Business Benefiting Children competition: Brazil, India, Peru, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda
May 18, 2011
A competition for businesses that improve the environments in which young children grow up
Organisation
Deadline
Region / Country
Summary of RFP
Submit a business plan that will improve the environment in which young children grow up and you could…
* Receive feedback on your plan and get access to useful business tools.
* Get support from a coach to write your business plan. Win a business trip for trainings, b2b, and investor meetings.
* Get access to over 100 investors interested in financing SMEs in developing countries.
* Get access to a network of more than 36,000 like-minded entrepreneurs, coaches, and investors.
Participation criteria:
1. Check the general participation criteria.
2. Your business should have a positive impact on young children by improving the physical environment in which they grow up. For example: cleaner energy, water and sanitation solutions, better housing, safer transport, safe places to play, etc.
3. Your country of business should be: Brazil, Peru, Tanzania, Uganda, India, or Turkey.
Submission Instructions
How to submit your business plan?
1. Become a member of the BiD Network. Register at the link below.
2. Create a profile in the BiD Network.
3. Fill in and submit an online application and answer the 15 questions about your business idea.
Submit your application for coaching services before:
Peru and Brazil: the 15th of March 2011
India, Tanzania, Turkey and Uganda: the 31st of March 2011
Please pay special attention to the timeline of the competition.
4. Submit a complete business plan. If you already have a complete business plan you can attach it to your application directly. You can also submit it once your application is accepted.
Make sure to submit your complete business plan before the competition deadlines:
Peru and Brazil: the 30th of April 2011
India, Tanzania, Turkey and Uganda: 31st of May 2011
What happens after you submit your plan?
1. Your plan will enter the assessment process. You will receive extensive feedback in each stage.
2. In the beginning of May they will select the finalists from Latin America. In June they will select the finalists from Africa, Turkey and India. The entrepreneurs will be invited for a business trip for trainings, b2b, and investor meetings in their respective regions.
3. Whether or not you become a finalist, all high quality business plans are eligible for the BiD Network Investor Matchmaking Services.
This business plan competition is a collaboration between Bernard van Leer and BiD Network.
For more information, please click here.
Guinnessforgood.com Helps Social Entrepreneurs Get Funding
application process will begin on Tuesday, 28 September 2010
GUINNESS INCREASES THE ARTHUR GUINNESS FUND TO €7.4 MILLION IN SEARCH OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS AROUND THE WORLD
The Arthur Guinness Fund also announces a new global partnership with Ashoka and launches http://www.guinnessforgood.com
Dublin, IRELAND – 12th August 2010 – Guinness & Co. has today announced it is increasing the Arthur Guinness Fund to €7.4 million by 2012 as it continues its commitment to maintaining the legacy of Arthur Guinness, by further supporting the search for the next generation of social entrepreneurs worldwide. As part of this, the Arthur Guinness Fund is also announcing a new three year partnership with Ashoka – the world’s leading community of social entrepreneurs – to enable the deployment of the funds to new social entrepreneurial projects and around the world.
The Arthur Guinness Fund is also today launching new website http://www.guinnessforgood.com, to raise awareness of the Arthur Guinness Fund and help aspiring social entrepreneurs learn about the fund as well as how they can apply. The application process will begin just after this year’s Arthur’s Day on Tuesday 28 September 2010.
The Arthur Guinness Fund is an internal programme set up to further the legacy of Arthur Guinness, who was one of Ireland’s best known social entrepreneurs. Set up in 2009 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the lease for the St. James’s Gate Brewery to support community projects around the world. Projects in Ireland, Africa, Indonesia, the United States and the UK have already received funding, and through the commitment announced today, the Arthur Guinness Fund will support the work of social entrepreneurs around the world for at least the next three years.
As part of the new partnership with Ashoka, a total of 30 Fellows will be selected over the next three years, each receiving financial, strategic and practical support from the broader Ashoka community to empower them to deliver projects that will affect positive social change in their communities.
Brian Duffy, Global Brand Director for Guinness, said: “Arthur Guinness and his family were responsible for some of the most well known acts of philanthropy in Ireland. We created the Arthur Guinness Fund to continue his legacy of positive social change around the world as part of our commitment to celebration with substance. Since establishing the Arthur Guinness Fund in 2009 we have already invested in some remarkable projects in Ireland, Africa, Indonesia and the UK. We have partnered with Ashoka in 2010 to ensure that our commitment is delivered in the most effective way to the brightest and best emerging social entrepreneurs across the globe.”
