At this week’s Global 创业 Week, LaunchKC, an initiative of the Economic 发展 Corporation of 堪萨斯城, Missouri (EDCKC) and the Downtown Council (DTC) announced its latest program for entrepreneurs called the Social Venture Studio.
这在堪萨斯城还是第一次, the Social Venture Studio will support entrepreneurs that seek to provide both return on investment and social impact together sustainably.
While initially focused on finding applicants in the 堪萨斯城 region for the first year, the studio will expand the search for entrepreneur participation nationwide. 协调服务, which owns a prominent KC social venture in Thelma’s Kitchen, will closely advise as a social venture industry expert and, 和其他LaunchKC项目一样, Keystone Innovation District will administer programming. The Social Venture Studio was made possible due to the generosity of the Sunderland Foundation.
“堪萨斯城 is a city with a heart, and also a city with strong entrepreneurial minds. The Social Venture Studio demonstrates this, and allows us to show that we can tackle many societal issues with creative and sustainable business models that also drive job creation and investment for KC,吉姆·埃里克森说, 代表EDCKC和LaunchKC.
Applications for the studio will be accepted starting in December and a cohort of five to seven companies will be announced in March. 4月, the companies will kick off a six-month studio program receiving professional support, 实施奖励, mentoring and network connections to strengthen their social venture business concepts. A culmination event in the fall will be a chance for the companies to reveal their pitches to potential funders and supporters.
“We live in a complex world facing social challenges that require more innovative and sustainable solutions than traditional for-profit and nonprofit models can deliver,贾斯汀·马修斯神父说, Steering Committee Co-Chair and Founder of 协调服务. “Social venturing offers us the opportunity to harness the best entrepreneurship and philanthropy to create more sustainable and impactful social good in our region.”
A Steering Committee for the first annual Social Venture Studio has been established to help guide programming and support with industry-specific expertise.
• Co-Chair – Drew Eanes, The 哈德利项目; JE Dunn
•联合主席- Fr. Justin Matthews, 协调服务
• Jim Erickson, On behalf of the Economic 发展 Corporation of 堪萨斯城 and LaunchKC
•总法律顾问约翰•泰勒(John Tyler) & 考夫曼基金会公司秘书
• Rita Cortes, Executive Director, Menorah Heritage Foundation; KCPS School Board
• Thomas Sunderland, Vice Chair of the Sunderland Foundation & 哈德利项目
•丹•史密斯，Porter House KC联合创始人
• Davin Gordon, Program Officer, Hall Family Foundation
• Theresa Garza, Manager of Economic 发展 for Missouri West, Spire Energy
•凯文·麦金尼斯，总裁 & Keystone社区公司首席执行官
•Anja Winnika，首席营销官 & 联合创始人,Maroo
LaunchKC continues to see momentum, wrapping up its seventh year, having invested $3.向86家公司发放500万美元现金, as well as continuing to strengthen its mentorship ecosystem. 49% of LaunchKC participant companies are minority or woman-owned businesses and $236 million in follow on funding has gone to support these companies – investments that would not be in our community but for LaunchKC.
Past LaunchKC programming includes: the Launch Health accelerator with Nueterra Capital (fall of 2019). 黑色的 & Veatch’s IgniteX COVID-19 Response Accelerator (spring 2020), and CleanTech accelerator (2019). Additional LaunchKC programming is planned for the first half of 2022.