| Dear Friends, SVN's fall conference is only one week away and we are excited that so many of you will be joining us for our gathering in La Jolla. With speakers like Arianna Huffington, Jeffrey Hollender, Mallika Chopra, Evan Shapiro and Amy Goodman, and several new networking sessions, this conference is designed to offer you inspiration, fresh ideas and practical advice, as well as valuable opportunities for collaboration. To review the conference agenda or register online, please visit www.svn.org/fall2009registration. If you have any questions about registration, please contact Nathan Joblin at nathanj@svn.org. We are proud to be honoring eight exceptional social entrepreneurs at our third annual Innovation Awards ceremony at our fall conference. The work of this year's honorees ranges from biodiesel production to genocide intervention to solar-powered lanterns. We are thrilled to welcome these impressive leaders to our Network, and to share their work with you at our upcoming conference. Click here to find out more about our 2009 Innovation Award winners. We would like to welcome Morgan Simon, herself a 2007 Innovation Award winner for Responsible Endowments Coalition, to SVN's Board of Directors. Many thanks to Amy Hall of Eileen Fisher Inc., for her incredible commitment and generosity to SVN, as she ends her five years of service as an SVN board member. We look forward to seeing you next week in La Jolla! Warm regards,
Deborah Nelson
Executive Director
| | Network Updates |  |  SVN Fall 2009 Confernece
October 22-25
La Jolla, CA
SVN members and guests are invited to join us in La Jolla, CA for our Fall Conference. Come celebrate the next generation of social ventures and learn from the collective experience of mission-driven business owners and social entrepreneurs to convene, recommit, share best practices, and celebrate our 2009 Innovation Award winners. Click here to register.
 Announcing the 2009 SVN Innovation Award Honorees
The third annual SVN Innovation Award honorees have been chosen and will be celebrated Friday evening at the Fall Conference. We had an extremely competitive and exciting group of entrepreneurs submit their ideas and we are pleased to welcome eight up-and-coming socially responsible leaders to our network. Details on the winners and honorable mentions can be found here. SVN Bay Area Gathering at Saybrook
November 12
San Francisco, CA
Join SVN members in San Francisco for an evening of connections and a brief presentation on "surviving in tough economic times" presented by SVN members Chip Conley (Joie de Vivre Hospitality) and Priya Haji (World of Good), and moderated by Marc Lesser (ZBA Associates). Official invitation and complete details to follow (RSVP and prepayment will be requested).  The Social Venture Network Book Series
Dealing with the Tough Stuff
Margot Fraser and Lisa Lorimer Dealing with the Tough Stuff is the brand new addition to the SVN Book Series. The book tackles the kinds of challenges every entrepreneur struggles with. How open and honest can you really be with your employees and still run an efficient business? At what point do you seek outside expertise? What do you do when things go terribly wrong? When is it time to leave? The authors and their fellow travelers share their experiences-not just what worked, but sometimes what spectacularly didn't. Birkenstock USA's founder Margot Fraser and Vermont Bread Company founder Lisa Lorimer have been there, and they're here to help. Together with five of their colleagues-including Stonyfield Farm founder Gary Hirshberg and former Ms. Foundation president Marie C. Wilson-they offer the kinds of personal insights and seasoned advice you just can't get in business school. It's like sitting down at the table with some of the nation's top socially conscious entrepreneurs. Click here to order your copy today. | | 2009 SVN Innovation Award Gold Sponsor: Main Street Resources | |  Main Street Resources, founded by SVN Member Dan Levinson, is a unique private equity firm in Connecticut that provides investment capital and resources to companies and people with great potential. In addition to seeking to utilize resources to create safe, attractive investor returns, Main Street backs good teams running good companies. By "good teams," in addition to being financially productive, we mean honest, thoughtful, giving and overall good citizens of their communities. By "good companies" in addition to being profitable, we mean environmentally clean, providing healthcare for all employees and strong community supporters. The firm provides growth/transition capital for basic growing companies in the Northeast - in partnership with management - and operates as a Guild with its 100+ CEO value-add investors. The Main Street management team believes businesses can be both profitable and good corporate citizens - taking care of their people, communities and environment - while creating value. Historically, dedication to this investment approach has generated rewarding long-term relationships with outstanding operating partners and yielded financial and non-financial success. Main Street is preparing to launch its third fund early 2010 - targeting long term minority growth/transition capital. Main Street recently co-founded/sponsored Westport Green Village Initiative ("GVI"), a mission-driven grassroots organization established to support people and organizations passionate about creating local environmental and community change. GVI's initial projects revolve around food, energy and conservation with the goal that results will ultimately influence elected officials and town and state legislation. | | Members in Action | |  Entrepreneur of the Year Awarded to SVNer
