We Media PitchIt! Challenge
Filed Under:

* media
* journalism
* competition

Deadline: January 20, 2010. US$25,000 prize

Are you a storyteller? An influencer? A connector? An idea person?

We Media and Ashoka’s Changemakers are looking for the most innovative ideas inspiring a better world through media. Be part of the 2010 We Media PitchIt! Challenge.

ENTER your solutions from now until January 20, 2010. The top finalists will pitch their ideas at We Media Miami, March 9-11, 2010. The best entry in each category–non-profit and business–will receive a $25,000 prize to help launch their new venture.
What happens when people have the power to tell their story?

We Media and Ashoka’s Changemakers have teamed up once again to find and launch the best new ideas for inspiring a better world through media. In the We Media PitchIt! Challenge, we’re looking for groundbreaking solutions from all fields that incite action, encourage collaboration, and lead society to knowledge.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, we will provide $50,000 in seed funding to help launch the best solutions. One business and one non-profit venture will each receive $25,000 in seed capital.

Entrants will have the freedom to collaborate with potential partners and investors, while the global online community will discuss, debate and improve upon the most creative solutions.

All finalists will participate in the sixth annual We Media Event in Miami, March 9-11, 2010, and present their ideas to a panel of judges as well as potential funders and partners.

The competition will be open to individuals from all countries. We consider the following criteria:

* Media Focus: Ideas should reflect the theme of the competition. We are searching for innovative ideas that use media to create social change.
* Idea Stage: We’re looking for early-stage ventures or brand new ideas that have not yet been launched or built. These may be entirely new ventures, new companies or new projects from existing organizations.
* Business or Non-Profit: There will be two categories: business and non-profit. In the business category, the funding must be used to support the start-up of a new business that will have a sustainable revenue model. In the non-profit category, the funding should be used to support the launch of a non-profit venture or the development of a new project for an existing non-profit organization.
* Completed Form: Entries must be fully completed and submitted before the deadline of January 20, 2010.
* Language: Entries should be submitted in English.

B. Assessment Criteria

There will be several stages to this process:

1) The community’s comments will be included in the evaluation process.

2) The finalists will be selected by a combination of We Media and expert judges. Finalists will be announced on February 3, 2010.

3) Each finalist will attend We Media Miami March 9-11, 2010 and make a formal presentation to attendees and a panel of expert judges. There will be separate expert panels for business and non-profit ideas.

4) We Media PitchIt! Challenge finalists will each receive the following travel assistance for attending We Media Miami 2010:

* Up to $300 toward a coach airline ticket
* 2 nights lodging in Miami
* Registration for the entire We Media Event
* A display location in the gallery

5) Winners each receive $25,000 in seed funding: The judges will select one business and one non-profit entry. Each winner will receive $25,000 in seed funding.

Judges will consider the following criteria:

* Innovation: Is the idea innovative? This is the knock-out test. The idea should represent a disruptive innovation that changes the way media works. The innovation should demonstrate a substantial difference from other initiatives in the field and have the potential for large-scale expansion. We look for innovative business practices, entrepreneurial quality and a plausible sustainable model.
* Story Telling: Does this idea tell a story in a new or innovative way – or enable others to tell their stories? Does it create and apply a unique storytelling experience through journalism, discovery, narrative, exposition, or new methods and metaphors? We are looking for ideas that change the way we experience or understand storytelling. In this context, we define storytelling broadly.
* Social Impact: Does the idea affect social conditions, stimulate citizenship, raise awareness, influence public policy, or marshal support for an idea of broad social significance? Does this idea present a solution for increasing access, knowledge or connection for all? The idea may address a specific underserved community or the society at large, but ultimately it is important that the innovation has a potential for application or replication globally. It is also important that the idea does not have a negative environmental impact.
* Sustainability: Will the innovator be able to launch and sustain this idea? For an innovation to be truly effective, it should have a plan for securing financial backing and community support. We are looking for social entrepreneurs with ideas that are financially sustainable and scalable. We will also consider the experience and capacity of the innovator (or team), who will be expected to launch the idea.
* Design: Does the idea creatively engage multiple levels of intelligence and understanding of complex information with clarity, style, and meaning?
* Pattern Change: Does the idea pioneer original approaches and paradigms?
* Purpose: Does the idea express a purposeful vision through values reflecting ethics, credibility, responsibility and authenticity?
* Community: Does the idea seek to organize a community, virtual or geographic, in a new way?

Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year Competition – Latin America 2010
Filed Under:

* social business
* social enterprise
* World Economic Forum
* social entrepreneurs
* competition
* awards
* social change
* Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
* Latin America

Nomination & Application Deadline: 31 January 2010.

The Search and Selection process for the Social Entrepreneur of the Year was established to recognize outstanding social entrepreneurs around the globe, an initiative of The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a not-for-profit, independent and neutral organization, founded in 1998, with the purpose to advance social entrepreneurship and to foster social entrepreneurs as an important catalyst for societal innovation and progress. The Foundation is under the legal supervision of the Swiss Federal Government and is headquartered in Cologny-Geneva, Switzerland.

The Regional Search in Latin America is open to all organizations in the region, except those whose headquarters are based in countries where a national competition is already open or planned (Brazil, Chile, Venezuela).

Having read the criteria for selection, if you believe you qualify as a candidate, please apply by 31 January 2010.

contact:

info@schwabfound.org

The Barefoot Guide to Working with Organisations and Social Change

Publication Date
March 1, 2009
Summary

This is a free, download-able, do-it-yourself guide for leaders and facilitators working with local organisations to function and develop in more healthy, human, and effective ways. The guide, with its supporting website, includes tried and tested concepts, approaches, stories, and activities. Its purpose is to help stimulate and enrich the practice of anyone supporting organisations and social movements in their challenges of working, learning, growing, and changing to meet the needs of our complex world. Although it is aimed at leaders and facilitators of civil society organisations, it is also designed to be useful to anyone interested in fostering a healthy human organisation in any sphere.

Contents include the following:

* Chapter 1 – Shaping our World:
New ways of looking at organisations and social change
* Chapter 2 – Inside Out:
Towards understanding ourselves, other people, and how we change
* Chapter 3 – People to People:
Creating and working with relationships in organisations
* Chapter 4 – Through the Looking Glass:
Observing and understanding organisations
* Chapter 5 – Stepping into the Unknown:
Facilitating change in organisations
* Chapter 6 – Finding a Home for Change:
Supporting, grounding, and sustaining change
* Chapter 7 – Staying Alive to Change:
Learning and innovating in organisations

Click here to access this document in PDF format in chapters or the entire resource.
Publisher
Barefoot Collective
Number of Pages

171
Contact
Doug Reeler
Community Development Resource Association (CDRA)

P.O. Box 221
Woodstock
South Africa
Tel: 027 21 462 3902
Fax: 027 21 462 3918
CDRA website
doug@cdra.org.za
for direct links: http://www.comminit.com/en/node/296953/348

West Coast Village Capital

* social business
* social entrepreneurs
* social finance
* social change
* social innovation fund
* social investing
* social enterprise
* social impact investors

Application deadline January 7, 2010.

If you have a business idea to help improve the world, we’re interested. West Coast Village Capital (WCVC) is a social venture program that brings entrepreneurs together to learn from and support each other’s social enterprises. We also put the investment decision in the hands of entrepreneurs themselves. Entrepreneurs participating will rank one another as the companies most ready for seed capital; the highest-ranked will be eligible for up to $100,000 per enterprise. Submit your application by January 7th, and you may be a WCVC Member by January 15th!

