Despite leveraging learning from SVP's fast pitch events in LA, Dallas, and Phoenix, we still had a lot to learn in 2011.  The list of small operational improvements we're making is too long to bore you with.  But we did learn some important big things via surveys and direct feedback from innovators after the program conclusion last year, and from ongoing research we've been conducting recently.  Here are highlights of changes to the SIFP 2012 program:

We've done our best to make the application process and program as simple, clear, effective, and low-overhead as possible. We've undoubtedly missed a few things and have areas we can improve. Please give us feedback here. We will be improving the system in real time, so anything actionable that you submit could well make life easier for you, us, and other participants within hours or days of your feedback.

Thank you!

This year, SIFP is hosting four capacity-building workshops at Hub Seattle, open to all Seattle social innovators. We are asking all participants to spend 1-2 hours before each workshop in preparation for diving right into the subject matter during the workshop. Participants who do not come prepared will lack the full substance of each workshop. 

This year, SIFP is hosting four capacity-building workshops at Hub Seattle, open to all Seattle social innovators. We are asking all participants to spend 1-2 hours before each workshop in preparation for diving right into the subject matter during the workshop. Participants who do not come prepared will lack the full substance of each workshop. 

With #SocEnt Weekend —a “Startup Weekend” for social entrepreneurs— around the corner, SIFP investors decided it would be a good time to get the word out about our commitment to supporting for-profit social impact startups in 2012.  Based on the success and healthy competition we saw for our investment funds in last year’s SIFP program, we have created a similar investment fund for this year, SIFP Fund II, with an initial commitment of $100,000. 

This week I asked each of our two SIFP Fund I investees for a quick update on progress since receiving our investments in November.  Here's what they had to say:

I've been working with a number of other partners at SVP Seattle and SVP International to research and evaluate the viability of the SVP model, maybe including a Fast Pitch program as well, in Bangalore and other major cities in India.  I'll be travelling to India Decemer 6-19, meeting with leaders in nonprofit and philanthropic areas to learn more.

When we kicked off the SIFP program in May, none of us imagined we’d have 120 social innovators apply, nearly 100 people volunteer in various capacities, 700 people attend the fast pitch event to see 14 excellent innovators pitch, and that we would receive such overwhelmingly-positive feedback on the entire program from all .  But we did!  And we learned a ton, all of which will go into next year’s program and into our “i

Highdef videos of all fast pitches from the finalists are posted next to their awards on the home page, and/or on the Finalist listing page, here.

One of the key opportunities at Monday night's event is to grow your network. And with 600+ participants who are all interested in seeing more social innovation in the Puget Sound area, you've got an amazing, high-quality group of people to network with!

One way we are attempting to help in the "matchmaking" is with name tags.

All participants will have a name tag. You will select from one of three designations that best describes you: