Social Venture Partners Charlotte

Social Venture Partners Charlotte wins CATALYST 2023 Fire Award

Snapshot: Last week one of the most unique nonprofit organizations in Croixstone’s home city of Charlotte, NC scored a big, high-profile win. Social Venture Partners Charlotte (SVP Charlotte) was honored to win the Charlotte Business Journal’s 2024 CATALYST Fire Award.

What are the Fire Awards? The annual Fire Awards program honors the people, companies and organizations that keep the Charlotte area’s innovation ecosystem going. SVP Charlotte was one of 24 organizations or people nominated across 6 categories for blazing a trail in Charlotte’s innovation ecosystem.

Who is SVP Charlotte? SVP Charlotte is a nonprofit organization that passionately attacks social and economic inequality across the Charlotte region through venture philanthropy. Croixstone’s co-founders, Patti Weber and Mark Weber, are long-term Partners (volunteers) with SVP Charlotte. Additionally, Mark served on SVP Charlotte’s board for 4 years and served as Lead Partner for the organization’s annual SEED20 pitch program.

Who are the fellow Fire Award winners? SVP Charlotte is one of six blazers honored at last week’s innovation awards. As the winner in the “Catalyst” category, SVP Charlotte joins the following innovation blazers:

Energy: Atom Power
Fintech: Passport
Health Care: Premier Inc.
Innovation: RXO Inc.
Software/AI: PetScreening

Learn more: SVP Charlotte is seeking Partners and Corporate Sponsors to help broaden and deepen the organization’s impact across the greater Charlotte, NC region. Click here to learn more about the SVP Charlotte story.

Application Period for SEED20 2024 is Now Open

About Croixstone and SVP Charlotte: Croixstone is a proud Community Partner of Social Venture Partners Charlotte (SVP Charlotte). This unique nonprofit organization provides a way for passionate and committed individuals and companies to collectively invest their money, skills and time to nurture and support some of the most promising nonprofit organizations attacking social and economic inequality within the greater Charlotte region.

What is SEED20?: SEED20 is the nonprofit pitch contest hosted annually by SVP Charlotte. This high-profile program provides a terrific opportunity for innovative nonprofits to tap into professional development around messaging, gain access to high quality marketing assets, benefit from incredible community exposure, and build their social capital.

Spread the word: SVP Charlotte announced yesterday that the application period for the SEED20 Class of 2024 has officially launched. Please share the following link with your professional network and help us spread the word: https://tinyurl.com/applytoday4Seed20

Save the date: You don’t want to miss the SEED20 Class of 2024. Join us to watch them take the stage on Tuesday, March 26 at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte.

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

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.

We Have News!

We are excited to announce that our very own CEO and Co-Founder, Patti Weber, has been named a “Forty Over 40” award recipient by The Charlotte Ledger. The awards, revealed in a special online presentation last evening, celebrate local unsung heroes aged 40+ who are doing great things in the Charlotte community.

This year’s group, representing the second-ever group of award recipients, was chosen by a distinguished panel of under-40 judges who reviewed many impressive nominations.

Patti, who has long-term passion for STEAM, was recognized for driving outcomes in business, healthcare and social innovation. In addition to serving as Croixstone’s CEO, Patti is a co-founder with the Charlotte Pancreatic Cancer Alliance (a community group that increases awareness for pancreatic cancer) and a Partner with Social Venture Partners Charlotte (a nonprofit group that passionately attacks social and economic inequality and promotes social innovation across the Charlotte region through venture philanthropy).

Learn more here.

Join Us at Packard Place Public House on Jan. 20th

Don’t miss the next Packard Place Public House virtual event and the opportunity to learn how to use your entrepreneurial and start-up skills to serve our community! Our CEO Patti Weber joins fellow panelist Eric Gorman of Wily and moderator Kristin Beck of Social Venture Partners Charlotte for a lively, fun and educational gathering.

Learn more and register!

Opioid Crisis Myths + Truths

Last month, the Croixstone team invested in professional development to learn more about the very serious opioid crisis that is not only a public health issue, but a serious economic and workforce productivity problem.

We joined an educational seminar hosted by Social Venture Partners Charlotte that featured a 3-person panel comprised of a police officer, physician and social worker. Croixstone learned that four North Carolina cities rank in the top 25 cities for opioid abuse. Furthermore, the #1 city for opioid abuse is Wilmington, NC!

L earn about the myths and truths about the opioid crisis.

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