MLP’s Private Foundation, Morgan Franklin Fellowship Foundation
Our mission at MLP focuses on, “Investing in the future by building financial independence through education, growth, diversity, and perpetuity.” So, how do we do this?
We have many projects at Morgan Legacy Partners, but one of our most passionate initiatives is our Private Foundation, Morgan Franklin Fellowship Foundation. Morgan Franklin Fellowship was founded in 2014 by MLP Founder and CEO, Peter Morgan, and our Finance Manager, Michelle Demirjian, to give aspiring students an education in personal finance.
The inspiration behind creating the Morgan Franklin Fellowship Foundation (MFF) is two-fold. First, MFF was created from Peter’s deep appreciation of Benjamin Franklin’s desire to promote civic virtue through investing in the growth of the community for 200 years and the power of compounding interest. Second, Loren Eiseley’s wonderful short story “One Starfish” provided the inspiration for making a difference one person – or one starfish – at a time.
Peter wanted to teach young adults about the merits of investing, and this idea developed into a 501(c)3 nonprofit operating foundation in 2017. In the early years, students were mentored and given hands-on investment opportunities to understand the ins and outs of stock investing. The outcome of their work was to become a ‘Fellow.’ Once a student becomes a Fellow, they gain access to the MFF/MLP network, opportunities, projects, and additional courses. In 2018, MFF launched an online course called Standards of Financial Literacy so students could learn at their own pace.
Today, both organizations work together on one mission established by Peter Morgan to help others reach financial independence. This is Peter’s legacy. All staff at MLP are MFF Fellows, and the staff of MFF are actively involved at MLP. MLP employees and staff give back to students at MFF, and MFF Fellows are often given opportunities to work and invest with MLP.
A key objective of both organizations is to promote and secure affordable housing. Today MLP and MFF are collaborating on a program to encourage tenants at MLP Mobile Home Parks to purchase the mobile homes they currently live in. To this end, MLP and MFF are working together to create a course called, Preparing for Mobile Home Ownership. The intention of the course is to educate current tenants on both the finance and maintenance required of home ownership, so they can pursue the opportunity of owning their own home.
MFF now has 10 courses including Standards of Financial Literacy, Preparing for Homeownership, The History of Money, Managing Time and Money like Benjamin Franklin, Learning About Soft Skills, and more. There are also multiple courses in the works including a series on Investing. MFF actively posts blog posts on different personal finance topics and has launched a podcast called the Save Invest Grow Podcast. The podcast shines the light on MFF Fellows and seeks to inspire others on their path to financial independence by sharing stories of business owners, investors, industry professionals, and those pursuing financial independence.
You can learn more about Morgan Franklin Fellowship and get involved at morganfranklinfellowship.com.