Company: National Kidney Foundation

Location: San Francisco, CA

The National Kidney Foundation, Inc. is a voluntary health organization that seeks to prevent kidney and urinary tract diseases, improve the health and well-being of individuals and families affected by these diseases, and increase the availability of all organs for transplantation.  Our primary areas of focus include supporting research, continuing education of health care professionals, expanding patient services and community resources, educating the public, shaping health policy, and fundraising.

Company: Achievement First

Location: Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven, CT

Achievement First is a non-profit charter school management organization which is creating a network of achievement-gap closing public schools in New York, Connecticut, and other high-need cities in the Northeast.  Achievement First currently operates 20 schools in Brooklyn, NY, and in New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford, CT and will likely expand to Rhode Island in 2012.  Over the next five years, AF plans to open 10-15 additional schools, spanning the full K-12 spectrum and creating college-prep opportunities for more than 12,000 urban students.  Beyond our students and schools, Achievement First is an engaged and prominent partner in the larger conversation about how to improve public education and student achievement in our country.  For more information about the Achievement First mission, model, our schools and team, please visit our website at http://www.achievementfirst.org.

Company: Achievement First

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Achievement First is a non-profit charter school management organization which is creating a network of achievement-gap closing public schools in New York, Connecticut, and other high-need cities in the Northeast.  Achievement First currently operates 20 schools in Brooklyn, NY, and in New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford, CT and will likely expand to Rhode Island in 2012.  Over the next five years, AF plans to open 10-15 additional schools, spanning the full K-12 spectrum and creating college-prep opportunities for more than 12,000 urban students.  Beyond our students and schools, Achievement First is an engaged and prominent partner in the larger conversation about how to improve public education and student achievement in our country.  For more information about the Achievement First mission, model, our schools and team, please visit our website at http://www.achievementfirst.org.

Company: Making Waves

Location: Richmond, CA

Launched more than 20 years ago, Making Waves Foundation is an educational preparation program that has seen unparalleled success in propelling children in underserved communities through the entire educational process to college graduation. Making Waves Education Program, a nonprofit organization based in Richmond, Calif., currently operates two large-scale, comprehensive after-school programs at the Making Waves Education Centers in Richmond and San Francisco and, in 2007, established in Richmond the first Making Waves Academy, a public charter school for students in grades five through eight. To date, Making Waves has changed the lives of more than 1,000 students and plans to broaden its reach substantially through development of new education centers and charter schools in California and around the nation. For more information, please visit http://www.making-waves.org.

Company: Partners in School Innovation

Location: San Francisco, CA

Partners in School Innovation (PartnersSI) is a service organization working to transform teaching and learning in the lowest-performing U.S. public schools so that every child, regardless of background, thrives in schools. PartnersSI believes that the single strongest lever for increasing student achievement is to improve the quality of teaching in schools. PartnersSI applies a research-based, systematic approach to achieving school and district transformation. Its staff work alongside school and district colleagues to achieve significant gains in student achievement, as well as build the organizational capacity required to sustain these results.

Since its founding in 1993, PartnersSI has partnered with over 10 districts and 50 schools serving over 65,000 students, teachers, and principals. By 2021, the organization plans to enable the successful transformation of at least three diverse urban school districts outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, help to train 10,000 educator change agents in districts around the country, and inform federal, state, and local policy arenas on districts, school, and teacher effectiveness.

To learn more about PartnersSI, please visit http://www.partnersinschools.org/

Company: Partners in School Innovation

Location: San Francisco, CA

Partners in School Innovation (PartnersSI) is a service organization working to transform teaching and learning in the lowest-performing U.S. public schools so that every child, regardless of background, thrives in schools. PartnersSI believes that the single strongest lever for increasing student achievement is to improve the quality of teaching in schools. PartnersSI applies a research-based, systematic approach to achieving school and district transformation. Its staff work alongside school and district colleagues to achieve significant gains in student achievement, as well as build the organizational capacity required to sustain these results.

Since its founding in 1993, PartnersSI has partnered with over 10 districts and 50 schools serving over 65,000 students, teachers, and principals. By 2021, the organization plans to enable the successful transformation of at least three diverse urban school districts outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, help to train 10,000 educator change agents in districts around the country, and inform federal, state, and local policy arenas on districts, school, and teacher effectiveness.

To learn more about PartnersSI, please visit http://www.partnersinschools.org/

Company: Partners in School Innovation

Location: San Francisco, CA

Partners in School Innovation (PartnersSI) is a service organization that enables public schools in high-poverty communities in the San Francisco Bay Area—serving primarily students of color and English-language learners—to achieve educational equity through school-based reform. PartnersSI believes that the single strongest lever for increasing student achievement is to improve the quality of teaching in schools. PartnersSI applies a research-based, systematic approach to achieving school and district transformation. Its staff work alongside school and district colleagues to achieve significant gains in student achievement, as well as build the organizational capacity required to sustain these results.

Since its founding in 1993, PartnersSI has partnered with over 10 districts and 50 schools serving over 65,000 students, teachers, and principals. By 2021, the organization plans to enable the successful transformation of at least three diverse urban school districts outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, help to train 10,000 educator change agents in districts around the country, and inform federal, state, and local policy arenas on districts, school, and teacher effectiveness.

To learn more about PartnersSI, please visit http://www.partnersinschools.org/

Company: Partners in School Innovation

Location: San Francisco, CA

Partners in School Innovation (PartnersSI) is a service organization working to transform teaching and learning in the lowest-performing U.S. public schools so that every child, regardless of background, thrives in schools. PartnersSI believes that the single strongest lever for increasing student achievement is to improve the quality of teaching in schools. PartnersSI applies a research-based, systematic approach to achieving school and district transformation. Its staff work alongside school and district colleagues to achieve significant gains in student achievement, as well as build the organizational capacity required to sustain these results.

Since its founding in 1993, PartnersSI has partnered with over 10 districts and 50 schools serving over 65,000 students, teachers, and principals. By 2021, the organization plans to enable the successful transformation of at least three diverse urban school districts outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, help to train 10,000 educator change agents in districts around the country, and inform federal, state, and local policy arenas on districts, school, and teacher effectiveness.

To learn more about PartnersSI, please visit http://www.partnersinschools.org/

Company: Turnaround for Children

Location: New York, NY

Turnaround for Children, Inc. (“TFC”) strives to fulfill the promise of public education by helping high-poverty, low-performing public schools create positive learning environments that foster healthy intellectual, social, and emotional growth in every student. TFC envisions an America in which every public school, in every community, enables each student to reach his or her potential as a learner and citizen. TFC partners with schools serving high-poverty communities, increasing each school’s capacity to anticipate and better serve the needs of students.  TFC’s 3-4 year School Transformation Program focuses on building the school-wide proficiency of all staff in targeted behavioral and instructional practices, implementing critical systems of intervention and intensive support, and realigning mental health and social service systems, all of which enhance the school climate and optimize student performance.

With a central office in midtown Manhattan and programs in Harlem, the Bronx, and Washington DC, Turnaround expects to continue to grow and add programs in NYC as well as new areas around the Northeast next year.

Company: ProInspire

Location: Washington, D.C.

“Proinspire unites a variety of individuals who have one common purpose – to be an agent of change.” - Reena Sikdar, 2010 ProInspire Fellow

ProInspire is building the next generation of nonprofit leaders by expanding the talent pipeline, developing professionals, and increasing diversity in the sector. We are passionate about accelerating social impact and being catalysts of outstanding performance.

Our flagship program, the ProInspire Fellowship, recruits top business professionals with 2-5 years of business experience who want to use their skills for social impact and to invest in a growing community of ProInspire fellows.  Fellows spend one year working in an analytical or strategic role at a nonprofit organization. After the Fellowship, Fellows engage with our community of alumni to continue investing in the sector.

This highly competitive program offers targeted positions with leading nonprofits, monthly trainings with a cohort of peers, a coach, and a network to support career growth. Previous ProInspire Fellows come from across the U.S. with experience at Bain, Credit Suisse, General Mills, J.P. Morgan, Microsoft, Parthenon Capital, and other leading companies.  Fellows work with top nonprofits based in the Washington D.C. area.

Company: Center for Financial Services Innovation

Location: Chicago, IL

The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) is the nation’s leading authority on financial services for underbanked consumers.  CFSI’s programs are based on the belief that addressing the needs of underbanked consumers as a market will deliver broad, long-term change throughout the financial services landscape by creating mutual benefit for both the underbanked and the companies serving them.  Therefore, CFSI works with leaders and innovators in the business, government and nonprofit sectors to transform the financial services landscape with programs focused on informing, connecting and investing – gathering enhanced intelligence, brokering and supporting productive industry relationships and fostering best-in-class products and strategies.  CFSI seeks to improve the quality and quantity of financial products and services, better shape them to the needs and desires of underbanked customers, and expand effective savings and asset acquisition opportunities. The organization spurs innovation to bridge the gaps that remain in creating a path to prosperity for underbanked consumers by:

• Developing market intelligence;
• Assessing existing products, services and strategies;
• Providing strategic advice;
• Promoting and facilitating marketplace partnerships;
• Influencing public policy;
• Investing in promising innovations and encouraging others to do so as well

Founded in 2004, CFSI has experienced dramatic growth in the last two years and is poised for further growth in 2012. The organization currently has a staff of 25 with offices in Chicago, New York and Washington, DC.  CFSI plans to build a more robust strategy, campaign and infrastructure to identify and develop relationships with the partners and supporters of the future and maintain relationships with our current stakeholders. CFSI is a fast-paced, entrepreneurial and highly collaborative environment. We are looking for people who share our values of innovation, passion, excellence, impact and directness. For more on CFSI, go to http://www.cfsinnovation.com

Company: New Profit

Location: Cambridge, MA

NEW PROFIT INC.’S MISSION AND GOALS
New Profit is a nonprofit venture philanthropy fund that exists to help innovative social entrepreneurs and their organizations bring about widespread and transformative impact on critical social problems. We work to fulfill this mission with two approaches: 1) providing multi-year financial and strategic support to help a portfolio of innovative social entrepreneurs and their organizations to realize their full potential for social impact; and 2) helping to build an environment in which all innovative organizations may achieve significantly greater impact on the problems they are trying to solve. New Profit believes that just as entrepreneurship and invention have driven our nation’s progress, so too can we harness America’s spirit of innovation, vision, and optimism to help solve our most pressing social problems.
With the support of individual investors and our signature partner, Monitor Group, New Profit works with social entrepreneur-led organizations tackling persistent social problems in education, workforce development, public health, and other areas. In addition, we bring together social innovators from across sectors at the annual Gathering of Leaders, and also drive other initiatives to release the potential of social entrepreneurship. Included among these is America Forward, a nonpartisan initiative that connects social sector innovators and their partners with policymakers, legislators, and thought leaders to advance an infrastructure for innovators and government to act together to scale the impact of proven and promising solutions.

PATHWAYS FUND
The Social Innovation Fund (SIF) is a new competitive grant program housed at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) designed to expand innovative solutions to social sector problems with evidence of strong results in communities throughout America. The SIF represents an exciting opportunity at a critical moment for the nonprofit world, creating a new role for government as a catalyst for philanthropic partnerships that invests in proven solutions and taps into existing expertise and resources within the private and philanthropic sectors.  The SIF is tackling some of the country’s greatest social challenges by enabling effective ideas and organizations to grow and replicate to reach more children, families, and communities. 

New Profit is honored to be selected as a SIF intermediary organization.  In this capacity we have launched the Pathways Fund, which is dedicated to serving low-income youth transitioning from high-school to post-secondary education and productive employment.  The Fund grants dollars and provides necessary support to scale six of our nation’s most promising social innovations that focus on youth development.  The Pathways Fund is helping them to develop their base of evidence and expand their programs to serve 20,000 more low-income people in their teens and twenties in addition to the thousands they already serve.  These organizations are also collectively replicating to several new cities over the next five years, reaching many locations across the country that have not yet benefited from their innovative programs.

Company: Civic Builders

Location: New York, NY

Civic Builders is the oldest, largest and most successful charter school developer in the nation. Civic’s model for school development has earned numerous accolades and has been adopted by other development entities across the country. Since its inception in 2002, Civic has established a proven track-record of delivering high-quality charter school facilities on-time and on-budget.

Company: Credit Builders Alliance

Location: Washington, DC

Founded in 2006, Credit Builders Alliance (CBA) addresses the staggering fact that in today’s credit-dependent economy some 40% of American adults have no access to affordable bank credit. CBA is a nonprofit social enterprise that serves as a vital bridge between the large credit bureaus and the local community development organizations who work one on one to help underserved clients build credit as a financial asset. We are focused on increasing the transparency of the U.S. credit system and ensuring that its benefits are available to underbanked populations and communities. Our growing membership - a nationwide network of U.S. nonprofit organizations - includes nearly 300 nonprofit organizations that provide microfinance services and financial education to underbanked consumers in rural and urban communities across the country. CBA pursues its mission through three main activities:

• CBA Reporter—a one-stop shop providing ongoing technical support to empower hundreds of CDFIs, microfinance and community nonprofits in the U.S. to report monthly loan portfolio data via CBA to the major credit bureaus to build credit for underserved entrepreneurs and consumers
• CBA Access—opportunity for nonprofits to access consumer and business credit reports as part of financial education with underbanked individuals and entrepreneurs
• CBA Knowledge Sharing—online toolkit, webinars, workshops and on-site trainings for financial services nonprofits in the U.S. aimed at sharing best practices focused on financial capability and microloan service delivery to low-income and underbanked individuals and entrepreneurs

To learn more about Credit Builders Alliance, please visit http://www.creditbuildersalliance.org.

Company: Credit Builders Alliance

Location: Washington, DC

Founded in 2006, Credit Builders Alliance (CBA) addresses the staggering fact that in today’s credit-dependent economy some 40% of American adults have no access to affordable bank credit. CBA is a nonprofit social enterprise that serves as a vital bridge between the large credit bureaus and the local community development organizations who work one on one to help underserved clients build credit as a financial asset. We are focused on increasing the transparency of the U.S. credit system and ensuring that its benefits are available to underbanked populations and communities. Our growing membership - a nationwide network of U.S. nonprofit organizations - includes nearly 300 nonprofit organizations that provide microfinance services and financial education to underbanked consumers in rural and urban communities across the country. CBA pursues its mission through three main activities:

• CBA Reporter—a one-stop shop providing ongoing technical support to empower hundreds of CDFIs, microfinance and community nonprofits in the U.S. to report monthly loan portfolio data via CBA to the major credit bureaus to build credit for underserved entrepreneurs and consumers
• CBA Access—opportunity for nonprofits to access consumer and business credit reports as part of financial education with underbanked individuals and entrepreneurs
• CBA Knowledge Sharing—online toolkit, webinars, workshops and on-site trainings for financial services nonprofits in the U.S. aimed at sharing best practices focused on financial capability and microloan service delivery to low-income and underbanked individuals and entrepreneurs

To learn more about Credit Builders Alliance, please visit http://www.creditbuildersalliance.org.

Company: BALLE

Location: Bellingham, WA

BALLE’s audacious vision is to create, within a generation, a global network of interconnected local economies that work in harmony with nature to support a healthy, prosperous and joyful life for all people.

