Lakeisha Wolf, Executive Director of Ujamaa Collective, presents at the Full Circle Impact Accelerator Pitch Event
Two women-focused nonprofits were awarded $500 each at December 15th’s Social Venture Partners’ Full Circle Impact Accelerator Pitch Event. The event, held at Google Pittsburgh’s HQ, was a culmination of a fourteen-week accelerator program from Social Venture Partners Pittsburgh, a philanthropic grantmaking organization based on the venture capital model.
The night’s $500 recipients were Ujamaa Collective and Prototype PGH. Ujamaa Collective invests in the economic and social growth of Africana women entrepreneurs and artisans through a boutique in the Hill District and Prototype PGH operates a North Oakland maker-space and offers maker educational programming focused on equity and feminism.
Prototype PGH co-founders, Erin Elizabeth (Oldynski) Gatz & E.Louise Larson, give their pitch at the Full Circle Impact Accelerator Pitch Event
At the event, five nonprofits presented information about their organization to three judges and to a packed room full 170+ people. Pitching, in addition to the two $500 recipients, were the Alliance for Police Accountability, the Global Switchboard, and New Fear Being Different. The night’s judges were Ilana Diamond, Managing Director of AlphaLab Gear, Mike Capsambelis, Product Management at Google, and Karen Brackett, Vice President at NexTier Bank, the marquee sponsor for the event.
The participating nonprofits also competed for an ‘audience favorite’ award. This prize, also for $500, was awarded to New Fear Being Different, a media platform that uses inspirational and entertaining content to shed light on social issues and connect people.
Those that didn’t receive a $500 award were also supported. Each nonprofit received $2,000 for completing the Full Circle Impact Accelerator program, which was sponsored by UPMC/UPMC Health Plan. Also, an additional $2,600 was separately pledged by the night’s audience and spread across all the organizations that pitched at the event. In total, $14,000+ indirect contributions were made to the five nonprofits.
Social Venture Partners Pittsburgh’s Full Circle Impact Accelerator is managed by the Social Impact business development firm, CitizenCity, and its principals Ryan Gayman and Benjamin Utter. To learn more about Social Venture Partners and its programs visit, svppittsburgh.org.
Disclaimer: The author attended this event for fun and never identified himself as a reporter at the actual event. The author has also attended other events put on by Social Venture Partners for fun.