MICHELSON 20MM FOUNDATION INC

Dr. Gary Michelson and his wife, Alya Michelson, formed the Michelson 20MM Foundation in 2010 (formerly The Twenty Million Minds Foundation) with one goal in mind: to tackle a broken textbook publishing model controlled by "The Big 5" (the nickname for the major trade book publishing companies in the United States).

The vision was lofty: create and provide for the use of a comprehensive, digital, higher education textbook library in an open-architecture platform to mitigate students’ expenses and, eventually, replace the costly commoditized textbooks of all high-enrollment general education courses.

Dr. Michelson first became involved in this effort when he learned from a group of professors at Santa Ana College that each term several bright and qualified students failed to complete their degrees simply because they could not afford the increasingly expensive course textbooks.

Thus emerged the Twenty Million Minds Foundation, on a mission to increase educational access, foster academic success, and reduce cost obstacles associated with higher education.