Echoing Green News

David Lewis was a “man with a message” –  a beloved community activist who started a simple, but radical program that revolutionized how we approach recovery and rehabilitation.  Co-Founder of Free at Last, David was gunned down in East Palo Alto last month and the cause of this death still remains unknown.  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently offered a $50,000 reward for any information leading to a conviction in the case related to his death. 

It’s my pleasure to introduce to you the 2010 Echoing Green summer interns!  These young, bright and bold interns have taken the Echoing Green office by storm, adding their own unique and fresh perspectives about the field of social entrepreneurship and taking on some of the most daunting summer projects head on. Since the beginning of this summer, Aaron, Pragya, Marybeth, and Ben quickly proved to be valuable members of the Echoing Green team adding a little extra excitement and youthful vitality to the culture at Echoing Green.  

The Nonprofit Times (NPT) released its thirteenth annual Power & Influence Top 50. Last year, there were a number of Echoing Green Fellows who made the prestigious list. This year, Echoing Green's own president Cheryl Dorsey makes an appearance.

Joining Cheryl are Echoing Green Fellows Doug Ulman (of the Lance Armstrong Foundation) and Michael Brown (of City Year). The list also includes Paul Schmitz, CEO of Public Allies (an Echoing Green-supported nonprofit) and leaders in the social entrepreneurship field, Bill Drayton and Marc Freedman.

Our largest online fundraising campaign yet, Dave's Deal, has raised over $350,000 for Echoing Green in just 45 days.  This matching challenge from board chairman Dave Hodgson helped us to not only exceed our fundraising goal for fiscal year 2010, but also jumpstart our fundraising for 2011.  We extend our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to Dave's Deal!

The field of social entrepreneurship has been evolving at warp speed. Because of Echoing Green’s open application process, we have the unique opportunity to examine trends and changes within the field globally. Each year, we collect data from our semifinalists as a proxy for trends occurring within the field at large.   

This year, we surveyed over 300 semi-finalists and received an 88 percent response rate. Their responses were compared with similar surveys conducted in 2007 and 2008 as well as with semifinalist data from 2009.

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal features 1998 Echoing Green Fellow Vikram Akula and his organization SKS Microfinance.  SKS recently received approval from the Securities Exchange Board of India to proceed with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) expected to happen within 30 days and raise $250 million.  SKS is the largest microlender in India and will be the first to go public.  

This is one of the most exciting blog posts I have the honor to write every year. That is, the announcement of Echoing Green’s newest class of fellows – promising social entrepreneurs with the drive, determination, and resilience to solve our world’s biggest problems.

The Echoing Green community lost a giant this month. Beloved activist and extraordinary member of the Echoing Green family, David Lewis, was shot and died on June 9, 2010 in San Mateao, California. While the details of his death are still formulating, his loss is felt by the thousands of people whose lives he changed.

Last night, Echoing Green and our Social Investment Council were honored to celebrate three women who exemplify boldness and innovation:  Tina Brown – founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast and former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown; Annie Lamont – Managing Partner at Oak Investment Partners and philanthropist; and Sara Horowitz – 1995 Echoing Green Fellow and founder of Freelancers Union. 

If joining our Social Investment Council and hundreds of aspiring changemakers is not enough, we have even more exciting news about Echoing Green's 4th Annual Be Bold Cocktails.

On June 16th from 7:30pm to 10:30pm, Echoing Green's young professional board, the Social Investment Council will host our biggest annual event. The cocktail party will be held at Prince George Ballroom, where there will be music, light food, and lots of fun.