Story of Heartprints

Our background starts on the shoulders and story of the organizations founder. In response to growing up in challenging environments (as he states, “humbly gracious”), understanding the need to get involved due to overcoming personal obstacles, and having a mother who was a social worker and instilled the spirit of service and giving, he was inspired to eliminate the vicious cycles and victim mentality, improve opportunities, share information, and educate others on shifting change vs. shifting blame.

His story is shared not for the sake of sympathy, but to connect you with our strong passion to inspire you to get involved, make a difference, and participate with us either through volunteering, donations, materials or supplies to help improve lives and our communities.

heartprints founder, Brian Siegel, was born in OH on the Westside of Cincinnati, and had humble beginnings at Ferncrest Apartments near the Price Hill area. His mother worked tenaciously to support the family as a single mother, and also attended school to finish her social work degree. They moved to North Carolina for a fresh start, and the family transitioned by staying with friends of various churches, relying on the generosity of strangers, and for a brief moment, even had to resort to living in their car and at a campground. Affordable housing was discovered at a government funded residency, and programs such as WIC, Goodwill, and the Salvation Army allowed for some basic needs to be provided. They eventually moved back to Cincinnati after the passing of their mother’s father, and assimilated back where they were from to the College Hill/North College Hill area.

Due to his mother staying positive, working hard, instilling values, and also God and prayer present in their lives, they pressed forward to improve their lives regardless of poverty and other challenges. He and his sister excelled at school and sports, which led to earning some scholarships and college assistance at UC and XU in Cincinnati, and showed you may have be from challenging environments, but you don’t have to be that kind of product. Due to the lack of finances, living in poverty, moving over 20 times, unstable home, food, father, and other basic needs for a healthy and successful life, Brian was inspired to make a difference where he could. Just because you’re from a bad place, doesn’t mean you have to be that. Assisting his mother on client visits, being exposed to the experiences he had, leading his own coat, food, mentoring, and clothing drives, as well as learning where he could close the gaps and help, he began realizing a larger calling than logging volunteer hours. Rather than being a victim, he utilized these experiences to develop his own leadership, savvy, agility, and energy to personally dedicate himself and be accountable for making a difference.

After numerous projects and volunteering, Brian found where his heart resided. After attending UC a couple years, then transferring to XU, Brian was introduced to an organization through a class, the YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter. There he felt a connection after assisting numerous youth through volunteering and mentoring. This place and it’s clients reminded him of experiences he had, and the journey he had faced. A fit was found, and ways to help through his experiences discovered.

He formalized his volunteering with the YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter into more than mentoring. Once he met someone that needs mentoring or tutoring, he realized they needed more than someone to listen and give them feedback. They needed school supplies, clothes, food, water, health products, and opportunities such as providing tickets from generous donors to attend the Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati Museum Center, Freedom Center, Art Museum, Reds, XU, UC, and other venues. His goal was to connect people with basic needs, tools, and resources to have the opportunity to live a successful life beyond the basics.

Brian had the idea to call the Museum Center, Freedom Center, and Zoo which due to his explanation of who he was, what he was doing, trying to achieve, and passion while communicating, they were gracious enough to provide tickets. This model was copied for outreach related to inspiring volunteers, organizations (ex. YWCA, YMCA, Think!! Campaign), non-profits (ex. Crimson Outreach), and companies to participate with his efforts. Those efforts integrated into his journey and the “accidental non-profit” was born as if he was being trained to do this throughout his journey. To drive better engagement and improve the strategic approach utilizing his background, personal story and experiences, GE work, and MBA, Brian leveraged his passion for creativity, marketing, branding, and innovation to create a community driven organization, heartprints inc. Also, by utilizing the learning he had gained by assisting organizations such as Cincinnati USA, Give Back Cincinnati, Crossroads, City Gospel Mission, Xavier University, GE Volunteers, and others, he modeled what he felt worked, and improved where he saw opportunities.

With limited resources, and utilizing passionate resourcefulness, an organization was built out of wanting to make a difference with sustainable impact. His goal was to inspire hope by mentoring, sharing his story, motivating youth, instill leadership, and provide information and resources that provided opportunities for advancement related to education, jobs, and supplies for assistance. While working at GE during the day, Brian would receive calls, emails, and letters from people asking if they could volunteer, donate, or get involved with the non-profit he worked at. Smiling, because he was working 60+ hours for GE, attending school at night, and had other side projects, and people assumed he worked for a shelter or agency was considered a compliment, but he reminded them that he was just a volunteer trying to help. After some thought, Brian decided that to amplify efforts, he should improve his approach by formalizing his efforts. He did this by creating heartprints.

Creating an organization is more than saying you are a non-profit; you have to live it, and truly implement a strategy for every aspect that is part of building an organization. Designing a logo, building a website, tracking impact, filing for a 501(c )(3) status, filing for an organization name, FEID, IRS paperwork, content, messaging, volunteer management, sustainability strategy, development, donors, projects, marketing, branding, operations, finances, non-profit bank account, fundraising, and other outreach to mention a few items necessary to successfully create an organization was led by Brian. This leadership inspired others to get involved after hearing his story, challenges, and how he proactively implemented a way to improve lives, and close the gaps. Through these orchestrated efforts, the heartprints brand was created, and continues to be a part of people’s lives.

Earning what was achieved from hard work, the kindness and generosity of people along their journey, connecting with programs that assisted with basic needs when necessary and overcoming life’s challenges inspired the service spirit integrated in heartprints inc.’s mission, values, and initiatives. You do not have to accept failure, but can learn how to strategically connect with programs, information, and assistance for “connecting those in need to believe” and youth, mothers, and others through work with shelters, schools, and related outreach initiatives to have a chance at a positive future.

Due to his situation growing up, and personal leadership journey, he was inspired to get involved and improve lives and our communities. heartprints inc. believes no child, mother, family, or others should go hungry, without basic needs such as clothes, health products, education, jobs, and work to close the gap between needs and opportunities. His experiences inspired him to create a platform to help youth, families, and our communities achieve a life of significance, respect, and success.

We share this story and bio to inspire you to get involved by either volunteering or donating supplies and or funding for our efforts, connect those in need with belief, and invite you to learn more about us at our site at www.heartprints.org and other media channels you can connect with us at such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Feel free to contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , donate to our PayPal or 5/3 Bank charity accounts, or volunteer with our efforts.