Social Venture Fund - Submit a Business Plan

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Submit a Plan

If you know of a social enterprise that meets the following criteria, they may submit an executive summary and business plan to svf-businessplans@umsocialventure.com by Friday, October 21st. All entrants will receive constructive written feedback within one month of the close date. If you have any questions please send an email to the address above. We look forward to seeing their innovative ideas!

Our Investment Criteria

Social Enterprise: The Social Venture Fund focuses exclusively on for-profit social enterprises, existing independently or within the legal structure of a pre-existing organization (LC3, 501c3, LLC, etc.)

Change Agent Entrepreneurs: We invest in inspiring leaders, both students and non-students, capable of assembling a world-class management team that shares their passion and commitment to the enterprise’s sustained social impact.

Alignment with Investment Areas: We invest in enterprise generating a profit and responding to critical challenges within Education, Food Systems & Environmental, Health, and Urban Revitalization.

Investment Amounts and Stage: We invest $50,000 – $250,000 in pre-revenue and post-revenue companies.

Location: We focus on businesses based in the US. The Urban Revitalization circle is particularly interested in plans for the Southeast Michigan/Detroit area.

Returns: We look at companies that can help us achieve a portfolio wide financial return equal to the 10 Year Treasury Bond and a blended social & financial return equal to that for traditional early stage investments.

The Social Venture Fund is currently in the process of raising funds and designing its investment criteria. In the meantime, we invite entrepreneurs, potential co-investors, and syndicate partners to write us at svfcontact@umich.edu.

Capacity Building

Our mission at SvF is not only to provide you with the capital to scale your enterprise, but also to provide you with technical assistance so they can achieve your desired impact. By tapping into the business acumen of fund members as well as the wider University of Michigan community, we can help you further develop your business models, organizational strength, and skill sets to either prepare you for investment and/or to ensure your success post-investment.

We are currently working with entrepreneurs at Hub Ventures in the Bay Area to further develop their businesses. Capacity building projects can take the form of semester consulting projects or summertime internships. If you feel that that could benefit from our capacity building program, please contact us at: capacitybuilding@umcosialventure.com.