William James Foundation Socially Responsible Business Plan Competition

The William James Foundation seeks to identify, support, and reward the best new ideas in sustainable business. We primarily do this through our Socially Responsible Business Plan Competition. If you're launching a for-profit organization that has integrated social and/or environmental sustainability into how you do business, we encourage you to enter our competition. This is how it works:

1. You have an idea for a for-profit business with a defined social or environmental goal that has either not yet launched, or is less than two years from first revenue. Examples of companies we have worked with in the past are listed at: www.williamjamesfoundation.org/entrants

2. You fill out our “Intent to Compete” form at www.williamjamesfoundation.org/intenttocompete.

3. By September 10th, you send us a five page executive summary of your business plan. What we’re looking for in the plan is listed at www.williamjamesfoundation.org/criteria. (If you can’t finish your summary by September 10th, you can submit for our next round by December 3rd.)

4. The WJF staff then decides if we will accept your plan into our competition. Reasons that a plan might not be accepted are listed at www.williamjamesfoundation.org/FAQ.

5. The WJF then assigns a team of five to ten reading judges, who will review your plan and provide you with detailed commentary. Information our judges is at www.williamjamesfoundation.org/judging.

6. In early October, you will receive feedback on your plan. Last year we provided an average of 18 pages of feedback per plan summary. Examples of feedback we provide are at www.williamjamesfoundation.org/samplecomments.

7. In January of 2011, we will review the scores of everyone we worked with during 2010. The top teams will be invited to submit full plans to us in March, and those teams will receive another round of feedback.

8. In April of 2011, the top teams from the full plan round will compete in front of investors and advisors to divide up more than $100,000 of cash and in-kind prizes. Those prizes are listed at www.williamjamesfoundation.org/prizes.

• Nicolae Potorac wrote (1 year ago):

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• Ian Fisk wrote (1 year ago):

  Info. for people who are or know Sustainable Entrepreneurs : The William James Foundation Socially Responsible Business Plan Competition offers in-kind and cash prizes worth more than $100,000 for sustainable entrepreneurs. Entrants can be any age / anywhere in the world. 2010 deadlines are Sept 10th & Dec. 4th. www.williamjamesfoundation.org.

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• Naren Pendyal wrote (2 years ago):

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• Paco Verin wrote (3 years ago):

  Hello, everyone. I am the owner of True Roots Natural Landscaping, in Media, PA.
  If you are not in this competition, I highly recommend entering; it is a very unique opportunity, including quality feedback from the judges during the process.
  Feel free to contact me.

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• David Isserman wrote (3 years ago):

  Hi All, I'm a grad student at Columbia Business School in New York. I'm looking forward to competing with my startup, RareShare.org. Feel free to drop me an email.

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