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CALLING ALL SOCIAL VENTURES

Know of a high impact social venture that could use external skills, insights and connections to unlock its potential to scale impact? Knowledge Impact NetworkTM (KIN) is here to help. 

KIN is now accepting applications for Catalyze Sessions, which offer social ventures the opportunity to get insightful and impactful support on a critical question—all pro bono. In these 90 minute virtual discussions, a curated group of three-to-six leaders (Knowledge Partners) meet with a social venture to discuss how it might solve a challenge or explore an opportunity. At the end of each session, the Knowledge Partners pledge follow-up action, such as sharing a connection, reviewing materials, or building awareness of the venture among friends and colleagues.

Our focused areas of impact are centered around Core Human Needs (food, water, shelter and health), Education for Workforce Readiness, and Climate Action.

Ready to share your knowledge?

Apply to participate

Complete the form below. We will contact you to discuss fit and availability.  

Catalyze Session Knowledge Partner Participant Form

Please ensure that all required fields marked with asterisk (*) have been completed.
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Project Maji - May 10

Mission: Project Maji exists to empower and transform lives by providing sustainable, effective and solar-powered water solutions that bring clean drinking water to rural communities across Sub-Saharan Africa.

‍Impact: Project Maji, founded by a YPO Global Social Impact awardee, has improved the lives of over 150,000 people across Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda via sustainable delivery of safe water into their villages. They currently have about 170 installations across these 3 countries and aim to double that over the coming 12 months. In 5 years, they aim to improve the lives of 10,000,000 people.

Need: Identify an alternative funding model to help reach growth objectives.

Catalyze Session Question: How can we use social media to reach donors and share compelling messages with a clear ask to generate more donations?    

Knowledge Partner Skills Required: Crowdfunding/social media fundraising expertise

*Click on image to see Project Maji video by Suqia UAE

Gardyn

Mission: Reimagining the future of food and responding to the urgent need to provide access to fresh and nutritious food grown in sustainable and environmentally friendly ways.

Impact: Gardyn currently has a presence in every state in the U.S. and is on track to impact 60,000 people in 2023. Last year they produced north of 1 million pounds of produce, saved 12 million gallons of water, and prevented 60,000 lbs of pesticides. Over the next 5 years, they expect to impact more than half a million lives.

Need: Given the success and recognition of both the technology and science of their product, Gardyn seeks to expand to serve underprivileged communities in efforts to combat lack of access to healthy, nutritious food.
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Catalyze Session Question: ​​How can we best partner with and learn from nonprofit organizations to leverage our technology and make a greater impact in food security, nutrition and/or sustainability in underprivileged communities across the US?
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Knowledge Partner Skills Required:
Non-profit partnership expertise

Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)

Mission: Providing high-quality entrepreneurship education to students from under-resourced communities around the world to promote inclusive capitalism and build the next generation of diverse entrepreneurs.  

‍Impact: NFTE reaches 50,000+ students annually in 30 states across the U.S. and offers programs in 26 additional countries. They have educated more than a million students through in-school, out-of-school, college, and summer camp programs, offered in person and online.

Need: NFTE seeks to establish an effective tiered-membership structure to capitalize on the range of interested partners and supporters outside of the US, while recognizing limited team capacity to vet and cultivate prospects. 

Catalyze Session Question: H​​ow can we best leverage and prioritize the myriad of potential partners we have in global markets?

Knowledge Partner Skills Required: Partnership strategies expertise

Global Commons Alliance Accountability Accelerator

Mission: Strengthening the accountability architecture and supporting organizations globally working to incentivize, enable and hold corporations accountable for setting nature targets and delivering on their nature related commitments.

‍Impact: A new accelerator with ambitious growth plans, the Accountability Accelerator is currently impacting 1,000 people this year and seeks to reach 100,000,000 over the next 5 years.

Need: There are restrictions within climate-action foundations to allocate funds solely to nature-related projects, like those to which the Accountability Accelerator redirects funds. Therefore, they either need to compel foundations already giving funds to lift such restrictions or explore other sources of funding.

Catalyze Session Question: How can we unlock greater funding from climate-action foundations, or identify alternative funding channels?

Knowledge Partner Skills Required: Climate action funding model expertise

SolveEducation!

Mission: Making education accessible and improving employment outcomes for out-of-school youth by integrating evidence-based curriculum into mobile game applications.

Impact: SolveEducation! is currently impacting nearly 400,000 young individuals and aims to expand their reach to 5,000,000 over the next 5 years.

Need: To go beyond grants and donations to developing earned revenue, SolveEducation! wishes to design and offer their technology to employers within the hospitality industry and incorporate modules into their platform to prepare users for employment within this sector.
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Catalyze Session Question: To develop revenue streams beyond philanthropy, how can we repurpose our technology to create training programs for hospitality/service industries?
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Knowledge Partner Skills Required:
Business strategy and sales expertise

Inteleos Roundtable

In 2022, KIN initiated our partnership with Inteleos, a global non-profit medical certification organization providing ultrasound training and career opportunities with the mission of improving maternal and fetal health in Sub-Saharan Africa. The KIN-Inteleos connection began last year with a 90 minute Catalyze Session for which we recruited a group of Knowledge Partners with extensive experience in the region, public health, and nonprofit leadership to meet with directorship at Intelelos. Together they teased out ideas for sustainable financial models to scale services within Africa and potentially expand to the Caribbean and Southeast Asia.

