AUDIO: Entrepreneurs Foundation encourages philanthropy from the first

SACRAMENTO
August 22, 2007 12:01am

Businesses just starting up may not think of how they can give back to the community, but developing that mindset from the first is the goal of Entrepreneurs Foundation of the Capital Region.

The Sacramento-based nonprofit is encouraging emerging growth companies to support their local communities by helping startups develop a corporate culture of giving something back, says Sharon Gerber, executive director.

“It’s been really interesting because as you watch emerging companies, they are so focused on development and fund-raising,” says Ms. Gerber.

“But they do want to have the social responsibility piece, but they don’t know how to go about doing it, they don’t have the time to do it. So through the Entrepreneurs Foundation we actually assist in that effort,” she says.

(Learn more about the foundation and about how venture capital is finding investors and Central Valley companies to take the money in today’s CVBT Audio Interview with Ms. Gerber and Peter Gardner, managing director of Wavepoint Ventures and a member of the foundation’s board. Please click on the link at the end of this article to listen or to download the audio file.)

“As a venture investor, we have the luxury of working with entrepreneurs that are so creative and filled with energy. The wonderful thing about Entrepreneurs Foundation is that it is an opportunity to direct some of that energy and creativity toward local community development,” says Peter Gardner, managing director of Wavepoint Ventures LLC and a member of the board of Entrepreneurs Foundation.

“You don’t have to be the size of Intel or Yahoo or Google to make an impact on your community,” Ms. Gerber says. “It really just takes one person with that desire to get out and get involved.”