Aspiritech 2015 Annual Report

TAKING FLIGHT

ANNUAL REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2015 JANUARY 1 - DECEMBER 31, 2015

"I've never had a job like this that I was paid for, where I felt like I was doing something that nobody else could be doing just as easily. I've had jobs like shredding papers and what not, but this is the first job that I've felt like I'm applying my own skills and abilities, and they're really valued."

–Lauren B., 25 years old

TABLE OF CONTENTS Bird’s Eye View Letter from Leadership

3

Liftoff Mission and History

5

Soaring to New Heights 2015 Highlights

7

Reach for the Stars Stepping Up & Out

8

Flying High Our Clients

10

Fueling Our Engine 2015 Financial Statement

12

Achieving Velocity Our Supporters

14

Pilots and Crew Board of Directors, Management Team, and Advisors

16

“I like the inclusiveness of the company. I feel comfortable here, which isn’t how I felt at other companies.”

–Brad B., 33 years old

BIRD’S EYE VIEW Letter from Leadership

Dear Friends, We are happy to announce that Aspiritech truly took flight in 2015. For the first time ever, we exceeded half a million dollars in client sales. This tremendous growth meant we could expand our impact. We were able to provide free training to eight individuals, all of whom then joined our team as employees, bringing our total number of employees to 27. Additionally, we were able to expand into new service offerings, including hardware testing, automated software testing, and data analysis.

Other 2015 highlights include: • New team members include a second full-time autism specialist, a part-time autism specialist, and a business development director. Plus, founder Brenda Weitzberg joined the team as full-time executive director in July.

• A generous two-year grant from The Coleman Foundation facilitated our transition into a state-of-the-art office in Highland Park, Illinois.

• The Board of Directors completed a new strategic plan in 2015, under the guidance of Aspiritech volunteer Marc Mar-Yohana. We are excited to announce that Marc has since joined our Board of Directors.

Taking flight in 2015 means that Aspiritech is soaring to even greater heights in 2016. As of mid-year, business contracts are up by 125 percent over 2015, and we anticipate reaching one million dollars in sales by year’s end. Consequently, we have been able to provide more work hours to our 38 staff members with autism, as well as accept additional trainees off our ever-expanding waitlist.

We are extremely grateful to our many supporters. Thanks to donor support, we responded to 100 percent of the people who turned to us for help in 2015, and we provided more than 200 people with individualized resource and referral information. While client revenue covers the salaries of our testers and managers, philanthropy enables Aspiritech to employ autism specialists and provide free vocational training, resource and information services, and social activities and workshops through our Stepping Up & Out program.

Thank you for your critical support of our mission.

Sincerely,

Beverly Shapiro Board Chair

Brenda Weitzberg Executive Director

“This place gives us an opportunity for honest work, enjoyable work, that we can be proud of doing. I’ve heard—through autism conferences and shows on TV sometimes—that there are other places we are supposed to be [working as] adults on the autism spectrum, but they’re menial jobs. Like a car wash, or a window wash, or bun maker. It’s either factory work or custodial work or something that a high schooler could do. Here, we’re doing quality software testing.

Which is an adult job, really, and a well-respected job.”

–Brian T., 40 years old

LIFTOFF Mission and History

Aspiritech provides a path for high functioning individuals on the autism spectrum to realize their potential through gainful employment.

What does this mean? It means we connect the unique talents of individuals with autism— talents such as laser-like focus, attention to detail, strong visual processing skills, superior ability to spot irregularities, superlative technical skills, and lack of boredom with highly repetitive tasks— with clients seeking this level of expertise. Our employees provide quality assurance (QA) services in regression testing, data migration, test design, compatibility testing, data analysis, user acceptance testing, automation, design consistency, hardware testing, and many more areas.

But Aspiritech is more than a connector. It’s a place where employees find meaningful work. It’s a place where social quirks are embraced. It’s a place where independence flourishes and challenges are overcome.

We’ve come a long way since our founding in 2008. We look forward to seeing what the coming years bring.

2008

Aspiritech incorporated

2009

The company’s pilot program, a hands-on software testing training program, launches.

2010

First test engineers hired

2011

New services offered; autism specialist hired

2012

New industries join as clients; business development director hired

2013

Company continues to thrive.

2014

Client revenue doubles compared to prior year.

2015

Turn the page!

“I would say that in my experience—experiences working with testing—Aspiritech has the best way of testing things I’ve ever seen, and I really recommend it.”

–Gail B., 58 years old

SOARING TO NEW HEIGHTS 2015 Highlights

Fiscal year 2015 was a resounding success. We moved into a new home with support from The Coleman Foundation, continued to grow in clients and employees, expanded client services, and strengthened our infrastructure by hiring Brenda Weitzberg as a full-time executive director.

