Santa Clara University

Up to 20 participants to be selected to attend Summer 2010 session on a full scholarship.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 14, 2009—Now in its eighth year, the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI ) run by Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society invites innovative social entrepreneurs to apply to take their venture to the next level with the help of Silicon Valley start-up veterans and Santa Clara University faculty.

The GSBI is a year-long capacity-building program for leaders of social benefit enterprises. The most visible part of the program is a motivating two-week, in-residence session, but the benefits last well beyond that, as participating social entrepreneurs continue to collaborate with the network of educators, professionals, peers, and mentors they develop while in Santa Clara.

This year’s GSBI application process starts January 4 on Social Edge, the online community for social entrepreneurs and a program of the Skoll Foundation. Information on the online process is available now at www.socialedge.org. Up to 20 participants who best demonstrate a sustainable and scalable approach to addressing urgent human needs throughout the world will each receive a full scholarship valued at $25,000 for the GSBI program, taking place August 14–28, 2010.

“Through access to world-class resources, GSBI participants are able to accelerate their innovations. This is a transformational program for people with the power and vision to change the world,” says Jim Koch, professor of management at Santa Clara University and co-founder and director of GSBI.

In the past, GSBI participants have come from dozens of countries including India, Namibia, Bangladesh, Jordan, Laos, South Africa, and Vanuatu. In addition to intensive coursework and mentoring focused on venture planning, beneficiary analysis, business models, metrics and successful scaling strategies, attendees benefit from the cross-cultural community of support they get at GSBI.

Special Emphasis on Electricity Providers in 2010

This year, the GSBI will have a special emphasis on enterprises that aim to provide electricity to the underserved in developing countries. Up to one-third of the Incubator spaces are being targeted for social entrepreneurs serving people and communities who are off the grid or suffer frequent disruptions in their energy supply.

First Deadline is January 15, 2010

Beginning Dec. 15, social entrepreneurs can visit http://www.socialedge.org/features/gsbi to preview the application exercises for GSBI 2010. Applicants can prepare the business planning exercises now and post them online starting Jan. 4. There is no application fee and the deadline for the first exercise is January 15, 2010.

The scholarships for winning applicants will cover tuition, room, and board for the two-week intensive immersion program. Selected participants are responsible for their travel expenses. The winners will be announced no later than April 3, 2010.

About the Global Social Benefit Incubator
The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), www.scu.edu/sts/gsbi/, combines four months of online preparation with an intensive two-week residential program at Santa Clara University and several months of remote mentoring and support using the Social Enterprise Innovation Network (SEIN).  The GSBI program enables successful social benefit entrepreneurs, who have demonstrated their commitment to applying technology to address urgent human needs throughout the world, to scale their endeavors and achieve sustainability. The GSBI combines classroom instruction, case studies, and best practices with carefully matched mentoring on the specific challenges of each participating organization. Presented by the University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society and the Leavey School of Business, the GSBI offers the unique context of a Jesuit university dedicated to social justice combined with leading executive resources of Silicon Valley.

About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its 8,846 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus masters and law degrees, and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. masters universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

About Social Edge
Headquartered in California's Silicon Valley, Social Edge, www.socialedge.org, is the global online community where social entrepreneurs and other practitioners of the social benefit sector connect to network, learn, inspire, and share resources. It provides expert content for guidance, videos and podcasts for inspiration, and discussions and other resources written by those in the field of social entrepreneurship. Features include blogs by social entrepreneurs sharing how they are building their social ventures and discussions on vital topics led by experts in social entrepreneurship. Social Edge is a program of the Skoll Foundation, www.skollfoundation.org, which was founded in 1999 by eBay’s first president, Jeff Skoll, to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs.

Media Contact:    
Deborah Lohse
SCU Media Relations, Asst. Director
(408) 554-5121
dlohse@scu.edu