| I’m always blown away at the number of people who jump to support us when we ask for their help whether it be judging our competition, offering an in-kind prize, taking a survey, or providing some strategic advice. The William James Foundation is a combination of three things: Our entrepreneurs, our mentors, and our donors. Over the past three weeks, more than sixty of you made donations to us through the Brackets for Good fundraising competition. Since most of you were anonymous, I’ll take this opportunity to say thank you. Sincerely, Ian T. Fisk Executive Director, The William James Foundation |
| Brackets for Good Recap Thank you to everyone who supported us in the Brackets for Good fundraising tournament. Unfortunately, we did not win the grand prize. However, we did raise enough to receive a $5,000 match from our founder, Chuck Dell. |
| On Our Calendar Take advantage of upcoming events related to social entrepreneurship. Mar 29th: Investing in a Sustainable Future (New York, NY) April 5th-7th: Clinton Global Initiative University (St. Louis, MO) April 10th-12th: Austin Mission Investing Institute (Austin, Texas) April 10th-12th: Skoll World Form on Social Entrepreneurship (Oxford, UK) April 12th: Global Social Venture Competition Global Conference (Berkley, CA)April 16th-22nd: Sustainatopia (Miami, FL) Apr 25th- 28th: Social Venture Network Spring 2013 Conference (San Diego, CA) Apr 28th-May 1st:Milken Institute 2013 Global Conference(Los Angeles, CA) Apr 30th-May 1st: Renewable Energy Finance Forum– Latin America & Caribbean (Miami, FL) Apr 29th-30th: Slow Money (Boulder, CO) May 13th-14th: Carbon War Room: Creating Climate Wealth (Singapore). |
| WJF Community Notes – March 26th, 2013 Congratulations to our friends Grassroots Business Fund (GBF) for winning The Inter-American Development Bank’s BeyondBanking Award. Current entrant Lumeter earned its first revenue last week! They announced, “we are thrilled to report that one of the families paid money, received a token, entered the token into her meter and smiled as the lights illuminated her home.” Watch this new video from our partners Invest2Innovate (i2i) on their first ever Pakistani accelerator program. Congrats to GoodCompany Group on receiving $500,000 in committed capital from Investors’ Circle Philadelphia. Read more here. Agora Partnerships’ Class of 2013 Entrepreneurs, who recently participated in a retreat in Nicaragua. Congratulations for entrants Essmart Global and Wecyclers on receiving the first ever MIT Ideas Challenge Venture Grants. Read more here. |
| Eleanor and Chris Representing WJF WJF Fellows Eleanor and Chris recently represented WJF at a DC event hosted by Echoing Green’s new DC Social Investment Council and had this great photo op. |
| On Our Reading List “Social Entrepreneurs Need to Think Locally as Well as Globally,” The Guardian, March 14th, 2013. “How Fair is Fairtrade Chocolate?,” Chocablog, March 1st, 2013 “Know the Difference Between You and Your Metrics,” Harvard Business Review, March 4, 2013. “Social Entersprise UK Welcomes Treasury Commitment to New Tax Relief for Investment in Social Enterprises,” Social Enterprise UK, March 2013. |