Coming in Summer 2018, the Center for Social Innovation — a new coworking and meeting space at the Springdale General social impact community in East Austin where you can only be a member if you are a social impact entrepreneur. Like our downtown location, meeting space will be provided at low or no cost to non-profits and community organizations, but unlike downtown, there is free parking! In addition to desks and offices to rent, being part of this community will bring access to the Capital Factory network of mentors in Texas and the global Union network.

Capital Factory has been working with social impact ventures for a long time. We consider ourselves one, too! We’re proud to have supported the launch of companies like Aunt Bertha, Givepulse, PenPal Schools, ScribeSense, Student Loan Genius and Vizzle.

Partnered with Notley Ventures

We couldn’t be more pleased to partner with Lisa and Dan Graham and the rest of the Notley Ventures team on this project. It’s an amazing new resource for the Austin social impact and non-profit community! The coworking space is located right at the entrance, directly above Cafe Medici, restaurants, and a bar.

We’ve collaborated with Notley Ventures as investors in startups and as organizers of the Startup Games and are excited to build on that relationship with this joint venture. Notley supports pretty much every other social entrepreneurship initiative there is in Austin and they are now expanding their reach to cities like Atlanta, Dallas, and Denver.

“The world is experiencing an emergence of social enterprise spilling out of our universities, nonprofits, and for-profit businesses,” said Dan Graham, Cofounder of Notley. “As Austin becomes the next social innovation capital, this coworking model is poised to provide an important missing piece — a space for people inciting action around social causes to connect with nonprofits, educational systems and entrepreneurial programs while coming together to drive scalable and sustainable purpose-driven ventures.”

Notley’s spirit of collaboration is something that Capital Factory shares. Our success is built on working with other groups in the community to find synergies and connections. We want to make sure to add value to the social impact scene in Austin and don’t want to duplicate efforts. We hope to contribute by providing:

• Free and discounted space for social impact and non-profit groups to meet
• Access to the Texas-wide Capital Factory mentor network
• Access to the global Union mentor network
• Access to the global Google for Entrepreneurs network
• Introductions to social impact angel investors and institutions

Techstars Austin first launched their first class from the 5th floor of Capital Factory in 2013. Since then we’ve had a collaborative relationship — cross investing in funds and startups, hosting events together, and mentoring. Sometimes a startup joins the Capital Factory community and then joins Techstars, and sometimes it is the other way around. It doesn’t matter to us. We plan on having a similar relationship with Techstars Impact.

“Techstars, the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, is excited to have Capital Factory and Notley Ventures’ partnership join Austin’s growing impact ecosystem,” said Zoe Schlag, Managing Director of Techstars Impact, which invests in for-profit, mission-driven startups building technologies to solve pressing social problems. “As a landing pad where new mission-driven ventures can connect directly with nonprofits, this will serve as an important resource for any impact organization in Austin.”

Techstars and Capital Factory both support incredible social impact companies such as Aunt Bertha & PenPal Schools.

Promoting B Corporations in Austin

The Center for Social Innovation will be a hub for B Corporations in Austin, too. Capital Factory is a certified B Corp and we look forward to helping spread the word about this new form of corporate governance to other Austin companies.

Individually, B Corps meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability, and aspire to use the power of markets to solve social and environmental problems. Collectively, B Corps lead a growing global movement of people using business as a force for good. Through the power of their collective voice, one day all companies will compete to be best for the world, and society will enjoy a more shared and durable prosperity for all.

Another great B Corp that was founded by Capital Factory Mentors Brett Hurt and Bryon Jacobs is data.world.

Austin is already the non-profit capital of Texas with more non-profits per capita than any other city in the Southwest. We should be the B Corporation capital, too!

Austin has a thriving social impact scene

This isn’t the only initiative in Austin that supports social impact entrepreneurs. We also look forward to working with other great forces of social good in Austin such as ATX Hack for Change, Impact Hub Austin, and Austin+SocialGood to support social entrepreneurs and connect them with the people and resources that they need to be successful! Our minds and doors will be open to all other organizations that support social entrepreneurs and impact investing.

What impact is your company having on the world? What will be your legacy? Come unlock your potential with Notley Ventures and us at the Center for Social Innovation.