Pilot Grant Program
What Empowering Manufacturing Looks Like in Practice (Pilot Grant Program)
The Don Wood Foundation supports initiatives that strengthen manufacturers' leadership in a rapidly changing economy. This includes efforts that:
Accelerate technology adoption and innovation, enabling manufacturers to collectively identify, test, and scale emerging technologies rather than navigating change alone.
Support continuous learning for workers, helping both emerging and incumbent employees build next-generation skills through hands-on experience, upskilling, and peer learning.
Strengthen partnerships between industry, education, and workforce organizations, ensuring that training systems are demand-driven and aligned with real employer needs.
In an incumbent-worker–dominant manufacturing region, technology adoption is ultimately a people strategy. Manufacturers that invest in upskilling, engagement, and knowledge transfer are far more likely to realize the productivity, quality, and competitiveness gains promised by new technologies.
A key expression of this work is the Empowering Manufacturing Grant Program, a pilot initiative that supports high-impact, industry-engaged projects. The program prioritizes initiatives that deliver public benefit, move beyond the interests of any single employer, and position manufacturers as co-designers and system actors. By centering employer leadership, the program helps ensure that regional workforce and innovation strategies are grounded in real-world demand for talent.
Part of a Connected System
Empowering Manufacturing is most effective when paired with the Foundation’s other two levers: Engaging Youth and Developing Talent. Together, these levers form a cohesive workforce system.
Early exposure and inspiration spark young people’s interest in manufacturing careers. Targeted education and training then build the skills needed for high-value roles and strong career starts. Finally, empowered manufacturers create workplace conditions where talent can grow—through innovation, productivity, and advancement. When these levers work together, northeast Indiana is better positioned to compete globally while expanding access to meaningful careers.
This integrated approach reflects the Foundation’s Forward Together Blueprint, which prioritizes outcome-driven investments that advance regional competitiveness, strengthen economic resilience, and expand shared prosperity by building on the region’s historically strong manufacturing sector.
Looking Ahead
The future of manufacturing will be defined by change, with new technologies, new ways of working, and new expectations for employers and workers alike. Empowering our manufacturing workforce to navigate that change is essential to the region’s long-term success.
By supporting industry-led collaboration, continuous learning, and systems-level solutions, the Don Wood Foundation is helping manufacturers not only adapt to the future but also shape it. Empowering Manufacturing is about ensuring that the employers who power northeast Indiana today are equipped to lead its next chapter.