Global Innovations for Health Competition

Ashoka Changemakers and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Invite Entries for Innovations for Health Competition

 

Ashoka Changemakers and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio have launched a new competition, Innovations for Health: Solutions that Cross Borders, to promote healthcare solutions from anywhere in the world that have the potential to be applied in other countries to improve health and healthcare. The competition is intended to help build bridges toward a more accessible, cost-effective, consumer-engaged, and outcome-driven system of health services.

The competition is seeking breakthrough innovations such as those that deploy the full spectrum of healthcare workers and providers, thereby improving the capacity, reach, and quality of healthcare services; use simple low-cost interventions to improve medical, preventive, and dental care; help people find and access the health information, services, and providers they need through new tools and processes; provide high quality and personalized care in non-traditional settings; and find new ways to engage patients in their care, particularly patients with chronic illnesses.

The competition’s organizers seek initiatives that have demonstrated impact, and are particularly interested in those that have the potential to help vulnerable and underserved populations in other countries that are experiencing similar barriers to health.

Three winners selected by a panel of expert judges will each receive $10,000. Entries received by the early deadline of December 12, 2011, will also be eligible to win one of two $500 awards and one of two private consulting sessions with industry experts.

In addition, following the Changemakers competition, selected entries may be invited to submit proposals to RWJF’s Pioneer Portfolio for future funding consideration. The foundation will be looking for innovations that show potential to produce significant improvement in health and healthcare in the United States. Only organizations in the United States and its territories are eligible for this post-competition funding opportunity.

Entries are welcome from any country. Entries are accepted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.

Visit the Changemakers Web site for complete program guidelines and entry procedures.

Be Free Global Invites Applications for Global Micro-Grant Program From Organizations Serving Children

Be Free Global is inviting applications for grants of $1,000 as part of its second annual micro-grant campaign. Be Free Global’s mission is to link action and ideas for children by providing alternative funding opportunities for creative projects worldwide that work to improve the lives of children of diverse backgrounds.

Each year, Be Free Global will select nonprofit organizations whose work positively impacts children in their immediate communities around the world to receive a micro-grant to fund a specific initiative.

As a start-up foundation, Be Free Global’s first initiative is to identify small and rising nonprofit organizations and encourage their participation in the foundation’s micro-grant program. The foundation’s vision is to link doers for children around the globe in a global conversation where ideas are exchanged and cross-cultural dialogue is fostered around shared solutions to common issues. Financial support for the grant program is provided through charitable donations and fundraising events.

In this grantmaking cycle, Be Free Global is seeking to fund a select group of not-for-profit organizations on several continents that focus on providing educational resources to displaced children and children otherwise disconnected from traditional public and private resources. Grant applications are invited from organizations that use innovation, creativity, and direct solutions to overcome the challenges facing children in their community.

Complete program information and the grant application form are available at the Be Free Global Web site.

Tech Awards nominations deadline March 31 (you can self-nominate!)

Nominations or Self-Nominations due: March 31, 2011

Applications due: May 2, 2011

You have until March 31 to apply for the 2011 Tech Awards, or nominate an organization you know who might be interested in this award.  The Tech Awards honors innovators who are creatively applying technology to benefit humanity in the areas of Environment, Economic Development, Education, Equality and Health.  Fifteen laureates in five categories will be honored at a Gala event in October 2011 in Silicon Valley, California, and five Laureates will each be awarded a cash prize of $50,000 USD.

To nominate yourself, or someone you know, please visit: http://nominations.techawards.org/nominate/nominee.asp

Key Dates:

Nominations or Self-Nominations due: March 31, 2011 
Applications due: May 2, 2011
Laureates announced: August 2011
Laureate week in California: October 17-21, 2011

If you have any questions, please contact: techawards@thetech.org.

Further Information on The Tech Awards and the application process, and the selection criteria can be found at: www.techawards.org.

Best wishes and good luck!

Nominations Invited for 2012 International Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize for the Alleviation of Human Suffering

The $1.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize is awarded annually to an organization making extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering anywhere in the world.

Nominations are invited from throughout the international community. Nominees must be established, non-governmental, publicly supported charitable organizations. Nominees must be legally established for at least five years (established prior to January 2006), and must have an operating budget (expenditures) greater than $500,000. Individuals are not eligible for nomination.

The nominator should have direct knowledge of the nominated organization’s work. The nominator may not be an officer or employee, or any other individual receiving remuneration for their services from the nominated organization. Board members may nominate providing they receive no payment for their service. The nominator may not be a family member of an officer or employee of the nominated organization.

Since the prize is not a grant, nomination materials should emphasize the organization’s accomplishments rather than future goals. Both historic and recent performance should be addressed.

Suggested criteria to consider in describing a nominee’s work include extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering, established record of achievement, innovation in program design, organizational capacity and administrative efficiency, and demonstration of long-term impact.

This year, for the first time, the nomination process will be conducted entirely online. Online nominations will be accepted from throughout the international community from March 12 to April 29, 2011. Nominators must create an account and upload their signed nomination letter (in English) at the Hilton Prize Web site. The nominated organization will then be contacted by email directly by the foundation and asked to provide supporting materials.

Visit the prize program Web site for complete nomination guidelines and the online nomination process: http://www.hiltonfoundation.org/prize

New support for global social entrepreneurs, StartSomeGood

StartSomeGood is a team comprised of four UCLA Bruins and an Aussie. The Bruins met while camping out for UCLA basketball games, and the co-founders met while working at Ashoka. All are connected by their passion for social entrepreneurship, and their dream of empowering people, anywhere and everywhere, to “do good” in the world.  Thus, they created www.StartSomeGood.com which connects social entrepreneurs with the financial and intellectual capital they need to transform an idea for improving the world into a reality, turning ideas into action and impact.

There are no shortages of problems in the world, and no shortage of people with ideas to address them, yet often people with brilliant ideas lack the resources that they need to get started.  Therefore, StartSomeGood provides social entrepreneurs with a platform to raise start-up funds and build a community of supporters — all in a fun, engaging and community-driven way.

Their site taps into the power of the crowd (aka, the “crowdfunding” model), allowing social entrepreneurs to ask for small amounts of money from supporters from around the world, in addition to providing social entrepreneurs with the tools to update their supporters, provide unique rewards in exchange for support, and run multiple campaigns over time.  Since there are several other valuable crowdfunding sites, they even encourage you to compare with other crowdfunding sites and see if StartSomeGood is the best option for you and your business:  http://startsomegood.com/Help/Difference

www.StartSomeGood.com was created specifically to make it easier for people to conceive, share and raise funds for innovative approaches to community problems and opportunities.  I recommend you visit their site today and check out some of the current campaigns: from SpeechForGood (a mobile app that connects people with their speech therapy while giving 20% back to clinics in the developing world) to urban agriculture projects in LA to community fitness programs which are addressing child obesity.

You can contact them directly at hello@startsomegood.com.

 

social business plan competition by Global Social Venture

GSVC Call for Entrants

The Global Social Venture Competition, the world’s leading social business plan competition, is now open to entrants for the 2011 competition. Teams with at least one MBA or recent MBA grad can enter an executive summary of their business plan for the opportunity to gain global exposure, receive mentoring from leading social entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, and compete for prize money. See www.gsvc.org/the_competition for details on how to enter.

About GSVC

The Global Social Venture Competition is the world’s preeminent social business plan competition providing aspiring entrepreneurs with mentoring, exposure, and prize money to transform their business ideas into positive real-world impact.  Its mission is to catalyze new sustainable ventures that address significant social issues, build awareness of the social entrepreneurship field and educate future leaders.  Founded by MBA students at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, the GSVC has evolved into a global network supported by an international community of volunteer judges, mentors and student organizers and a partnership of premier business schools in the US, Europe and Asia.

Every year more than 500 entrant teams from around the world compete for $45,000 in prizes while gaining valuable professional feedback on their businesses. Since its inception in 1999, the GSVC has awarded over half a million dollars to promising social enterprises and introduced early-stage entrepreneurs to the venture capital community, creating a new generation of sustainable social ventures including Husk Power, Revolution Foods and d.light design.

Global Gateway Foundation Seeks Preproposals for Competitive Grants Initiative

The Global Gateway Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to serve as a scientific, social, and philanthropic catalyst tfor the healing, wellness, and dignity and integration of global humanity.

The foundation’s primary area of interest is in new technologies emerging in the field of health and healing, especially current and emerging “subtle energy” technologies that support greater physical, mental, and spiritual integration; application of new discoveries in the “hard sciences” (physics, mathematics, electronics, engineering, network modeling, biophysics, and materials science) to healing modalities; the underlying dynamics of energy-based health and wellness disciplines such as Network Spinal Analysis Care, Somato Respiratory Integration, traditional chiropractic care, acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine, homeopathy, and similar approaches; how these dynamics may lead to new understandings and/or directions for basic research in the hard sciences and the social sciences (e.g., organizational development, increased understanding of the integral and core nature of individuals, and reorganizational strategies that support greater personal and social integration and harmony); and methods for evaluating the impact and outcomes of these new understandings when applied to health and wellness, industrial applications, and society.

The foundation’s competitive grants initiative is designed to provide small amounts of funding to investigators undertaking research in the foundation’s areas of interest, with the understanding that applicants whose projects show promise will be encouraged to subsequently apply to third-party funding agencies with more extensive research budgets.

The initiative will provide seed funding, in the form of grants of $2,500 to $10,000 each, for five to ten scientific research projects. Grants will be for a period of one year with a possible one-year renewal.