Arthur’s Day headliner Brandon Flowers from The Killers, said: “To take part in Arthur’s Day, and to be involved in the incredible work that the Arthur Guinness Fund has done in empowering Social Entrepreneurs around the globe, is very exciting”
Bill Carter, Senior Vice President of Ashoka, said: “The social entrepreneurs create deep and lasting impact in their communities and inspire future generations along the way. With the support of the Arthur Guinness Fund, Ashoka will be able to welcome even more of these leading social entrepreneurs into our community and demonstrate the world over that everyone, not just an elite few, can create positive and lasting change.”
The new agreement establishes Ashoka as the significant partner in the delivery of the Arthur Guinness Fund’s objectives globally. In Ireland The Arthur Guinness Fund already works with Social Entrepreneurs Ireland where the partnership remains. The Arthur Guinness Fund also works with UnLtd in the UK and the British Council in Indonesia to support social entrepreneurs as well as contributing to projects like the Water Filter Enterprise programme in Ghana and Nigeria, aimed at developing campaigns to educate people across both populations on the benefits of clean water and hygiene.
The application process for the Arthur Guinness Fund will begin on Tuesday, 28 September 2010. Social entrepreneurs from around the world will be able to visit www.guinnessforgood.com for further details an can email infor@guinnessforgood.com for specific queries.
The GUINNESS, ARTHUR GUINNESS DAY. ARTHUR’S DAY, ARTHUR GUINNESS FUND and GUINNESS FOR GOOD words and associated logos are trade marks.
For media enquiries please contact:
Alison Reemer
Email: guinnessglobal@taylorpr.com
Email: areemer@taylorpr.com
Phone: 011-44-7545247861
Rachael Shaw
Email: Rachael.M.Shaw@diageo.com
Phone: +44 20 8978 2820
About the Arthur Guinness Fund:
Arthur Guinness Fund™ is an internal programme vehicle set up to further the legacy of Arthur Guinness and support social entrepreneurs around the world. The fund was launched and set up last year to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the lease for the Guinness® brewery at St James’s Gate. The Arthur Guinness Fund is committed to identifying
and supporting social entrepreneurs globally with the skills and support required to deliver a measurable, transformational change to communities around the world.
About Ashoka:
Founded in 1980, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public is the world’s working community of more than 2,500 leading social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the entrepreneurs behind them by helping them get started, grow, succeed, and collaborate. As Ashoka expands its capability to integrate and connect entrepreneurs around the world, it builds an entrepreneurial infrastructure that is supporting the fast-growing needs of the citizen sector. Ashoka’s vision is to create change today, for an Everyone A Changemaker™ society to become the reality of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org.
2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge
August 10, 2010
2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge
* awards
* solutions
* competition
* innovation
Call for Entries Deadline: October 4, 2010.
The Buckminster Fuller Institute announces the Call for Entries to the 2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, an annual $100,000 prize program to support the development and implementation of a solution that has significant potential to solve humanity’s most pressing problems.
In a statement about the Challenge, The Buckminster Fuller Institute explains the background of the prize program:
Short term reductionist thinking which dominates all industrialized societies is a fundamental cause of the massive social, economic and environmental deterioration our world is confronted with today. It is now painfully obvious to many that most attempts by civil, corporate, scientific, academic and government sectors to deal with these breakdowns, despite good intentions and significant investment, often exhibit little more than a reflexive default to the same reductionist approach that created the problems in the first place. Little if any attention is ever directed toward optimizing whole systems. Instead the focus remains riveted only on improving various parts in isolation. Not surprisingly, when it comes to solving complex problems, actions are typically fragmented, disjointed and piecemeal. The net result: on a global scale the level of deterioration is rapidly increasing and imbalances have already reached crisis proportions.
During the past half century pioneers like Buckminster Fuller and other visionaries responded to the failure of reductionism by developing new approaches to meeting human needs, concurrent with preserving the vital diversity of cultures and ecosystems that form the fabric of life on Earth. Their holistic approach has influenced thousands of individuals in numerous fields who continue to break new ground in how to think, plan and design.