Inspired by the village bank model used in microfinance throughout the world, Village Capital is an innovative investment model built on the hypothesis that entrepreneurs, working intimately together and providing peer support to one another, will be able to efficiently and wisely allocate investment to one another’s companies. The Village Capital program is sponsored by First Light Ventures, sister enterprise to Gray Ghost Ventures. The West Coast Village Capital will be run in conjunction with pilots in Mumbai (partnered with DASRA/Social-Impact), New Orleans (The Idea Village), and Boulder (The Unreasonable Institute).
The Village Capital program will give participants the opportunity to:

* Network with other social entrepreneurs within and beyond their own sectors
* Share challenges and lessons learned with professional peers
* Refine and strengthen their business models and pitches.

In addition, participants will work together in five groups of six and have the opportunity to serve in the role of investor as they evaluate each other’s businesses as potential investments:

* First Light Ventures will invest up to a total of $500,000 in the 5 – 10 businesses that rise to the top in the community-driven due diligence process. Participating businesses also may receive funding from First Light independent of the WCVC process.

WCVC is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It will be hosted at the Hub-Bay Area, which supports WCVC with marketing, meeting space, and access to its vibrant community of entrepreneurs, creative professionals and community leaders. For more information, visit www.vilcap.com; Twitter: @villagecapital; @hubbayarea.

Business Development Intern, Cape Town, South Africa (volunteer -stipend may be negotiable)

Based in Cape Town, heart social investments (HSI) is introducing a suite of social investment options that will provide Investors with multiple ways of funding sustainable solutions to Africa’s social and environmental problems. HSI’s portfolio will allow investors to allocate capital to impactful investments in the form of debt, equity, and grants.

By partnering with HSI, Investors will have the unique ability to invest into sustainable strategies for tackling the pressing issues our society currently faces. These Social Enterprises are innovative, market driven solutions to social, environmental, and economic problems in the community. These businesses, given their social orientation and start-up status, cannot typically access funds through traditional channels in order to finance their operations. With this challenge in mind, HSI and its investors are able to provide vital funding to such social enterprises by offering affordable financing in the form of business development loans.

In conjunction with the loan funding, the social enterprises in HSI’s investment portfolio will be further supported by business development consulting services from heart’s Incubator (a section 21 organisation). The Incubator offers social entrepreneurs business development support in the form of process methodology, consulting services, mentorship, infrastructure, training, operational support and governance through various phases of development. This combination of affordable financing and powerful management consulting services will give social entrepreneurs the resources they need to be successful.

Opportunity:
HSI is currently developing its business platform and is still in a startup stage with amazing potential for growth. We need intelligent, strategic, and resourceful interns to help us build our business. We need interns who can step in and help support the team with the following areas:

developing & implementing investment management systems:
Fund accounting
Investor relations
Performance reporting
web based investor portal

Sales & marketing:
Brand management
Fund development
Event coordination

Business strategy support:
Oganisational procedures/protocols audits
Internal resource management
Maximizing networking opportunities
Stakeholder relations

contact:
Sean Kane
head of business strategy & development
heart social investments
www.heartglobal.org

tel +27 (21) 442 9600
direct line +27 (21) 442 9634
cell +27 (78) 701 3967
fax +27 (21) 447 9371
email sean@heartglobal.org

The Women’s Wellbeing and Development Foundation (WWD-F), in Costa Rica, works mainly with women living with HIV/AIDS through the Granos Solidarios and GMAS programs, however, WWD-F also felt the need to help out the children affected by HIV/AIDS. Recognizing that it is important for these children to enjoy their childhood; to play; to laugh; to feel loved and respected. Above all, these marginalized children need to feel that they are not different from any other children, and that they are still an important and valid part of their community.

To assist these children, WWD-F created the Illori Project which organizes educational workshops for children affected by HIV/AIDS, as well as those living in high social risk situations. These workshops awaken the children’s creativity through dance, art and music, offer exercises to improve their flexibility, motor coordination and equilibrium, and use creative visualizations to develop their concentration, attention and memory. An important part of these workshops is to convey to the children different values, like respect, empathy, generosity, etc.

