4.11.2005 ET

(CSRwire) SAN FRANCISCO - Social Venture Network (SVN), an association of socially responsible business leaders based in San Francisco's Presidio Park, announced the award of a $394,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation on behalf of the Social Impact Leadership Coalition (SILC). The grant enables SVN to take a leadership role in addressing the lack of diversity in the socially responsible business movement by spearheading SILC's Inclusion and Diversity initiative.

SILC is a network of organizations that are working to align their efforts in supporting socially responsible entrepreneurs and economic justice initiatives. As a result of the $394,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the coalition is poised to grow its "network of networks," connect and support leaders in communities of color, and take a leadership role in broadening the impact of the socially responsible business movement.

"Building partnerships with diverse leaders will increase SILC's reach and relevance," said Pamela Chaloult, co-executive director of SVN. "Expanding access to social and professional networks will offer entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders valuable connections to potential clients and partners," said Deborah Nelson, co-executive director of SVN. "The result will be a stronger socially responsible business movement, with greater potential to foster social and economic justice."

Specifically, SILC's Inclusion and Diversity initiative will focus on building mutually beneficial partnerships between founding SILC organizations and business networks that represent and support entrepreneurs of color, such as The Business Collaborative and Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility. It will also promote innovative models of leadership and partnerships; increase the relevance and use of socially responsible business practices in communities of color; identify and eliminate barriers to success for entrepreneurs of color; and enable successful business leaders, investors and donors to share their expertise in giving back to local communities and stakeholders.

The grant will be used to help fund SILC's summit meetings and SVN's Social Venture Institutes as well as provide diversity scholarships to events in the socially responsible business arena.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations. Its programming activities center around the common vision of a world in which each person has a sense of worth; accepts responsibility for self, family, community, and societal well-being; and has the capacity to be productive, and to help create nurturing families, responsive institutions, and healthy communities. To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These include: health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism. Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology; capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community development. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.


About 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 nonprofit executives.

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