Congratulations to PSVP partners Todd Palcic and Donnie Wagner. Each was featured in Pop City, in articles on their respective business ventures.

“We think we can fill a need and we are willing to take equity instead of cash,” Palcic explains. “There are so many companies coming out who are benefitting from PLSG, the Tech Council, Innovation Works and all of the fantastic local resources. This has been a great place to start a company, but not to grow a company to the next level. Look at ModCloth and Lockerz.”
Global Growth Partners’s Todd Palcic has global plans for tech startups

“What is exciting is that we have a contract and the precedent is set to develop products for other commercial personal electronic devices,” says Wagner. “We see this as an opportunity for electronic devices that are handled constantly to have the Biosafe features.”
Biosafe’s antimicrobial treatment for Intel keyboards goes worldwide, hiring

We now have a lock for our Fall Pitch… October 13.

The event will be in the conference center at Children’s Hospital and will start at 6pm.

Children’s Hospital, in Lawerencevillle, has been recognized as America’s 7th most beautiful hospital.

Get Smart at the Allegheny County Jail
Thursday, August 5
Start time: 6:00 PM
All attending should plan to arrive around 5:30
Advance Registration Required!

The event will include a presentation by the warden, followed by a guided tour of the family waiting area, the contact visiting room, the re-entry center, and the non-contact visiting area.

The event will conclude with a presentation by a young woman whose father was incarcerated several times throughout her childhood. She will share stories about how having an incarcerated parent affected her life.

After the program everyone will depart for some beer & schnitzel (tentatively at Hofbräuhaus).

For security and planning reasons, a list of names of people who will be attending needs to be complied and sent to the warden’s assistant no later than one week prior to the event (July 29).  So, this is an event you need to register for in advance!

Click here to register online.

If you are one of the service providers across Allegheny County helping to directly or indirectly address the needs of the 7,000 children that currently have a parent in jail or prison, this announcement is for you.

PSVP partners and invited guests will determine award benefits (direct assistance and funding) at the Fall Pitch event on October 6, 2010 October 13, 2010.

If you are a nonprofit service provider that impacts children of incarcerated parents, you may be a candidate for collaboration with PSVP. The deadline for application is August 15, 2010.

Get more information and apply online or download a printable application form on the PSVP website.

Angels’ Place, Inc. is a total family development program for single, low-income, full-time student parents and their children.

Since 1984, they have provided these services at no cost to families enrolled: early childhood education, parenting classes, career exploration, tutoring, counseling, referrals and assistance with practical needs such as food, clothing and nursery supplies.  Their goal is to enable student parents to complete their education, secure lucrative employment and become independent, successful members of our community.

In addition to the 12,500 in unrestricted funds from PSVP, Angels’ Place will receive professional consulting from our team of partners.

Please watch for details for our next investment events — our Fall Pitch (open to programs dealing with kids in the Juvenile Justice system), scheduled for October 2010, and our Fast Pitch (open to any non-profit in Allegheny County who works with at-risk youth), scheduled for January 2011.  Details on both events will be added to the website as the events draw closer.  Please contact us at info@psvp.org for more information.

Pop City has kindly published an article about PSVP’s inaugural Spring Pitch. Tonight, representatives from two early childhood education organizations, Angel’s Place and the Early Learning Institute, will present to around 50 members and guests at the Allegheny HYP Club.

The new model of PSVP has already begun with the preparation for our Spring Pitch, but tonight it officially begins.

You are cordially invited to join Pittsburgh Social Venture Partners for our
2010 SPRING PITCH
Presented by D.B. Root & Company

Please help us give away $15,000 to two innovative, risk-taking organizations serving at risk kids in Allegheny County.

Partners and guests will learn about two great organizations, making a huge difference in the field of early childhood learning, specifically for the 0-3 age-group. A panel of experts from the field will question the organizations, giving us further insight into the field and the organizations themselves.

Then comes the fun part… After the presentations, we will cast our votes awarding professional time and money to our 2010 Spring Investee…. Total package – PRICELESS! The winner will be announced at the conclusion of the evening.

This is an event you won’t want to miss!

April 28, 2010
6pm-9pm
Harvard Yale Princeton Club
619 William Penn Place
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Cocktails and a light dinner will be served.

$25 PSVP Partners
$35 PSVP Guests

$100 Table for 4*
$150 Table for 6*

* Price for tables applies to PSVP Partners and PSVP Guests.

Thanks to D.B. Root & Company for sponsoring this event.

PSVP got a whole lot more than we bargained for when we retained Linda Miller Krynski as our “Deal Flow Coordinator” for our first Spring Pitch event.

Linda, the star former director of the acclaimed PACE school has dug through the community and found a dozen top quality, innovative programs in early childhood education ages 0-3 who have been invited to submit proposals.  She is also managing our partner lead selection committee and our group coaches to prepare the finalists for the Spring Pitch.

PSVP partner Jia Ji sends us some information on social ventures in which he’s involved:

As some of you might know, my latest startup was accepted for GoodCompany Ventures last summer (http://www.goodcompanyventures.org/companies/couchange/) and this year’s program will start accepting applications soon. If you know anyone working on a socially-beneficial startup, I would strongly recommend considering the program. As far as I know, it’s still the only y-combinator style incubator focused on social entrepreneurs.

GoodCompany Ventures is organizing a series of events about the “public service potential of private capital” in various cities over the next few months. I’m back the US for a few weeks, and had the chance to speak at their first event in New York City (http://gcvpanel.eventbrite.com/ ). Here’s a recap of my experience: http://www.goodcompanyventures.org/recap-of-nyc-launch/. Pictures are also up, but no video yet. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly they were able to sellout the event, but that’s probably due to high-profile speakers such as Fred Wilson and Jacqueline Novogratz. Given the success of similar events in Pittsburgh like “Solutions for Society”, I think there’s potential in bringing a GCV event to the city, so if there’s interest in hosting such an event, please let me know.

Finally, since people have sent me questions about social ventures in China, I’d like to point out Chengdu MeiHuan Tech (http://www.huania.com <http://www.huania.com/> ) as a good example of a Chinese social venture. Founded just after the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, they provide low cost earthquake alarms to schools and are developing earthquake prediction technology that can be utilized worldwide. Unfortunately, since VCs are relatively rare in central China (as compared to coastal cities) and social VCs basically non-existent, examples like MeiHuan Tech are actually pretty rare. Which is why I’ve been exploring the feasibility of running y-combinator and GoodCompany style incubator programs in various cities throughout China. If you’re interested in more specific details rather than this brief overview, I’ll be presenting my findings as I travel throughout the northeastern US over the next few weeks, so just send me an email about it.

Finally, I’m in Pittsburgh now and will be giving a public talk tomorrow about “Charity Fundraising in Social Games.” Just posted about it (along with brief summaries of my previous talks) at http://edeify.com/2010/03/24/2009-reviewed/.

Two oldies but real goodies rejoined PSVP as partners – Former PSVP Chairs and founding members of the emeritus program, Marion Lewis and Jeanette Thomas! Marion and Jeanette have been fantastic partners in the past and we are lucky to have them back.

Expect a few more oldies but goodies and a few newbie’s to join soon.