Applications will be considered from individuals and organizations with the appropriate experience and credentials to carry out a project as proposed. While proposals from established research organizations will have priority, applications from individuals will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Visit the Global Gateway Foundation Web site for complete program guidelines and application procedures: http://www.globalgatewayfoundation.org/

Bridging Cultures Through Film: International Topics program supports projects that examine international and transnational themes in the humanities through documentary films

The National Endowment for the Humanities’ Bridging Cultures Through Film: International Topics program supports projects that examine international and transnational themes in the humanities through documentary films.

The program seeks to support film projects designed to spark Americans’ engagement with the broader world by exploring one or more countries and cultures outside the United States. Proposed documentaries must be analytical and deeply grounded in humanities scholarship. The program encourages the exploration of innovative nonfiction storytelling that presents multiple points of view in creative formats. The proposed film must range in length from a stand-alone broadcast hour to a feature-length documentary.

Projects are should demonstrate international collaboration by enlisting scholars based both in the U.S. and abroad, and/or by working with an international media team.

Two levels of support are available — development and production. Filmmakers can apply for either development or production funding but not for both simultaneously.

Development funds support filmmakers for a wide range of activities that include but are not limited to collaboration with scholars to develop humanities content, research, preliminary interviews, travel, and the creation of partnerships for outreach activities (public engagement with the humanities). Applicants must have obtained the commitment of humanities scholars to serve as advisers to the project prior to applying for a development grant.

Production funds support filmmakers in various stages of production and post-production. Applicants must submit a script for a production grant. This script should demonstrate a solid command of humanities ideas and scholarship related to the subject matter. Applicants must have consulted with appropriate humanities scholars about the project and must have obtained their commitment to advise the project.

Awards are for one to three years and for up to $75,000 (for development) and up to $800,000 (for production). Successful applicants will be awarded a grant in outright funds, matching funds, or a combination of the two.

Any U.S. nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization is eligible, as are state and local governmental agencies. Individuals are not eligible to apply. Independent producers who wish to apply must seek an eligible organization to sponsor the project and submit the application.

 

For more info: http://neh.gov/grants/guidelines/bridgingcultures_film.html

SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Conservation Fund Offers Support for Wildlife and Habitat Conservation

The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, a nonprofit private charitable foundation created by Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks, supports wildlife research, habitat protection, animal rescue, and conservation education in the United States and more than sixty countries around the world. Since its inception in 2003, the fund has awarded more than $7 million in total support, including animal crisis grants to fund rapid response efforts when animals or their habitats are in peril due to either natural or human-caused events and catastrophes.

The fund’s annual grant program accepts online applications from 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations based in the U.S., non-U.S. based nonprofit organizations and NGOs, governmental entities, accredited universities and research centers, and AZA- or AMMPA-accredited institutions. Applications from individuals not affiliated with an eligible applicant entity will not be accepted.

As with all proposals receiving fund support, the project must have broad community/constituency support and be based on legitimate scientific and conservation principles.

While the fund recognizes and supports the critical importance of ex-situ efforts such as endangered species breeding programs and conservation awareness/education, its primary focus is to support conservation efforts directly benefiting wildlife in their native ranges (in situ). For this reason, the fund is unable to help underwrite the captive breeding efforts of other animal management facilities. However, the fund will consider ex-situ conservation education proposals that demonstrate significant positive and sustainable impact.

The fund has no set minimum or maximum grant amount. In the past, the fund has awarded grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 each for a one-year term. The fund will consider multi-year proposals.

All grant applications for each year’s granting session are due by December 1 of the prior year. Only applications submitted via the fund’s online application system will be accepted. Visit the Conservation Fund’s Web site for complete grant policies, information on previously funded projects, and the complete application.

For more information: http://www.swbg-conservationfund.org/grantInfoA.htm

Echoing Green Opens Application Cycle for Social Entrepreneur Fellowship Program

Echoing Green will award twelve to twenty two-year fellowships to social entrepreneurs in 2011. The fellowships provide start-up capital and technical assistance to social entrepreneurs around the world working to turn their ideas into sustainable social change organizations.

Echoing Green seeks individuals or partnerships (organizations led by two people) with innovative solutions to significant social problems, strategies designed to create high-impact and sustainable change in people’s lives, and the ability to grow and lead a new organization.

The application process is open to citizens of all nationalities working in any country. Applicants must be fluent enough in English to participate in interviews and Echoing Green events, and must be 18 years of age or older.

Organizations seeking support must be the original idea of the applicant and must be independent, autonomous, and in a start-up phase, which means the applicant may have been running the organization full-time for up to two years, with Echoing Green’s financial support constituting its major/primary early funding. Applicants who have only worked on their organization on a part-time basis or have yet to start an organization are generally considered eligible. Applicants must make a full-time commitment to their organization’s development.

Fellows receive up to $60,000 ($90,000 for partnerships of two people) in seed funding over two years.

Visit the Echoing Green Web site for complete eligibility information, application materials, and profiles of fellows and their projects: http://www.echoinggreen.org/