STARTUP PARTNERS
The Foundation for Global Community (Palo Alto, California)The work of the Foundation spans half a century, involving
adult education in the areas of personal ethics, creative individualism,
social action, the democratic process and mediation of local and international
conflicts. It is best known internationally for the Beyond War movement
which built up a national and international network of over 21,000 supporters
focused on the need to find alternatives to the violent resolution of
conflict. Currently, the Foundation sponsors a variety of dynamic projects
at the local, national and international level aimed at
reconnecting people, planet, and prosperity. In the international arena,
the Foundation maintains a network of concerned citizens interested in
promoting positive solutions to local and global problems. Over the course
of the past decade, the Foundation has fostered several citizen-diplomacy
efforts in Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, Russia, and Armenia/Azerbaijan
to promote dialogue as a way of moving beyond violent confrontation.
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (Flint, Michigan)
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is a private philanthropy.
Through four program areas, which include Civil Society, Environment,
Flint Area and Pathways Out of Poverty, the Foundation makes grants in
the United States and in selected international regions. The Foundation
is guided by and affirms the vision of its founder, Charles Stewart Mott,
who observed that each of us "is in a partnership with the rest of
the human race" - each individual's quality of life is connected
to the well-being of the community, both locally and globally. Mr. Mott's
vision is enacted through creative grant-making, thoughtful communication
and other activities that enhance community in its many forms. The Foundation
seeks to strengthen, in people and their organizations, what Mr. Mott
called "the capacity for accomplishment."
The Afghan Center, incorporated as a non-profit public benefit educational corporation, was founded in 1985 as the first Afghan refugee-run Mutual Assistance Association in the United States, to serve primarily refugees and immigrants from Afghanistan and Iran. The Center has 16 years of experience providing a wide range of services to immigrants and refugees in California from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bosnia, Russia and the Middle East and now serves over 4000 individuals each year. Services include resettlement and social adjustment services, social adjustment counseling, employment services, mental health access advocacy, film production, low income housing development and community organizing.
The Center for Citizen Initiatives (San Francisco, California)
The Center for Citizen Initiatives (CCI) has run complex,
multi-year programs between the United States and the former USSR since
1983. Programs have included the building of citizen-to-citizen networks,
business training internships, micro-lending, small business incubators,
regional agricultural networks, international conferences, and philanthropic
programs for orphaned children and low-income individuals. Thanks to generous
financial assistance from American foundations, USAID and the US State
Department, and to on-going, in-kind, volunteer contributions from US
citizens, CCI continues to design and run innovative programs which will
help shape Russia's future. CCI is well known for its cost effective programs
which are not only made possible by the enormous contributions of American
volunteers but are also cost-shared by Russian participants.
The World Business Academy (Ojai, California)
The World Business Academy is founded on the understanding that business is the dominant institution in society today and the one most capable of responding to rapid change. As such, business must adopt a new tradition of responsibility for the whole. It must do this by defining business interests within the wider perspective of society in order to create a positive and sustainable future.
The Academy's mission is to explore and clarify the fundamental
paradigm shifts underway globally. Its goal is to enable Academy Members
to integrate this knowledge into their lives and business practices and
to disseminate it into the world to rekindle the human spirit in business.