This evolving and growing body of work contains the seeds, models and strategies for the fundamental shift in direction so urgently needed today. The work spans a range of development stages— from the conceptual phase, to prototype ready, to well proven models poised to scale up. However, most of these new approaches, even the most advanced, remain under funded, under recognized and have yet to significantly penetrate mainstream education, economic activity, media, philanthropy and public policy.
“We’re looking for solutions that address multiple problems without creating new ones down the road— integrated strategies dealing with key social, economic, environmental, policy and cultural issues. Our entry criteria is deeply inspired by what Fuller termed comprehensive anticipatory design science— an approach we feel holds an important key to the design of strategies aimed at having a transformative effect on the system as a whole. We are very grateful for the recognition the prize recipients have received to date and hope this will lead to the greater understanding and wide-spread application of the whole systems, design science approach we are championing.” said Elizabeth Thompson, Executive Director of the Buckminster Fuller Institute.
After decades of tracking world resources, innovations in science and technology, and human needs, Fuller asserted that options exist to successfully surmount the crises of unprecedented scope and complexity facing all humanity— he issued an urgent call for a design science revolution to make the world work for all.
ANWERING THIS CALL IS WHAT THE BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE IS ALL ABOUT!
Please help us get the word out. Share this notice with your network, Thank you.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Important Links
– The deadline for entries is 5pm (Eastern Standard Time) on MONDAY OCTOBER 4, 2010.
– For the call for entries, instructions for how to enter, reference materials, and much more, visit http://challenge.bfi.org
______________________________________________________________________________________________
About
The Buckminster Fuller Challenge originated in 2007 and awards $100,000 annually. Support for the program has been provided by the Atwater Kent Foundation, The Civil Society Institute, The James Dyson Foundation, The Highfield Foundation; The Jewish Communal Fund, and the members of The Buckminster Fuller Institute.
Founded in 1983 and headquartered in New York, The Buckminster Fuller Institute is dedicated to accelerating the development and deployment of solutions which radically advance human well being and the health of our planet’s ecosystems. BFI’s programs combine unique insight into global trends and local needs with a comprehensive approach to design. BFI encourages participants to conceive and apply transformative strategies based on a crucial synthesis of whole systems thinking, Nature’s fundamental principles, and an ethically driven worldview. By facilitating convergence across the disciplines of art, science, design and technology, BFI’s work extends the profoundly relevant legacy of R. Buckminster Fuller. For further information visit http://www.bfi.org
2010 Out of the Box Prize
August 10, 2010
2010 Out of the Box Prize
* social justice
* competition
* community development
* health
* rural development
* innovation
* awards
* education
Application Deadline: October 31, 2010.
The Community Tool Box will honor innovative approaches to promoting community health and development worldwide with the 2010 Out of the Box Prize. We invite you to enter and encourage you to share contest information with others doing innovative work to improve life in their communities anywhere in the world. (Click here to download a flyer that can be shared with others.)
Your group’s work may involve efforts to improve community health, education, urban or rural development, poverty, the environment, social justice, or other related issues of importance to communities. Applicants must be willing to share the group’s innovative and promising approach with others.
Grand Prize:
$5,000 cash award (USD) + free customized WorkStation for your group (value $2,100)
Second Prize:
$2,000 cash award (USD) + free customized WorkStation for your group
Award Finalists: All Award Finalists stories will be featured on the Community Tool Box as an outstanding example of “Taking Action in Your Community.”
Finalists will be selected by an international panel of judges. Site visitors will vote on their favorite “Out of the Box” project to be awarded the top two prizes.
Important Contest Dates:
8/1/2010: Opening date for applications
10/31/2010: Deadline for submission of applications
11/1 – 11/21/2010: International panel reviews the applications to select Finalists
12/1/2010: Award Finalists posted on the homepage of the Community Tool Box; public voting begins
1/31/2011: Public voting on Award Finalists closes
2/15/2011: Grand Prize and Second Prize announced
We invite you to submit an application. Click here to download application.
Eligibility and Selection Criteria
Any group that has engaged in any aspect of community health and development effort – from planning to sustainability- for the period of 2008 to 2010 can apply. Your group’s work may involve efforts to improve community health, education, urban or rural development, poverty, the environment, social justice, or other related issues of importance to communities. Applicants must be willing to share the group’s innovative and promising approach with others.
