PITTSBURGH, June 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- UpPrize, the
BNY Mellon Social Innovation Challenge, has selected eight
finalists, who will pitch their ideas to a panel of
nationally-recognized judges for an opportunity to win $800,000 in a competition that will ultimately
award $1 million in grants,
investments and technical assistance as part of BNY Mellon's
strategic effort to address critical community and societal issues.
UpPrize is a unique partnership between BNY Mellon, the BNY Mellon
Foundation of Southwestern
Pennsylvania and The Forbes Funds.
The public is invited to attend the UpPrize finale event,
Friday, July 31 at the New Hazlett
Theater where the finalists will pitch their ideas. The UpPrize
winners will be announced live, on site. For more information and
to register, visit www.upprize.org/final-event/.
"UpPrize, our social innovation challenge, is designed to
harness the creativity and passion of local innovators to address
the most pressing issues in the nonprofit community by providing
innovative financing and support that delivers both social and
financial returns," said Kenya
Boswell, president, BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern
PA. "This hybrid approach to community investment and innovation
enables us to support creative and impactful solutions for
nonprofits that address pressing societal challenges."
"Beyond the direct support provided to its local communities,
BNY Mellon has a long history of collaborating with nonprofits and
philanthropic organizations to advance innovative approaches that
deliver positive change," said Ian
Stewart, chairman, BNY Mellon of Pennsylvania. "UpPrize exemplifies and
spotlights the deep well of innovation, creativity and
collaboration in the Pittsburgh
region."
"By combining the efforts of entrepreneurs and nonprofits, as in
UpPrize, we will be better able to meet the needs of our
community," said Kate Dewey,
president, The Forbes Funds. "The UpPrize finalists are tackling
important problems including hunger, accessibility, human
trafficking, and health, and creating products to improve how
nonprofits service and enhance the quality of life for their
clients."
These eight UpPrize finalists represent for-profit companies
that are working to address a social challenge:
Application Verification: Led by John R. Gregg, Application Verification has
years of experience expediting and simplifying the employment
screening process for a wide variety of employers. PA Act 153
ProVerify aims to streamline the volunteer screening process for
nonprofits and their volunteers as they comply with stricter
requirements established by the recently-passed Pennsylvania Act
153. Video: https://vimeo.com/124853847
Conversant Labs: Led by Chris
Maury, an entrepreneur who founded the company when he
received a diagnosis of a degenerative eye disease, Conversant
seeks to dramatically improve the quality of life for the visually
impaired. The company's voice-enabled applications provide consumer
quality access to modern technologies for everyone. Video:
http://youtu.be/7iHFXzluRoI
Five Star Development: Led by Dave Colaizzi and Lou
Camerlengo, Five Star has been creating low-cost, high-value
software tools since the '90s. Their Online Intake and Referral
Tool provides area nonprofits with a personalized system for client
intake and service orientation, with a view to saving significant
staff time and organizational resources. Video:
https://youtu.be/tR9KmWxN6NM
Marinus Analytics: Led by Carnegie
Mellon University alumna Emily
Kennedy, Marinus Analytics creates investigative
machine-learning based software designed to enable nonprofit
victims' services organizations, criminal intelligence centers, and
law enforcement agencies to find and prevent instances of human
trafficking. What began as the founder's thesis project has grown
into a popular service used in cities across North America. Video:
https://youtu.be/ITjSPd6peTc
PathVu: When local entrepreneur Eric Sinagra saw the difficulty his brother
faced navigating Pittsburgh's
sidewalks using a wheelchair, he brought together a team to do
something about it. PathVu combines their proprietary
high-resolution data collection hardware with the power of
crowdsourcing to create a system designed to identify a safe path
for everyone. Video: https://youtu.be/HpdODKKSaFQ
PHRQL and CHS Food Pantry: A local start-up and nonprofit
have partnered to improve quality of life and reduce healthcare
costs for at-risk populations by improving diet and nutrition
through food access, technology, and coaching. Spearheaded by
Paul Sandberg of PHRQL and
Trevor Smith of Community Human
Services, this partnership brings PHRQL's proven technology to
those who need it most. Video: https://vimeo.com/125057571
Reuse Retail: Led by Tad
Hale, Reuse Retail seeks to increase reuse and surplus
distribution of nonstandard or donated goods. Developed with
Construction Junction, the unique tool facilitates the acquisition,
management, and distribution of reusable but nonstandard goods,
with a view to expediting daily activities for a variety of service
organizations. Video: https://vimeo.com/124854435
Treatspace, Inc.: Founded by Rick
Cancelliere in 2012, Treatspace uses new technology to
address the staggering 70 percent of healthcare referrals ignored
by patients. The company's relationship management software allows
primary care providers to send electronic referrals directly to the
specialists their patients need to see and reviews patient
feedback, with the goal of ensuring better health
outcomes. Video: https://youtu.be/-Eb3suoM6ZI
Sponsored by the BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania and conducted with
The Forbes Funds, UpPrize links the private sector with the
Pittsburgh region's nonprofits for
the purpose of identifying break-through innovations to address
critical needs and service gaps, while also producing meaningful
and measurable financial benefits. Researched with the assistance
of more than 100 local nonprofit organizations, UpPrize connects
innovators to a market of service providers that are hungry for
innovation with a positive social impact. The 2015 UpPrize received
more than 100 applications from talented Pittsburgh-area entrepreneurs. Leading up to
the selection of the eight finalists, 20 semi-finalists met with
the Challenge's judges and advisers for in-person interviews.
UpPrize judges represent local and national leaders from a variety
of sectors, including nonprofit, for-profit, government, and the
investment community.
BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping
its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout
the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for
institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon
delivers informed investment management and investment services in
35 countries and more than 100 markets. As of March 31, 2015, BNY Mellon had $28.5 trillion in assets under custody and/or
administration, and $1.7 trillion in
assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of
contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage,
service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the
corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:
BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com, or
follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon.
BNY Mellon offers a wide range of products and services that
help mainstream investors meet their return/risk goals while
considering the environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact
of their investments. Learn more about social finance at BNY
Mellon, here.
The Forbes Funds builds the management capacity and impact of
community-based nonprofits individually and collectively. A
supporting organization of the Pittsburgh Foundation, The Forbes
Funds has more than 30 years of experience in providing technical
assistance, research, and leadership to advance a more effective
and sustainable nonprofit sector. Additional information is
available at forbesfunds.org, or on Twitter @theforbesfunds and
@UpPrize.
Contacts:
Lane Cigna
+1 412 234 0575
lane.cigna@bnymellon.com
Rebecca Young
+1 412 394 2616
young@forbesfunds.org
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SOURCE BNY Mellon