Tufts Gordon Institute Launches MSIM Discovery Fund

The newly launched MSIM Discovery Fund will provide financial support to MSIM students at critical points during the development of their Innovation Sprints.

Students in our MS in Innovation & Management (MSIM) program employ their innovative ideas and the lessons they learn in the classroom to develop projects called Innovation Sprints, where they work in teams to solve important problems through venture creation. While working on their Sprints, students often need to develop prototypes to test ideas or visit conferences to gain essential industry insights.

To support these important aspects of an Innovation Sprint, Tufts Gordon Institute is proud to launch the MSIM Discovery Fund – a gift-driven fund that will provide financial support to MSIM students as they work to strengthen their Sprints.

Kevin Oye, Executive Director of Tufts Gordon Institute, wrote a letter to the MSIM community to share the news of the Discovery Fund, explain its impact on current and future MSIM students, and detail a generous matching gift from one of our MSIM alumni:

“What a joy it’s been to welcome our 8th MSIM cohort this fall: 39 energized, engaged souls from around the world, with broad backgrounds across the STEM fields and beyond. They just recently presented their midpoint pitches, and as all of you may recall, it’s a moment of high drama as it’s the first time in the semester they have to pull all their Sprint thoughts together into a coherent story.

It’s also been humbling to reflect on how all of you have been key to our growth and strengthening as a community. Our current MSIMers always mention how it was hearing and connecting with MSIM alumni that gave them the deepest insight into the program and convinced them it was where they wanted to be. Many of you have also helped with reviewing and interviewing candidates, joining panels and sharing your experiences and advice, helping with the judging and sandpapering, and teaching classes and workshops. All these acts of giving back remind me how special all of you are as role models for the next class of MSIMers.

In recent years, we’ve had alumni and friends of the program offering to express their support financially. We’ve been able to leverage that support to enable MSIMers to travel to do customer research, explore industry conferences, and build prototypes to strengthen their Sprints. We’ve seen a dramatic uptick in the quality and depth of the Sprints as a result. To expand this source of funding, we’ve created the MSIM Discovery Fund so that alumni and friends of the program can financially support the program in a way that will directly benefit current MSIMers as they develop their Sprint ideas.

While we realize many of you are still early in your professional journeys, any level of support has a tremendous impact. It’s another way to signal your support for the program and its growth. We’ll display the names of MSIM Discovery Fund donors on the wall of the studio each year so that the current MSIMers will see your generosity. One of our generous alumni has offered to help jumpstart the Discovery Fund by contributing a $10,000 matching grant, so your contributions can have double the impact!

I am deeply thankful and humbled to have this opportunity to intersect with all of you and be a part of your journeys. I do look forward to staying connected; please do ping me any time I can be helpful, and if in the Boston area, do visit us in our new home in the Joyce Cummings Center, and meet the current MSIM class.

With deep appreciation,
Kevin Oye
Executive Director of Tufts Gordon Institute
Director of the MS in Innovation & Management Program
Professor of the Practice”

If you are interested in giving to the MSIM Discovery Fund and supporting the innovative and impactful work of our MSIM students, please visit our MSIM Discovery Fund page for details on how you can contribute.