Incentivizing giving.
While an investment of $30 million was substantial, it was only a start considering the objective was to spur statewide economic development.

To help the allocated funding have more impact, Dr. Barron established a matching program that would offer a $1 million match for a single gift of $1 million or more for each LaunchBox, creating an endowed fund of $2 million per location.

Those donors providing $1 million in funding would also secure naming rights for that LaunchBox location. In year three, PNC Bank committed $1 million to the LaunchBox located in the town adjacent to Penn State’s central campus, and the first LaunchBox was officially named.

Signaling support from the University.
This matching program not only provided motivation for individual LaunchBoxes to ramp up their donor outreach, but it also sent a clear signal that the University was backing this initiative at the highest levels, in terms of both endorsement by Penn State leadership and University funds to be distributed locally.

While the fund was originally designed to match gifts of $1 million or more, many locations found it difficult to identify donors with that giving capacity. Instead, they were receiving gifts in the tens to hundreds of thousands.

To help those LaunchBoxes secure University matching support, the fund requirements were altered to state that Penn State would match gifts of $25,000 or more that were directed to create an endowment to support a LaunchBox of the donor’s choice.

Across the network, there was a wide variety of staffing models and a wide variety of entrepreneurial and business experience among staff, but there was limited, or no instructions on how to stand up a sustainable LaunchBox.

• As LaunchBoxes came online, a number of different business models emerged, some more sustainable than others.
• Some locations needed more support and tools to evaluate the different models they were considering.
• Additionally, for those locations hoping to lease, or build, spaces, they needed support navigating all the approvals required to do so.

Streamlining internal processes.
To address both the complexity of defining a sustainable business model and the associated internal processes that may come with standing up a public-facing offering, we’ve worked to streamline the process of approvals and provide strategy sessions, templates, and spreadsheets to help directors design their business models.

Not only does this provide us with a snapshot of the sustainability of the network, it also allows us to work closely with directors to reduce risks.