Social Entrepreneurs

SEED20 OnStage is Back!

Join the Croixstone team (virtually or in-person) for a very unique nonprofit experience.

The big picture: The Charlotte region’s most unique nonprofit pitch contest, SEED20 OnStage, returns to the stage this month on Thursday, April 27 at 7pm EDT.

About the host organization: This signature event is hosted and produced by Social Venture Partners Charlotte (SVP), one of the Charlotte region’s most unique nonprofits that supports fellow nonprofits.

Why it matters: Innovators imagine the future and fill in the gaps. The SEED20 stage provides social entrepreneurs across the Charlotte region with a platform to share their innovative ideas that benefit our community.

How it works: 10 nonprofits will give three-minute pitches on why they are passionate about the work they are doing and the impact it is making on our community. You and the rest of the audience then vote on the grand prize of $20,000.

And there is more: After the pitches conclude, you will have the opportunity to grab an adult beverage, snacks, and then mix and mingle with the nonprofit leaders who inspired you.

Check out these links: Click and learn more. You’ll understand why you want to be in the room on event night.
• Check out SVP’s pitch for SEED20: 47 Second Pitch Video
• Learn more about the nonprofits: Visit the event website at SEED20 Class of 2023
• Buy event tickets: Onstage Tickets! (in person are $80 and if you can’t make it in person, livestream tickets are available for $25)
• Donate: Use Pledge to donate to one or all of these amazing nonprofits (no fees for contributions less than $1,000– you can reduce the tip amount all the way to 0)

Croixstone and SVP: Croixstone has served as a corporate partner with Social Venture Partners Charlotte for several years. SVP is a nonprofit comprised of Partners (both corporate and individuals) who donate their professional skills and invest their collective social and financial capital in innovative nonprofits who are tackling Charlotte’s most pressing problems.

“Innovation is seeing what everyone has seen
and thinking what nobody has thought.”

-Albert Szent-Györgyi

The Charlotte Ledger 40 Over 40 Awards Celebration

The Croixstone team is joining The Charlotte Ledger and U.S. Bank on Thursday evening, April 28, to celebrate this year’s honorees of local Charlotte unsung heroes aged 40+ who are doing great things in our community. We are looking forward to a fun night honoring The Charlotte Ledger’s amazing 40 Over 40 winners from 2020, 2021, and this year.

The honorees from 2021 include our very own Patti Weber, CEO and co-founder. Read more about Patti here.

Congrats to 2022’s winners! We look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Reimagine the Way You Give

Almost 7 years ago, our co-founders Patti Weber (CEO) and Mark Weber (Managing Partner) were seeking a new way to put their skills and interests to work in a meaningful way to give back in their home city of Charlotte, NC.

That search led them to an exceptionally unique nonprofit called Social Venture Partners International (SVP), an organization with a network of 3,400 philanthropists in more than 40 cities around the world. These philanthropists, called “Partners”, help those out to do good to do better – by bringing together donors, nonprofits and social enterprises so together all can make a greater collective impact.

SVP Partners practice what is called “engaged venture philanthropy.” Venture philanthropy is a type of impact investment that takes concepts and techniques from venture capital finance and business management and applies them to achieving philanthropic goals. SVP Partners invest money, time and skills in promising, up and coming nonprofits in their local communities.

The Charlotte Affiliate of SVP is seeking to welcome new Partners who relate to the concept of engaged venture philanthropy. Learn more about SVP Charlotte here, and/or reach out to Mark Weber, who volunteers on the SVP Charlotte Board, at mweber@croixstone.consulting.

#GivingTuesdayCLT

#GivingTuesday (December 3) is a global day of giving and #GivingTuesdayCLT (presented by Wells Fargo and powered by SHARE Charlotte) is the QC’s local response to this global movement. Join the Croixstone team in donating, giving your time and/or shopping for good to support more than 400 nonprofits across the greater Charlotte region.

Click here to learn more.

What You Need to Know About Social Enterprises

On April 16th, Social Venture Partners Charlotte (SVP) will host the annual SEED20 program which identifies, highlights, and connects the community to twenty of the region’s most innovative ideas for tackling pressing social challenges. In today’s business world, nonprofits are not the only ones concerned with being integrated into the social fabric of society. Earlier this week, Forbes ran an article titled the “The Rise of the Social Enterprise: A New Paradigm for Business” which illustrates that businesses today need to make a shift in management in order to be more integrated into the social fabric of society.

Social enterprises are revenue-generating businesses with a twist. A social enterprise has two goals that are equally important:

Achieve social, cultural, community economic and/or environmental outcomes
Earn revenue

In the Forbes’ article, a yearlong research and survey of business and HR leaders by Deloitte revealed that “citizenship and social impact” were rated critical or important by 77% of respondents.

