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Echoing Green Foundation

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The Foundation Center

PHILANTHROPY NEWS DIGEST
Vol. 5, Issue 46
November 16, 1999

Site:
echoing green foundation

URL:
http://www.echoinggreen.org/

Mission:
To find, attract, and invest in emerging public service leaders who plan to start up and lead innovative, replicable, and sustainable projects and organizations that will effect positive social change; and to add value to the work of those leaders by providing and making available support and resources and by building a community of public service leaders committed to sharing their experience, knowledge, and energy.

Purpose of Site:
To disseminate information about echoing green to a wider audience and to introduce the public to the work of some some 200 foundation Fellows.

Offices:
198 Madison Avenue, 8th floor
New York, NY 10016
Phone: (212) 689-1165
Fax: (212) 689-9010
E-mail: general@echoinggreen.org

Founder:
Ed Cohen

Foundation Description:
Founded in 1990 by venture capitalist Ed Cohen and a group of investors, echoing green seeks to bring "a venture capital perspective" to public service work. It accomplishes this goal by seeking out "social entrepreneurs" — innovative risk takers with a passion for building something to effect social change — and providing them with support in the form of a two-year $60,000 stipend and access to a network of present and former echoing green fellows. Support for new projects is provided through a variety of channels, including the Internet, site visits, conferences, and informal contacts, and covers a range of areas, including but not limited to strategic planning and organizational development, financial planning, staff and board development, and legal and accounting practices.

In its nine years of existence, the foundation has supported the work of more than 300 individuals working to make a difference in 28 countries on five continents. The common thread running through all these projects is that they bring "the artist's perspective to social change work, sometimes in ways that are obvious, but often with some subtlety...."

Home Page:
A splash screen featuring a handsome green mandala leads to a simple earth-toned home page with links to the main areas of the site — About Echoing Green, Becoming a Fellow, News and Events, the Resource Center, the Green Room (public forums and a members-only extranet), and What's New.

Outstanding Feature:
The Meet the Fellows area of the site introduces the public to more than 200 echoing green fellows and their work. Visitors to the site can browse the profiles of different fellows, or search the online fellows database by project name, subject area, geographic focus, or population served. They can also download a PDF file containing the names, projects, profiles, mailing addresses, and e-mail addresses of echoing green fellows going back to 1995.

Honorable Mentions:
The site's Resource Center offers a nice collection of lesson, tips, and tools from former and present fellows on a range of subjects, including organizational development, attracting resources, finance and accounting, public relations, using technology, working with communities, and people development.

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