Message
From the President, Alfred Wise
 Papers piled high on the desk, e-mails waiting for a response,
proposals to be finalized, research to be done by Friday, client
deliverables to review . . .
We at Community Wealth Ventures don’t have much time to spare, and
we know that you don’t either. So our goal in this newsletter is to
distill some key lessons from our work with social entrepreneurs—and
their funders—and to share them with you.
In this issue, we are exceedingly fortunate to be able to share
insights from a long-time and beloved partner, Martha Perry,
associate executive director of Pittsburgh's McCune Foundation.
Martha is unquestionably the grande dame of social enterprise and
will be retiring after 18 years of leadership at the foundation.
More than any other funder in the country, Martha identified the
potential for social enterprise to transform nonprofits and has
invested carefully in turning the flywheel of change. While she
would never say this, she has been the driving force in moving the
Pittsburgh region to prominence as a catalyst for social enterprise.
She has been tireless in her support of visionary leaders and has
provided honest and sharp insights to colleagues and partners.
Martha shares some of those insights in the article that follows.
Jeannine Jacokes, executive director of Partners for the Common
Good, also shares her wisdom in an
overview of debt financing dos
and don’ts.
Also in this edition: A
profile of the Calvert Foundation’s Social
Enterprise Initiative. The Calvert Foundation, which is devoted to
ending poverty through investments in affordable housing, small
businesses, microfinance, social enterprise, and other
community-based initiatives, was a winner in the coveted Fast
Company magazine “Social Capitalist Award” for 2006. The goal of the
initiative is to provide much needed capital for social enterprises
and, as a result, to fuel continued growth and innovation.
The
profile of Network for Good highlights one organization’s
lessons learned in raising capital to fund its path to
self-sufficiency. And this issue’s
Top Ten is a pocket guide to funder directories, venture fund Web sites, and more.
We value your feedback on this issue, and
would like to hear your
suggestions for future editions.
Regards,
Alfred
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