A movement to inspire companies to give back to their communities, which started in Boulder County, is now spreading worldwide.
On Feb. 24, 2015 Morgan McMillan, the director of The Community Foundation’s Boulder County Civic Forum and executive director of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, discussed this movement with Seth Levine of the local investment firm Foundry Group. Levine, one of the founding board members of EFCO, joined McMillan on KGNU’s “A Public Affair” to talk about the growth and evolution of EFCO and Pledge 1%.
Companies that participate with EFCO pledge a portion of their early stage equity to community philanthropy. When they are acquired or go public, each company directly supports good works in the very communities where they have found success. Member company Rally Software Development Corp.’s initial public offering resulted in a $1.4 million gift of stock to nonprofits. When Twitter acquired Boulder-based Gnip last year, its early pledge became a more than $587,000 gift, mostly to The Community Foundation’s Community Trust.
Pledge 1% was launched last year by EFCO to broaden its appeal, going beyond predominantly technology startups and their traditional exits. It connects companies’ success to philanthropy in their own communities all over the world.
Pledge 1% encourages companies to pledge equity, but also volunteer time or products — or all of the above.
Levine talked about how the community here nurtures the notion of local support.
“Boulder is unique…in that there is an intimate relationship between the community and work,” he said. He explained that the company pledges are a great way to get younger people directly involved with local philanthropy. Instead of a stereotypical model where entrepreneurs grow their businesses, become successful, and then become philanthropists later on in life, this directly connects young companies and all of their employees with their communities right away.
“They’re putting a stake in the ground for their community,” he said.
For more information, visit https://pledge1colorado.org/. To listen The Community Foundation’s KGNU podcasts on this or previous topics, go to the Radio Show.
