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Weekly Impact: Earthquake in Chile, SE Conference, and Getting Money to Launch Your Ideas

Congratulations to Aldi Haryopratomo winner of the Pitch for Change contest. His idea, Ruma, benefits franchisees and communities in poor, rural areas of Indonesia.
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Social Entrepreneur

Social Entrepreneur
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The earthquake in Chile caught everyone off guard, and left many aid groups stretched and some donors feeling donation fatigue. Huffington Post blogger Chrissie Brodigan discusses donating this time around, and what we've learned from Haiti.

Don't forget that sending money is more important than sending old clothes. And read this list of aid organizations to support.

Weekly Impact News
  • Congratulations to Aldi Haryopratomo winner of the Pitch for Change contest at the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference last Sunday! His idea is Ruma, a telecommunications micro-franchise business which benefits franchisees and communities in poor, rural areas of Indonesia. The second prize winner, Angaza Design from a team at Stanford University, provides low-cost, high quality lighting solutions to communities in East Africa. The third prize winner, DrinKup from the Schulich School of Business at York University, will rent water filtration units to local entrepreneurs to help them provide clean water in their communities. Read more about the Pitch for Change semi-finalists.
  • The Be Unreasonable Institute announced 37 finalists working on social ventures that future generation may one day recall as having changed the course of history. The first 25 of these 37 ventures to raise $6,500 will attend the first-ever Unreasonable Institute in Boulder this summer. Check out their ideas and vote.
  • Nominate an organization for the Veterans Choice Awards, brought to you by GreatNonprofits and Guidestar, in partnership with the Silver Star Families of America and the Coalition for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans.
    • Money & Support for Your Ideas!
    • Excelerate is a Chicago-based bootcamp for start-ups that is driven by proven entrepreneurs and investors. They're looking for people with great ideas to apply for their 10+ week startup incubator program. Includes up to $20K in funding, and access to mentors and investors. Applications are due April 2nd.
    • TechStars provides seed funding (up to $18K) and extensive mentorship to startups. About 70 percent of their companies go on to subsequently raise angel or venture funding. Application deadline for the Boulder program is March 22, 2010.
    • Y Combinator is now accepting applications for the summer 2010 funding cycle. Get $17K to $20K investment and spend June through August 2010 in the Bay Area. The next deadline is March 3rd.
    Good Reads
    Upcoming Events
    • New York City: Join me on Friday for Think Social, Drink Local, a party and eco-fashion show (and open bar) brought to you by my friend Michelle Wong and other grad students at NYU.
    • San Jose: 3rd is CoLABoration 2010, an experiment with Doug Engelbart's idea of "co-evolution" -- bringing together technology leaders with experts in human facilitation and representatives of many disciplines -- all focused on improving collaborative techniques.
    • Atlanta: Muhammad Yunus will present the 2010 Goodrich C. White Lecture on Wednesday, March 3rd, at 7:30 p.m. in Glenn Memorial Auditorium at Emory University.
    • Boston: O'Reilly Media introduces Ignite 7 at the New England Research & Development office (NERD) right in Kendall Square, on Thursday March 4. Tickets are free.

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