| Dear Friends, It's been wonderful seeing so many of you at local SVN events over the past few weeks. I'd like to thank long-time SVN members Joel and Dana Solomon who hosted a very lively gathering in their Vancouver home, where 115 attendees gathered, including the mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson. In late February I joined SVN members, Innovation Award winners, and SBN members in Philadelphia for an incredible Social Venture Institute featuring Melissa Bradley-Burns, Ron Gonen and Brenda Palms Barber as True Confessions speakers. Many thanks to Lynne Cutler, Judy Wicks and Leanne Krueger-Braneky for hosting such a successful event. Thanks also to Ted Ning of LOHAS for hosting a great local gathering in Boulder this month where Tami Simon spoke on leading from the heart. I encourage you to spread the word about our 2010 Innovation Awards as SVN seeks to celebrate and promote today's most visionary social venture entrepreneurs. This year's winners will be featured in a six-page special section of Utne Reader magazine, an SVN partner organization that has been sharing bold ideas and sparking important conversations for the past 25 years. Details about our Innovation Awards can be found at www.svn.org/awards. I hope you are all making travel plans to join us for our Spring Member Gathering, to be held April 29th to May 2nd at Skamania Lodge. Our conference offers inspiring lessons from the world's leading social entrepeneurs, along with practical ways to expand and improve your business. Selected speakers include Gunter Pauli, Watts Wacker, Lisa Sedlar, Lee Mun Wah, Bob Beisner, Matt Flannery, Leila Janah, Gun Denhart, Michelle Long and Jay Coen Gilbert. To view our complete line-up of conference speakers, and find out about accommodations and registration, please visit: www.svn.org/spring2010. Thank you for all you do to create a just and sustainable world. In service,
Deborah Nelson
Executive Director
| | Network Updates |  |  2010 SVN Spring Member Gathering
April 29 - May 2
Stevenson, Washington (just north of Portland, Oregon) SVN's 2010 Spring Member Gathering is nearly a month away and will bring together a vibrant community of social venture entrepreneurs to explore new ways to create a just economy, strengthen our collective impact, and share resources and experiences in leading sustainable enterprises. Come hear inspiring and provocative plenaries and also gain practical business acumen from speakers like futurist Watts Wacker and Jones Soda founder Peter van Stolk. Register now to receive the early bird registration rates which end March 30th. Click here to learn more. The Spring Member Gathering is for members and prospects. Please review the SVN membership guidelines before registering for the conference.  2010 SVN Innovation Awards
Application deadline: April 15 Know an up-and-coming social entrepreneur with a new and innovative idea? SVN is looking to recognize the next generation of socially responsible business and nonprofit entrepreneurs and connect them with the resources and connections of the SVN community. We are now accepting applications for our fourth annual SVN Innovation Awards. Click here for details. Click here to see the video of last year's Innovation Award Ceremony, produced by Conscious Planet Media. SVN Local Gatherings Coming to Seattle and Minneapolis SVN, with Bainbridge Graduate Institute and Social Venture Partners, is putting on a local gathering in Seattle, April 8th. The featured speaker will be Don Shaffer, president and CEO of RSF Social Finance. Twin City SVNers, mark your calendars for a local gathering in Minneapolis on April 14th. More details coming soon. Thanks to 2010 local gatherings sponsor RSF Social Finance.  Peer-to-Peer Call: Raising Capital in 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern 2010 will be another tough year to raise capital. But the money is still out there. Join call hosts Joe Glorfield (TBL Capital) and Dawn McGee (Good Works Ventures) for a frank discussion about challenges and strategies for raising money in the current economic climate. Joe and Dawn will give short intros about their work and share some tips and best practices. Come prepared to share your questions and get feedback.  SVN Video: Sundance Channel's Evan Shapiro on Building a Diverse Workforce: Evan Shapiro, President of IFC and the Sundance Channel, kicked off the 2009 Fall Conference with an entertaining and insightful talk on the challenges and necessity of building a diverse business. Click here to watch the video, produced by SVN members Bianca and Michael Alexander of Conscious Planet Media. Get Refered by an SVN Friend and Save Them on Reg Fees and Dues Interested in becoming an SVN member or coming to an SVN conference? Know and SVN member? Now's the time to reach out to them. For each first-time attendee an SVN member refers to SVN we will discount their registration $150, and for each member prospect refered who activates membership in 2010, they'll receive $200 off your 2011 membership dues. Please review SVN's membership guidelines to make sure you could be a candidate for SVN membership at: www.svn.org/guidelines. For more information, please contact Nathan Joblin. | | Van is Back! | |  Van Jones Returns with NAACP President's Award, CAP and Princeton Fellow Appointments and Aplomb SVN member Van Jones has returned to the spotlight and the Network with a renewed purpose and a slew of opportunities to increase his impact as a champion for social and