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. 

Last fall, the SIFP Fund invested $50,000 each in two of the for-profit finalists in SVP’s SIFP competition.  We had initially planned on only a $75k fund, but had more investment interest than we expected and were able to close SIFP Fund I at $100k.  This year, we’re starting at $100k, and are hoping to attract even more interest from both established and new social impact investors in our community.  For details on last year’s program which provides a good outline of how things will work this year, click here.  

While it has been under 6 months since we closed the investments last year, we’ve been pleased to see progress achieved by our investees, FindProz and Food N’ Me.   FindProz.com is an online microenterprise that enables anyone to turn their talents into a profitable training, consulting, or services business.  Food N’ Me is a revolutionary series of integrated apps and games, delivered on mobile devices, offering families personalized nutrition.  Fun for children, and easy for parents. For more updated info on these social impact businesses, see my blog post here.


I look forward to being one of the judges at #SocEnt Weekend and would like to extend an invitation to join me in watching the pitches this coming Sunday Feb 26th at 5:15 PM at Hub Seattle (310 First Ave South), where one of the winners will have automatic entry to SIFP quarterfinals.  We’ll have more to say about the overall SIFP program and SIFP Fund II after then.

Will