[February 13, 2015] |
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Blackstone Charitable Foundation Announces Third Annual Innovation Grant Recipients
The Blackstone Charitable Foundation today announced that it has awarded
grants totaling $3 million to twenty non-profit organizations that
strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems and support high growth
entrepreneurs. Now in its third year, the Blackstone Innovation Grants
program targets organizations that focus on fostering entrepreneurship
and innovation.
Through these grants, the Blackstone Charitable Foundation is helping
innovative organizations pilot, expand or replicate programs that will
catalyze the growth of successful businesses, industries, and
communities in their regions. As part of this program, the Blackstone
Charitable Foundation is working to create a global network of
entrepreneurship-focused programs in which participants can share best
practices, methodologies and intellectual capital.
"Through our Entrepreneurship Initiative, the Foundation is committed to
strengthening and supporting entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial
ecosystems globally through programs that enable the most promising new
companies to remain and grow in their local economies," said Amy
Stursberg, Executive Director of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation.
"We view our Blackstone Innovation Grants as an extension of that work -
the organizations we support are helping create the conditions necessary
for entrepreneurs to thrive, and we look forward to working with them on
these important efforts in the year ahead."
More than five hundred and fifty organizations submitted proposals
through a Request for Proposals (RFP) process established by the
Foundation, of which the top twenty were selected to receive grants.
This year's funding was granted to fourteen new organizations and six
organizations from last year's pool of winners. The reach of the
grantees' programs extend across thirteen U.S. states, Washington, D.C.,
the United Kingdom, South Africa, India, and the Middle East. The twenty
organizations were selected by a committee of Blackstone employees and
subsequently approved by the board of the Blackstone Charitable
Foundation.
The grant recipients are:
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Accion US Network (New York, NY), $150,000 - Our funding will
allow Accion US Network, an organization that brings microfinance
solutions to small business owners around the country, to create
Accion Fast Track, a virtual accelerator for a select group of
high-performing entrepreneurs from across the national network.
-
African Leadership Academy (Johannesburg, South Africa), $150,000
- Our funding will allow African Leadership Academy, a pan-African
secondary institution that aims to educate and develop outstanding
students into principled ethical leaders for Africa, to pilot
entrepreneurial training camps across Africa to allow young people to
design and lead ventures.
-
Bethnal Green Ventures (London, UK), $150,000 - Our funding
will allow Bethnal Green Ventures, a technology-focused accelerator
program, to build a robust support program for the graduates of its
accelerator program for high growth social technology entrepreneurs in
the UK.
-
Black Founders (San Francisco, CA (News - Alert)), $100,000 - Our funding will
allow Black Founders, an organization that focuses on increasing the
number of sccessful black entrepreneurs in technology, to conduct
HBCUHacks, a series of hack-a-thons for students at HBCU, to provide
training that will empower black students to explore technology
careers.
-
Coalition for Queens (Queens, NY), $175,000 - Our funding will
allow Coalition for Queens, an organization that fosters the Queens
tech ecosystem to increase economic opportunity, to pilot a program to
engage unrepresented populations in the tech entrepreneurship
ecosystem of Queens through a fellowship, conference and hack-a-thon.
-
Cornell Tech (New York, NY), $200,000 - Our funding will allow
Cornell Tech, an innovative program that develops pioneering leaders
and technologies for the information age, to support Cornell Tech
student entrepreneurs through Seed Award grants.
-
Energy Excelerator (Honolulu, HI), $100,000 - Our funding will
allow Energy Excelerator, an accelerator program that helps start-ups
solve the world's energy challenges, to build a pipeline of companies
and entrepreneurs in the energy sector through events and other
ecosystem support activities.
-
Enterprise Institute (Brookings, SD), $100,000 - Our funding
will allow Enterprise Institute, a non-profit that provides customized
business development to start-up companies in South Dakota, to create
an accelerator program to support South Dakota's aspiring
entrepreneurs.
-
Idea Village (New Orleans, LA), $125,000 - Our funding will
allow Idea Village, an organization that identifies, supports, and
retains talent in New Orleans, to continue and improve the user
experience during New Orleans Entrepreneurs Week and increase
community engagement.
-
Launch Tennessee (Nashville, TN), $250,000 - Our funding will
allow Launch Tennessee, an organization that promotes
entrepreneurship, to fosters the commercialization of technologies and
raises the profile of the state, to conduct a series of
entrepreneur-investor summits across the southeast leading up to the
36/86 conference in Nashville, TN.
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MaroonX Accelerator (Starksville, MS and College Station, TX),
$200,000 - Our funding will allow Mississippi State University and
Texas A&M to pilot the Blackstone MaroonX Accelerator, a program that
will support startups in rural areas, better positioning them for
national accelerators and funding opportunities.
-
MyBnk (London, UK), $100,000 - Our funding will allow MyBnk, a
non-profit that delivers financial education and enterprise directly
to 11-25 year olds in schools, to develop and pilot Business Battle
Plus, a program that will provide students the opportunity to run a
real business to test their entrepreneurial skills.
-
Seeds of Peace (Middle East and Washington, D.C.), $50,000 -
Our funding will allow Seeds of Peace, a non-profit that helps
teenagers form regions of conflict learn the skills of making peace,
to pilot its Seed Fellows Program, an incubator for social
entrepreneurs from the Middle East and South Asia.
-
SEED SPOT (Phoenix, AZ), $100,000 - Our funding will allow SEED
SPOT, an incubator that supports early state social entrepreneurs, to
expand its successful accelerator model to the Latino community
through targeted recruitment and marketing efforts.
-
Social Enterprise Greenhouse (Providence, RI), $200,000 - Our
funding will allow Social Enterprise Greenhouse, a network of business
and community leaders, and the Founders League to engage students from
across the Rhode Island's university and colleges, and connect them to
the state's startup ecosystem.
-
TechnoServe (Mumbai, India), $150,000 - Our funding will allow
TechnoServe, an international NGO that works in developing countries
to help people build competitive farms and businesses, to pilot an
accelerator program for women entrepreneurs in Mumbai, India.
-
Telluride Venture Accelerator (Telluride, CO), $125,000 - Our
funding will allow the Telluride Foundation, which supports the
Telluride community through grants and programming, to refine and grow
the accelerator's mentor program to create meaningful relationships
between the mentors and companies.
-
Tumml (San Francisco, CA), $175,000 - Our funding will allow
Tumml, an urban impact accelerator supporting early stage companies
developing innovative consumer products and services, to host the
Blackstone Urban Impact Entrepreneurship Summit, which will serve as a
major recruitment and outreach tool and be the premier convening for
urban innovation.
-
UP Global (Seattle, WA), $200,000 - Our funding will allow UP
Global, a global organization dedicated to providing resources and
programs to entrepreneurs, to create the spring edition of the "Global
Startup Battle" in up to 50 communities, and host an Entrepreneurial
Ecosystem Symposium.
-
Venture for America (New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA), $200,000
- Our funding will allow Venture for America, an organization that
recruits fellows to work for two years at emerging start-ups in
lower-cost cities, to build the VFA Accelerator, a business plan
development curriculum and training for its 2012 and 2013 fellows.
About the Blackstone Charitable Foundation
The Blackstone Charitable Foundation was founded at the time of
Blackstone's IPO in 2007 with substantial commitments from the Firm's
employees. Influenced by the enterprising heritage of the firm and its
founders, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation is directing its
resources and applying the intellectual capital of the firm to foster
entrepreneurship in areas nationwide and globally. Through its
investment expertise across several asset classes and geographies,
Blackstone has a unique perspective on the global economy and a
heightened understanding of how entrepreneurial activity is often the
crucial catalyst in the growth of successful businesses, industries and
communities. For more information, see http://www.blackstone.com/foundation.
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