A big congratulations goes to SVN member Dr. Mark Albion who will be the first "social" entrepreneur to be awarded the Distinguished National Entrepreneur of the Year Award next year. Granted by Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, the award has previously gone to entrepreneurs who did not have social responsibility as their focus. This new direction for the award bodes well for the evolving state of entrepreneurship as a whole. Mark joined the Office of the President at Babson College in March 2009 to help bring social responsibility into the fabric of all curricula and co-curricula activities at the college for all undergraduates and graduates, including the business school. You can congratulate Mark about this at the Fall Conference next week where he will be moderating the 2009 SVN Innovation Award ceremony.  Real Food Farm Growing Good Food in the Big City
Urban agriculture is taking root all over the country, but one of the most enterprising projects has sprouted up in Baltimore. SVN member Ted Rouse has created the not-for-profit Real food Farm and the for-profit Big City Farm to fulfill his ambitious goal of growing 10 percent of the Baltimore's food, roughly 150,000 pounds of produce annually, within the city. Civics Works, a nonprofit job corps helping connect labor with the project, estimates that there is 1,500 acres of arable, available land in Baltimore and some 6,000 jobs could be created if all of it was cultivated. Using low-cost greenhouses, Rouse hopes to address a variety of issues including obesity, diabetes, food security, carbon emissions and wealth and job creation for low-income urban residents. If you're in the Baltimore area check out Real Food Farm's website for information on volunteer days or find Ted at next week's conference to talk sustainable agriculture.  Give Something Back Gives to Young Entrepreneur
Give Something Back, the office supply company that has donated over $4 million to its local community, is heading back to school. Give Something Back, founded by SVN member Mike Hannigan, has selected Melissa Medina, a junior at the University of California, Berkeley, for its inaugural Give Something Back Corporate Social Responsibility Scholarship in honor of Paul Newman. The late, great actor was a founding funder of the Haas Center for Responsible Business, which awarded the $10,000 scholarship. The program was created to reward a student with financial need who exhibits a strong interest in corporate social responsibility, and demonstrates outstanding leadership potential. Medina says the money will alleviate some financial pressure and will allow her to focus on her service activities, which include teaching business fundamentals to disadvantaged middle school students through the Young Entrepreneurs at Haas (YEAH) program.  Time For Guayaki
Time Magazine recently featured an article about SVN Member Chris Mann's growing company Guayaki. The article commends Mann and his fellow-founders for their work in reviving South American rain forests while simultaneously producing a delicious and highly caffeinated beverage. Guayaki partners with farmers, small businesses and indigenous tribes to source and produce their product. In return for technical advice and training in organic growing, the local farmers sell their crop back to Guayaki and promise to provide decent pay and working conditions. To read the article, click here. | | Welcome New Members | | | | Upcoming Events | |  Green America's Green Business Conference
November 11-12
San Francisco, CA Whether you are an established green business visionary or just starting your journey to sustainability, you'll find the Green Business Conference an exceptional opportunity to partner with business leaders who share your values, your challenges, and your successes. With lots of SVN members attending and speaking, it's sure to be a great event. SVN member Margot Fraser of Birkenstock USA and SVN Executive Director Deb Nelson will be promoting the latest addition to the SVN book series, Dealing With the Tough Stuff, written by Fraser and Lisa Lorimer. There will also be business leaders from from Organic Valley, eBay, Pangea Organics, RSF Social Finance, Green for All, and dozens of socially responsible business pioneers and marketing/branding experts. Register now for the low price of $375. For the complete program, visit www.GreenBusinessConference.org. You can also follow the conference on Twitter: www.twitter.com/greenbizconf.  Breakthrough: Celebrating the Visionaries of Our Time
November 12, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Oakland, CA Join the Ella Baker Center in support of their campaigns and to celebrate three outstanding visionaries who have broken through barriers and blazed trails for social and environmental justice in the Bay Area: Lateefah Simon, Executive Director of Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Lynne Twist, Founder of The Soul of Money Institute & The Pachamama Alliance Carl Anthony, Founder of Urban Habitat Tickets: $20 ($30 at the door) Awards Ceremony begins promptly at 6:45pm. Performances by East Bay Church of Religious Science International Choir. Heavy hors d'oeuvres by Bon Appetit and wine generously provided by Frey Vineyards. Questions? Please call 510.428.3939 x248 or email Jessica@ellabakercenter.org or check the website. fontfontfontfont |
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