Welcome to the first edition of REDF's newly-designed eNewsletter!

Extending a theme found on our redesigned website, the banner above reminds us of REDF's mission - to create job opportunities and pathways to employment for people facing the greatest barriers to work. We are pleased to share the following news and annoucements with you about how we are endeavoring to do just that.

When Is A Deal A Real Deal?

As part of REDF’s three-year strategy to put 1,000 people overcoming the greatest barriers to work in jobs, REDF is helping social enterprises in our “original” portfolio expand through new contracts and vendor relationships. Specifically, we are working with the following businesses:

• Ashbury Images – screen printing
• Industrial Maintenance Engineers – janitorial
• Rubicon Landscaping Services – landscaping

more »

Finding “Funding” Our Way Out

An interview with REDF’s Cynthia Gair on the first paper in the “Maze” series

Since early 2007, REDF has been engaged in a research and writing project funded by Aspen Institute’s Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy Program entitled “Stepping Out of the Maze: Aligning to Improve the Nonprofit Capital Market.” Designed to be a three-part series of publications, the first installment looks at the application of venture capital practices to philanthropy. With strategic co-funding as its theme, it explores the ubiquitous use of syndication in venture capital to aggregate resources for promising business ventures. The paper prescribes an analogous nonprofit sector strategy that focuses funders on the alignment of goals, the scale of resources required, and the metrics that will define an endeavor’s success. It suggests that philanthropic funders need to become fundraisers to increase the philanthropic “pie” and fully leverage their unique position in the nonprofit capital market.

With REDF ready to disseminate the first paper online later this month, and with work on the second article in the Maze series already underway, we sat down with Cynthia to talk about the progress she hopes to spur with her “out of the maze roadmap.” more »

 MBAs Help Social Enterprises Succeed

REDF’s Farber Program celebrates another successful summer

When Jessica Lopatka goes back to class this fall at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, her summer internship experience will likely be the only one to involve a rigorous market analysis of a sidewalk cleaning business. It is equally likely that Heeyoon Chang will be hard-pressed to find another MBA candidate at Wharton who spent his or her summer creating tools to optimize kitchen and food collection operations to improve the efficiency of meal preparation.

In fact, Heeyoon and Jessica’s experiences are not unique. For eleven years, REDF's Farber Program for MBAs has provided an intensive summer internship and leadership development experience for top-tier business school students. Generously supported by The Phalarope Foundation, the program provides hands-on experience working on strategic projects at REDF and within REDF’s portfolio of nonprofit social enterprises. These projects are of critical importance to the portfolio organizations and to REDF’s work to support the sustainable growth of their social enterprises. more »

REDF 2.0

Announcing REDF’s redesigned website and enhanced online presence

Supported by generous grants from the Woodcock Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation the new architecture, graphics, and text provide a significantly enhanced functionality and move us toward our aspiration of creating a greater sense of community among the global REDF community.

• On our new site: You can register to download and rate our publications and select the areas of our work that interest you the most
• You can view the new videos we produced about our unique approach and its impact on individuals who are overcoming the greatest barriers to work
• You can read the success stories of lives transformed by a job
• You can make a secure, online donation through our new partner, Groundspring.org

REDF has also recently launched homepages on social networking sites Facebook and YouTube. For those using these sites already, it is now easy for you to spread the word about REDF and our goal to put 1,000 people in jobs by the end of 2010. 

New REDF Team Members

Welcome David and Caroline!

We welcome David Derryck to REDF as our new Business Partnerships Manager. David will be launching REDF's For-Profit Jobs Program to place social enterprise employees in private sector employment, as well as providing some business assistance to the REDF portfolio. Prior to joining REDF, David spent three years as the Enterprise Director of Juma Ventures. At Juma, he led the development and subsequent national expansion of its social enterprise. David received his MBA from Columbia Business School and BA from Wesleyan University.

We also welcome Caroline Mullen as REDF’s new Development Associate. Caroline comes to REDF after recently completing the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs. As a Coro Fellow, Caroline completed projects related to development and philanthropy for the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and environmental sustainability for office supply company Give Something Back. Caroline graduated with a BA in History from Colorado College.