What SmartLab Partners Are Saying — And What They’re Seeing
What does it feel like to invest in a student and actually watch it work?
Not the abstract satisfaction that comes with a line item on an annual giving report, but something more personal, such as a student explaining a project she built with her own hands with materials and knowledge your investment provided.
SmartLab’s partners range from local family foundations to national corporations, and when you ask them why they keep showing up, very few of them lead with “philanthropy.” Instead, what they describe is something closer to a relationship, one with a return they can see. Across dozens of conversations with partners, three themes have consistently surfaced: community connection, workforce relevance, and a sense of shared purpose.
What follows is a closer look at what partners are saying, in their own words, and what they’re seeing on the ground.
Key Takeaways
- When sponsoring a SmartLab, partners gain visibility a marketing budget can’t buy. Ribbon cuttings, career talks, and mentoring establish ties with the local community.
- Partnering with SmartLab is an investment in workforce pipeline development and the students who will apply to your jobs one day.
- The outcomes of the partnership can be documented. One evaluation conducted by Partnerships in Education and Resilience (PEAR) found the greatest gains in STEM career knowledge, plus critical thinking and perseverance.
- A SmartLab partnership is ongoing, with benefits that include a Success Team, curriculum input, and multi-level recognition.
They Don’t Just Write a Check, They Also Show Up
The most engaged SmartLab partners are visible in the schools and communities they support. They attend ribbon cuttings, give career talks, send employees to mentor learners, and they keep showing up.
Maintaining a presence turns a donation into a meaningful connection between a partner and the people their philanthropy directly supports. By nurturing these ties, a company that funds a SmartLab becomes more than a logo on a list of sponsors, and for community-rooted organizations, that kind of authentic, local visibility is difficult to reproduce with an advertising budget. It’s also one of the clearest answers to what companies gain from sponsoring STEM programs.
A strong local STEM program also creates opportunities for the community. When a local employer helps bring a SmartLab to a nearby school, parents wondering how to find STEM education programs for their children suddenly have one available. It’s also a visible sign that local industry is invested in the community.
For current partner the Campos Foundation, that connection is the point.
“Each SmartLab we fund is another step towards fulfilling our mission. We never know the impact this exposure may have on a child, and many times attending a school with a STEM curriculum lights a spark that encourages a career in STEM. These children are the future problem solvers, inventors, doctors, and designers and we are proud to support them.”
SmartLab partners are recognized in ways that grow alongside their investment, from branding and acknowledgement at the Sponsor level to deeper, ongoing recognition and storytelling collaboration at the Champion level. Partners are never left to wonder whether anyone notices their contribution.
Partners Invest in the Workforce They’ll Need
Local industries aren’t immune from the skills gap that manufacturers, healthcare systems, and technology employers keep talking about, and one of the possible solutions is sitting in today’s middle and high school classrooms.
Some of the people closest to SmartLab programs recognize the future possibilities. Mark Whelton, superintendent of Bridgeport-Spaulding schools in Michigan, put it this way when talking about how SmartLab prepares the district’s high school students:
“The communication I’ve had with industry leaders within Michigan about the program itself comes primarily from their visits to our schools. I tell them, ‘Get prepared, because you’re going to have 18-year-old kids with more knowledge than some of your employees.’ That’s an exciting proposition for them because a lot of jobs are unfilled.”
When you fund a SmartLab, you’re investing in the students who will be applying to your jobs in five to ten years, and shaping the STEM identity of the next generation entering your industry along the way. It’s one of the most concrete ways corporate partners benefit from school sponsorships.
Leadership at The Weld Trust, another SmartLab partner, sees the model itself as what sets students up for success:
“SmartLabs are designed to engage students through hands-on learning. This project-based learning allows students to build critical thinking skills with a STEM curriculum. One of the long-term goals of The Weld Trust is to help remove barriers to learning for students to be successful in school. The interactive learning environment fostered by SmartLab allows students to learn in ways that are unique to their interests and keeps them engaged.”
The results hold up under independent review. When PEAR evaluated the network of SmartLabs funded through the MidAmerica Industrial Park partnership (a study of roughly 610 students across northeast Oklahoma) STEM career knowledge showed the greatest gains, with students also reporting stronger critical thinking and perseverance and educators reporting greater confidence in leading hands-on learning.