One of the trends identified is that companies today must be “social” in a truly external sense, and one of the biggest challenges is that C-suite executives are not operating or organized effectively to deal with the new world of economic growth and technology revolution while effectively addressing diversity, inclusion, fairness, equity at work and more.

There are two dimensions to the evolution of social enterprise.

Moving from an organization which operates as a functional hierarchy to one that operates as a “network of teams.”
Each part of the company looks at the impact of external factors and the company’s footprint in the external world.

Click here to read more about the new paradigm shift for businesses addressed in the article and click here to learn why social enterprise can be a win-win for companies.

Seed20 OnStage!

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'” Today, we focus on an upcoming event dedicated to those in the Charlotte community that are “doing for others” each and every day…SEED20 OnStage!

SEED20 is the annual program of Social Venture Partners Charlotte (a nonprofit organization) to identify, highlight and connect the community to the region’s most promising social entrepreneurs tackling pressing challenges.

Croixstone’s Mark Weber is serving as the Lead Partner for this year’s powerful program, best known for its high-energy SEED20 OnStage event where ten members of the SEED20 class compete to win cash awards by making three-minute “pitches” to a panel of judges and a community audience.

This year’s event takes place at the Bechtler Museum and Knight Theater in front of an audience of 1,000 guests on April 16, 2018. We invite you to view the SEED20 video and website to learn more.

Tickets for the event are now on sale. To purchase tickets, Click Here

Meet the SEED20 Class of 2018

Social Venture Partners Charlotte (SVP) today announced the SEED20 Class of 2018. SEED20 is the annual program of SVP to identify, highlight and connect the community to the Charlotte region’s most promising social entrepreneurs tackling pressing challenges. These social entrepreneurs can be an innovative young nonprofit or an innovative new program within an established nonprofit. Croixstone’s own Mark Weber (Managing Partner and Founder) serves as Lead Partner for SEED20 2018.

The Croixstone team is excited to congratulate and welcome the following members to the SEED20 Class of 2018:

100 Gardens
ChemoCars
Human Capital Investment, Inc.
INTech Camp for Girls
Lorien Academy of the Arts
Pat’s Place Child Advocacy Center
Pop Up Produce
Project Harmony — a program of Charlotte Symphony Orchestra
Reading Partners
Respect Ability Foundation
RunningWorks
Shakespeare in a Chair
Transcend Charlotte
The Be More Foundation
The Resource Connection Gateway — a program of Gaston County Family YMCA
Think Broader Foundation
Ultreia Society
Wise Guys — a program of The Children’s Home Society of North Carolina
Xcel 2 Fitness
ZABS Place

Meet the Future of Charlotte

SEED20, an initiative of Social Venture Partners Charlotte, announced yesterday the 20 nonprofit entrepreneurs who will be part of the 6th annual SEED20 experience. SEED20 selected the following nonprofits to participate in the Class of 2017 based on their relevance, innovation, and potential for tangible community impact.

ANSWER Scholarship
ArtPop
BELL
Body & Soul Senior Fitness Center
Charlotte Rescue Mission (Culinary Social Enterprise)
Children’s Attention Home
Families First in Cabarrus County
Hip Hop Orchestrated
Levine Museum of the New South (Enrichment Seminars)
LilySarahGrace
MusicalMinds NC
NC Wildlife Federation (Great Outdoors University)
Philips Academy of NC
Profound Gentlemen
Queen City Robotics Alliance
Restore Global
The Pollution Detectives
The Red Boot Coalition
UMAR
WINGS for Kids

Join the Croixstone Consulting team in supporting the Charlotte region’s most innovative social entrepreneurs. Buy a ticket today and plan to attend SEED20 OnStage on March 27, 2017.

Get the Word Out to the QC’s Social Entrepreneurs

As leaders in the QC’s entrepreneurial community, the Croixstone Consulting team passionately supports Social Venture Partners Charlotte and the organization’s SEED20 program. Social Venture Partners (SVP) is a philanthropic organization passionately attacking the issue of social and economic inequality in Charlotte through venture philanthropy.

The Croixstone team is helping to spread the word about SEED20 (Social Entrepreneurs EmpowereD), a unique program that aligns directly with SVP’s mission of growing and empowering the region’s vibrant social entrepreneur community . Through this annual program, SVP identifies, spotlights and supports the Charlotte region’s most innovative ideas for tackling pressing social challenges. Since SEED20’s launch more than 5 years ago, SVP has coached, supported, and showcased over 80 organizations and individuals and given out $160,000 in awards to nonprofit entrepreneurs.

SEED20 is accepting applications through November 1, 2016. Learn more about SEED20 here.