NPower NY Wins Yale School of Management/Goldman Sachs Foundation Competition
Winning Proposal Addresses Technology Needs of Small Nonprofits
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Stephanie Hyacinth, Senior Manager of Development
Telephone: 212-564-7010 x204
Email: Hyacinth@NPowerNY.org
New York, NY, June 13, 2005
NPower NY was named as one of four grand prize winners in the National Business Plan Competition for Nonprofit Organizations sponsored by Yale School of Management – The Goldman Sachs Foundation Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures.
Nearly 500 nonprofit organizations from across the country entered business plans in the competition. NPower NY’s proposal focused on NPower Basic, an affordable package of hardware, software and technical support services for nonprofits, which is currently in the pilot stage. Central to the design of NPower Basic is its employment of graduates from its Technology Service Corps program (TSC). The Technology Service Corps program trains 18-25 year olds from low-income communities on a suite of technology and professional skills, provides “real world” work experience through its internship program and community-service events; and places graduates in the nonprofit sector as junior IT administrators. As a grand prize winner, NPower NY will receive a $100,000 cash prize, as well as business planning technical assistance, to further develop the NPower Basic service.
“We are truly delighted to be recognized by this prestigious business plan competition,” said Barbara Chang, NPower NY’s executive director, who led the team that conceived of NPower Basic and presented the concept in the final round. “We believe that NPower Basic will revolutionize the way small nonprofits address their technology needs. NPower Basic is a home run for all of us involved in this endeavor – foundations, alliance partners such as Microsoft and Cisco, Technology Service Corps graduates, small nonprofits and NPower NY.”
“NPower Basic provides a targeted technology solution focused on the expressed needs of our small nonprofit clients,” said Scott Morgan, Senior Manager of Services, who directs NPower Basic. “Our goal is to help nonprofits better manage their technology by offering them an IT “solution-in-a-box”– affordable hardware, software and support services. We are excited to deliver this service to the New York City nonprofit community.”
Stephanie Bell-Rose, President of The Goldman Sachs Foundation, noted, “We congratulate the winners of this year's Competition. Once again, the quality of the business plans presented was outstanding and we are confident that all of the participants will use this experience as a springboard to continued success.”
The winners were announced at The Partnership for Nonprofit Ventures’ Third Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony held at the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City, NJ. In addition to NPower NY, the other grand prize winners are EcoLogic Finance, First Book, and the Mission Fish (Points of Light Foundation). Caroline Center, Ecotrust, The Housing Partnership Network, and Wai’anae Community Re-Development Corporation were awarded $25,000 each as runners up.
Judges for the final round of the competition included : Cheryl Dorsey, M.D. of Echoing Green, Sam Forman of American Healthways, Inc., Rahul Mewawalla of Monitor Ventures, Douglas Rae of the Yale School of Management, Lynn Taliento of McKinsey & Company, Roderick von Lipsey of Goldman Sachs & Co. and Sheila Wellington from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Early support for the development of NPower Basic was provided by a generous contribution from The Starr Foundation.
About NPower NY
NPower NY is a nonprofit providing technology assistance to other nonprofits to help them accomplish their missions and expand and enhance their impact in the community. NPower NY launched in spring 2001 – and currently has more than 250 members. Its core supporters include Accenture, the Altman Foundation, The J.P . Morgan Chase Foundation, Microsoft, The Robin Hood Foundation, and the Starr Foundation. NPower NY offers a range of technology consulting and training services, as well as membership benefits such as free tech talks, specialized workshops, conferences, and volunteer assistance. NPower NY also operates a workforce development program, Technology Service Corps that trains New York City 18-25 year olds on a set of technology skills and then works with nonprofits to place graduates in organizations as junior information technologists. In 2004, NPower NY provided over 10,000 hours of consulting services to the New York City nonprofit community. NPower NY is part of NPower – a national network of locally-based nonprofits dedicated to providing accessible technology help that strengthens the work of other nonprofits. For more information please visit: www.NPowerNY.org.
NPower NY is a 2004 Ten Award Winner – an annual award given by the Executive Council of New York – recognizing the ten leaders in the greater New York business community who have most significantly impacted business innovation through technology.
About The Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures
The Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures was funded through combined grants totaling $6 million made by The Pew Charitable Trusts and The Goldman Sachs Foundation. The Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures educates nonprofits about nonprofit enterprise, serves as a mechanism for capitalizing promising profit-making ventures with financial support, and provides intellectual capital to build the practice of social entrepreneurship in the nonprofit sector at-large. The Partnership grew out of the partners’ growing concern that nonprofits increasingly find the need to enter the marketplace to generate new revenues beyond their philanthropic activities, and need guidance and resources to do so. For more information, visit the web site at http://www.ventures.yale.edu.
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