WASHINGTON, DC., February 9, 2007 - The William James Foundation has announced the business plan entrants that will be advancing to the 2nd round of the foundation’s annual competition.

These teams will be asked to submit full business plans to the Foundation and out of these, three finalists will compete in a public presentation on April 13th in Washington, DC where audience members will join judges in a question and answer session. Ian Fisk, the foundation’s executive director, said "We congratulate all teams that participated in the competition. We were very impressed with the quality of plans we received this year. The primary prize, detailed feedback from our judges, is awarded to all
entries."

The winners of the 2nd round will have the opportunity to choose from a "basket" of prizes including cash, software, legal and accounting services, and technical and communications consulting. Prizes have been donated by a number of organizations including CitySoft, an online software provider serving the social sector, Affinity Labs, a shared- space office environment for start-ups, Wall Street Without Walls, Community IT Innovators, Acumen Financial, Swankin & Turner law firm, consulting from a private accountant, Strategic Sustainability Consulting, ITF Consulting, Net Impact, and others. The competition winners choose the prize most valuable to them in order of finish.

More than sixty plans were submitted, and included enterprises like: international development, organic clothing, green building, energy efficiency, green dry cleaning, social networking, internet technologies and software, household energy consulting, sustainable fishing, green real estate, cell phone technology, medical care, wind energy, financial literacy, education, leadership training, waste recycling, and local business development, etc.

The William James Foundation helps support entrepreneurs who are committed to multiple-bottom line businesses (people, planet, profit) by providing entrants to our competition with resources to move forward in their ventures and goals and maintaining an ongoing network of participants and contacts.

Entrants to this year's competition submitted business plan summaries which were judged by a range of professionals and experts ranging from experts in both social ventures and traditional business plans, community activists, Wall Street professionals, academics, and CEOs of national for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Each plan was read multiple times from different viewpoints.

The William James Foundation selected the following teams to move on the 2nd round of our competition:

Mentor Capital Network

Mentor Capital Network

Mentor Capital Network, a Washington-DC based 501(c)3, strives to advance the evolution towards a more socially responsible economy. We support new entrepreneurs who are committed to establishing socially responsible businesses and policies that will more equitably benefit all stakeholders -- consumers, employees and their families, and the public-at-large, in addition to investors.

Our main program is the Sustainable Business Plan Collaboration. Over the years, we’ve supported over 930 ventures with almost $6M worth of mentor capital, giving entrepreneurial teams customized feedback on their business plans and access to a network of over 1,000 of the world’s best industry and regional experts who have graciously given their time to support these startup teams. We seek to create and accelerate opportunities for these teams to make a serious, innovative, and scalable difference in the world.

Mentor Capital Network is the trade name of the William James Foundation.

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