education, turning Mr. K’s beliefs into programs built to endure.

Mr. Kauffman shaking hands with students

GROUNDED IN KANSAS CITY: Education • Entrepreneurship • Youth development
PRESIDENT & CEO: Ewing Kauffman (1966-1987) • Mike Herman (1987-1990) • Bob Rogers (1990-1995)

01 Opportunity

Young people needed sustained support to finish school and pursue college, while aspiring entrepreneurs needed practical ways to turn ideas into businesses.

02 Action

Project Early, Project Essential, and Project Choice supported youth development, while KCEL and FastTrac made entrepreneurship education more accessible.

03 Impact

1,400+

students were served by Project Choice, which combined scholarships, mentoring, and clear expectations for high school completion.

04 Legacy

This era connected education and entrepreneurship around one idea: people can shape their futures when opportunity is matched with tools, support, and high expectations.

A stronger city creates more ways for people to thrive.

1995–2002 | Deepening Roots in Kansas City

The Foundation deepened its Kansas City roots through civic institutions, public spaces, youth leadership, and hands-on learning.

GROUNDED IN KANSAS CITY: Civic life • Youth voice • Community learning
PRESIDENT & CEO: Bob Rogers (1990-1995) • Lou Smith (1995-2002)

01 Opportunity

Kansas City needed strong civic anchors and accessible places where people could learn, connect, and help shape their community.

02 Action

The Foundation invested in Science City, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Legacy Park, Freedom Schools, Exchange City, and a Youth Advisory Board.

03 Impact

$25 million

was initially committed to Science City at Union Station, strengthening a regional destination for hands-on STEM learning.

04 Legacy

The Foundation became more deeply embedded in Kansas City’s civic fabric and showed that opportunity depends on institutions, places, and community voice that can endure.

Featured stories from 1995–2002

A closer look at the people, programs, and partnerships that shaped this chapter.

1995-2002

Deepening Roots in Kansas City

Freedom Schools, as we called ours the Kansas City Freedom School Initiative, is a program of the Children's Defense Fund in Washington, DC. Marian Wright Edelman was the person who really re-engaged Freedom Schools [in the 1990s], because Freedom Schools were founded many years ago during the Civil Rights Movement… to address a critical issue of learning in our unique communities… Mrs. Edelman realized that we're still fighting the same challenges and we had a good product decades before, so why not bring that back? … And Kansas City, as we often do, took the lead… Kansas City had the most sites, Freedom School sites, and was kind of looked upon as that premier initiative that others looked on from afar in terms of what we did… At its highest point, we had like 19 sites, approximately 100 students per site… it was a great program for the students participating, their families, and the college students that we call Servant Leaders.

— Gloria Jackson-Leathers, former associate, 1998-2026

Education
Youth Advisory Board: Putting young people at the grantmaking table

1995-2002

Deepening Roots in Kansas City

Education
Bigger than baseball: The Negro Leagues’ social justice history

1995-2002

Deepening Roots in Kansas City

Kansas City
The longest-running display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt

1995-2002

Deepening Roots in Kansas City

Kansas City

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Local ideas reach farther when people connect with purpose.

2003–2011 | Build National Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs and partners built networks that shared knowledge, created momentum, and extended Kansas City’s influence.

GROUNDED IN KANSAS CITY: Entrepreneurship • Research • Global networks
PRESIDENT & CEO: Carl Schramm (2003-2011)

01 Opportunity

Entrepreneurs needed access to peers, knowledge, and institutions that could help ideas travel farther. Kansas City students also needed longer-term paths to college.

02 Action

The Foundation built research and convening platforms while advancing Kauffman Scholars, the Ewing Marion Kauffman School, KC STEM Alliance, and other local education initiatives.

03 Impact

190+

countries are now connected through Global Entrepreneurship Week, launched by the Foundation and partners in 2008.

04 Legacy

Kansas City became a proving ground for networks, research, and programs built locally and shared widely.

Featured stories from 2003–2011

A closer look at the people, programs, and partnerships that shaped this chapter.

