Mark Morrison and the cofounders of Windrush, which provides a web publishing tool for nonprofits, were looking to take their company to the next level.

Morrison suggested the company go on the road to his hometown of Cleveland and join the FlashStarts 2015 summer accelerator program. So in May, Morrison and his two partners did just that.

Windrush helps social impact organizations produce more than just a white paper while trying to get their messages across. Using data visualization tools, Windrush makes it easy to create interactive and vibrant materials, copy and data to engage readers.

Morrison, Max Walker and Riley Alsman were friends at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York and about to graduate when they founded Windrush in 2013 based on a software development project Walker was working on for school.

Upon graduation, the Windrush team was looking to grow the company. “We were looking to enter an accelerator to help us grow,” Morrison says. “We applied all over the country and we were accepted to a few of them.”

Morrison, a native of Maple Heights and a graduate of St. Ignatius High School, urged the team to join FlashStarts’ accelerator program. “It was a great fit, plus Cleveland is like the origin of nonprofits,” he says. “We’re really young coming out of college and we wanted a relationship. We want to learn from our mistakes.”

FlashStarts gave Windrush an initial $25,000 investment and the company has set up shop in the FlashStarts offices, at least for the summer.

“Windrush was chosen for our accelerator because they have a product that will radically transform content marketing, journalism and the art of online storytelling,” says Grace Moenich, FlashStarts’ director of public relations. “Their platform allows organizations to easily showcase their data in beautiful and compelling ways -- a feat which would otherwise require an enormous amount of money to hire very rare talent. They solve a large and common problem for businesses.”

Windrush will also be eligible for follow-on funding when the 12-week program is over.