Friends,

This is a momentous day for both Echoing Green and the social entrepreneurship field.

It is a great honor to announce that Cheryl Dorsey, Echoing Green's President, has been named one of "America's Best Leaders" for 2009 by U.S. News Media Group and the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Cheryl and this year's 21 other honorees from the worlds of business, government, academia, the arts, nonprofits and defense will be featured in the upcoming issue of

U.S. News & World Report magazine. The honorees were selected by a committee of academic, government, business, community and nonprofit leaders convened by the CPL.

Before she was appointed our president, Cheryl was an Echoing Green Fellow, and so it is all the more gratifying to see Cheryl's work on behalf of social entrepreneurship recognized alongside the accomplishments of the late Senator Ted Kennedy and his longtime friend and colleague Senator Orrin Hatch, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Cisco Systems' President and CEO John Chambers, The Rockefeller Foundation's President Judith Rodin, and other distinguished leaders.

According to the CPL, "A leader motivates people to work collaboratively to accomplish great things," and the criteria it used to identify this year's outstanding leaders were effectiveness in setting direction, cultivating a culture of growth, and, the heaviest-weighted component, achieving results. By these or any other measures, Cheryl is a tremendous leader. Echoing Green has achieved a global impact, having awarded more than $28 million in start-up capital to nearly 500 social entrepreneurs worldwide since 1987, and seeking fresh new ways to inspire careers in social change. Cheryl also is generous with her energy and her talent, currently serving as vice-chair of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships; on the boards of City Year (national), DonorsChoose.org, and Freelancers Insurance Company, Inc.; and on the advisory boards of the Action Tank for Social Entrepreneurs, America Forward, and the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation.

As Cheryl has often reminded us, “a leader is only recognized if people are moved to action.” This award is therefore a celebration of so many of you who have actively engaged with Echoing Green in promoting social entrepreneurship. To an extent that we could only dream about in Echoing Green’s 1980's nascency, people around the world with innovative ideas for meaningful, large scale social change are taking the risk. Never before has there been so much interest in the field and such rapid growth in resources to help social entrepreneurs develop the skills and access the support they need to "Be Bold." This explosion of innovation in the social sector is creating game-changing momentum;  let’s make Cheryl's recognition as one of "America's Best Leaders" a further catalyst to inspire, encourage, support and galvanize the potential that each of us possesses to effect positive social change.

Cheryl, we are incredibly proud of you today. And for all who have joined Cheryl in supporting innovation, who have proven what the social change community can accomplish, my congratulations and sincere thanks.

Dave Hodgson
Chairman, Echoing Green
Managing Director, General Atlantic LLC