We are seeking “out of the box”—innovative and promising— approaches to promoting community health and development. “Innovation” may include a unique or effective way of planning or implementing a change effort, creative use of existing community resources, original ways of generating participation and collaboration, implementing a best practice within a new context or group, or other innovative and promising approaches. We seek clear descriptions of how applicants took action in the community (currently or within the past three years); including Assessment, Planning, Taking Action, Evaluation, and Sustainability of the group’s efforts. The initiative should effectively address an issue of importance to the community.
To get an application: visit: http://ctb.ku.edu
A program of Civic Ventures, the Purpose Prize annually provides five awards of $100,000 to people over the age of 60 who are working to address society’s biggest challenges.
To be eligible for the prize, a nominee must be at least 60 years old by the deadline of March 10, 2011,and be a legal resident of the United States (including U.S. territories). Nominees should have initiated important innovations, in a new or ongoing organization, in an encore career. “Encore careers” are those that combine personal meaning and social impact with continued work in the second half of life. Nominees must currently be working in a leadership capacity in an organization or institution (public, private, nonprofit, or for-profit) to address a major social problem in the United States or abroad. Nominees should have demonstrated recent creativity and leadership, with the promise of more to come.
Elected officials are not eligible for the prize. Individuals working in faith-based service organizations that have a broader social mission are eligible and encouraged to apply, but the purpose of their project cannot be strictly religious or sectarian.
Nominations are welcome from any organization or individual with knowledge of a potential candidate. Self-nominations are also accepted.
Visit the Purpose Prize Web site for complete program guidelines.
Ashoka’s Changemakers Strong Communities Competition
June 16, 2010
Ashoka’s Changemakers Strong Communities Competition
Early Entry Deadline: July 14, 2010.
Nomination Deadline, Entry Close: August 11, 2010.
Strong Communities Competition
Community Matters and Ashoka’s Changemakers are partnering to offer the Strong Communities: Engaging Citizens, Strengthening Place, Inspiring Change competition!
Citizens, practitioners and elected officials can enter innovative, replicable, sustainable projects and ideas to steer change and take charge of the future of their communities. We want to hear from an array of voices, and most importantly, we want to create a community of people who come together to celebrate, collaborate and share experiences.
We’re asking people to share their big, crazy, “knock-your-socks-off” ideas, and to inspire us with the transformational projects that are happening in towns and neighborhoods across the country. In particular, we’re looking for interdisciplinary approaches where different people, organizations and fields come together to learn from each other and collectively solve problems by creating a shared vision of a strong community.
We’ll highlight 20 semi-finalists in September, and then invite eight finalists to CommunityMatters’10 to showcase their work. Entries will be judged on innovation, social impact and sustainability. Online voting will begin a week before the conference and live voting will continue during the conference; we’ll announce three winners at the conference closing.
After June 16, you can find us at www.changemakers.com/strongcommunities.
Prizes
Early Entry Prize: The best entry submitted by 5PM EDT, July 14, 2010 will be eligible to win USD $500.
ReTweet Prizes: From June 16, 2010 through August 11, 2010, there will be a drawing every Monday for a ReTweet prize. Any person with a Twitter account that re-tweets a specific message from @CommunityMttrs during the previous week will be automatically entered to win a prize valued at or below USD $20.
Grand Prizes: Three winners will be chosen via online public voting. Each winner will receive a USD $5,000 grand prize.
Timeline
Launch: June 16, 2010
Early Entry Deadline: July 14, 2010
Nomination Deadline, Entry Close: August 11, 2010
Semi-finalists Announced: September 8, 2010
Finalists Announced/Voting Begins: September 22, 2010
Voting Ends: October 7, 2010
Winners Announced: October 8, 2010
About Changemakers
Ashoka’s Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka, an organization with more than three decades of finding, funding and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe. It is a global online community of action that connects people to share ideas, inspire and mentor each other, and find and support the best ideas in social innovation. The Changemakers online community builds on this history and expands the Ashoka vision by creating an “Everyone a Changemaker” world through networking, relationship-building, and the sourcing of funding opportunities.
