Echoing Green Announces 2012 Social Entrepreneur Fellowship Program

Echoing Green will award twelve to twenty two-year fellowships to social entrepreneurs around the world in 2012. The fellowships provide start-up capital and technical assistance to help new leaders launch social enterprises and build the capacity of their social enterprise.

The program seeks individuals or partnerships (organizations led by two people) with innovative solutions to significant social problems, strategies designed to create high-impact and sustainable change in people’s lives, and the ability to grow and lead a new organization.

The application process is open to citizens of all nationalities working in any country. Applicants must be fluent enough in English to participate in interviews and Echoing Green events, and must be 18 years of age or older.

Organizations seeking support must be the original idea of the applicant and must be independent, autonomous, and in a start-up phase, which means the applicant may have been running the organization full-time for up to two years, with Echoing Green’s financial support constituting its major/primary early funding. Applicants who have only worked on their organization on a part-time basis or have yet to start an organization are generally considered eligible. Applicants must make a full-time commitment to their organization’s development for the full two years of the fellowship.

Fellows receive up to $80,000 ($90,000 for partnerships of two people) in seed funding over two years as well as other benefits and technical assistance.

Visit the Echoing Green Web site for complete eligibility information, application materials, and profiles of previous fellows and their projects:

http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellowship