Nebraska State Auditor questions State grant given to Omaha non-profit
State Auditor Mike Foley alleges the non-profit lied about its financial status and progress
OMAHA, Neb. (KLKN) — Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley has called out an Omaha non-profit, Nebraska Startup Academy.
The Nebraska Startup Academy was launched in 2022 to support the startup ecosystem throughout Nebraska.
Foley wrote a letter to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) regarding $1.2 million in funding awarded to the Academy.
The grant in question was awarded through the North and South Omaha Recovery Grant Program. According to Foley, the Academy was supposed to use the grant to “undertake projects that, according to its own mission statement, would “help establish Nebraska as an innovation hub in the Midwest.'”
Foley says the grant was not used for its intended purposes.
“In bureaucratic doublespeak, the Academy’s progress to date is sub-optimal,” Foley wrote. “In more accurate, everyday language, it’s pathetic.”
According to Foley’s letter, $813,966, nearly 68%, has been given to four Academy personnel during 2024 and 2025: the executive director, the director of entrepreneurship and two members of the academy board.
Foley said the three-year business projection shown in the DED grant application has not come to fruition. According to Foley, the Academy committed to beginning 60 new business startups, adding more than 300 full-time jobs.
“Where are all those promised startups and new jobs?” asked Foley. “The Academy spent most of the money on itself, leaving behind a trail of cancelled paychecks but almost nothing in terms of meaningful results.”
In the letter, Foley alleges the Academy purposefully hid the amount of new employment created. According to Foley, only two direct jobs and one indirect job were created in 2024 and one indirect job was created in 2025.
Foley also alleges that the Academy lied about its financial status, the Academy claiming their 2024 revenue was $183,952.83 when their tax return showed $770,633 for the year.
