Echoing Green

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For the electronic band, see The Echoing Green (band), for the poem see The Echoing Green

Echoing Green is a twenty year-old global nonprofit organization solely dedicated to early-stage social sector investing. Through a multi-year fellowship program, Echoing Green identifies extraordinary individuals with bold ideas for social change and provides them with the seed money and strategic support they need to launch new organizations. These social entrepreneurs and their organizations confront deeply-rooted social, economic, and political inequalities and work to ensure equal access to basic human and civil rights for all. From working to end chronic hunger among starving farmers in Kenya to developing the first school for urban Native American children, Echoing Green is an indispensable first-step to lasting social change.

[edit] Investment Strategy and Thought Leadership

Echoing Green was founded in 1987 by the leadership of General Atlantic, LLC, a private equity firm that is committed to using entrepreneurial practices to build a better world. Echoing Green believes that the same entrepreneurial spirit that has driven the U.S. economy can also foster new solutions to complex social problems all over the world. That is why Echoing Green takes risks on undiscovered leaders when others won’t. Less than two percent of all foundation support is available for seed funding, making Echoing Green a premier global organization that supports new organizations at their earliest stages.

In 2006, Echoing Green published its first book, Be Bold. Be Bold is a uniquely designed handbook for young people who want to create powerful careers in social change. Be Bold is accompanied by a content-rich website as well as a campaign of conferences, partnerships, and curriculum development.

[edit] Track Record

Since 1987, Echoing Green has invested nearly $25 million to help 400 visionary leaders spark positive change in 30 countries. Echoing Green has helped to launch model organizations working in education, youth development, health care, housing, environmental justice, human and civil rights, economic and social justice, the arts, and immigration. A recent study found that Echoing Green Fellows’ organizations have raised close to $1 billion in additional funding, delivering a return on investment (ROI) of approximately 44 times Echoing Green’s seed funding. Echoing Green helps fellows raise more money, more quickly than their peers: 46 percent of fellows’ organizations have budgets over $100,000 by year two, while only 20 percent of peer organizations reach that mark. Seventy-seven percent of organizations launched by Echoing Green Fellows are still in existence and 85 percent of Echoing Green Fellows stay in leadership positions in the social sector.

Echoing Green is behind many award-winning effective nonprofits, such as Teach For America, City Year, College Summit, and Mental Disability Rights International, among many others.