Young firms urged to give helping hand
Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News
Published February 27, 2007 at midnight
Movers and shakers in Colorado's entrepreneurial community are launching a foundation to spur entrepreneurs to give to charity early on - rather than waiting until they've made their fortunes.
The new Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado will encourage local start-up companies to donate a stake in the business to the foundation.
The target amount is 1 percent of a company's equity, once it has received a significant infusion of outside investment.
If the company ultimately is sold or sells stock to the public, the foundation would cash in its holdings and distribute the proceeds to charitable causes. Companies would recommend where the money should go.
Five upstart technology companies - Collective Intellect, Me.dium, NewsGator Technologies, Rally Software, and Tendril - are initial participants.
"The spirit is to engage the whole company in the philanthropic activity," said Colorado venture capitalist Brad Feld, a co-founder of the new foundation.
He said waiting until a company is sold or goes public often is "ineffective" and that entrepreneurs by then get "besieged" with calls for charitable giving.
"We decided to take a different approach and create a new program to help all entrepreneurs contribute early on in the creation of their companies and support the many things we all love about living in Colorado."
The new foundation is modeled after similar entrepreneurs foundations in California and elsewhere.
The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County will administer the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado.
"We're betting that these folks who've had success in the past will have success in the future," said Josie Heath, president of the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County. "If they do well, we do well."
Heath's foundation also is partnering with the Denver Foundation and the Rose Community Foundation. Backers ultimately hope to work with community foundations across the state.
fillionr@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2467
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