At BALLE we believe that local business is the key to solving our communities’ toughest challenges and the smartest way to create real prosperity. So we connect the best people, ideas and resources from across North America to help make it happen. Founded in 2002, BALLE connects visionary local leaders so they can find inspiration and support. Through intense collaboration, we identify and promote the most innovative business models for creating healthier, sustainable and prosperous communities. And with a growing network of 25,000 local entrepreneurs spanning 80 communities, we’re leveraging our collective voice to drive new investment, scale the best solutions and harness the power of locally owned, independent business to transform the communities where we work and live.

Over the past decade, BALLE has grown steadily to become North America’s top organization dedicated to strengthening groups of local businesses that are focused on the sustainability and prosperity of their own communities. Today, BALLE is poised to dramatically accelerate its growth. With an enormous awakening energy toward local economies in the public consciousness, strong support of national Foundation partners, a dedicated and well-connected board and staff team, and a new strategic plan built with the input and support of visionary local leaders from across North America, BALLE’s time is now. 

To learn more about BALLE, please visit http://www.livingeconomies.org.

Company: Hyde Leadership Charter School

Location: Bronx, NY

Hyde is built on the belief that every person has a unique potential and larger purpose in life, and character growth is key to exposing that potential and purpose.  Hyde maintains a student-centered culture that motivates character development and emphasizes curiosity, courage, concern, integrity and leadership.  Our goal is to prepare children for college and beyond, and to live their lives according to standards of personal excellence. Hyde Leadership Charter School recently expanded its reach to positively impact more students and now employs over 200 staff and serves 900 students.  The school also expanded its reach by building a brand new high school facility to complement its current co-located space in the South Bronx. 

Company: Youth Villages

Location: Woburn, MA

Youth Villages is a nationally-recognized, private nonprofit organization that helps troubled youth and their families live successfully.  With a high-performing and dedicated staff of more than 2,400 working in 11 states as well as the District of Columbia and an annual operating budget approaching $200 million, the organization serves more than 17,000 emotionally and behaviorally challenged youth annually through its comprehensive, evidence-based programs: intensive in-home services, residential treatment, foster care, adoption, group homes, transitional living, specialized crisis services, and intensive residential treatment.

The organization, founded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1986, measures its success in reunited families and in children who are able to live at home and do well in school. Since 1994, when Youth Villages began an emphasis on helping children in the least restrictive environment—preferably in their own homes—success rates have soared: in 2011, Massachusetts data shows that 79 percent of the children who received at least 60 days of service at Youth Villages were discharged successfully and 74 percent of them were still living successfully in the community one year after their discharge. Youth Villages’ success rate is extraordinary when compared with a 60 percent failure rate for traditional child welfare services.

Along with the high impact on children’s lives, Youth Villages has also achieved 15% growth per year for the last fifteen years. President Obama recognized Youth Villages as a nonprofit with “promising ideas that are transforming communities.”  Youth Villages Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Lawler, was named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News and World Report and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

For more information, please visit http://www.youthvillages.org

Company: Gulf Coast Housing Partnership

Location: New Orleans, LA

It is the mission of Gulf Coast Housing Partnership (GCHP) to revitalize the Gulf Coast through transformative development. Working in partnership with public, nonprofit, and private entities, GCHP creates vibrant, high quality communities which are socially and economically integrated affordable and sustainable.

GCHP was originally founded in 2006 by the Housing Partnership Network (HPN) in close collaboration with local civic leadership, network members from the Gulf Coast region and national financial institutions and foundations.  With seed capital provided by HPN and Enterprise Community Partners, GCHP strives to leverage its balance sheet on behalf of the partners and ventures to which it commits. 

GCHP is a social enterprise that reflects the organizational learning and experience of the most successful developers, long-term owners and lenders in the Housing Partnership Network (“the Network”). Our business strategy is based on building a financially sound organization whose leadership is focused on deploying company assets, in partnership with other entities and communities, to achieve measurable and productive results both immediate and long-term. GCHP melds talent, resources and commitment with sustainable productivity, which has positioned GCHP as a catalytic housing production partner in communities across the Gulf Coast region.  To learn more about GCHP, please visit:  http://www.gchp.net