Ed Lowe believed entrepreneurs are what makes our country a great one — and that they were an endangered species. For that reason, he set out to create an organization that could go on forever and help entrepreneurs scale their businesses. Ed also had a deep respect for the land, so in addition to entrepreneurship, the foundation has a secondary mission of environmental stewardship, which is carried out at Big Rock Valley (BRV), our 2,000-acre property in southwest Michigan.

Ed’s vision and his endowment have enabled us to create programs that accelerate growth for today’s second-stage entrepreneurs. What’s more, we’ve continued to transform BRV into a place where entrepreneurs can gather, learn from each other and be inspired by nature. Comprised of woods, prairies, farmland and wetlands, BRV is a unique model of biodiversity and home to many threatened and endangered species.

For the past 40 years, we’ve been able to bootstrap on our own. Yet going on forever is a pretty tall order. Even as he was laying groundwork for the foundation, Ed knew that others would be critical to carry on his vision — not only to help shape our programs and but also to add financial “logs” to the entrepreneurial fire he was igniting.