These workshops take place monthly, with an average attendance of 50 to 70 children at each workshop. The workshops have become so popular that WWD-F not able to accommodate all the children who want to participate. This Christmas, WWD-F wants to hold a Christmas Party, complete with gifts for each child, on the 22nd of December at the Parque del Este, in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Therefore, they are currently seeking gifts-in-kind donations as well as financial support to cover the costs of the party, food and gifts. Just know that is will be the ONLY gift these kids receive this holiday season.

Donations can be made through their website, www.wwd-f.org, or alternatively you can send a check (if you reside in the USA) to:

WWD-F
22 Ravenscroft Drive
Asheville, North Carolina 28801
USA
Tel: (506) 241-3736

If you reside in Costa Rica, WWD-F’s bank details and address are as follows:

Name: WWD-F
Swift: BSNJCRSJ
Name of Bank: Bac San Jose, Costa Rica
Account Number: 906417993 (American and Foreign Currency)
Account Number: 906418017
Urbanización Montelimar, del costado oeste de los Tribunales 500 m norte y 100 m este, frente a Radio Sonido Latino, casa color papaya. Calle Blancos, Goicoechea, San José.
Tel: 2241 3736
Apartado postal Nº 1323, Correo de Guadalupe, San José

For all other countries, please donate through their website: www.wwd-f.org.
And please add “Costa Rica” to all donations. If at all possible, please send an email to sonia@wwd-f.org advising her of your donation so she can send you a photo of the party.

Any questions? Contact Sonia Torres at sonia@wwd-f.org

Request For Proposal

Deadline: December 18, 2009

Social Impact Business Plan Competition Invites Entries From Nonprofit Organizations

The Social Impact Business Plan Competition identifies social sector scaling initiatives with demonstrated impact and readiness to grow, and supports them with up to $100,000 in financial and consulting support. The competition is a program of the Social Impact Exchange, a recently launched cross-sector initiative designed to support the growth of high-impact social programs.

United States-based nonprofit organizations with a focus in education, youth development, health, poverty alleviation, or community economic development are eligible to enter.

The competition has two tracks. The early-stage growth track is for organizations that have a strategy for scaling their social impact but are in the early stage of growth. The mezzanine-stage growth track is for organizations that have (a) a significant level of successful product/service adoption and demand from the target population, (b) demonstrated positive outcomes, and (c) defined strategies for scaling their social impact.

Competition entrants have access to a Web site of resources, take part in group training and one-on-one consulting, and receive customized written feedback on their plans. Judging is conducted by qualified volunteers from multiple sectors.

The business plan competition takes place from October 2009 through June 2010 and includes three rounds of evaluation. There is no fee to enter.

Visit the competition Web site for complete program information.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Your global health idea could be worth $1000 USD!

Answer the following question to be eligible for $1,000 and publication in the CSIS Commission report:

What is the most important thing the U.S. can do to improve global health over the next 15 years?

The CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health is publishing a report in January 2010 that charts the future for U.S. global health policy. We’re seeking fresh, new ideas that can produce big gains in global health.

You don’t have to be a tenured professor or a world-renowned expert. You just need to explain, passionately and convincingly, what you think is the smartest way to improve global health.

For more information or to submit your essay, please visit: http://www.smartglobalhealth.org/pages/essay-signup

Arts and Culture

Big Read Program Offers Grants to Support Community Reading Projects
Grants of up to $20,000 in matching funds will be awarded to museums, colleges, and universities partnering with libraries working to revitalize the role of literature in American culture….

Posted on October 23, 2009
Deadline: February 2, 2009

Theatre Communications Group Accepting Applications for Future Collaborations Program
Grants of up to $6,000 will be awarded to theaters and individual theater professionals in the United States or its territories for unrestricted travel designed to promote collaboration and the sharing of ideas with colleagues abroad….

Posted on October 22, 2009
Deadline: November 16, 2009

Arts Midwest Announces Guidelines for 2010-11 Performing Arts Fund Grants
Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded to presenting organizations in the Arts Midwest region to support state touring of professional performing artists, including public performances and in-depth educational activities….

