Founders League, Social Enterprise Greenhouse win $200K from foundation

STARTUP COLLABORATION The Founders League and Social Enterprise Greenhouse have been awarded a $200,000 grant from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation.
STARTUP COLLABORATION The Founders League and Social Enterprise Greenhouse have been awarded a $200,000 grant from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation.

PROVIDENCE – Startup collaboration The Founders League and Social Enterprise Greenhouse have been awarded a $200,000 grant from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation to create a program called “StartZone” to link students and graduates from local colleges and universities with resources they need to start their own company or social enterprise in Rhode Island.
“Rhode Island has colleges and research universities that attract good students from around the country, but these bright and talented young people too often leave us after graduation. Convincing them to stay in our communities, work with our startups and social enterprises, and launch their own ventures will be a real boost to our state,” U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said in a statement. “Congratulations to The Founders League and Social Enterprise Greenhouse on a successful application, and thanks to the Blackstone Charitable Foundation for this investment in Rhode Island.”
Whitehouse invited Blackstone Charitable Foundation staff to visit Rhode Island in May 2014 to meet with Rhode Island stakeholders, including a roundtable co-hosted by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.
After the visit, the Founders League and SEG developed the grant submission to Blackstone’s Innovation Grants program, which funds initiatives and entrepreneurial organizations that promote innovation and benefit local communities.
Said Amy Stursberg, executive director of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, “We are pleased to fund the promising collaboration between The Founders League and Social Enterprise Greenhouse to build Rhode Island’s StartZone. Our experience funding innovative entrepreneurship programs around the country has taught us that sowing the seeds of entrepreneurship among young people at the college level can have a profound impact on local economies.”
StartZone will engage students through on-campus outreach, a Web-based “dashboard” for collecting helpful information, visits to local ventures and entrepreneurs, conferences, mentoring and advising, and speaking programs.
“Startups … are a powerful driver of job growth, a tool for retaining talent, and a magnet for attracting capital investment. With help from our partners, we’ve made great strides in reinvigorating our focus on entrepreneurship. Better integrating our state’s young people into this economy is a great opportunity to take another big leap forward. We are honored to receive this award from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation and are thrilled to expand the Founders League in new and exciting ways,” Melissa Withers, Founders League director, said.
Started in 2012, The Founders League is a partnership between Betaspring, Brown University, Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and University of Rhode Island, directly serving 60 startups via shared working space and resources. It has hosted more than 1,200 entrepreneurs for events that range from casual programming, competition and open events, to one-on-one mentoring and startup acceleration.
Social Enterprise Greenhouse provides social entrepreneurs and ventures with services they need to move from idea to execution to scale, including incubation, acceleration, later-stage strategy and financial services, and below-market rate loan funding.

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