They Get Impact They Can Actually Document
In many foundations and corporate giving programs, it can be difficult to find giving opportunities with clear, documented outcomes. Plenty of causes are worthy, but far fewer come with evidence of the results.
SmartLab partnerships deliver that. Partners get real outcome data, including career awareness shifts, changes in student confidence, movement into STEM CTE pathways, and independent evaluation such as the CIS-S measures used in the previously referenced MidAmerica study. For a giving program that has to justify its choices to a board, that documentation can be the difference between a nice story and a defensible investment.
But partners rarely cite only the numbers when talking about the return on their investment. What they describe just as frequently is the sense of pride and purpose that a monetary gift alone can’t produce.
“Our world is changing every day, and education has to change with it. Students need opportunities to learn skills that connect to what the workforce actually needs. What excites me about SmartLab is that students are developing practical, transferable skills that will help fill workforce pipelines and strengthen our community. They’re also building communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills that apply to any career.”
The combination of outcomes can be documented, and partners are able to feel one of the most notable ways a SmartLab partnership stands out.
What Makes SmartLab Different From Other Educational Giving Opportunities?
Instead of being a one-time gift, the partnership provides opportunities to form a long-standing relationship. But that’s not the only way. SmartLab also:
- Comes with a Success Team. SmartLab partnership plugs companies and organizations into a supported program with a dedicated team that keeps the relationship healthy and aligned with shared goals over time.
- Gives partners a voice. They can offer program design feedback, contribute to curriculum conversations, and help shape how learning connects to their industry so talent pipelines nurture the skills they need.
- Delivers recognition beyond a plaque. Branding within the SmartLab, PR collaboration, video production, and thought leadership opportunities give partners acknowledgement as well as a platform.
- Offers partners a front-row seat to outcomes. The students who benefit from the partnership interact with partners directly, allowing them to see their impact first-hand.
The Partner Network Today
The organizations betting on SmartLab students are a varied and growing group that includes local foundations, civic organizations, and some of the most recognizable companies in the country. The current network features the Campos Foundation, Google, 3M, Honeywell, Valero, Rotary, MidAmerica, The Weld Trust, JBS, the Gill Foundation, Vista Equity Partners, MGM Grand, and many more.
The common thread between them all is a decision to invest in what students can do when they’re given the right environment. And the partner community is growing, with plenty of room for more organizations to join in.
The Partners Who Speak Loudest Are Believers
Here’s what stands out after hearing from our current partners: The ones who speak most passionately about SmartLab don’t describe themselves as donors. Instead, they identify as believers in the model, the outcomes, and most importantly, what students are capable of when someone believes in their STEM abilities.
That’s the return that money alone can’t buy, and it’s also the one that partners keep showing up for.
Want to hear more from our partners? Check out this video to see where funding partners find their ROI. Or, if you’re ready to start the discussion about partnering with SmartLab to help shape the future of STEM learning, get in touch today.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does a company or foundation become a SmartLab partner?
Becoming a SmartLab partner starts with a conversation. You can explore SmartLab’s three partnership levels (Ally, Sponsor, and Champion), then reach out to our team to start the discussion. From there, the SmartLab team works with you to match your goals, industry, and community to the right schools and level of involvement, so your investment fits what you want to accomplish.
What are SmartLab’s partnership levels?
SmartLab offers three flexible partnership levels, each matching recognition and involvement to your goals. The levels are:
- Ally: Provides opportunities to connect employees with schools, volunteer during STEM Identity Day, and join Fireside Futures, with recognition in SmartLab communications.
- Sponsor: Provides opportunities to sponsor STEM Identity Day initiatives or SmartLab programs, join school showcases and student events, and collaborate on social media and storytelling campaigns, earning spotlight videos and broader event recognition.
- Champion: Provides opportunities to support national initiatives and naming opportunities, collaborate on STEM initiatives, and participate in Fireside Futures sponsorship and thought leadership. This tier also receives customized impact reports, content collaboration opportunities, and priority PR visibility.
How can our employees get involved in the partnership?
Employee involvement is a core aspect of SmartLab partnerships. Beyond funding, your team can volunteer during STEM Identity Day, give career talks, and mentor students, putting professionals in the room where career paths start to form. Employees can also join school showcases and student events, host field trips or internships, or connect with a local SmartLab, giving staff a visible, hands-on way to engage with the students the partnership supports.