Posted on October 22, 2009
Deadline: Beginning March 24, 2010 (until funds depleted)

Philadelphia Arts Organizations Invited to Apply for Engage 2020 Innovation Grant Program
Grants of up to $75,000 will be awarded to nonprofits in the Greater Philadelphia region working to increase cultural participation through artistic programs and products, enhanced audience experiences, and/or marketing and communications initiatives….

Posted on October 22, 2009
Deadline: December 1, 2009 (Letter of Intent)

American Library Association Invites Proposals for Carroll Preston Baber Research Grant
Grants of up to $3,000 will be awarded to one or more librarians or library educators working on projects that could lead to an improvement in services and that assist the library community nationally….

Posted on October 22, 2009
Deadline: December 1, 2009

Luce Fund in American Art Offers Support for Scholarly Exhibitions and Publications
American museums are eligible to receive support for projects that demonstrate, in tangible fashion, the impact of the artist or subject in the field of American art or American art history as well as contribute something to scholarship….

Posted on October 21, 2009
Deadline: April 1, annually (Letters of Inquiry)

Community Improvement/Development

Home Depot Accepting Applications for Building Healthy Communities Grant Program
Grants of up to $2,500 will be awarded to nonprofits for materials that equip volunteers working to improve the physical health of their communities through activities that enhance green spaces and community structures….

Posted on October 23, 2009
Deadline: December 15, 2009

Peoples Bancorp Foundation Offers Community Grants in Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky
The Peoples Bancorp Foundation seeks to enhance the quality of life for individuals served by organizations located in the communities served by Peoples Bank….

Posted on October 20, 2009
Deadline: Open

Environment

Grant Applications Invited to Help Restore Populations of Native Aquatic Species
Grants of up to $60,000 in matching funds will be awarded to nonprofits, universities, Native American tribes, and local, state, and federal agencies working to restore, protect, or enhance native populations on lands adjacent to or on federal property….

Posted on October 23, 2009
Deadline: December 1, 2009 (Pre-proposal)

National Geographic Conservation Trust Offers Funding to Preserve Earth’s Resources
Grants of up to $20,000 will be awarded to researchers working on projects that contribute significantly to the preservation and sustainable use of the planet’s biological, cultural, and historical resources….

Posted on October 21, 2009
Deadline: Open

Health

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Invites Schools of Nursing to Apply for New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Funding
Grants will be awarded to educational institutions with accredited entry-level accelerated baccalaureate nursing programs or master’s nursing programs for non-nursing college graduates….

Posted on October 23, 2009
Deadline: December 15, 2009

Kansas Health Foundation Invites Applications
The foundation offers Recognition Grants in order to expand its support to a broad range of health-related organizations in the state….

Posted on October 21, 2009
Deadline: March 15 and September 15, annually

Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Accepting Applications for the Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program
College seniors and recent graduates will spend ten weeks in Washington, D.C., gaining knowledge about federal legislative procedure and health policy issues while further developing their critical thinking and leadership skills….

Posted on October 17, 2009
Deadline: December 4, 2009

Philanthropy and Voluntarism

Consulting Firm Offers Grants for Forward-Thinking Nonprofit Organizations
Consulting services valued at up to $12,000 will be awarded to two nonprofits that have been in business at least two years and have new or emerging fundraising programs….

Posted on October 18, 2009
Deadline: November 15, 2009

Science/Technology

Vodafone Americas Foundation Launches Second Annual Wireless Innovation Project
Awards totaling $600,000 will be given to nonprofits, educational institutions, and social entrepreneurs working to advance wireless related technologies that have the potential to solve critical global issues….

Posted on October 19, 2009
Deadline: February 1, 2010

Social Science

Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Offers Support for Research on Violence and Aggression
One- or two-year grants of up to $30,000 will be awarded to graduate students writing their dissertations and researching the causes, manifestations, and control of violence, aggression, and dominance….

Posted on October 21, 2009
Deadline: February 1 and August 1, annually