Kauffman Scholars: A long-term investment in college success

2003-2011

Building National Entrepreneurship

Education
Global Entrepreneurship Week: Taking ideas to the world

2003-2011

Building National Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship
StartUp America Partnership to energize entrepreneurial ecosystems and scale startup activity

2003-2011

Building National Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship
2003-2011

Building National Entrepreneurship

Learning from Project Choice, we began to think about, ‘Well, what if we started [supporting young people] earlier? What if there was more support? And what if we could do it better?’ And so, the idea of the Kauffman Scholars program began to emerge from that…. We didn’t just say, ‘Here’s college, God bless you, go forth and graduate.’ We said that, but we also said, ‘And you have a coach who’s going to help get you through, who’s going to be there, be a resource, be an ear.’ …We ended up with a [higher] college graduation [rate]… [the] typical [rate is] 8% to 10%. Project Choice, I think, was around 28%. Kauffman Scholars was just under 65%. The scholars who entered college, just under 65% graduated, and that’s the comparison to each of the other numbers. 800 students’ lives were fundamentally changed.

— John Tyler, current associate, 1995-present

Education

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Stronger systems begin with stronger local connections.

2012-2023 | Renewing a Regional Focus

The Foundation renewed its regional focus, linking schools, employers, entrepreneurs, and civic partners around more inclusive pathways to opportunity.

GROUNDED IN KANSAS CITY: Regional systems • Workforce pathways • Entrepreneur ecosystems
PRESIDENT & CEO: Benno Schmidt, interim (2012) • Tom McDonnell (2013-2014) • Wendy Guillies (2014-2022) • Susan Chambers, interim (2022-2023) • Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace (2023-present)

01 Opportunity

Students, workers, and entrepreneurs needed clearer routes to opportunity and stronger connections among the institutions meant to support them.

02 Action

Initiatives including 1 Million Cups, Real World Learning, ProX, Skilled KC, KC Scholars, and the ESHIP Summit brought people together to build solutions across systems.

03 Impact

120+

U.S. communities adopted 1 Million Cups, expanding a Kansas City idea through locally-led peer learning.

04 Legacy

This era shifted the emphasis from individual programs to connected ecosystems, regional ownership, and more inclusive pathways into education, work, and entrepreneurship.

Featured stories from 2012-2023

A closer look at the people, programs, and partnerships that shaped this chapter.

Programmatic pathways to good jobs: Skilled KC and ProX

2012-2023

Renewing a Regional Focus

Education
Mayors Conference designed to strengthen entrepreneurship-led economic development

2012-2023

Renewing a Regional Focus

Entrepreneurship
2012-2023

Renewing a Regional Focus

The genesis for 1 Million Cups was never to be a program of the Kauffman Foundation … I remember distinctly this gentleman, stalwart of the community, known by everyone in the entrepreneurship ecosystem come up to me and say, '… I really want to thank you for doing this, because … for so long, the Kauffman Foundation was like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Nobody knew what went on behind these doors. With 1 Million Cups, you've opened the Foundation to the community. And on behalf of the community, I want to thank you for that. It's been refreshing. It's been wonderful to see. We feel like now we're part of this, too.'"

— Thom Ruhe, former associate, 2007-2014

Entrepreneurship
City Year Kansas City increased support for thousands of students

2012-2023

Renewing a Regional Focus

Education

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Economic mobility grows when pathways work together.

2024-present | Elevating Economic Mobility

Drawing on six decades of learning, the Foundation aligned its work around helping more Kansas Citians build stability, mobility, and choice.

GROUNDED IN KANSAS CITY: Economic mobility • Community leadership • Systems change
PRESIDENT & CEO: Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace (2023-present)

01 Opportunity

Too many Kansas Citians still face disconnected pathways to college, careers, entrepreneurship, and long-term financial stability.

02 Action

The Foundation organized its work around college access and completion, workforce and career development, and entrepreneurship, supported by clearer, community-infomred grantmaking pathways.

03 Impact

strategic priorities now work together under one goal: advancing equitable economic mobility across the Kansas City region.

04 Legacy

This chapter carries forward a community-rooted, evidence-informed approach and looks toward a 2035 vision of Kansas City as a national model for equitable economic mobility.

Featured stories from 2024-present

A closer look at the people, programs, and partnerships that shaped this chapter.

A project to learn from, and honor, 60 years of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

2024-present

Elevating Economic Mobility

Research and Policy
2012-2023

Renewing a Regional Focus

I was most excited about Real World Learning. I have never seen something take off where there is agency and ownership in the school district and with the faculty and students and parents over something… I think there's so much potential there, and we're a model, and no one else is doing something quite like this.

— Wendy Guillies, former Foundation president and CEO, 2015-2022

Education
30 years of data: The Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship

2024-present

Elevating Economic Mobility

Entrepreneurship
Kauffman Uncommon Leader Awards: Elevating local leadership

2024-present

Elevating Economic Mobility

Kansas City

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Powering possibility across decades.