Giving Back

The Gratitude Network and Entrepreneurs

The Gratitude Network

The Gratitude Network , a 501c3 US non-profit, is a networked organization of experienced leaders who identify, nurture, mentor and fund innovative social impact organizations who are impacting the lives of children and changing the face of education worldwide.  These social impact organizations receive a 1-year deep coaching and mentoring experience that sets the trajectory of their organization for new heights.  They also receive introductions to a tremendous network of people, resources, and funding.

The Gratitude Network provides both funding and support to social entrepreneurs who have created ground-breaking innovation in areas affecting children around the world.  These areas are:

  • Education
  • Learning Technologies
  • Health and Well-being
  • Children’s Rights

Our mentorship program provides coaching, connections, advice and support to social entrepreneurs, enterprises and businesses. It forms a core part of our accelerator approach to growing and scaling new enterprises and businesses.

How are Gratitude Award Winners chosen?

The Gratitude Network conducts an annual, careful search for the world’s greatest “social entrepreneurs” – particularly those serving the “base of the pyramid” or “Majority World“– people who are marginalized by society today and live in fear, poverty, or unhealthy conditions. To find “game-changing” entrepreneurs, we partner with other firms in venture philanthropy, large NGOs and humanitarian organizations (who already have the reach into most countries), angel investment groups, and universities (who are turning up some of the most innovative new entrepreneurs).

A panel of judges, include respected leaders from the investor, philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, and relevant sector perspectives reviews applications for each annual “cohort”.  The application process opens up twice each year: Spring and Fall.

Once we find the entrepreneurs we want to work with, the Gratitude then works closely with its portfolio companies, investing time into these areas:
  • Deep guidance from the knowledgeable Strategic Coaches
  • Match-ups to our extensive Mentor Network providing access to global expertise in a wide variety of start-up areas for building/scaling the business
  • Connections and introductions to funding sources and sometimes in the form of a Gratitude grant, award, loan or direct investment
  • Membership into a structured peer group that meets regularly