environmental justice. NAACP president and CEO Ben Jealous wrote a moving piece for CNN where he described Van as both "an American treasure" and "the most misunderstood man in America." Ben proudly presented Van with the NAACP President's Award at the 41st NAACP Image Awards, honoring Van's fight to make green collar jobs the engine that drives America's economic recovery. Van also rejoined the Center for American Progress as a Senior Fellow and leader of the new Green Opportunity Initiative. Van will develop an agenda for expanding investment, innovation, and opportunity through clean energy and environmental restoration⎯especially for low-income and minority communities. Van is also heading back to school with his appointment as a distinguished visiting fellow in the Center for African American Studies and in the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. To hear Van's own take on all of these events watch his interview with fellow NAACP President's Award winner Travis Smiley here. And to see Van in person, make sure you plan to attend SVN's Fall Conference in New Jersey, October 21 - 24, where Van will be speaking. | | Members in Action | |  Connie Evans on UN Commission on Status of Women
SVN Member Connie Evans, Association for Enterprise Opportunity President and CEO, was appointed by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women which convened last week at UN Headquarters in New York. During the session, government officials and representatives of civil society and the private sector assessed what has been achieved since the Beijing Conference, shared experiences and good practices, and discussed actions to deal with persistent obstacles and new challenges. Click here to learn more.  Green For All Joins Black Eyed Peas on Tour
Green For All has joined forces with the Black Eyed Peas on their 2010 The E.N.D. Tour to change the face of environmentalism and educate audiences across the country on the benefits of a clean energy economy. The tour partnership will travel to 23 cities across the country providing educational awareness, advocacy opportunities, and online viral media outreach. Sign up for a chance to win free concert tickets and a meet-and-greet with the band. For more information please click here.  Ben Powell of Agora Partnerships Tapped as Ashoka Fellow
2009 SVN Innovation Award Honoree Ben Powell of Agora Partnerships was elected to Ashoka's Global Fellowship, a network of leading social entrepreneurs with representation from more than 60 countries. Ashoka recognizes Ben's work to help small and growing business entrepreneurs fight poverty in Nicaragua. The selection of Powell as an Ashoka fellow represents a decision on the part of Ashoka to support models that can harness private sector activity for the public good. To learn more click here.  Transforming Cultures From Consumerism to Sustainability
SVN member Jonah Sachs and Susan Finkelpearl from Free Range Studios have written a chapter on the marketing for World Watch Institute's "2010 State of the World: Transforming Culture from Consumerism to Sustainability." As WWI describes the book: "Like a tsunami, consumerism has engulfed human cultures and Earth's ecosystems. Left unaddressed, we risk global disaster. But if we channel this wave, intentionally transforming our cultures to center on sustainability, we will not only prevent catastrophe, but may usher in an era of sustainability -- one that allows all people to thrive while protecting, even restoring, Earth." Check out their chapter here and click here to order the full book. | | Welcome New Members | | | | Upcoming Events | |  Celebrating Community Capital
March 22
Atherton, CA Join RSF Social Finance at the beautiful Jennings Pavilion in nearby Holbrook-Palmer Park for a dinner and networking event celebrating the vital role that community capital plays in sustainable food systems. Engage in a lively panel discussion with non-profit and business leaders working at the forefront of community capital initiatives. Enjoy ample networking time, along with a local and organic dinner and dessert menu. Panelists include: - Don Shaffer (moderator), President & CEO, RSF Social Finance
- Leslie Christian, Chair, Upstream 21 and President & CEO, Portfolio 21 Investments
- Michelle Long, Executive Director, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies
- Penelope Douglas, President & Co-Founder, Pacific Community Ventures
- Joel Solomon, President & CEO, Renewal Partners
Click
here for details and to register. Fast Pitch Society Social Investor Event
April 6
San Francisco, CA The Fast Pitch Society will host presentations from 9 diverse social ventures to a wide range of Bay Area social investors. Each company will present a 5-minute pitch followed by 5 minutes for audience questions. Presentations will be followed by a networking reception. The event will be held in San Francisco at the Infinity Tower and all proceeds will benefit Architecture for Humanity's Rebuild Haiti project. The Fast Pitch Society is a selection of social enterprises from West Coast Village Capital, a new form of social venture incubation that seeks to radically accelerate the process of connecting social entrepreneurs to meaningful investment. Click here for details and to register. For more information, contact the Fast Pitch Society. |
"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." George Washington CarverWhat is Social Entrepreneurship?Statement of Faith
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