November 2012

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 1, 2012— Applications are now open for Santa Clara University’s Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI™), an 11-year-old program that helps social entrepreneurs create greater impact in their poverty-alleviating missions.

This year, the program has been renamed GSBI Silicon Valley and revamped to focus on later-stage, investment-ready organizations with potential to reach significant scale. Up to 15 accepted enterprises will receive eight months of mentoring from Silicon Valley veterans, 10 days of intensive, on-campus education, and — for the first time this year — will be paired with at least one interested funding partner.

GSBI Silicon Valley 2013 is seeking applications from proven social enterprises — those that have been able to reach large numbers of beneficiaries. Those selected will utilize their eight months in GSBI to develop skills and martial resources to achieve operational excellence and attract financing that enables rapid, effective expansion of impact. Qualifying criteria for applicants can be found on the GSBI website.

GSBI Silicon Valley 2013 applications must be completed fully by Jan. 11, 2013. Ten to 15 successful applicants will be awarded scholarships valued at $25,000 each; the in-residence portion at Santa Clara University is scheduled for Aug. 15 to 23, 2013.

The intensified focus reflects the GSBI’s goal of positively impacting one billion people living in poverty by 2020. The program’s new curriculum focuses on achieving significant scale, so alumni of GSBI are also encouraged to apply.

“Last year, we launched GSBI Online in collaboration with the World Bank Development Marketplace to provide earlier-stage social enterprises the core training we’ve always provided through GSBI — establishing a business model, identifying a target market, and crafting distribution plans,” said Eric Carlson, Ph.D., director of the GSBI. “Now, to maximize the impact of our intensive GSBI mentoring and structured curriculum, we’re focusing on social enterprises with the greatest potential to lift vast numbers of people from poverty, and attract impact investors in the process.”

Connecting Impact Investors to Build Stronger Enterprises

Each participating enterprise in the 2013 cohort will be matched with one of the GSBI’s Impact Investment Partners. GSBI’s impact investor partners include Accion, Acumen Fund, Beyond Capital Fund, The Eleos Foundation, Invested Development, and Hub Ventures, among others.

“Impact investors seek a more investment-ready pipeline of social enterprises,” said John Kohler, director of impact capital at the Center. “GSBI Silicon Valley will help social enterprises prepare for and find capital to support scaling of their enterprises.”

GSBI Silicon Valley 2013

Over the past 10 years, the GSBI has built an impressive network of alumni, mentors, and other resources, all of which will be available to GSBI Silicon Valley 2013 participants. As in past years, the program will comprise four processes, which will be more advanced and customized: Application, pre-work, in-residence, and implementation.

“GSBI has traditionally and successfully focused on fundamental business-model development,” said GSBI Program Manager Cassandra Thomassin. “GSBI Silicon Valley intensifies the focus on operational excellence to attract investments that expand already-proven business models.”

Applicants must provide a recorded elevator pitch; a business plan; a one-year operating plan; and financial statements. Applicants will be evaluated based on a scoring matrix that includes: strength of mission, financial sustainability, potential for scale, potential for social impact, management capacity, and business model efficacy.

Social enterprises focused on off-grid clean energy, health, and mobile applications for any sector are especially encouraged to apply.

Top applicants will be interviewed in March 2013 and participants announced by early April. Each social enterprise will then be partnered online with two or three GSBI mentors to complete tailored pre-work exercises.

About the GSBI
The GSBI is the signature program of the Center for Science, Technology, and Society at Santa Clara University. The mission of the Center is to accelerate global, innovation-based entrepreneurship in service to humanity. For a decade, the GSBI has helped mission-driven enterprises build, sustain, and increase the reach and impact of their businesses. Collectively, alumni of the program have provided essential products and services to an estimated 74 million underserved people worldwide. More than 90 percent of the organizations are still operating. It is currently funded in part by a grant from the Skoll Foundation, corporate gifts from Applied Materials, and individual donors. For more information, visit www.scu.edu/socialbenefit.

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 more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, theology, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

Media Contacts
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Relations | dlohse@scu.edu | 408-554-5121
Erin Berkenmeier | GSBI Marketing Manager | eberkenmeier@scu.edu | 408-551-6048