Through its collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers.com has created one of the world’s most robust spaces for launching, refining and scaling ideas for solving the world’s most pressing social problems.
Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society Invites Applications for Senior International Fellows Program
June 14, 2010
The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society’s Senior International Fellows Program provides an opportunity for the professional development of third-sector practitioners from outside the United States who are decision-makers in their professions. The program is also designed to help build third-sector capacity in the fellows’ home countries.
The research topic for fellowships for the 2010 program will be community foundations. Proposals on other topics related to the philanthropic sector will be considered from candidates applying on a tuition- or institutionally sponsored basis.
Fellows are based at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where they will participate in a one-month seminar (October 18 to November 12, 2010) focused on the U.S. and international voluntary sectors. Based on the seminars, readings, discussions with leaders in the field, and the fellows’ own experiences, each participant will produce a position paper with recommendations for the development, adaptation, or expansion of foundations or another approved topic. It is expected that these recommendations will draw from a variety of foundation experiences and will reflect the political, social, economic, and legal frameworks in the fellows’ home countries.
The program is open to senior-level practitioners (generally over the age of 35). Each fellowship covers the cost of tuition. As part of the award, the center also provides furnished accommodations in Manhattan, round-trip air travel to and from New York City, and a stipend to help cover research-related and additional living expenses.
Visit the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society Web site for program guidelines.
Tom’s of Maine, “50 States for Good” Initiative Offers Program Funding for US Nonprofits
June 14, 2010
With a total community action fund of $100,000, Tom’s of Maine’s “50 States for Good” initiative is celebrating and rewarding nonprofits from across the country whose efforts are focused on lasting, positive change in the community.
Tom’s of Maine is hoping to inspire participation from nonprofits of all sizes and is excited to hear about the community projects that matter most to them. 501(c)(3) organizations from across the country are encouraged to apply for funding and invite their members/constituents to participate in the process. This year, applicant organizations are encouraged to be bold in sharing how they can best use new volunteers to benefit the community. In addition, the public is also welcome to invite their favorite nonprofit to join the program.
Finalists will be selected by a judging panel based on immediate achievability, positive impact in the community, and engagement and mobilization among members of the community. After finalists are selected, online voting by the public will determine which five organizations will receive $20,000 each.
For more info: http://www.tomsofmaine.com/community-involvement/living-well/project-sponsorships
Skoll Foundation Announces Final Deadline for 2011 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship
June 14, 2010
The Skoll Foundation is looking for new applicants for the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. The foundation’s flagship program invests in leading social entrepreneurs around the globe who are advancing promising solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.
The program seeks social entrepreneurs whose work has the potential for large-scale positive change in the areas of tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, peace and security, institutional responsibility, and economic and social equity. In addition to alignment with one or more of these issue areas, Skoll Award winners typically exhibit many of the following characteristics: are led by a visionary, effective social entrepreneur serving as a spokesperson for their issue; have strong leadership team and board; have a clear mission and implementation model; demonstrate an unwavering focus on their mission; boast strong, well-established partnerships; have a commitment to systems, including for measurement and learning; and have diversified and mission-aligned funding sources.
The Skoll Awards provide later-stage, or mezzanine, funding, which is generally structured as a $1 million award paid out over three years. In most cases, the grant is provided for core support to help organizations expand their programs and capacity to deliver long-term, sustainable equilibrium change. The awards are not intended for new or early-stage programs or initiatives. Programs submitted for consideration should have a track record of no less than three years. In addition to core support, the Skoll Foundation supports the participation of award recipients in the annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship.
The program anticipates awarding seven to ten awards in 2011.
The next and final deadline for applications for the 2011 awards is August 4, 2010. Following this deadline, the foundation will be making adjustments aimed at streamlining and simplifying the application process.
For eligibility criteria, FAQs, and application instructions, visit the Skoll Foundation Web site.
Brazil, UK and Africa: Ashoka Changemakers “Changing Lives Through Football” competition
June 3, 2010
Ashoka Changemakers “Changing Lives Through Football” competition
deadline to enter is June 11, 2010
Nike and Ashoka’s Changemakers are pleased to kick-off the “Changing Lives Through Football” competition, building on the success of two collaborative competitions that have helped surface the best ideas in the emerging field of sport for social change (the “Sport for a Better World” and “GameChangers: Change the Game for Women in Sport” competitions).
