Earlier this month in New York, President Josie Heath and EFCO Executive Director Morgan McMillan – along with EFCO Advisory Board members Seth Levine and Nicole Glaros – were recognized for The Community Foundation’s initiative to help companies set aside early equity for their communities.
“The Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado is a network of entrepreneurs whose companies pledged to commit a portion of their early equity or annual profits to the community,” explains McMillan. “By creating a culture of corporate philanthropy early on, member companies integrate community support into their organizations and their communities.”
The global scalability of the EFCO model has been broadly recognized, inspiring Pledge 1% – a movement that fosters early stage corporate philanthropy. Pledge 1% aims to get 500 companies to join the movement by Giving Tuesday (Dec. 1, 2015) – since the East Coast launch event on May 4, the effort has already achieved half of its goal.
“EFCO and The Community Foundation are set up to facilitate the equity pledges of all companies who join Pledge 1%,” says McMillan. “We provide the infrastructure and the actionable steps for companies to make the 1-1-1 commitment [i.e., pledging 1% of a company’s equity, time and product].”
Put another way, EFCO will hold the equity of companies from all over the United States, and distribute the cash upon exit to any nonprofits of the participating companies’ choosing.
For time and product pledges, Pledge 1% partners with local nonprofits within member company regions. In Colorado, for example, EFCO benefits The Community Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, The Denver Foundation and dozens of local charities designated by its members.
“All EFCO members are automatically recognized by Pledge 1% because they’ve all pledged 1% of equity to their communities,” McMillan says.
The Community Foundation is the home of Pledge 1%. The Salesforce Foundation, Atlassian, Rally Software and EFCO are sponsors. In addition to The Community Foundation’s partnership with the Robin Hood Foundation, co-host of the May 4 event in New York, Pledge 1% has also held launch events in Austin as part of SXSW, and in Sydney, Australia.
Stay tuned for more information about Pledge 1%’s Colorado launch during Denver Startup Week, Sept. 28-Oct. 2, 2015.
On Feb. 24, 2015, Seth Levine of the Foundry Group – and a board member of EFCO – joined McMillan on KGNU’s “A Public Affair” to talk about the growth and evolution of EFCO and Pledge 1%. Listen to The Community Foundation’s KGNU podcast.
