How to Become a Rinconada Ventures Project

We evaluate projects based on the general guidelines explicated below.

Rinconada funds social entrepreneurs via loans, investments, and/or (rarely) non-recoverable grants. Our mission is to provide financial and management assistance to for-profit and nonprofit social entrepreneurs in who are creating social change. We are interested in projects affecting systemic change, and consider a successful venture one that challenges the way the public thinks about disability, environment, or education. Rinconada evaluates our potential investments first and foremost on the basis of the social return of the project, determined by matching the goals of the venture with those of Rinconada's mission. We also carefully consider the organization's prospects for business opportunity and financial sustainability when making funding decisions, as well as the commitment and ability of its management team to achieve its goal. Since we can afford to be selective, we will only look at organizations with a strong revenue stream and likelihood of becoming self-sustaining. Submitting a business plan or a one page outline is the first step in applying. Rather than require a time-consuming formal application process, Rinconada believes it is important to evaluate the strength of the social entrepreneur (or team), the match of the missions, and the likelihood of sustainability through mutual dialogue.

To be considered for funding, Rinconada requires submission of a business plan, traditional grant proposal, any material addressing the following criteria, or a one page outline that addresses the following criteria. We are interested in making the application process as simple as possible. For the first round of consideration, we really don’t need any information especially prepared for Rinconada that exceeds a page. If we consider a project further, we will be asking for much more information. As we are interested in establishing partnerships, we strongly recommend that your organization be comfortable sharing all its operational information with Rinconada. The criteria that the board bases decisions on has six components as described:

Geography

Regardless of a venture's base or scope, RVF seeks a close partnership with the venture. Our value proposition is that our management skills will facilitate the venture meeting its goals. Proximity is helpful but not essential for this. In general, this is our geographical order of preference:

1. Bay Area based with national or global scope

2. Based elsewhere with national or global scope

3. Bay Area based with Bay Area scope

4. Based elsewhere with regional scope

Financial self-sustainability – viability as a business

• Can the venture re-pay a loan?
• Does the venture look profitable in light of market forces?
• This criterion applied to the project, not the whole organization
• Term period for attaining sustainability is typically 3-5 years
• Milestones defined at each stage
• After the defined term period, the project should be able to sustain itself through revenues rather than through additional funding
• Plan should include expected revenue sources
• Revenue sources must be socially responsible
• Contingency planning and worst case/best case scenarios (worst case scenario should be a 50% default)
• Return will be at least 0%

Quality of management team

• Is the team likely to execute their business plan in terms of skills, experience, and general competence?
• Does the team possess the qualities of empathy, perspective, imagination, analysis and action?
• Grasp of inter-relationships between project and big picture
• Passion for project
• Business skills represented (previous experience, special skill sets, MBA, etc.)
• Organizational and management skills (ability to develop work plans, previous experience)
• Record of past success
• Good credit standing as an organization (and as individuals)
• Skills needed for particular project's success

Social return on investment

• Breadth and depth of social impact
• Likelihood of inspiring others to follow model
• Commitment to systemic change
• Evaluated on a case by case basis; no quantifiable evaluation but a critical assessment based on fit to stated program goals
• On-going rather than one-time return i.e. solution addresses cause and not symptom
• Impact measured in terms of subjective assessment of need and scope of influence
• Number of people influenced
• Subjective assessment
• Bias towards projects that are inclusive of multiple communities
• Projects that don't have a detrimental effect on non-targeted communities

Match Rinconada mission

As we are currently making investments in the $10,000-$50,000 range, we are looking to make seed investments in either new enterprises or new sustainable projects of existing concerns. Rinconada will entertain opportunities from any venture that creates social change and meets our other criteria. However, we are especially interested in the three areas of disability, education, and the environment. Candidates in one of these three areas must be aligned with the following criteria:

Disability Community, Rights, and Culture

Ventures in the disability arena might include artistic projects (books, movies, etc.), consulting or mediation organizations for ADA compliance, or other institutions that promote the civil rights or culture of people with disabilities from a minority model. Rinconada would consider funding ventures that include some of the following characteristics:

· Rooted in the fundamental tenet of the disability rights movement: that the primary challenges of disability derive from social devaluation, dehumanization, and discrimination and not from the physical, psychological, or cognitive elements of the disabling condition

· Dedicated to increased economic opportunity for the disability community

· Bringing heretofore unavailable cultural, social, and political opportunities to this chronically underserved population

· Encouraging self-sufficiency, in practice and in the perception of people with disabilities, primarily aimed at combating the commonly held view that people with disabilities cannot live without essential assistance, or that they are inferior if they do;

· Introducing cultural, political, and philosophical ideas developed within the disability community to other minority communities and the population at large

· Bringing the views and voices of people with disabilities into the cultural mainstream, especially to policy debates

· Demonstrating that the understanding of the experience of marginality we have for women, people of color, GLBT, and class should also extend to people with disabilities

· Encouraging portrayals of disability in the mass media that reflect the minority model of disability rather than the medical or moral model. In other words, representations that proudly display people with disabilities as different and valued rather than as punished, evil, or needing to overcome their disabilities, be cured or saved

· Promoting the unique culture and identity of people with disabilities

· Promoting the role of individuals with disabilities in the management of their own lives

Education

Ventures in education might include free schools, homeschooling groups, or other institutions that emphasize students' learning by doing, working at their own pace, and following their own interests. Efforts in line with John Holt and free- or homeschooling will be considered. Generally, ventures within the mainstream classroom education context, are not strong Rinconada candidates. Rinconada would consider funding ventures that focus on some of the following characteristics:

· The acquisition of skills needed for responsible citizenship, critical consumerism, etc., through practical experience

· Students’ becoming active participants and collaborators in their own education

· Learning arising from dialogue, discussion, service learning, and independent community projects

· Students’ collaboration with other students and teachers in shaping their individual educational experiences

· Learning through practical experience and community projects reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the world at large, with the venture’s mirroring this rampant integration

· Students developing a critical stance through historical and comparative analysis of their findings together in a seminar format

· Empowering the individual student in the face of bewildering social complexity

· A small student to teacher ratio (approximately 5:1)

· Students receiving performance responses through narrative evaluation rather than grades, which encourage competition and feelings of judgment

· A healthy de-emphasis on tracking

Environment and Resources

Portfolio ventures in the environment might include hands-on
projects, educational and publicity undertakings, or other
organizations that promote: the exploration of, the protection of, or
education about the environment and the responsible use of resources
within it.

Organizations might work in the following areas:

· Researching and popularizing clean, renewable sources of energy

· Protecting and reclaiming wild lands, including oceans and wetlands

· Making clean water and clear air more available and economically feasible

· Researching and combating global warming and other detrimental climate change

· Managing and discouraging urban and suburban sprawl

· Researching and promoting the responsible use of nuclear energy and its wastes

· Working against environmental racism or other prejudices and toward
environmental justice