Partnerships, community, and collaboration — Washington, D.C.

Morgan Marler

I build the rooms where good ideas find each other.

I’m Morgan. I lead partnerships at Young Futures, a nonprofit working on how young people grow up well in a world full of technology.

My career has moved through education, philanthropy, nonprofits, advocacy, research, and government. The job has been the same every time: find the right people, get them into real conversation, and turn that into something durable.

I’m nosy in the useful way. I remember who ought to meet whom, I ask the question everyone is thinking, and I follow up. Most good things I’ve been part of started as an introduction.

Morgan Marler
Morgan, mid-idea.

Four things that explain me

Partnerships across sectors that rarely share a table

Foundations, nonprofits, school systems, researchers, companies, government. I’ve built and stewarded six- and seven-figure partnerships, but the actual craft is translation — helping people who use different words for the same goal recognize each other.

Rooms that didn’t exist until someone built them

A funders table at Young Futures. A corporate council with seven founding members. A 300-person national conference. An alumni network of 400+ educators. I like starting the room, and I’m the person who keeps it warm afterward.

A decade in and around K–12 schools

Chicago Public Schools, a charter network, a D.C. education nonprofit. I left certain of one thing: young people, families, educators, and communities belong in the rooms where decisions about their lives are made — not consulted after.

Right now: youth wellbeing, technology, and money that moves

At Young Futures I lead fundraising and partnership strategy for work on what young people need to learn, connect, and thrive in an AI-shaped world. Nobody has the answer yet. That’s most of the appeal.

Off the resume

I co-lead a community garden in Kingman Park. Same work as the rest of my job, fewer slide decks.

Seattle raised me. Chicago taught me. D.C. keeps me.

I’ve mentored high schoolers for years through Chicago Scholars and iMentor. Best standing meeting on my calendar.

If we talk for ten minutes, I will probably try to introduce you to someone. It’s a reflex.

Say hello.

If you’re building something for young people — or you just want to think out loud about who should be in the room — write to me.

morganlmarler@gmail.com LinkedIn