Think Detroit was founded in Fall 1996 by two young attorneys, Michael Tenbusch and Daniel Varner, who had attended the University of Detroit Jesuit H.S. and the University of Michigan Law School together. The organization’s first programs, which commenced in 1997 after its receipt of tax-exempt status from the IRS, included a summer T-ball, baseball, and softball program at Wigle Field in the Jeffries Projects, and a computer recycling/training program. Through the latter, the organization refurbished used computers and provided them to other organizations who were seeking assistance setting up community computer centers, and to the youth graduates of its computer training courses, for them and their families to use.

By late 1999, the organization had two full-time staff (Tenbusch and Monique Bradford), and shared office space with two staff (Varner and Americorp VISTA volunteer Shawn Wilson) working on the Nextday Project to wire Detroit’s Empowerment Zone schools for the Internet at St. Dominic’s Church. Think Detroit’s programs had grown to serve over 700 youth annually, and relied upon the support of nearly 350 volunteers.

In 2000, the organization received significant investments from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and eGM, the then e-commerce division of General Motors. The latter’s investment of $3 million over three years truly brought the organization “to scale,” although it also required that the organization invest heavily in two projects of questionable value: the “Webhands” project, which was an Internet portal designed to link donors of in-kind equipment and supplies with charities nationwide in need of them, and the “Patent Donors” project, which was a similar Internet portal designed to link unused patents with an audience of corporations and universities that might put the to use.

Prior to 2000, Think Detroit’s programs included youth sports (soccer, baseball, softball, and basketball), and its computer recylcling, through which approximately 200-300 computers were annually refurbished and donated. During the period of rapid program growth from 2000-2003,Think Detroit:

• merged with the Detroit Youth Soccer League (DYSL), a nonprofit organization cofounded by Tim Richey, and whose Board of Directors included Ed Egnatios and Terence Thomas. The DYSL’s primary work had been the founding and ongoing administration of recreational soccer leagues in the City of Detroit. Ironically, the DYSL’s roots also led back to the Wigle Recreation Center in the Jeffries Projects, where its first soccer program had been run in 1996.
• Eliminated its computer refurbishing program as other entities, most notably Detroit Public Schools, began to close the so-called “digital divide”—the gap between those with access to computers and the Internet, and those without such access.
• Decided to refocus all of its programs around the idea of building character in the participating youth, whether the program was youth sports or a summer camp.

Think Detroit’s relative success in building character-driven youth sports programs began to garner the organization local and national attention between 2003-05. In 2003, the organization won the Leonard Smith Award for Organizational Excellence from the Youth Sports and Recreation Commission, and the Social Entrpreneurship Award from the Manhattan Institute. In 2004, in part based on its success in replacing the revenue from eGM, primarily from individual donors, the organization was named Best-Managed Nonprofit by Crain’s Detroit Business, and then in 2005, the organization was paid a visit by First Lady of the United States Laura Bush, and was held up by the Michigan First Gentleman Dan Mulhern, as a model youth development organization.