| It’s that time of year again. Time for the WJF to bring together the sharpest minds in social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and mission-focused accelerators to learn from each other at our annual gathering. We’ve got a fantastic event set for July 18-20 in Washington, DC with speakers like Jigar Shah, gatherings of the Impact Accelerator Network, Investment events like our Green Grab Pitches, and presentations from our competition finalists. More details below. Speaking of competition finalists, we’ve got one more reading round to go. The plans are due to us in a few days. I’m off to the Social Venture Network in San Diego on Thursday. And I’m excited for the triple threat of Agora’s Impact Investing in Action (May, DC), LOHAS Forum (June, CO), and our Annual Gathering (July, DC). Sincerely, Ian T. Fisk Executive Director, The William James Foundation |
| William James Foundation’s 10th Annual Gathering Washington, DC | July 18-20, 2013 Each year The William James Foundation brings together entrepreneurs, mentors, and funders who are working to make the world a better place through creating, collaborating, and investing in social innovators from across the globe. We expect the 2013 conference to be our best ever. It will continue to build the sustainable business industry’s capacity to meet today’s challenges. The annual gathering will offer networking opportunities, and the opportunity to learn, share and expand upon new ideas to support this field. On Our Calendar April 23rd-24th: Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Bootcamp Training (Accra, Ghana) April 25th- 28th: SVN (San Diego, CA) April 26th-27th: SEEED (Providence, RI) April 28th-May 1st: Milken Global Conference(Los Angeles, CA) April 29th-30th: Slow Money (Boulder, CO) April 30th-May 1st: Renewable Energy Finance Form (Miami, FL) May 1st-May 2nd: Unreasonable @ State (Washington, DC) May 8th: Social Venture Network Innovation Awards Applications Due May 8th-9th: Investor’s Circle Spring Venture Fair (San Francisco, CA) May 14-15th: Creating Climate Wealth Summit hosted by Carbon War Room (Singapore) May 19th-22nd: Social Enterprise Alliance (Minneapolis, MN) May 20-23rd: Impact Investing in Action (Washington, DC) June 12th: SEED 2013 applications close. WJF Community Notes – April 23rd, 2013 Congrats to current WJF entrants Essmart Global & Wecyclers on receiving the first MIT IDEAS Global Challenge Venture Grants! Entrant Wello‘s Waterwheel is currently being featured in the Minneapolis Institute of Art installation “A Drop to Drink.” Congrats to WJF entrant One World Futbol for winning a Millennium Development Goals Award! Keep up the good work! 2011 prize winner, Sanergy, won the Lemelson Foundation & NCIIA’s Inaugural Sustainability Award. 2012 Affinity Lab – DC prize winner StartSomeGood has partnered with financial services provider ING DIRECT to launch Dreamstarter, a groundbreaking CSR/crowdfunding initiative to boost the social enterprise sector. 2010 WJF entrant One Degree Solar has partnered with Coca Cola in Kenya. Congratulations to WJF 2009 prize winner Sproxil for winning the “Patents for Humanity” award! Current WJF entrant Clovest is undertaking its first project, “You + Us!” On Our Reading List “Why Innovators Get Better With Age,” The New York Times, March 30th, 2013. “Accounting For Environmental Externalities Is Good For Business And The Planet,” World Resources Institute Insights, March 28th, 2013. “Early Risks, Big Returns,” Stanford Social Innovation Review, March 27th, 2013. “New Research Suggests Start-Up Experience Doesn’t Help Social Entrepreneurs,” Harvard Business Review, February 2013. “Accelerating Entrepreneurship in Africa,” Omidyar Network, April 2013. |