Whether through their partnerships in Africa that support communities that fight HIV/AIDS, or its “Stand Up Speak Up” campaign to empower sports fans to voice their opposition to racism, Nike has long recognized the power of football (“soccer” in the US) to affect real change.
Join us to identify, inspire, and bring together the next wave of leaders who are eager to find ways that football can unleash the potential of young people, strengthen their communities, boost development, and affect change.
Football is the sport that unites the world. Billions of fans cheer their favorite teams. As anticipation mounts for this year’s World Cup tournament — the first ever played on the African continent — there’s no better time to translate the excitement into new ideas that empower youth.
The global stage is set to inspire social change through football, and Nike and Changemakers invite you to join the team. Help find the next wave of leaders who are using football to unleash the potential of young people by participating in the Changing Lives Through Football collaborative competition on Changemakers.com.
Sport enables human potential, allowing new leaders to emerge on the playing field of sport or life. We invite individuals, teams, and organizations that are using football for social change join us on Changemakers.com between March 24 and August 11, 2010.
Do you have a new idea or a thriving program that encourages youth by expanding access to football? Share your knowledge with our global community. Tell us how to magnify the impact of a football-based innovation by applying it around the world.
There are several ways you can participate: you can recommend a project or idea that should enter, post a comment or question in the online dialogue, and vote for the winners. Your experience and insights are invaluable. Together we may uncover the creativity – and natural drive to innovate – within each of us.
Invite your friends and colleagues! Together we can use the sport as a powerful tool to drive social change, educating, supporting, and protecting our world’s young people.
Guidelines, Criteria and Prizes
The Changing Lives Through Football competition is open to all types of individuals and organizations (charitable organizations, private companies, or public entities) from all countries. We consider all entries that:
* Reflect the theme of the challenge: Changing Lives Through Football. The scope of the competition is to identify innovative solutions that use football to strengthen community, accelerate development and drive social change. Entries are invited from organizations and individuals in all countries.
* Indicate growth beyond the conceptual stage and have demonstrated impact and sustainability. While we support new ideas at every stage and encourage their entry, the judges are better able to evaluate programs that are beyond the conceptual stage and have demonstrated a proof of impact.
* Are submitted in English, Spanish, French, or Portuguese.
Please complete the entire entry form and submit by June 11, 2010, 5PM US EST. All decisions of the judges will be final.
Assessment Criteria
The winners of this Changemakers Collaborative Competition will be those entries that best meet the following criteria:
* Innovation: This is the knock-out test; if the work is not innovative the judges will not give it high rankings. The application must describe the systemic innovation that it is focused on. The innovation should be a unique model of change demonstrating a substantial difference from other initiatives in the field with the possibility for large-scale expansion.
* Social Impact: It is important that the innovative idea provides a system-changing solution for the field it addresses. Some innovations will have proven success at a small level, while others will have potential to grow, engaging millions of people. Still others will achieve their impact quickly, while some will seed change for the long term. Regardless of the level of demonstrated impact, it is important to see that the innovation has the ability to be applied in the U.S. and other countries. This will be judged by considering the scale strategy, ability to be replicated, clear how-tos, and the entrant’s ability to formulate a clear “road map” to reaching larger goals.
* Sustainability: For an innovation to be truly effective it must have a plan for how it will acquire financial and other bases of support for the long-term. Entries should describe not only how they are currently financing their work, but also how they plan to finance their work in the future. The most successful entrants go beyond discussing whether or not they will charge for services and describe a business plan. They should also demonstrate that they have strong partnerships and support networks to address an ongoing need, and to aid in scalability and the maintenance of a clear financial strategy.
Competition Deadlines, Procedures, and Rules
Online competition submissions are accepted until June 11, 2010 at 5PM US EST. At any time before this deadline, competition participants are encouraged to revise their entries based on questions and insights that they receive in the Changemakers discussion. Participation in the discussion enhances an entrant’s prospects in the competition and provides the community and the judges an opportunity to understand the entrant’s project more completely.
Winners will be expected to spend any prize money awarded in furtherance of the purposes of the project and/or organization for which the applicant has submitted an entry form.