Since the initial Cataylze Session, Inteleos leadership has been diligently considering and implementing much of the advice provided during that session. Now, nearly a year later, we are bringing the original group of Knowledge Partners together again to meet with Inteleos to provide feedback about their business model and further discuss l funding opportunities to be part of this next phase of scaling Inteleos’ impact.

Per Scholas

Mission: Per Scholas’ mission is to advance economic equity through rigorous training for tech careers, and to connect skilled talent to leading businesses.

Impact: Per Scholas offers both entry- and mid-level courses to prepare diverse individuals to enter and advance in the tech sector, regardless of their previous educational or professional background, race, or gender. Their tuition-free training takes a holistic approach that fully prepares graduates for employment in the tech sector, with access to support services for two years post-graduation

Need: There is significant demand for cybersecurity workers (currently there are over 755,000 Cybersecurity jobs open in the U.S. and only enough qualified professionals to fill 68% of the roles.) These positions typically require prior industry experience. An apprenticeship program is a strong potential solution to fill employers’ growing hiring demands while providing a pathway for diverse technologists to pursue this career track. Per Scholas has designed a new Cybersecurity Apprenticeship program but has not yet launched its first cohort yet.
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Catalyze Session Question: ​​Can Per Scholas obtain feedback on its Cybersecurity Apprenticeship program design and value proposition for employers (particularly larger companies)? Introductions to prospective employers are welcomed if possible.
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Knowledge Partner Skills Required:
Business plan assessment, cybersecurity marketplace

BroadFutures

Mission: BroadFutures seeks to celebrate neurodiversity by creating access, cultivating skills, and revolutionizing the workplace for all.

‍Impact: BroadFutures strives to create access to employment opportunities for young neurodivergent people while also supporting and educating employers to make their workplaces inclusive and accessible. They achieve these goals through training, mentoring and paid internships programs both locally in the Washington, Metropolitan area, as well as through nationwide pilots.

Need: There is an increased demand for their programs from young neurodivergent people as well as demand from employers in hiring neurodivergent talent. BroadFutures seeks to triple how many people they serve over the next five years, and seek help on a nationwide expansion strategy.
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Catalyze Session Question: How can BroadFutures effectively and impactfully scale their model nationwide, while still retaining quality outcomes?

Knowledge Partner Skills Required: Business expansion or scaling nonprofits

Per Scholas

Mission: Per Scholas’ mission is to advance economic equity through rigorous training for tech careers, and to connect skilled talent to leading businesses.

Impact: Per Scholas offers both entry- and mid-level courses to prepare diverse individuals to enter and advance in the tech sector, regardless of their previous educational or professional background, race, or gender. Their tuition-free training takes a holistic approach that fully prepares graduates for employment in the tech sector, with access to support services for two years post-graduation

Need: There is significant demand for cybersecurity workers (currently there are over 755,000 Cybersecurity jobs open in the U.S. and only enough qualified professionals to fill 68% of the roles.) These positions typically require prior industry experience. An apprenticeship program is a strong potential solution to fill employers’ growing hiring demands while providing a pathway for diverse technologists to pursue this career track. Per Scholas has designed a new Cybersecurity Apprenticeship program but has not yet launched its first cohort yet.
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Catalyze Session Question: ​​Can Per Scholas obtain feedback on its Cybersecurity Apprenticeship program design and value proposition for employers (particularly larger companies)? Introductions to prospective employers are welcomed if possible.
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Knowledge Partner Skills Required:
Business plan assessment, cybersecurity marketplace

Telosity Ventures

Mission: Telosity Venture’s mission is to help millions suffering from mental illness and propels impact in mental health and wellness through investments and innovation. 

‍Impact: Telosity Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund focused on digital wellness and mental health in North America. It invests in vetted mental health and digital wellness startups, manages innovation challenges with cash prizes, and shares research with the community. They have impacted 1 million lives to date, and seek to expand to 5 million, with an emphasis on reaching women and youth.

Need: Approximately 1 billion individuals are currently suffering from mental illness, but there are significant challenges to responding to this need because of mental health provider shortage, equity, limited options for coverage, etc. Telosity seeks to find innovative solutions to bridge this gap by investing in carefully vetted mental health and digital wellness startups. 

Catalyze Session Question: What can Telosity Ventures do to let more people know about them and identify limited partners for its venture capital fund? Specifically, how can it enhance its pitch materials and improve funder outreach?

Knowledge Partner Skills Required: Recruiting limited partners and funders

Ready to share your knowledge?

Apply to participate

Complete the form below. We will contact you to discuss fit and availability.  

Catalyze Session Knowledge Partner Participant Form

Please ensure that all required fields marked with asterisk (*) have been completed.
Back
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Thank you!

Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.