Impact Lab builds growth roadmap for cancer nonprofit

By Amy Carlson Gustafson

When David, ’71 BSB, and Cindy, ’74 School of Dentistry, Bearman decided to make their nonprofit Cleaning Up for Cancer a full-time endeavor, they had plenty of heart, but they needed some help on the business side.

The couple launched the organization after Cindy’s 1999 breast cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy. During treatment, she noticed something: Friends and family brought casseroles and well-wishes, but not one person thought to grab a mop. “Nobody ever offered to help clean our house,” David recalls. That gap became their mission.

The Bearmans, who owned a for-profit cleaning business at the time, started offering free cleanings to cancer patients on the side. In 2017, they started a nonprofit that partners with Twin Cities oncology departments and cleaning companies to provide two free cleanings per year to people undergoing cancer treatments. The cleaning companies receive a set fee for each cleaning. 

The Bearmans ended their for-profit cleaning business and now devote their time to supporting the cancer community through Cleaning Up For Cancer. This year, they completed more than 250 cleanings. Next year’s goal? One thousand.

To get there, Cindy (the nonprofit’s president) and David (vice president and treasurer) needed strategic thinking they didn’t have the capacity to handle on their own. David reached out to his alma mater Minnesota Carlson, looking for student volunteers. Then he discovered the Impact Lab, a required two-course sequence where undergrads learn problem-solving methodologies, then apply them to real clients facing real challenges.

Six teams, big ideas

The Bearmans landed six student teams, all led by Senior Lecturer Matthew Ladhoff and all driven to make an impact. Their Fall 2025 semester projects ranged from geographic expansion strategies to building a digital presence.

For Jake Webb, a junior double-majoring in Management Information Systems and Finance, the couple’s origin story hit home. His grandfather had died from cancer a few years earlier. 

“The fact that the organization came about as a husband just trying to help his wife through chemotherapy, I thought that was amazing,” Webb says.

His team dove into feasibility analysis for areas outside the metro, including Rochester, Mankato, and Duluth, researching demographics, hospital systems, and cleaning contractor networks. They built out action plans with timelines for when the Bearmans could realistically move into each market.

But the road wasn’t smooth. Their initial push into Wisconsin and Illinois was scrapped because of the nonprofit’s Minnesota-specific grants.

“We had to adapt and come up with a Plan B,” Webb says, a lesson in agility he won’t forget.

He says working with real stakes changed everything for him. 

“You’re putting in the work and making decisions that affect an organization’s future, and you want to make sure your work is good,” he says. “Applying critical thinking and decision-making to real-world scenarios puts me in a better position for my future career.”

Lights, camera, impact

Meanwhile, junior Supply Chain & Operations Management major Steven Moua’s team tackled Cleaning Up for Cancer’s lack of an online presence. 

“They didn’t really have a good online footprint,” Moua says. “We looked at the website, and there wasn’t a lot of marketing or advertising. We thought that if we could create a video and publish it to their main page, LinkedIn, and social media, it would help attract more clients.”

The team’s vision was ambitious. They set out to create a video featuring Cindy, David, an actual client, and University of Minnesota Head Football Coach P.J. Fleck. Getting Fleck required cold emails and crossed fingers.

“The most challenging part was not knowing whether we’d hear back from the people we wanted to include,” Moua says.

Luckily, they did hear back, and Fleck delivered. When the team presented their finished video in class, Moua was touched when Cindy teared up.

For Moua, the project wasn’t just about marketing. It was about learning to work under pressure with people he’d never collaborated with before. 

“I learned I’m a good team player,” he says. “For me, it’s the contribution, the team collaboration, and holding each other accountable.”

Ready to scale

Throughout the semester, the Bearmans attended weekly class sessions, answering questions and sharing their story. By December, the students had presented them with videos, a social media plan, and expansion roadmaps.

“The Impact Lab is a great program and offers a lot,” David says. “It gives us a chance to work with students and come up with new ideas. We’re small, and we want to grow. We have volunteers who have helped with some programs over the years, but this was great because we had a large number of students working for us and got some excellent ideas.”

The quality blew them away. 

“These students did a great job coming up with real things we can do to enhance what we’re already doing,” says David, who adds they can’t wait to put it all into action and reach that 1,000-cleaning goal.
For Webb, the compressed timeline made the outcomes even more satisfying. 

“We were only given a semester to help this nonprofit,” he says. “The work we were able to do is out of the scope of my expectations. We were actually able to make a difference for this organization in such a small timeframe.”