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.


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.


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:
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  1. Achieve social, cultural, community economic and/or environmental outcomes
  2. 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.
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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.
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There are two dimensions to the evolution of social enterprise.
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  • 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.
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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.

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.