Blackstone Charitable Foundation Announces Second Annual Request for Proposals to Entrepreneurial Organizations
$1.5 Million Awarded This Year
New York, July 9, 2013. The Blackstone Charitable Foundation today announced that it is releasing its second Request for Proposal (RFP) targeting organizations that focus on entrepreneurship and innovation, as part of the Blackstone Organizational Grants Program. The same commitment last year drew proposals from nearly one hundred organizations around the world, of which the top nine were selected to receive an aggregate of $1 million in grants. This year, $1 million will be awarded to additional organizations, with another $500,000 designated to organizations previously awarded Blackstone Organizational Grants.
Through these grants, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation will help eligible organizations pilot, expand, or replicate entrepreneurial projects or programs that will catalyze the growth of successful businesses, industries, and communities. This program was launched in coordination with the Blackstone Charitable Foundation’s $50 million, five-year Entrepreneurship Initiative.
“The goal of the RFP is to identify innovative organizations and programs that directly support entrepreneurs and offer them the opportunity to test and measure their programs and ideas,” said Amy Stursberg, Executive Director of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation. “The economic future of the global economy is in the hands of entrepreneurs and we are looking to work with strong non-profit partners that support entrepreneurs and help them on a path toward innovation and discovery.”
Each year, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation makes a series of targeted grants to entrepreneurial organizations that spread the ideals of entrepreneurship and benefit local communities as part of the Blackstone Organizational Grants program. In coordination with its regional efforts to spur entrepreneurship around the country and the world, the Foundation is creating a national network in which the participating organizations can share best practices, methodologies and contacts, and are connected with Blackstone’s intellectual capital and resources.
The 2014 grants will be directed towards organizations that promote entrepreneurship through education or advance high-growth initiatives. Organizations will have until Friday, October 4th at 5pm EDT to respond to the RFP. A committee of Blackstone employees will review the submitted proposals and submit their recommendations to the board of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation for final selection. Grants will be awarded between January and February of 2014.
This year’s RFP and criteria can be viewed at http://www.blackstone.com/foundation.
A list of last year’s awarded grants can be found at https://www.blackstone.com/our-impact/blackstone-charitable-foundation.
About the Blackstone Charitable Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Initiative
Funding for this program is made possible through The Blackstone Charitable Foundation’s $50 million, five-year Entrepreneurship Initiative announced in April 2010. Influenced by the urgent need for job growth in the United States, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation seeks to support innovative projects and catalytic ideas that can accelerate start-ups, job growth, and economic activity. The Foundation focuses its resources on producing large-scale results in geographies hardest hit by the global economic crisis.
About The Blackstone Charitable Foundation
The Blackstone Charitable Foundation was founded at the time of The Blackstone Group’s Initial Public Offering in 2007 with substantial commitments from the Firm’s employees. Influenced by the enterprising heritage of the firm and its founders, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation is directing its resources and applying the intellectual capital of the firm to foster entrepreneurship in areas hardest hit by the global economic crisis. Through its investment expertise across several asset classes and geographies, Blackstone has a unique perspective on the global economy and a heightened understanding of how entrepreneurial activity is often the crucial catalyst in the growth of successful businesses, industries and communities. (For more information, see https://www.blackstone.com/our-impact/blackstone-charitable-foundation.)
Contacts:
Questions related to the RFP should be submitted to [email protected].
Media inquiries:
Oriane Schwartzman
Blackstone
+1 212 390 2250
[email protected]