Two testers accepted competitive positions elsewhere (six individuals have transitioned to jobs in the competitive marketplace so far)

New service offerings included hardware testing, automated software testing and data analysis

Exceeded half a million dollars in client sales

Trained and hired eight individuals

Seventy individuals, including employees and community members, participated in Stepping Up & Out social activities

Twenty-seven total employees

Moved into a new office with a larger footprint and sensory-aware amenities

Hired a full-time executive director

Stepping Up & Out Aspiritech employs individuals who sometimes struggle in social situations. Many adults on the autism spectrum have difficulty making eye contact or reading emotional and verbal cues, which can make job interviews, “water cooler talk,” and other social interactions challenging. Our Stepping Up & Out program tackles social isolation through weekly activities, including game nights, arts and crafts, and community meals. Program assistants on the autism spectrum help plan and run each event.

ACTIVITIES

RESULTS

Game night Movie night Thanksgiving dinner Art projects Improv Halloween party Scavenger hunt Goal setting Group walks Trivia Puzzles

Improved communication Self-confidence Social bonding Enhanced personal connections Reduced isolation Friendships Emotional support Soft skills Self-efficacy

“I think that I actually, generally, have become more social everywhere. I was reclusive before. The daily interaction in the context of work kind of cultivates being able to get out and socialize.”

–Alicia M., 28 years old

Our Clients

“I’ve been part of quality assurance organizations for 25 years, and [Aspiritech] really understands quality and how to do testing the right way.”

–Jeff New, Systems Quality Manager Zebra Technologies Corp.

“The accuracy and speed that the test engineers at Aspiritech have displayed has been remarkable. This group of individuals has an undeniable set of skills that makes them uniquely suited to perform software testing and QA work at a very prolific rate.”

–Gene Schelfaut, Executive Director, Head of Americas Information Systems Astella Pharma US Inc.

“You guys knocked it out of the park! Our experience with Aspiritech has been nothing short of amazing … We turned to Aspiritech for a small project at first and were astounded at the level of detail their testing reports provided … After the first testing reports came back and the final invoice was on point, we knew we had a winner. Now we consider Aspiritech to be an extension of our QA team and will continue to use them for all our application interface testing from this point forward.”

–Chris Gould, Software Development Manager Eagle Metal Products

In 2015, we contracted with 13 clients in industries ranging from education to pharmaceuticals to technology.

Our clients tell us time and time again: Aspiritech delivers. In fact, clients ranked “quality of service” as the most important factor in their decision to use Aspiritech. Other results from our 2015 independent survey are equally impressive.

CATEGORY

SATISFIED/ HIGHLY SATISFIED

QUALITY TIMELINESS PROFESSIONALISM COMMUNICATION COLLABORATION

100% of surveyed clients indicated they would recommend Aspiritech to others—and they do!

2015 Financial Statement

2015 REVENUE AND EXPENSES OTHER

2015 ReveNue Individuals Foundations Released from restricted Software testing revenue Other

INDIVIDUALS

$809,445 $35,630 $131,243 $129,685 $512,852 $35

FOUNDATIONS SOFTWARE TESTING REVENUE

RELEASED FROM RESTRICTED

MANAGEMENT/ GENERAL COSTS

2015 expeNses

$641,353 FUNDRAISING

Program Costs Fundraising Management/general costs

$554,028 $4,892 $82,433

PROGRAM COSTS

2015 suRpLus

$168,092*

*Surplus will be reinvested to strengthen our infrastructure in 2016 and enable continued growth.

“I think anyone would donate to the company if they could just talk to us and find out the ways in which we’ve helped businesses and other people, professionally and personally. This job gave me an opportunity to use some of the knowledge that I gained in my college coursework, which I hadn’t been able to use up until now. And it gives me a sense of belonging to the computer community at large rather than just having a lot of knowledge without being able to use it.”

–Alan S., 61 years old

Our Supporters Aspiritech wants to extend its heartfelt thanks to the following donors who supported us so generously in 2015.

$130,000 The Coleman Foundation $35,000 Fred J. Brunner Foundation $20,000-25,000 Anonymous Grandy Foundation Healthcare Foundation of Highland Park $10,000-15,000 Helen Brach Foundation $5,000-5,500 Finnegan Family Foundation Sweeney Family Foundation Hong Zhang-Sun, PhD and Xien-He Sun, PhD $2,000-$2,600 Alvin H. Baum Family Foundation The Roslyn and Joseph Perlman Foundation Trillium Foundation $1,000-1,500 Simon and Rita Berger Dr. Robert and Mrs. Sharon Bielski Michele and Don Cronin Louise Pearson and Jack Henkin, PhD Season of Change Foundation Karyn B. Lutz Takiff Family Foundation James and Minerva Weiss Foundation Pin-He and Yung Zhang

