Crowdfunding platform StartSomeGood has partnered with ING DIRECT to launch ‘Dreamstarter’, which helps entrepreneurs raise additional funds for their projects, provided by ING DIRECT.
Once a month, a Dreamstarter panel made up of representatives from StartSomeGood, ING DIRECT, and the School for Social Entrepreneurs will select projects on the StartSomeGood platform to fund if they reach a “tipping point”, which is the minimum funding needed for a project to kick off.
Tom Dawkins, cofounder of StartSomeGood, said that the partnership breaks new ground in the corporate social responsibility area.
“Crowdfunding is a participatory model that democratises corporate philanthropy. The projects that will succeed are those that have a genuine mandate from the community,” said Dawkins.
StartSomeGood launched last year to provide people with social change projects the opportunity to raise funds using crowdfunding.
For ING DIRECT, who is a pioneer in branchless banking and focuses on online delivery, it is an opportunity to tap into the crowdfunding model.
“At ING DIRECT we strongly support innovative projects that address real community needs,” said Vaughn Richtor, CEO of ING DIRECT. “Leveraging ING DIRECT’s customers, employees and the general public’s support benefits all involved.”
To begin, ten social ventures by graduates from the School for Social Entrepreneurs Australia will launch on Dreamstarter. The first businesses to go live include a project that connects remote Aboriginal entrepreneurs to new markets via an online store and one that helps rural communities in Malawi achieve greater self-sufficiency.
“The Dreamstarter Campaign is a fantastic way for start up social ventures to raise their profile, attract critical seed funding and inspire others to create change in their communities,” said Celia Hodson, CEO of the School for Social Entrepreneurs Australia.
]]>The Association for the Blind WA will get $50,000 to start planning a business employing visually impaired “usability consultants” to work with organizations to identify and eliminate the barriers people with a disability may face when accessing services.
“This business – Access Focus – would not only employ people with a visual impairment, it would further aid in assisting others with disabilities to get into the workforce, to access other services and participate in community life,” said Donna Faragher MLC, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier.
She said the income generated by Access Focus would further allow the association to divert funds to its other non-commercial services such as its orientation and mobility programs; training; assistive technology support; and its low vision clinic.
“All the recommended proposals will have an impact on a broad range of areas, including disabilities; unemployment; culturally and linguistically diverse communities; Aboriginal communities; and young people,” Mrs Faragher said.
Other successful applicants for this round of funding include:
The Social Enterprise Fund was launched in April as government support to strengthen social enterprises in Western Australia, particularly those who improve outcomes of the vulnerable and disadvantaged.
]]>After learning that the majority of women in Sierra Leone do not have a hygienic way of managing their period, David Dixon and Chantelle Baxter started the LaunchPad project. Both are co-founders of One Girl, a nonprofit organization that empowers women and girls to create and lead change in their communities with a focus on access to education.
Their inspiration for the project came from their travels around Africa. Both had befriended 14-year-old Brenda from Uganda and recall their encounter.
“One day Brenda came to us with a panicked look on her face. ‘I have malaria’ she said.”
“After a few conversations with Brenda and a woman who spoke to the local language, we discovered that Brenda didn’t have malaria. She had just gotten her first period.”
Brenda knew that she needed to use sanitary pads because a local nurse told her that she could get cancer if she did not use them. She asked Chantelle to purchase them for her. The duo reached out to Brenda a few days later and found that she had taken a whole week off school due to the embarrassment of having her period.
Women who have no hygienic means of managing their period would use five pairs of underwear, kitchen sponges, old cloth, and other substitute materials. These lead to rashes, sores, bruising, and exposure to reproductive and urinary infections.
As in Brenda’s case, girls would miss a week of school every month because of their period and fall behind in class, eventually dropping out.
The LaunchPad costs 50% less than other pads available on the market, meaning they will be affordable to even the lowest income earners. Other than providing sanitary pads to women and girls, LaunchPad will adopt a distribution model similar to VisionSpring’s Vision Entrepreneur where women can start their own businesses and become LaunchPad Champions. They will initially work with female leaders who are active in their communities and would be targeting hard-to-reach communities. LaunchPad will also partner with established local NGOs to make the sanitary pads available across the country with a goal of reaching 1.6 million women.
With a grant from the School for Social Entrepreneurs in Australia, the founders are able to take LaunchPad from pilot to proof-of-concept. They sold over 1000 sanitary pads to 147 women in their first trial with many wanting to start a distribution channel. Women from surrounding communities visited the trial areas to see if they could purchase pads for themselves. As LaunchPad awaits the women’s reactions on their sanitary pad experience, the case is clear: women want pads, or at least “Launch”Pads.
Photo from One Girl.
]]>These ventures include turning a community medicinal herb garden into a sustainable business that provides affordable medicines created from local plants, connecting families and communities through creative projects, and improving educational and long-term outcomes for at-risk children and youth.
“A social entrepreneur is an individual who shows all the classic traits of entrepreneurship – the drive, passion and resilience,” said Executive Director Faye Langdon. ” And the ‘social’ side is that they are committed to bringing about social change, which often comes from their direct experience.”
The New Zealand School for Social Entrepreneurs was set up by the New Zealand Centre for Social Innovation and is modeled on similar schools in the United Kingdom and Australia. In the UK 85% of student enterprises are still operating after seven years and each student creates an average three jobs and seven volunteering positions. The first 64 Australian fellows have already collected $4 million in funding, created 79 jobs and 360 volunteering positions.
Experienced entrepreneurs and business leaders will provide mentoring and networks during the nine month course which will also teach skills in areas ranging from governance and marketing to funding and business planning.
The Chair of the Centre for Social Innovation, Dr Monique Faleafa says social entrepreneurs act as change agents for communities and society, developing ideas and new approaches, creating and implementing solutions to social problems that change society for the better.
“All communities, particularly those experiencing significant disadvantage need to have the capacity to find and grow their own solutions to their own social and economic challenges.”
Eligible applicants for the school must:
- Have an idea/project that has a community or environmental benefit
- Demonstrate passion, drive and commitment to their idea/project
- Have ownership of their idea/project and autonomy of decision-making
- Be able to commit to the 9-month program 1 day per week
- Contribute $1500 as a school fee over and above awarded scholarship
Applications for 2013 open July 2012.
]]>The pilot program is called Social Enterprise and Micro Business Grants. Applications for the grants are accepted under four categories: social enterprise start-up, social enterprise expansion, micro business owner / operator start-up, and micro business owner / operator expansion.
The applications open on February 13 and close on March 13 with notifications sent out in June. Eligible applicants must have an Australian Business Number and be located or committed to locate within the City of Melbourne.
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