Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado Exceeds Expectations

When we started the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado (EFCo – http://www.efcolorado.org) at the beginning of 2007, our goal was to recruit a strong base of initial companies to form the core of a unique organization that could help all entrepreneurs contribute early in the creation of their companies to the long term health and sustainability of Colorado.

Our initial efforts have far exceeded our expectations. As of the end of the third quarter of 2007, we officially have 14 companies as members of EFCo, nine of which have been formally announced. We started with five initial founding members – Collective Intellect, Me.dium, NewsGator, Rally Software, and Tendril – and have added additional companies including ClickCaster, Lijit, Solidware, and TechStars. All of these companies consist of forward thinking entrepreneurs on the Colorado Front Range who are fully engaging their organizations in philanthropy at an early point in their lives.

Our initial goal was to have 2007 be the year where we introduced the program. We’ve been delighted with the response from the entrepreneurial community and now aspire to rapidly expand the program over the next 12 months. The involvement of The Community Foundation has been hugely helpful, as they have helped us both launch EFCo and have provided much of the early administrative activity associated with the management of the various gifts.

An organization like EFCo is an investment – we will spent the first ten years building up our initial equity via contributions from our member companies – with the goal of beginning to harvest them as the companies mature and have successful exits. Like any entrepreneurial investment portfolio, some companies will provide meaningful returns while others will not, but everyone will be winners in the process.

Brad Feld, Foundry Group and co-founder of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado