Blackstone Charitable Foundation Releases Third Annual Request for Proposals to Organizations Fostering Entrepreneurship and Job Growth
Blackstone Innovation Grants to Total $3 Million This Year
New York, July 23, 2014 – The Blackstone Charitable Foundation today announced the release of its third annual Request for Proposals for its Blackstone Innovation Grants, formerly known as Blackstone Organizational Grants. As part of the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, the program will direct $3 million to nonprofits that focus on entrepreneurship and innovation for the 2014-2015 grant cycle. This commitment doubles the $1.5 million awarded for last year’s cycle, which received proposals from more than five hundred organizations around the world.
The 2014-2015 grants will be directed toward organizations that strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems and support high growth entrepreneurs. Through these grants, the Blackstone Charitable Foundation will help eligible organizations pilot, expand, or replicate entrepreneurial projects and programs that will catalyze the growth of successful businesses, industries, and communities.
“Blackstone Innovation Grants leverages the resources of Blackstone to identify and support organizations that are doing some of the most exciting work in entrepreneurship across the country,” said Amy Stursberg, Executive Director of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation. “The future of the global economy depends on creating a vibrant entrepreneurial landscape, and we look forward to working with our nonprofit partners to assist the most innovative thinkers across the world.”
Past recipients include Venture for America, Tumml, and Launch Tennessee. Grants have also supported a national accelerator network based at Rice University, the expansion of the Aspen Institute’s Partners for a New Beginning program in the Middle East and North Africa, and a program at the University of California Hastings College of the Law that provides free legal support to technology entrepreneurs.
In an effort to encourage increased communication and collaboration between grant recipients, the Foundation has developed an online platform through which participating organizations connect with Blackstone, partner organizations, and each other to share best practices, methodologies and contacts.
Proposals must be submitted by Friday, October 3, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. EST. A committee of Blackstone employees will review the submitted proposals and submit their recommendations to the board of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation for final selection. Grants will be awarded in February of 2015.
This year’s RFP, criteria, and submission guidelines can be viewed at http://www.blackstone.com/foundation.
About The Blackstone Charitable Foundation
The Blackstone Charitable Foundation was founded at the time of The Blackstone Group’s Initial Public Offering in 2007 with substantial commitments from the Firm’s employees. Influenced by the enterprising heritage of the firm and its founders, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation is directing its resources and applying the intellectual capital of the firm to foster entrepreneurship in areas hardest hit by the global economic crisis. Through its investment expertise across several asset classes and geographies, Blackstone has a unique perspective on the global economy and a heightened understanding of how entrepreneurial activity is often the crucial catalyst in the growth of successful businesses, industries and communities. (For more information, see http://www.blackstone.com/citizenship/the-blackstone-charitable-foundation).
Contact:
Christine Anderson
Global Public Affairs
+ 1 212 583 5182
[email protected]