This Week in Social Entrepreneurship

Ashoka’s Youth Venture, in partnership with Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) Foundation and banks across the U.S., is very excited to announce the launch of the Banking on Youth Competition! This exciting competition provides youth a wonderful opportunity to showcase their exceptional ideas for benefiting society and creating positive social change. Young people ages 13-20 are invited to share their ideas for sustainable ventures that will directly benefit society through an original and fun 60-90 second video from now until June 10 for the chance to win over $100,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. Included among the prizes are 49 regional $1,000 cash rewards to help teams launch their ventures, an all-expenses-paid trip to the Annual Global Youth Summit in D.C. for the top 6 teams, and two larger cash rewards for the Audience Choice Award and Grand Prize winners. Apply by June 10 but the sooner you enter, the better—the first ten entrants will receive a Youth Venture surprise gift.
The MIT Ideas Global Challenge 2012 Community Choice Vote is open through April 29th and One Degree, who finished up a successful StartSomeGood campaign earlier this year, is part of the competition. The MIT Global Challenge is looking for three world changing ideas, voted on by the public, to support with $1,500 to further their work. Check out all the teams in the competition and vote for your three favorite ideas by April 29th.
The FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards: Urban Ideas in Action recognize leaders who have developed solutions that will have a significant and recognizable impact on cities and their residents. Specifically, Financial Times and Citi are looking for individuals who have made strides in education, healthcare, infrastructure, or energy in a new and creative way that ended up making the lives of city residents and workers better, healthier, or more convenient. Submissions are due by April 30th.
The Rockefeller Foundation just opened its call to action for the 2012 Innovation Challenge. This year is the centennial for the Rockefeller Foundation, so it is seeking innovative ideas that have the potential to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems for the next 100 years. Up to nine entrants will be selected by the foundation to receive up to $100,000 in grants to further develop and launch their ideas. This year, the categories for submission are Decoding Data, Irrigating Efficiency, and Farming Now. Does your idea fit one of these categories? Submit your proposal by May 25th.
The Ideation Conference is coming to Chicago on May 7-9 and now is the time to register early and secure your spot. “Ideas are a dime a dozen”. It’s time to take your idea and begin to implement it. This conference will focus on creative social good and human care and bring together experts in the field to help those with great ideas draw inspiration and develop their thoughts so they can map out the next steps needed for implementation. If you are seeking support for your ideas from field experts in human care, this conference is a must!
I really enjoyed this Inc. article about fast-growing social enterprise Warby Parker and the growing pains it experienced in the very beginning: How Warby Parker Almost Broke. Some really influential publications caught wind of Warby Parker before it was even a real business. GQ profiled the founders and they were completely unprepared for the influx of orders that were placed after the article got published. They even forgot to add a “sold out” function into the site! As we all know, Warby Parker worked out its growing pains and from that experience, the founders learned a few key lessons any asipring entrepreneur should take heed of: understand where the system breaks down, there can be a high cost to free services, and you can’t cure what you haven’t diagnosed. Read the full article on Inc.