This giving season, help us nurture opportunity and belonging for our team and community.
Your donation supports the programs that empower neurodivergent individuals to flourish in meaningful careers at Aspiritech and beyond.
You might have noticed—prices are up a bit.
This was a little joke about a very serious issue—of course you’ve noticed, and of course “a bit” is…a bit of an understatement. We feel the shift at every grocery run, during doctor’s visits, at the gas pump.
It is a struggle and personally I’m much more aware of it this year than in years’ past—I’ve tracked the price of my favorite brands and they’ve risen astronomically in recent months.
But even during more stable economic times, unforeseen circumstances can knock even the most responsible of spenders off of their game. That’s where the ACE Fund comes in, because a little relief can mean the world.
The ACE Fund was established in 2018 to support Aspiritech team members in three key areas of impact:
The process is simple: An Aspiritech team member fills out a standard application describing their ask and submits it to the ACE Fund Committee, composed of community and board members. The Committee meets, discusses the applications received, votes on whether to award funds and our Aspiritech liaison notifies the applicant either way.
Straightforward on paper but in practice, it’s incredibly impactful.
The ACE Fund Committee carefully, and with great sensitivity, reviews each request. They meet once quarterly or as necessary, and have at times provided emergency funds as quickly as the day after they’re requested. They have awarded monies to cover car payments, medical procedures, mental health appointments and training initiatives, and the ACE Fund does not require the recipient to follow-up or report on their progress.
That said, we’re Aspiritech and we talk to each other a lot—so we see these stories play out in real time.
One of our team members needed to make a very last-minute trip to see his mother in California. She was ill and he wanted to be by her side.
Over the course of a couple chaotic days he organized flights and a hotel room and departed for California. However—on top of the inherent stress of traveling alone and anxiety about his mother’s health, this trip coincided with the California wildfires in January 2025 and he was forced to take a long layover while waiting for a connecting flight—in a city he’d never been to, and with very few resources outside of his cell phone.
He finally made it to California and was able to be with his mom, and luckily the trip back wasn’t quite as eventful.
Through this experience, he saved his receipts in order to apply to the ACE Fund and was able to recoup most of his expenses. As much as we’d like to, we can’t take away the difficulties and heartache of his travel—but we know that the award helped to provide a bit of stability during a tumultuous time.
His is one story among dozens, and no doubt there will be many more. Please consider making a donation to the ACE Fund, and know that your generosity directly impacts our team.
“We hired them for the mission. We’ve kept them because they are excellent.”
Aspiritech, NFP
