Israel lives with the daily reality of fighting for its very survival and existence. This reality is reflected clearly in the allocation of funds in the national budget. Unfortunately, initiatives and projects calling for much needed social change are very low on the list of priorities. In order to address this challenge, IVN, as part of its social leadership initiatives, identifies, funds, and supports emerging leaders who are armed with new ideas for social change and possess the courage, vision, idealism, and entrepreneurial flair to make it real.
In 2004, IVN, in partnership with the New Israel Fund (NIF), initiated the Social Entrepreneur Fellowship Program, which supports and incubates Social Entrepreneurs (SE). SEs are highly entrepreneurial individuals dedicated to developing and implementing innovative and sustainable social/economic solutions in Israel and beyond, empowering people and communities to create positive, sustained change. Social Entrepreneurs represent a powerful force for systemic social change and deserve the epithet "Israel's New Leaders". These individuals stand at the cutting edge of social change, developing and pursuing their vision. However, they often lack the resources and support mechanisms to achieve their goals. The Fellowships enable SEs to dedicate 100% of their time to their projects during the 2-year period of the Fellowship, growing and expanding the projects and bringing them to a sustainable level. IVN is now in its fourth year of successfully recruiting, mentoring and monitoring this program, which since its inception has become acclaimed and has developed an excellent name for itself throughout the world of NGOs in Israel and within the International conference circuit as well.
The Fellowship
• Mentoring: Every Fellow receives close guidance from at least one designated and dedicated volunteer, executive mentor on the ground in Israel and additional assistance/contacts from IVN members abroad who have a direct interest in assisting Social Entrepreneurs to make a difference. The mentors are members of the IVN Network, who are some of the leading entrepreneurs in Israel and the US with many years of business, strategic, technical and financial expertise to share. (Note: Mentors generally continue the mentoring relationship voluntarily beyond the 2-year fellowship period).
• Oversight and Support: By professional IVN staff members and the SE Program manager for each of the fellows.
• Educational Opportunities: Participation in 4 workshops of Shatil (the NIF empowerment and training center); and other possible appropriate partner programs.
• Consistent and professional monitoring, evaluation and feedback
Selection Process
Criteria for Entrepreneurs' Initiatives include:
• Be new to Israel, meaning that no such project exists in Israel. Projects in the IVN and NIF domain areas are preferred and the beneficiary of the project must be the Israeli society.
• Have a high probability for visibility and impact.
• Be scalable or expandable to different regions in Israel or different populations in Israel and beyond.
• Have a strong probability to be sustainable after two years with economic growth potential in the long-term.
• Contribute to increasing economic and/or social development in Israel.
