Global Social Benefit Incubator Program to assist Social Entrepreneurs in developing Business Plans for their Organizations

The Center for Science, Technology and Society (CSTS) at the Santa Clara University will be accepting applications from 4 January 2010 for the Eight Annual Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI^TM). GSBI^TM “works with social entrepreneurs to empower them and their organizations to overcome barriers to scale and impact.” It “assists social benefit entrepreneurs in developing business plans that enable their organizations to reach increasing numbers of beneficiaries.” As knowledge, skills and network resources are vital for social entrepreneurs, the program brings together social entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley support networks through a world class education program. It helps the social enterprises of the social entrepreneurs achieve sustainability and measurable social impact. Throughout, social entrepreneurs work with seasoned mentors who share business acumen and strategy helping participants maximize their GSBI™ experience.

The GSBI consists of three major components:

1. An on-line, mentored, application process hosted on Social Edge and based on three business planning exercises designed to benefit all who participate. In the applicants define their organizations value proposition, target market (beneficiaries), and “social business” model (key income and expense drivers).

2. 20 organizations selected from the application process receive scholarships for an online (4 month) and in-residence (2 week)  program that involves “action learning” and mentoring to prepare a sustainable plan for their organization.

3. On-going mentoring and collaboration for all who complete the in-residence component.

All who participate in the Business Planning Exercises will benefit from the mentoring and feedback on their application exercises, and 20 organizations will be selected for a full scholarship, valued at US $25,000, to participate in 4-months of online preparation and then to attend the intensive two week in-residence program (to be held August 15-28, 2010).

The due date for completing the first part of the application process is 15 January 2010. For more information, visit this link.

The information was provided by Marc-Antoine Adam, Indonesia.