The Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship develops a new generation of tech leadership for a new approach to Chicago tech: More entrepreneurial. More diverse. More community-minded.

Your support allows the Kaplan Institute to provide:

- Student internships with the Kaplan Institute or with community partners

- Project funds for students using the Idea Shop or building new ventures

- Funds for contests and prizes

We aim to develop the entrepreneurial mindset in every Illinois Tech graduate and take the students wanting to launch their business ideas for a test drive. We are most proud of the journey our students have taken with the Kaplan team this year. We are still a nascent organization and our students stepped in and worked with us to build the amazing programs we now offer Illinois Tech students. We lived one of our core values to Innovate With, not For.

We are also very proud of our student entrepreneurs. Ashley Marie Sutherland and her husband won the business plan competition this year and are using it to build an urban farm in Chicago, servicing historically excluded communities. One of our finalist teams, Phyesta, won third place at University Pitch Madness, a citywide business plan competition. They built a physics experiment simulator to enable high school science teachers to run remote physics labs.

Frequently Asked Questions

I live outside of the United States. How can I support Giving Day 2021?

To make a gift from outside the U.S., please visit https://alumni.iit.edu/give-to-illinois-tech.

If you have any questions, please contact Joe Volin, senior director of constituent engagement, at jvolin@iit.edu.