$500-$999 Barberis Family Baxter International Foundation Barbara and David Campbell Extrel CMS Dr. Michael and Lisa Foreman in honor of Moshe Weitzberg Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Janet and Robert Jacobson Dr. Henry Masters III Jim and Marie McCallister Andy and Nancy Mills in honor of Brad and Jackee Cohen Danielle Moushon Securitech Group, Inc. Beverly and Myron Shapiro Dr. John Sobolski and Dr. Fatieh Khojasteh Byron and Jean States Carmen and Donald Tozzo Dr. Moshe and Brenda Weitzberg $200-$499 Bruce Belrose and Ester Stein Marcia and Leon Bernstein Dr. Duke and Claudia Cameron Brad and Jackee Cohen CME Foundation Marilee and Matthew Cole Cubist Abraham and Bette Cyzner in honor of Oran Weitzberg Betty Dayron in honor of Beverly Shapiro Dr. Richard and Victoria Elliott

Bud Glick Mary and Robert Killian Arieh Konigl, PhD Kraft Matching Gifts Margaret McDonald Ronald and Patricia Miller Todd and Lori Newberger Drs. Gary Posner and Judith Stamberg in memory of Joe and Rose Posner Clint Pross and Amy Ecker Alan Rosenblatt, MD Mitch and Maria Segal in memory of June Hurwitz Arthur Segil Dr. Gene and Sharyn Weiss Katy and Hugh Zwick $100-$199 Anonymous in honor of Rachelle Jervis and Marc Mar-Yohanna Jean and Bill Bacarella Dr. John and Jean Beckerman Ronald Brix Emily Carroll Richard Clark, PhD and Laura Whiting Clark Dena and David Cooperman Dr. Ira and Amy Dolnick Stuart and Elaine Duhl Daniel and Marilyn Educate Lynn Franck Dr. Michael and Jennifer Fretzin Oliver Fuentes Sheila and Vern Gideon Dr. Louis and Suzanne Greenwald Julie Hecktman Merrill and Bernette Hoyt in honor of Beverly Shapiro Anne and Alan Kraus in honor of David Kraus Steven LaKind Moshe and Toby Leibowitz Sondra and Max Lorig Rinna and Eric Maletsky Bill and Annette McClellan Mindspark Technologies David Nehmadi Rabbi Oler Discretionary Fund Catherine Pacholski-Tomaka

Ben Prozinski Drs. Lawrence and Deborah Segil Don and Peggy Shearn Elinor T. Turbov in honor of David Kraus Melissa Wish under $100 Mel and Donna Alexander Bindy Bitterman in honor of Katie Levin and her colleagues Dan and Barrie Cohen Wendy Cole in honor of Myron and Beverly Shapiro Andrea Conrad Leslie Corn Kerry and Margaret Crosby Jeffrey Dobrinski Roxanne Dowdy Enaz Janet and Merrill Freed Barbara and Charles Gitkin Gail and Donald Goldstein Kelley Collen and Stuart Grinell Jack and Ruth Gruener Dr. Doug and Sherrie Kalvin Matthew Koenig Harvey and Debby Lazar in memory of Robbie Willis Renee Lewis Mayra Leyva Sam Lin Marc and Beth Noland Rodney and Joy Onusaitis Janice Pilarski Robert and Gigi Ramis Susan Rochlis Ann Sheridan Marilyn and Rodney Slutzky Ronnie Sokol Dr. Michael and Sue Stein on behalf of Tuesday Night Out Bridge Group Sue Tolpin Charlie Villarosa Dr. Moshe Zamir We apologize for any errors or omissions that we may have inadvertently made. Please notify us of any errors or omissions at info@aspiritech.org.

Board of Directors, Management Team, and Advisors

BOARD OF DIReCTORs

MANAGeMeNT TeAM

ADvIsORs

Beverly Shapiro Chair

Brenda Weitzberg Executive Director

Ed Asner Brian R. King, LCSW

Gene Weiss, MD Vice Chair

Moshe Weitzberg, PhD Director of Operations

Danielle Moushon Treasurer

Marc Lazar Autism Specialist

Barbara Berman

Tory Peña Autism Specialist

Bennett Leventhal, MD Dan Mayo Marc Noland Louise Pearson

Sharon Bielski Ron Brix

Brian Tozzo Lead Tester

Keita Suzuki Hong Zhang, PhD

Brad Cohen

Andrew Costello Automation Test Lead

Bud Glick Marc Mar-Yohana Ben Prozinski David Rappaport Ester Stein Moshe Weitzberg, PhD

Connie Gomez Senior QA Manager Robin Kacyn Stepping Up & Out Coordinator

“I feel like I’m actually doing something good on a regular basis, and I’m making something of myself, and I’m helping people.”

–Julia O., 27 years old

“I wish I’d found a place like this many years ago. I’m just glad that I found this place to work in right now.”

–Alan S., 61 years old

“I’m very grateful for being given a chance to show what I can do.”

–Alicia M., 28 years old

“Of all the jobs that I have ever worked, Aspiritech is my favorite.”

–Gail B., 58 years old

Designer: Laurie Wurster Editor: Kelsey Schagemann Photographer: Katie Levin

1893 Sheridan Road, Suite 103 Highland Park, IL 60035 312-945-TEST (8378) info@aspiritech.org aspiritech.org