Sparkseed and CSRwire, the Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire, have partnered to advance each other's efforts.  CSRwire will provide pro-bono training and PR services for Sparkseed innovators, and Sparkseed will help increase exposure for CSRwire.

Lask week on December 1, Sparkseed launched its annual Sparkseed Social Innovation Competition for young budding college social entrepreneurs.  The first entry deadline is February 7, 2010, then ten student-led ventures will be chosen on April 1, 2010 to receive seed money, skills training, professional services, mentoring, and networking opportunities to help them launch their ventures.  CSRwire will be offering tools and exposure that will help the students succeed in their pro-social ventures that will help the students ssucceed in their pro-social ventures.  Students with the next world-changing ideas are invited to apply at www.sparkseed.org/competition.

About CSRwire

The Northwestern Sustainability Fund, one of Sparkseed's 2009 ventures, is co-sponsoring the Greek Green Cup at Northwestern University.  Led by Anthony Valente, a junior at Northwestern, NSF is promoting environmental sustainability on campus through events like the Greek Green Cup.

Northwestern's fraternities and sororities will compete for the Greek Green Cup, which is awarded to the fraternity and sorority that reduces its water and energy consumption per person the most during a 4-6 week period.  The winning fraternity and sorority will receive a monetary prize estimated between $300-$1000.  50% of the prize will be reinvested into a sustainability project, such as purchasing CFLs or smart power strips, within both the fraternity's and sorority's house.  Judging will primarily be focused upon the water and energy consumption reduction.  A Green Points System will also award houses' adoption of sustainability initiatives such as recycling and green purchasing.

Matt Severson, founder of The School Fund and a Sparkseed innovator, recently returned from a trip to Tanzania.  Through a unique person-to-person funding website, The School Fund aims to connect individuals around the world to students in Tanzania in need of financial assistance, thereby allowing these students to continue going to school.

Sparkseed is excited to announce that it has been awarded a Special Opportunity Grant from The Mitchell Kapor Foundation to support its social innovator program. Sparkseed was nominated by its board member Pamela Hawley, the CEO and Founder of UniversalGiving. It won the grant for fulfilling the beliefs and vision of the Kapor Foundation’s history of innovation and working for justice.

The Mitchell Kapor Foundation is a private foundation with the mission to ensure fairness and equity, especially in low-income communities of color. They support organizations and activism which illuminate and mitigate the conditions and dynamics of inequality. Sparkseed is honored to be recognized by The Mitchell Kapor Foundation, which embodies the vision and passion of its accomplished founders, Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein.