- EFCO & SVP Informational Breakfast - 10/10
- Filtrbox Joins Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado
- Volunteering - Community Trust Grant Selection Committee
- Tracy Gary session for EFCO members and their employees
- Volunteering - Neighborhood Energy Sweeps - Oct 4 and Oct 11
- Volunteering - Get Name Recognition Through Adopt-a-Road - Ongoing
- Volunteer Opportunity - Boulder County Trail Building - On-going
- Volunteer Opportunities now on EFCO website
- Volunteering - Attention Homes - Ongoing
- Intercambio Strategic Planning and particpation results
- First Annual "Give Back" Fun Run - Wet and Wonderful
- New EF Community Launched by Bay Area Team - Give it a try!
- New West Joins Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado
- Volunteer List for "Give Back" event - Saturday, Aug 16th '08
- Let the competition begin for 2008 bragging rights in EFCO
EFCO & SVP Informational Breakfast - 10/10 - Top
Please join us for an informational breakfast, hosted by Brad Feld, to learn more about Social Venture Partners Boulder County and The Entrepreneur's Foundation of Colorado on:
Friday, October 10, 2008 8:00 to 9:30 a.m.
The Community Foundation, 1123 Spruce Street, Boulder
A light breakfast will be provided.
We invite you to learn more about Social Venture Partners Boulder County and the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, both of which are philanthropic efforts under the umbrella of The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County.
Social Venture Partners is a collaborative of business professionals, community-minded individuals, and entrepreneurs, applying a venture capital approach to giving, providing cash grants coupled with investments of time and talent to local nonprofit organizations.
The Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado helps all entrepreneurs contribute early in the creation of their companies to the long term health and sustainability of Colorado, not waiting for their financial success to initiate philanthropic activity.
Join us to learn more. RSVPs requested by October 8th to Jennie Arbogash at jennie@svpbouldercounty.org or 303-442-0436 x114.
Filtrbox Joins Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado - Top
BOULDER, Colo.--Filtrbox today announced that it has joined the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado (EFCO) to support philanthropic efforts throughout the community. EFCO allows startup companies to donate a fraction of their equity to Boulder’s Community Foundation during initial stages of liquidity.
While they may want to directly support charities, most startups are not in a financial position to do so. Through EFCO, entrepreneurs can focus on building their business while meeting their philanthropic goals.
"Boulder is a very supportive community in which to start a company and EFCO gives us a great opportunity to give back through sharing our success," said Ari Newman, co-founder and President of Filtrbox. "EFCO also enables us to demonstrate our commitment to corporate responsibility and community support."
Donations from EFCO to the Community Foundation are channeled to various non-profit organizations throughout Colorado, allowing EFCO to focus on working with entrepreneurs to help them meet their philanthropic objectives. Contributing companies simply select a cause, and the Community Foundation takes care of the rest. EFCO is aligned with the Entrepreneurs Foundation, an organization formed in 1988 with affiliates in Silicon Valley, Austin, Southern California, New England, Dallas, Portland, Atlanta, Hawaii and Israel.
“Working with various local initiatives through the Community Foundation, EFCO allows entrepreneurs to support a range of causes from education to the environment,” said Brad Feld, Foundry Group managing director and one of the founding trustees of EFCO. “Filtrbox’s support helps us to achieve the critical mass of equity donations we need to truly make a difference in our community.”
About Filtrbox
Filtrbox provides timely market intelligence for discerning professionals. Powerful persistent search technology allows you to monitor your brand, your online reputation and obtain proactive market intelligence without the noise. The web-based service seamlessly integrates into your daily information digest increasing productivity and delivering the information you need to run your business. Thousands of global users rely on Filtrbox daily to gain a competitive edge. Go to www.filtrbox.com for your free trial and find what you're looking for within minutes.
Volunteering - Community Trust Grant Selection Committee - Top
Want to learn more about the non-profits in your community, collaborate with good people, and serve your fellow citizens...
They the Boulder Community Trust grant selection process may be for you. The Boulder Community Trust has money to give to non-profits and they need help determining who to give it to. So, selection committees are formed in each of their seven areas of giving - Arts & Culture, Basic Needs, Education, Environment, Civic Engagement, Youth, Health & Human Services.
First, you read grant proposals from non-profits that submitted them. Then, you meet with 6-10 committee members and your facilitator to discuss the grants. From there, some on-site visits and/or follow-up questions are determined. Then, you meet one more time with your committee to determine how much money to grant to what organizations.
For more information, please contact Carly Hare at carly@commfound.org.
Tracy Gary session for EFCO members and their employees - Top
Members of The Entrepreneur's Foundation of Colorado are invited to attend The Community Foundation's
Family Philanthropy Summit Featuring Tracy Gary
Monday, September 22, 2008
12:00 to 1:30 p.m. -- Lunch and Learn on Transformational Philanthropy
Given the times, significant social, cultural, economic, and environmental change is essential. We can not afford to waste time, talent, treasure or influence. Giving strategically and advocating for broad-based impact and large scale potential is essential for true change to manifest now.
1:45 to 2:45 p.m. -- Creating a Giving Plan
Perhaps you're new to giving, or you aren't sure you are pleased about the way you are making your giving decisions. Tracy will "begin from the beginning" in this session.
3:00 to 4:00 p.m. -- Strategic Giving
You may know what you want to do with your philanthropic dollars or have strong feelings about your philanthropic interest areas, but could use help making those dollars work more strategically.
6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Intergenerational Philanthropy: Involving Your Kids
Successfully including your children in your family's philanthropy can be both challenging and rewarding. Tracy will discuss innovative new ideas to make sure everyone is included.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
11:30 to 1:00 p.m. Lunch and Learn for SVP and EFCO - Venture & Adventure Philanthropy: "Just Do It!" Meets "How Best to Do It, and With Whom?" Would you like to hear about new trends in giving? Are you leveraging all you can and engaging at your highest level of influence? Have you considered lessons learned from "venture philanthropy" and how "adventure philanthropy" and its community-based model might provide different but equally powerful results? Will non-profit and for profit entrepreneurs team and create breakthrough results ahead? Come and dialogue about how stronger interdisciplinary partnership may evidence a great change and new potential afoot.
Employees of EFCO member companies are welcome to attend all of these sessions with Tracy Gary. Space is limited and RSVP's are required. Please contact Suzanne Barnes at suzanne@commfound.org or 303.442.0436 to sign up.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact Jennie Arbogash (jennie@svpbouldercounty.org) or Chris Barge (chris@commfound.org) at 303.442.0436.
To learn more about Tracy Gary, visit her Inspired Legacies website.
Vote YES on 1B this November to support capital investments in our human services. A penny for a worthy cause!
Volunteering - Neighborhood Energy Sweeps - Oct 4 and Oct 11 - Top
Help the planet by helping neighborhoods use less energy. It will save money for the people you talk to too.
If you want to have a real impact on lowering the energy expenses of low and moderate-income households and increasing their environmental awareness, the Energy Sweep is your perfect opportunity. Come join other volunteers in "sweeping" a pre-selected, pre-notified neighborhood in Boulder (Oct. 4th) or Longmont (Oct. 11th). You'll go door-to-door in teams of 2-3, installing energy saving devices like compact fluorescent light bulbs and conversing with families on ways they can reduce their energy use while helping the environment. For more information: http://www.bouldercounty.org/cs/ho/weatherization/index.htm (scroll down) Contact: Dave Hatchimonji, Longs Peak Energy Conservation/Boulder County Housing, at: 303-441-3912 or dhatchimonji@bouldercounty.org
Volunteering - Get Name Recognition Through Adopt-a-Road - Ongoing - Top
Here is a great way to get your company's name on a road-sign and do good to the community:
Modeled after a national program, Boulder County's Adopt-A-County Road program began in 1990 as a way to keep our roadways litter-free. Your company picks up trash on certain County roadway segments at least twice per year. Your company gets its name on a sign in the area where they have adopted the road. For more information about how your company could adopt a County road: http://www.bouldercounty.org/transportation/adopt_a_road.htm Contact: Rose Walters, Transportation Department, at: 303-441-3900 or rwalters@bouldercounty.org
Volunteer Opportunity - Boulder County Trail Building - On-going - Top
The old standby volunteer activity for the nature enthusiast. Too bad we don't have many of them in Colorado...
In an effort to improve plant and wildlife habitat, restore natural ecosystems and maintain local trails, the department is enlisting volunteer groups to help with forestry, weed pulling, trail maintenance and native seed collections. Parks can develop a project to fit your company's schedule and tailor it to your interests. For more information: http://www.bouldercounty.org/openspace/volunteering/index.htm Contact: Matt Bruce, Parks & Open Space Department, 303-678-6216 or WildWorkVolunteers@BoulderCounty.org
Volunteer Opportunities now on EFCO website - Top
Dove-tailing on our successful celebration and Give-Back event in August to promote social responsibility through people-time, there is a new section on the EFCO website - "Volunteering". Here will be posted volunteer opportunities with EFCO partner philanthropies. If you and people you work with want to get hands-on involved in making our community a better place to live, please use us as a resource to get connected to those opportunities. Each volunteer opportunity will also be posted to the main page. For a quick review of all the latest volunteer posts, please click on the "Volunteering" tab above.
Volunteering - Attention Homes - Ongoing - Top
For those of us who like contributing to the healthy growth of our youth, this opportunity could be a good fit:
We have many volunteer opportunities at Attention Homes, from board members, direct care with teens, office, development work, to groups assisting with maintenance projects. Contact Sharon Routt at 303 447 1206 x 25. IF interested in the Board, contact Jim Rianoshek at 303 447 1206 x 22.
Intercambio Strategic Planning and particpation results - Top
Following the Friendship Fun Run for Intercambio and KGNU, a team of folks from six of the EFCO companies gathered at Rally for a two hour Strategic Planning session.
Using Rally's Agile coaches, Ronica, Rachel, Hubert and Tamara, the teams broke up into four groups to help the Intercambio team and board test their thinking with regards to the national expansion plans. The groups topics included:
- The Worst Case Scenario - What if we can only raise $200,000?
- The Wild Upside Case - What we do if we were able to raise double?
- Targeting our Partners - How do we prioritize the new geographies and affiliates?
- What is the best way to share and protect our assets - The intercambio way and database?
Given these topics groups worked through collaborative exercises to expand and challenge their thinking. Finally, they worked to converge on recommendations to move forward with in each area. In my opinion, it was amazing fast and effective session to meld these diverse groups and share insights from our local business teams with this amazing non-profit. And, as a result of the effort, there is now an on-going, skills based volunteering team, that is helping Intercambio re-host its community management database into a more effective model using the non-profit, free-edition, of Salesforce.com. It was all I could have hoped for in our first event.
Thank you to all the teams that participated during the day including members from:
- Rally Software - Winner of the over 10% Participation Award
- Symplified - Winner of the over 10% Participation Award
- Tech Stars
- Foundry Group
- NewsGator
- Salesforce.com
- FilterBox
Thank you Mike Platt from Cooley, Godward & Kronish LLP and Bill Roberts from Hogan & Hartson LLP. We would not have have felt comfortable taking the leap without your help!
First Annual "Give Back" Fun Run - Wet and Wonderful - Top
As you can see from this view of the field to the 8:15 AM start, the Fun was wet. After four months with no rain in Colorado, we were greeted with a great weekend that delivered 3" of rain for the "Give Back" event. It made it wet, but for those die-hards to who made it out it was wonderful! Thank you all for your participation!
The winners of the 1K Kids Fun Run
Thanks to the great shelters at Foothills park and the great folks from Intercambio and KGNU the morning was actually very warm. Following the Fun Run a group collected at Rally for the Intercambio strategic planning event. More on that part of the day and the participation winners in the next post.
New EF Community Launched by Bay Area Team - Give it a try! - Top
According to Diane Solinger at EFBayarea.org, "We developed EFcommunity as a resource for people who share our passion for corporate philanthropy and community involvement. "
EFCommunity is a place for anyone, anywhere to connect anytime and share ideas, ask questions, find resources, and more. EFCommunity is an open network so all who are committed to positive interactions about corporate philanthropy and community involvement are welcome to join and participate. To sign-in, go to: <http://efcommunity.ning.com/>
We're excited about the information, ideas and best practices that will be shared via EFCommunity and look forward to building a movement of corporate philanthropy and community involvement with you!
New West Joins Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado - Top
By Jonathan Weber , 8-13-08 on the New West Blog.
Start-up companies aren't usually in a position to spend money on philanthropy, and New West is no exception. Happily, though, one of our investors, Boulder-based venture capitalist Brad Feld, has helped develop an innovative new way for companies like ours to get involved in community philanthropy even at an early stage. I'm delighted to announce today our membership in the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, which is affiliated with the national Entrepreneurs Foundation.
The concept is simple: entrepreneurial companies donate shares equal to about one percent of their equity to the Foundation. If the company is successful, those shares will have significant value and the Foundation will thus share in the success. Companies can designate preferred beneficiaries of the shares, and we've chosen the Missoula Community Foundation and the Idaho Community Foundation. We can't of course make any guarantees, but we hope our involvement with the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado will eventually translate into meaningful support for these organizations.
Our thanks to Brad and everyone involved with the Entrepreneurs Foundation for their creativity and commitment in developing this concept. And please be in touch if you're interested in getting involved.
Volunteer List for "Give Back" event - Saturday, Aug 16th '08 - Top
This is a list of the folks and companies signed up for the August 16th EFCO "Give-Back" event. If you would like to get added, simply send email to ryan@rallydev.com.
Fun Run Volunteers:
As a fun run volunteer, you will arrive at the Foothills park at 7:30 AM on the 16th to help help the Intercambio and KGNU team take registrations, run water and aid stations for the run. You will be done with this effort at 10:30 AM on that Saturday. We are looking for 40 volunteers.
Of course, you can volunteer and run in one of the two different waves! To sign-up for the run, please visit the Friendship run page at Regonline.
- Ryan Martens - Rally Software
- Josh Forman - Symplified
- Craig Langenfeld - Rally Software
Intercambio Strategic Planning Volunteers - Has moved to RALLY due to Rain:
As a strategic planning volunteer, you will work with other EFCO employees and the board of Directors for Intercambio in a facilitated session to help expand ideas and concepts for Intercambio's national expansion. Your work will start with a homework review of Intercambio's National plans. At 11:00 AM sharp, four teams will work for an hour lead by a Rally Software facilitator. We will finish at Noon for the party and leave our work up for other EFCO and Intercambio folks to review. We are looking for up to 40 volunteers.
- Hubert Smits - Rally Software - Facilitator
- Ryan Martens - Rally Software- Facilitator
- Rachel Weston - Rally Software - Facilitator
- Ronica Roth - Rally Software - Facilitator
- Tamara Sulaiman - Applied Scrum/Rally - Facilitator
- Karyn German - Newsgator
- Jean McAuliffe - Symplified
- Zach Long - Rally Software
- Claire Young - Symplified
- Coby Royer - Symplified
- Jenny Lynne - Confluence Commons
- Dan Forman - Rally Software
- Dave Hale - Rally Software
- Anita Taylor - Newsgator
- Bryan Smith - Rally Software
- Jim Hooton - Salesforce.com
- Craig Lachman - Newsgator
- Cindy Hagg - Rally Software
- Dudley McBride - Rally Software
- Brad Feld - Foundry Group
- Dale Aychman - Rally Software
- Intercambio Board Members - Niraj Naik, Brad Armstrong, Kate Thomson, Robert Hutchinson, Rachel Bloombaum, Shawn Camden and Karen Bernardi
- Intercambio Directors - Lee Shainis, Jenna Saldaña and Shawn Camden
- Community Foundation Serving Boulder County - 6 people
Current Volunteer Totals
Rally Software - 12
Symplified - 4
Newsgator - 3
Salesforce - 1
Confluence Commons - 1
Foundry - 1
And a special Thanks to our volunteer from Social Venture Partners - Brendan Rattiner and Hiedi Lauterbach for their help in coordinating this event.
Let the competition begin for 2008 bragging rights in EFCO - Top
The first annual EFCO Community Give-Back event is locked in for the morning and lunch on August 16th at Foothills Park in Boulder. The member companies EFCO will be competing for four prizes based on % of employee participation:
- Intercambio & KGNU Friendship Fun run participants and volunteers - register via Regonline
- Strategic planning participants
- Team Spirit (Given for the highest level of team building)
- Total Volunteer level (including all of the above and skills-basd volunteering sign-ups)
Winning companies will be able to choose a donation of $100 to go to their favorite local non-profit. Prize winners and the sponsors will also hold a prominent position on the front of the EFCO site for the next calendar year.
Please thank our Board Members and pro-bono lawyers at EFCO for putting up the sponsorship money this year.
Thank you Mike Platt from Cooley, Godward & Kronish LLP and Bill Roberts from Hogan & Hartson LLP.
If you do not know the details or how to volunteer, please contact your HR Department or CEO.