There are four main phases in the competition:
* Entry Stage, March 24 – June 11, 2010: Entries can be submitted until 5PM US EST on April 21, 2010, and throughout this stage anyone can participate in an online review discussion with the entrants.
* Online Review and Judging, June 11 – July 20, 2010: Online review and discussion continues. Simultaneously, a panel of expert judges and a team of Ashoka staff select the competition finalists.
* Voting, July 21 – August 11, 2010: The Changemakers community votes online to select the award-winners from the field of finalists.
* Global and Regional Winners Announced– August 18, 2010
Prizes
3 Global Winners:
ONLINE WINNERS – A panel of independent judges selected by Ashoka or Nike and Ashoka staff will select between 10 and 15 finalists from all of the entries submitted in the competition. All entries will be evaluated pursuant to the criteria as stated above. From among these 10-15 finalists, the Changemakers’ online community will vote for 3 winners. In the event of a tie, the tie will be broken by a vote of the independent judges. Any person may sign into and register with Changemakers at: http://www.changemakers.com/en-us to vote.
* The finalist individual or organization that receives the most votes – will be our Grand Prize Winner and receive $30,000 USD.
* The finalist individual or organization that receives the second most votes will be our 2nd Place Winner and receive $20,000 USD
* The finalist individual or organization that receives the third most votes will be our 3rd Place Winner and receive $10,000 USD
Winners will be announced August 18, 2010.
3 Regional Winners:
None of the three global winners from the ONLINE COMPETITION will be eligible. The Regional Prizes will be selected by our expert panel of judges at the conclusion of the voting period according to the criteria as stated above.. All decisions by the judges are final. To be eligible, the individual’s or organization’s work must be focused on the particular region.
* The Brazil Prize: The best entrant individual or organization based and serving one or more communities in Brazil will be selected by our panel of expert judges and will receive $10,000 USD.
* The UK Prize: The best entrant individual or organization based and serving one or more communities in the UK will be selected by our panel of expert judges and will receive $10,000 USD
* The Africa Prize: The best entrant individual or organization based and serving one or more communities in Africa will be selected by our panel of expert judges and will receive $10,000 USD
Winners will be announced August 18, 2010.
2 Early Entry Prizes: The best two entries submitted by 5pm EST, April 28, 2010 will be eligible to win a digital camera (with a value equivalent of up to USD $400) and will be highlighted in Ashoka’s Changemakers marketing materials. Being an Early Entry Prize winner does not preclude you from winning the competition in any way, or guarantee finalist status. All entries will be equally evaluated per the Changemakers criteria at the completion of the entry period.
3rd HALF and NCDO Early Entry Prize: (Nationale Commissie voor Internationale Samenwerking en Duurzame Ontwikkeling – National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development). NCDO helps people and organizations in the Netherlands who dedicate themselves to improving the position of people in developing countries. It supports these local development projects with advice and subsidies.
Entry Deadline: May 12, 2010, 5:00p EST
Criteria:
* Must be an innovative small to medium project that uses sport as a tool for social change
* The entry must be submitted in English
* The project must be based in the Netherlands but focus its work on South Africa
* Aims to be a self-sustaining venture in the next 3 years. The entrepreneur/entrant is the legal owner of the initiative and therefore has the authority to decide with whom to cooperate and/or negotiate the terms of a potential deal.
Selection:
* A Dutch jury selected by NCDO will choose 5 finalists
* The finalists will pitch their ideas to the Dutch jury in the Dragon’s Den Final on June 3, 2010 – This final takes place during a big business event of SANEC (the South African chamber of commerce) and the Dutch Royal Football Association.
* Winner and 2 runners up will be announced on June 3, 2010
Grand Prize Winner:
A seven day all expenses paid trip for 2 (max) to South Africa during the World Cup (June 17 – 24, 2010) for the winning entrant. During this trip the implementation process of the business idea will start.
Second and Third Place Winners:
Win business training by a top consultancy firm.
Click here to find out more about NCDO’s 3rdHALF.
Participation in the challenge provides the opportunity to receive feedback from fellow entrants, Changemakers staff, judges, and the Changemakers community. Showcasing initiatives and demonstrating social impact advise potential investors about how best to maximize the strategic impact of their investments.
Introducing the Nonprofit Guru: Kelly N Patterson 