|
Corporate Social Responsibility
News
2.17.2005 ET
|
CSR News from:
|
|
|
News Category:
|
|
Passing the Buck...Back to Society
Social Fusion & Social Venture Network Join Forces to Host Event Helping Entrepreneurs Build Socially Conscious Businesses
(CSRwire) SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Two of the Bay Area's premiere organizations
serving social ventures are partnering for the first time to provide
local, socially conscious entrepreneurs with a top-rate learning
experience. Social Fusion, an incubator that helps social entrepreneurs
build the community, credibility and capital to develop early and
transitional stage non-profit and for-profit social ventures into
successful, sustainable organizations and Social Venture Network (SVN), a
non-profit network of leaders committed to building a just and sustainable
world through business, are co-producing a unique forum that serves first
and second-stage entrepreneurs facing challenges in growing an enterprise
while maintaining a social mission. The forum, Social Venture Institute
(SVI) San Francisco (a sold-out event) will be held on February 28th -
March 1st in San Francisco, CA.
SVI San Francisco is one in a series of four SVI events being held this
year across the U.S. and Canada and marks the first to be run as a joint
venture. Later in the year, Social Fusion will once again co-host the
Boston event with SVN. SVI was created by Social Venture Network in 1996.
More information is available at www.wtc-sf.org/svinstitute.html
or www.svn.org.
The format of SVI is a highly interactive and experiential combination of
business case studies. On February 28, SVI San Francisco will showcase the
success story of local hospitality guru, Chip Conley, Founder and CEO of
Joie de Vivre Hospitality. On March 1st, participants attend plenary
sessions with emerging leaders, including John Sage of Pura Vida Coffee, a
fair trade coffee company, who will discuss his real-life David & Goliath
story; and David Green, Founder and Executive Director of Project Impact
will introduce the first public presentation of a new commercial
enterprise - The Hearing Company.
"Because social entrepreneurs are so pressed for time, it makes sense for
us to combine our educational efforts to create an unparalleled, but
convenient, experience for these dynamic individuals," states Deborah
Nelson, Co-Executive Director of SVN.
Keynote speakers and mentors for SVI San Francisco include:
Chip Conley, Founder and CEO, Joie de Vivre Hospitality
Clara Miller, President, Nonprofit Finance Fund
David Green, Founder, The Hearing Company
Greg Steltenpohl, Founder, Odwalla Juice
Jan Piercy, Advisor, ShoreBank Corporation
John Sage, President and Co-Founder, Pura Vida Coffee
Martha Jiménez, Vice President for Policy and Development, TransFair
USA
Pamela Hartigan, Managing Director, Schwab Foundation for Social
Entrepreneurship
Paul Rice, Founder, TransFair USA
Rev. Nic Francis, Founder, Easy Being Green
"While SVI has always featured a contingent of wonderful mentors, we're
particularly delighted with the caliber of speakers we've been able to
assemble this year as a result of our combined efforts," says Amber
Nystrom, Executive Director of Social Fusion.
Founded by Gary Hirshberg, President and CEO of Stonyfield Farm, SVI was
designed to provide an interactive and affordable way for entrepreneurs to
explore ways to succeed in socially conscious ventures. The combination of
high-quality mentors, a confidential and supportive environment, and a
practical problem-solving format enables participants to acquire a rich
portfolio of skills, a plan to grow their social purpose organization, and
a network of contacts to further their enterprise.
About Social Fusion
Social Fusion, an incubator that helps social entrepreneurs build the
community, credibility and capital to develop early and transitional stage
non-profit and for-profit social ventures into successful, sustainable
organizations. Social entrepreneurship is the use of business acumen and
market-driven business models to achieve social change. The dynamic
entrepreneurs in its portfolio are to the realm of accomplishing social
change what Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are to the world of
technology. Social Fusion is a core reason behind the emergence of the Bay
Area as a hub for social entrepreneurship.
About Social Venture Network (SVN)
Founded in 1987 by some of the nation's most visionary leaders in socially
responsible business and investment, SVN (www.svn.org) is a non-profit network of
leaders committed to building a just and sustainable world through
business. SVN promotes new models of leadership for socially and
environmentally sustainable business through its network of nearly 400
business owners, investors and non-profit executives.
|
|
