Lexington native Dale Morgan has long been passionate about empowering youth to understand their finances and take control of their futures. In 2022, he turned that passion into a financial literacy facilitation business, Foundation47 LLC.
Dale Morgan
Morgan graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Eastern Kentucky University. He later worked as an accountant for Purdue University and the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture before joining the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government as an investment analyst, where he is still employed full-time.
Morgan, a father of two, often cites his daughter, 20, as one of his first pupils. While financial literacy instruction isn’t necessarily taught in schools, Morgan’s lessons on personal finance during her youth may have inspired his daughter to invest money and start her own business at an early age.
The first seeds of Foundation47 were planted while Morgan worked at the UK College of Agriculture, when he was asked to present about personal finance to a group of high school students. A year later, he ran into one of the pupils, who said Morgan’s presentation had inspired him to create and stick to a budget. For an additional four years, Morgan continued to present to groups of students in both K-12 and university settings. He officially launched Foundation47 in early 2022.
“I want to tell individuals ... if you can get ahold of your finances, it will change the whole trajectory in your life,” Morgan said.
Through Foundation47, Morgan and fellow facilitator, Erik Martinez, offer presentations, workshops and free online tools and materials designed to educate the youth of the Bluegrass about their finances and wealth management. Presentations are offered to K-12 students, college students and young adults, featuring an FDIC-backed curriculum on topics such as debt, savings and investments. Foundation47 also offers modules about running a small business. Morgan has spoken at many different schools and universities around Kentucky and hosted workshops for various local organizations, such as Commerce Lexington.
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Through his work with Foundation47, Dale Morgan often presents to groups of grade-school students, college students and young adults and shares personal stories to illustrate sound financial practices.
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Morgan wasn’t always so well-versed in money matters, and his personal experience with financial illiteracy inspired him to start the business.
Morgan grew up on government assistance and, like many other school-age children, he wasn’t educated about managing his own finances as part of the curriculum, he said. When Morgan was just out of high school, he signed up for a credit card in exchange for a free T-shirt and a slice of pizza — without knowing the effects it could have on him later in life. He promptly maxed out the card’s $500 limit and forgot about it. Eight years later, when it was time for him to buy his first home, he realized that credit card had become a financial obstacle.
In his presentations, Morgan draws on examples like this from his own life, which sets Foundation47 apart from other financial education businesses. Using these anecdotes as real-world examples to teach young people the value of money, he breaks down complex topics into concepts everyone can understand and learn from.
“I give individuals these real-world examples about what happened to me and people I’ve met along the way, so they’re not making these same mistakes,” Morgan said.
Marissa Wallace, family resource coordinator at Garrett Morgan Elementary School, invited Morgan to be a guest speaker and has recommended his free financial workshops and tools as resources to students and their families.
“He was very relatable to my students through some of the experiences they are going through and have been through,” Wallace said. “I really appreciate him being open and honest with my students and my families so they can see that he did it, and they can too.”
While balancing his day job at LFUCG and a small business can be challenging at times, Morgan said it’s well worth the effort.
“When you truly want to make a difference in individuals’ lives, and you really like doing a certain thing, you make it happen. You make time,” Morgan said.
“When you truly want to make a difference in individuals’ lives, and you really like doing a certain thing, you make it happen. You make time.”
As for the future of Foundation47, Morgan said he hopes to make it his full-time job, hire an additional team of facilitators and expand to an online platform to ensure his message reaches as many people as possible. Plans for the business also include mentoring, career development and networking opportunities for young people across the state, as well as including chances for adults to learn about personal finance.
Morgan said this work will provide individual participants with a better grasp of their finances and help the broader community and the local economy.
“The work that I’m doing will provide a community of people with economic resilience,” Morgan said, adding that individuals who are knowledgeable about their finances are more likely to contribute to and invest in their communities while being less likely to rely on government assistance.
A major part of Foundation47’s mission is interrupting the cycles that keep people living in poverty using knowledge and empowerment. According to Morgan, being financially illiterate often leads to poor credit, higher interest rates, additional fees and fewer economic opportunities. This is especially true in impoverished and marginalized communities.
“I always knew that financial literacy was a pathway out of poverty,” Morgan said. “It was for me, and I know it can be for a lot of people today.”