Mission and History

Our office building, circa 1906

Our Mission

Summersault’s mission is to build and sustain communities using the technologies of the Internet.

We want to help you use the web and related tools to build relationships, strengthen connections and bring people closer together.  We want to empower you to do what you do best with fewer resources in a shorter amount of time, while more effectively engaging your users and customers.

Our Values

Summersault’s work is shaped by a core set of company values:

• Simplicity: in work for our clients, stripping away unnecessary or distracting elements of a design, website, tool or process; in our work lives, minimizing practices that dilute our energies and scatter our thoughts, and making right use of resources
• Peace and Non-Violence: using respectful communication that supports meaningful and patient engagement, even when viewpoints differ; avoiding relationships with vendors, clients and others who support harm and violence; ensuring our staff and their families/communities make a living wage
• Integrity: acting consistently with ethical standards of basic honesty, fairness and justice; speaking truthfully and plainly, and being open to the truth that others speak to us
• Community: living in a way that supports open-heartedness, generosity, a desire to know others and a courageous willingness to be known by others; with our clients, working to build trust, fellowship and an intimate connection to their interests and needs
• Equality: believing that people with whom we interact are equal and prized as humans; valuing differences between individuals and groups, whether they be differences in race, color, class, religion, ethnicity, physical ability, gender or sexual orientation
• Stewardship and Sustainability: pursuing the responsible and sustainable use of resources in the way we treat the planet and its creatures; making decisions in the management of our finances, office space, schedules and purchasing that balance the long-term health of our business, our staff, our clients and our community

History

Summersault founders Chris Hardie and Mark Stosberg met while studying Computer Science at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.  In 1997, they partnered to form the company, focused on creating informational sites for non-profits and local businesses.  With an office on Richmond’s historic Main Street, Summersault grew to meet the rising demand from local and regional organizations to create professional, engaging websites.  Today, Summersault serves clients across the United States.

We named our company “Summersault” because we like the imagery the name evokes: youth, happiness, warmth, growth, purpose, forward motion, complete revolution.