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Our photo of the week:
Our photo from the field this week is from Sasha Chanoff, 2006 Echoing Green Fellow and founder of Mapendo International. Mapendo’s mission is to identify rescue, and protect people fleeing conflict and violence in Africa whose lives are in imminent danger and who fall outside existing relief efforts. By devising and implementing short and long-term solutions, Mapendo attends to those whose struggle to survive would otherwise go unattended. Have a look at the full gallery.

Trends and topics:
This week was full of opportunities and announcements, including:

• Big news from the Ford Foundation about their launch of a $50 million fund for visionary documentaries that will share the stories of urgent social issues.
• The Reynolds Program at New York University is offering up to $50,000 in Fellowship funding to visionary social entrepreneurs. For more details about undergraduate and graduate opportunities, visit their website.
• The TEDGlobal 2011 Fellows application is open! The deadline is March 11, 2011.
• The Unreasonable Institute Marketplace is officially open! Congratulations to Echoing Green Fellows Jamie Yang and Abhishek Sen for being amongst the 43 innovative leaders in the pool.

Also making a big impression:

• From a SWOT analysis, to an audience review, 20 key things entrepreneurs must lock down when developing their early-stage ventures—a thoughtful list from @rizwantayabali that you should check off along the way.
• Change Agent Bumper Stickers: We loved these Seven Truths about Change to Lead and Live By that Rosabeth Moss Kanter, professor at Harvard pulled together.  What’s your favorite?
• There’s certainly a lot of movement in the impact investing field, but a gap between the “super angels” and the VCs continues to persist—especially for social ventures. We’re kicking off a series on the trends in the sector and how Echoing Green is going to play a role in narrowing that financial gap.

Inside Echoing Green:
We’re busy preparing for our Current Fellows’ Conference in Austin this coming week. Over 90 Fellows will convene at the University of Texas, Austin and the Lance Armstrong Foundation to talk shop, recharge and participate in intense planning and leadership sessions.  We’re opening up part of the conference and inviting you to join us for the Be Bold Summit, but hurry—Monday, January 24th is the last day to apply!

Our own Lara Galinsky talked about trends in social entrepreneurship for 2011 and Echoing Green’s newest initiative, Work on Purpose, in Dowser this week. Despite tremendous growth in the sector, a broader definition of social entrepreneurship will allow more individuals to see themselves as capable of driving movements of change.

The semifinalists for the 2011 Echoing Green Fellowship are busy wrapping up their next round of applications, due Monday. Send them a little love and encouragement this weekend!

See you next week!

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