The investments and activities of The Civic Innovation Lab, the Northeast Ohio grass roots economic development organization that provides mentorship and $30,000 in funding to early stage entrepreneurs, generated economic impact in Cuyahoga County.  The Lab generated $9.4 million in economic output in 2008, added 128 jobs, increased household income by $4.1 million, and generated $1.2 million in taxes.  The study was conducted by the Center for Economic Development at Cleveland State University and assumes that these 32 companies and organizations would not have existed without the initial funding from the Lab.    

Economic impact is the estimate of the economic benefits an organization creates in a given region. Civic Innovation Lab’s impact was calculated by using the jobs and operating budgets of Northeast Ohio companies receiving investment from Civic Innovation Lab, and those companies Civic Innovation Lab critically supported in generating investment.

“It is interesting to note that a small initiative such as the Civic Innovation Lab actually has an impact on the county's economy,” said Dr. Ziona Austrian, Director of the Center of Economic Development at CSU and co-author of the study.  Civic Innovation Lab has received all of its funding from The Cleveland Foundation. Established in 1914, the Cleveland Foundation is the world's first community foundation and the nation’s third-largest today, with assets of $1.6 billion and annual grants of $84 million.

“The combination of modest grants with active mentor coaching has proven to be a low cost, high impact model,” said Jennifer Thomas, the Lab’s director. “It would be ideal to provide this flexible scalable model to communities across the nation so that grass-roots innovation can proliferate with small amounts of capital but big amounts of civic engagement.”