AUSTIN, Texas, May 20, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Mayor Steve Adler kicked off the Entrepreneurs Foundation's (EF) 20th year celebration, saying "the Entrepreneurs Foundation has long been at the forefront of engaging technology entrepreneurs and their companies in Austin. We are a better city because of EF and their member organizations' commitment to building high performing cultures enriched by civic and philanthropic contributions."
During its 20 years, the Entrepreneurs Foundation has raised over $17.5mm for nonprofits, community initiatives and youth entrepreneurship, including hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours from member companies. EF has raised nearly $2.5mm for disaster recovery initiatives including Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti Earthquake, the Philippines Tsunami and Hurricane Harvey. In addition to monetary grants, EF underwrote Huston Tillotson's 2001 strategic plan, helped the Chestnut neighborhood submit the first East Austin neighborhood plan, and underwrote a two-year capacity building initiative for Central Texas breast cancer support organizations.
Bill Bock (the Entrepreneurs Foundation's current & founding chair) and Eugene Sepulveda (EF CEO) recognized past executive directors: Paula Fracasso, Elaine Wetmore and former City of Austin council-member Randi Shade, as well as EF's other founders Paul Hurdlow, Libby Malone, John Thornton and Lynn Skinner.
EF CEO Eugene Sepulveda said, "Bill Bock and Libby Malone had the vision, and together with John Thornton and Paul Hurdlow and the enthusiastic support of Austin Ventures they created the Entrepreneurs Foundation. 321 entrepreneurs have set aside stock for nonprofit grants, generating over $6mm to date with another 70 companies' stock in the bank."
"Joe Liemandt had the vision to launch youth entrepreneurship programs in Central Texas. Through the Entrepreneurs Foundation he underwrote 95,000 kids participating in our youth entrepreneurship & design thinking programs. They earned over $1.7 million."
The Entrepreneurs Foundation celebrated its 20 years, hosted by Blackbaud, by recognizing the member companies who contributed the most to Austin during the previous year. Winners (and finalists) of the Entrepreneurs Foundation Impact Awards are: Large Employer: Silicon Labs (WP Engine), Medium Employer: uShip (Adlucent & Vida Capital), Small Employer: JDI (Panacea Collective). Each winner and finalist contributed an impressive number of volunteers, volunteer hours and dollars to Austin-based nonprofits during the last year.
Today also kicked off the Entrepreneurs Foundation's Spring Service Week, Water As A Fragile Resource in Central Texas. Dr. Robert Mace, Interim Executive Director and the Chief Water Policy Officer at The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment presented on the challenges facing Central Texas. According to Dr. Mace, "Over the next 20 to 30 years, water will be a key issue for Central Texas: Not enough and too much. The bad news is that our rapidly growing population and changing climate will stress our water resources. The good news is that innovative thinking and a renewed appreciation for water can solve our supply problems. By the way, cats are more water efficient than dogs. Just sayin'!"
During Spring Service Week, the Entrepreneurs Foundation, Blackbaud, Kasasa and 20 member companies are partnering with local nonprofits to provide opportunities for volunteers to engage directly with our water ecosystem.
Nonprofit partners include the Lower Colorado River Authority, Colorado River Alliance, Austin Parks Foundation, Austin Youth River Watch, The Trail Foundation, The Barton Springs Conservancy, and Well Aware.
About the Entrepreneurs Foundation
The Entrepreneurs Foundation was founded in 1999 by entrepreneurs, venture capitalists & friends to promote philanthropy & community involvement among Austin's entrepreneurs and the high tech startup community. Our mission has expanded to also help entrepreneurs build corporate cultures & employee engagement that contribute to success and to support Capital Factory's community and philanthropic initiatives. http://www.Entrepreneursfoundation.org
About Blackbaud
Blackbaud is the world's leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, foundations, corporations, education institutions, healthcare institutions and individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through software, services, expertise, and data intelligence. Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina and has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit http://www.blackbaud.com.
About Kasasa
Kasasa is an award-winning financial technology and marketing services company that provides reward checking accounts consumers love, the first ever loan with take-backs™, and ongoing expert consulting services to community financial institutions. For more information, visit http://www.kasasa.com.
About Culturati
Culturati, a program of the Entrepreneurs Foundation, is a community of CEOs, entrepreneurs, investors and other c-suite leaders from around the country who practice & study culture building and share their playbooks on how culture impacts performance & success in their companies and their communities. They share information online, Culturati Magazine, with their book, The Culture Book V1: When Culture Clicks, and at Culturati Connect events hosted across the country - New York, Los Angeles, Austin, San Francisco, Columbus & Dallas. Once a year members come together for the Culturati Summit hosted in Austin. http://www.CulturatiSummit.com
SOURCE Entrepreneurs Foundation
Share this article