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