Portland’s Business Incubators and Accelerators

In the latest Federal rankings, Oregon is fourth among US states in job growth, and Portland is eighth among all US cities. How does a small city like Portland create a large footprint in the startup world, while stimulating employment and economic development? We think it’s partly thanks to a great and growing base of programs offering assistance to small businesses. After several years of rapid growth, there are now 35 business incubators, accelerators, and support programs in the Portland area.

Beyond working space and crucial programs like mentoring, skills-building, and networking, you may be surprised what resources you can find in this ecosystem of supporting organizations. Need a commercial kitchen? A pop-up shop downtown? A 3-D printer? Alongside the Portland Business Journal’s recent Portland Incubator Roundup, we hope this post serves as your 2016 directory for local incubators helping small businesses thrive. Let us know in the comments if we missed anyone!

I. Incubators for Social Impact Ventures

Impact Entrepreneurs: Embedded in PSU’s School of Business Administration, Impact Entrepreneurs provides an online Certificate in Social Innovation for students and community members, the Social Innovation Incubator for more established ventures, and leadership trainings for the staff of large organizations.

HATCH: A set of linked offerings for social entrepreneurs and community businesses, Hatch offers co-working and office space, member workshops and public events, and a platform for equity crowdfunding in Oregon.

II. General Business Incubators, Accelerators, and Co-working Spaces

Best HQ: A business incubator, best HQ provides the support and resources for entrepreneurs to establish and grow their companies, in addition to providing workspace and management and leadership training.

CENTRL Office: A collaborative workspace in Portland’s Pearl District providing flexible full-service workspace for leading entrepreneurs, free agents, start ups, and work groups in the historic GE Supply Co. building.

Entrepreneurs’ Organization Portland Accelerator: Provides educational small-group meetings for entrepreneurs and ties to EO’s global network of successful business owners.

Forge Portland: Forge is a shared workspace where members have access to free accounting templates, legal referral, business
development, mentorship and intern placement.

The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE): Designed to accelerate the successful development of member companies, TiE provides support services including rental space, an incubator program, pitch sessions, and mentors.

Mercy Corps NW: Mercy Corps NW supports small businesses and entrepreneurs through microloans, matched business grants, and small business classes taught by business professionals.

NedSpace: This co-working resource has 14,000 square feet of great office space in the heart of downtown Portland for co-working, startups, entrepreneurs and remote workers.

Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN): OEN is the parent organization for Angel Oregon and the Young Entrepreneurs Society of Portland, and hosts a number of events and workshops designed for businesses at every stage of launch and growth.

The Professional Collective: A co-working space in Hillsboro with networking and educational events for entrepreneurs.

SCORE: Score is a nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated to the formation, growth and success of small businesses with free personal counseling, ongoing mentoring, and 100+ high quality, modestly-priced workshops each year.

Small Business Development Centers (SBDC): FREE to Oregon businesses and entrepreneurs, SBDC services include financial, marketing, production, organization, and international trade and feasibility studies.

Starve Ups: A virtual incubator and accelerator with peer mentoring as its cornerstone, Starve Ups is an end-to-end educational approach helping companies to survive, strive and thrive.

Startup PDX Challenge: Hosted by the Portland Development Commission, this annual competition connects startups to Portland’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem and provides funding and workspace.

TenX: An open source, business frameworks education company, TenX provides content, events, conferences & learning programs to generate growth & acceleration for high potential organizations & individuals.

WeWork Custom House: The Portland branch of the well-known global co-working/event space and entrepreneurial community.

III. Tech Incubators and Accelerators

e1ectr0n: A hardware incubator, powered by Axiom Electronics, that provides manufacturing and engineering capability to startups.

Jaguar Land Rover Innovation Incubator: Focused on supporting technology startups developing new in-car entertainment, communications, and interaction technology.

Oregon BEST: The Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center provides funding, grant connections, links to investors, and research and commercialization support for cleantech entrepreneurs.

Oregon Technology Business Center (OTBC): OTBC helps entrepreneurs identify and attain their goals at every stage by providing entrepreneurs with office space, access to coaching, workshops and seminars.

The OTRADI Bioscience Incubator (OBI): A bioscience-specific accelerator that provides scientists and young companies with the resources and expertise needed to take their research from the lab to the market.

Portland Seed Fund: The Portland Seed Fund is a privately managed fund and non-resident accelerator focused on providing emerging companies the capital, mentoring and connections to propel them to the next level.

Portland Startup Weekend: A 54-hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation, Startup Weekend brings together developers, designers and business people to build applications and develop a commercial case.

Portland State Business Accelerator (PSBA): Recognized by the NBIA as the top tech incubator in the US, and by UBI as one of the top 25 in the world, the PSBA offers office and lab space, networking events, and educational workshops for tech and bioscience startups.

IV. Creative, Craft, Culinary and Design Incubators and Accelerators

ADX: ADX is a 12,000-square foot facility that combines membership, fabrication services, classes and co-working to make ADX a hub for design and innovation in Portland.

KitchenCru: A shared-use community kitchen and culinary incubator that supports culinary entrepreneurs in developing, operating, and growing a successful business.

Oregon State University Food Innovation Center: The Food Innovation Center partners with the Department of Food Science and Technology to provide educational programs and with the SBDC to provide support to local food startups.

Oregon Story Board Accelerator: Through mentorship, co-working space, collaboration and networking, the Oregon Storyboard Accelerator is helping a budding industry of digitally-enabled storytellers thrive in Oregon.

PCC Getting Your Recipe to Market : In an intensive 14 weeks, this program will help you make your culinary idea commercial ready, with food industry experts that will take you step by step to produce, promote, and sell your product.

PNCA Bridge Lab: Provides entrepreneurship development and resources for artists by helping artist-entrepreneurs focus your vision, connect you with business resources, and assist you in building your own personal network in the Portland creative community.

V. Incubators and Accelerators for Women and Minority-owned Businesses

Portland State University Business Outreach Program (BOP): Helps local small businesses, including emerging minority and women-owned businesses, achieve their potential by providing technical assistance and business consulting services.

Hacienda CDC Community Economic Development: Serving low income microentrepreneurs at any stage of business development, the organization offers a culturally-specific Microenterprise Program that incubates businesses by providing training, access to capital and selling opportunities, affordable commercial kitchen rental and, in the future, retail space at the Portland Mercado.

Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon (MESO): MESO improves the economic opportunities of underserved individuals through empowerment, education, and entrepreneurship for the benefit of families in the greater
community.

Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs: Participants in the Association can access the Incubator With Walls or the Incubator Without Walls. Both offer market rates, individual technical assistance, counseling with OAME’s staff or volunteers, cooperative marketing and business growth, and development support.

Women Of Mindful Business (WOMB): WOMB helps women create a natural framework for business and marketing efforts, and
is a platform for collaboration with a small group of heart-centered entrepreneurs and opportunity to learn to weave the feminine into your business.

Women’s Plaza: opening in 2016, Women’s Plaza will offer co-w0rking space, childcare, catered meals, wellness advisors, and networking opportunities.

Note: we periodically update this post to ensure that it remains timely. Last update: April 18, 2016. Header photo by Cacophony, used through CC Attribution-Share Alike license. 

PSU Student Consulting Program Launches to Support Local B Corps

The Portland State University chapter of Net Impact, in conjunction with PSU’s Impact Entrepreneurs, is offering free consulting services for Oregon companies engaged in the B Corp certification or recertification process. This program will give graduate students valuable, hands-on experience working with mission-driven businesses, while providing companies with affordable assistance in improving their social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency, or achieving recognition for their current efforts.

The program will select teams of two to three PSU graduate students to work with the client over the course of a 10-week school term, providing up to 25 total hours of work (an estimated value of $3000) free of charge. The work can focus on the assessment portion of the process (assistance with answering the assessment questions, compiling or analyzing results, providing recommendations for next steps), or on tasks aimed at increasing the client’s assessment score, whether they are certifying for the first time or going through the recertification process. Students will be trained in B Corp Assessment methodology, and all work will be supervised by faculty.

Interested PSU graduate students should fill out this form to indicate their interest, or email Emma Ingebretsen (iemma@pdx.edu) and Rich Schwartz (ras22@pdx.edu) for more information. An informational meeting will be scheduled for the 2nd week of the fall term.

Interested companies should contact the PSU Net Impact project coordinators, Rich Schwartz (ras22@pdx.edu) and Emma Ingebretsen (iemma@pdx.edu). The project coordinators will work to match the company with a student consulting team.

Want to learn more about B Corp Certification and Oregon B Corps? Attend B Inspired on October 15, 2015, to see B Corp leaders speak, join a street fair of local B Corps, and enjoy a concert and celebration.

About B Corps (from the B Corps website)

“B Corp is to business what Fair Trade certification is to coffee or USDA Organic certification is to milk. B Corps are certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Today, there is a growing community of more than 1,000 Certified B Corps from 33 countries and over 60 industries working together toward 1 unifying goal: to redefine success in business.”

About Net Impact – Portland State University Chapter

Net Impact is a global community of more than 60,000 students and professionals creating positive social and environmental change through their careers. Individual chapters are volunteer-led and self-directed. PSU’s Net Impact Chapter works to create opportunities for PSU graduate students to gain experience with mission-driven businesses and interact with sustainability-minded professionals. For more information on PSU’s Net Impact Chapter, or to get involved, follow us on Facebook or contact Emma Ingebretsen (iemma@pdx.edu).

About Impact Entrepreneurs

Founded in 2010 in Portland State University’s School of Business Administration, Impact Entrepreneurs is unleashing the promise of business for social impact. We are a network of individuals and organizations committed to fostering economic, social, and ecological prosperity through entrepreneurial action.

Working with partners locally and globally, we deliver initiatives that strengthen organizations, build entrepreneurial impact-focused leaders, and catalyze social innovation. PSU’s School of Business was selected as the best small MBA program in the world by the Aspen Institute’s Beyond Grey Pinstripes rankings for integrating sustainability in business. PSU is also a member of the prestigious Ashoka U Changemaker Campus consortium.

Partnerships for Health from PSU to Rwanda

This post was contributed by Jonathan Fink, Vice President of Research & Strategic Partnerships at Portland State University. It was originally posted in the Research & Strategic Partnerships Quarterly Review, Fall 2014. 

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For the Fall 2014 term, PSU Mechanical Engineering Professor Evan Thomas is in the tiny, east African nation of Rwanda working on an ambitious program, locally called Tubeho Neza (“Live well”), to help reduce childhood mortality from diarrhea and pneumonia by distributing water filters and clean-burning cook stoves to the poorest quarter of this UN designated Least Developed Country (LDC). The project is run by DelAgua Health, of which Evan is the Chief Operating Officer, in partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of Health. This report is based on a recent visit I made to Evan’s inspiring operation.

Much of the funding for the project comes from the sale of United Nations issued carbon credits, made possible because the filters and stoves reduce the villagers’ need for firewood, thus lessening the pressure on Rwanda’s mostly-depleted forests. Receiving carbon credit funding requires careful monitoring of the use of the stoves and filters, which is done by independent auditing organizations, as well as through a robust research program run out of PSU in collaboration with the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Emory University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Rwanda.

Tracking the performance and usage of stoves and filters is accomplished in part through the use of wireless transmitters that Evan and his co-workers at PSU have developed, which are embedded in approximately 1% of the deployed filters and stoves. The transmitters send usage data over the ubiquitous cell-phone network to the research and programmatic teams. These sensors are also deployed in 14 other countries by PSU, and allow philanthropic, public and private funders of public health programs to know whether their investments are being used and having impact.

I observed the deployment that was part of the second of Tubeho Neza’s three phases. Phase I, which was completed in 2012, reached 10,000 people in 15 villages. Phase II, which began in September 2014 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014, should reach 500,000 people in 2600 villages. Phase III in 2015 aims to serve at least 2M people in 13,000 villages.

Rwandan family learning how to use their new water filter.

DelAgua, which is a social enterprise, hopes that the less poor 3/4 of the population, seeing the health benefits received by their neighbors, will choose to purchase stoves and filters for themselves, helping the company recover their costs and allowing them to continue to receive payments for carbon credits.

Each deployment is a complex, well-choreographed operation. Filters and stoves are picked up at DelAgua’s warehouses in Kigali and delivered to the villages by the Rwandan National Police, contingent on the roads being passable, which is not always the case, especially during the two annual rainy seasons. Coordination is done ahead of time with the village leaders, who confirm the identities of each community member that will be receiving filters and stoves. Local Community Health Workers (CHW), who are employees of the national government and get trained by DelAgua staff, assist with the distribution.

The actual deployment kicks off with speeches by a village leader and a DelAgua project manager, who outline what will be taking place over the following few hours. Next, the CHWs put on a humorous play, depicting the health effects of contaminated drinking water and dirty indoor air from cooking. This is followed by more speeches telling the villagers about how the filters and pumps work, and the nature of the program, including warnings to not steal or try to sell the devices. Each recipient then gets checked off a list by a village leader, gets their stove and filter, along with a poster that shows how they’re used, and heads back to their home. CHWs then go to every home to explain again how the devices work, using a picture book as well as the poster. They also conduct a survey about the family, which provides baseline information about demographics and helps in calculating carbon credits. GPS locations and photos of the homes are recorded, along with bar codes for the filters and stoves. Before the end of the day, after the families have had an opportunity to try their devices, the CHWs return to make sure everything is working properly. All of these activities are designed to be robust implementations of well-established health behavior change methodology.

The community members I met seemed grateful and intrigued by the whole process. The scale is ramping up rapidly, but the underlying public private partnership model for aid distribution is not yet well established. Success requires the cooperation of the community, the National Police, the Ministry of Public Health, the CHWs, DelAgua’s leadership, the manufacturers of the stoves and filters, the organizations providing the carbon credits, and the weather. I found the ambition and scale of the program to be mind-boggling. If they succeed, it could radically change the way global assistance is done.

As if the humanitarian aspects of Tubeho Neza were not impactful enough, DelAgua’s work in Rwanda is also the subject of a major scientific research program encompassing mechanical and electrical engineering, tropical medicine, epidemiology, statistics, and climate change. The PSU-led team of researchers described above are participating in a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the health impacts of the filter and stove deployments. DelAgua is the primary funder of this research effort, with some additional support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Nearly $2M of funding has come through PSU for this program over the past two years.

Comparison with 40,000 households in the control areas is used to help evaluate the 100,000 households in the program areas. The team is measuring villagers’ behavior and device use through a combination of the PSU sensors, self-reported health conditions, blood samples, blood pressure, and in situ air and water quality monitoring. This information is then compared with clinically reported pneumonia and diarrhea cases among children under 5. This is one of the largest environmental health RCTs ever run.

In addition to the DelAgua program, PSU leads a separate research project, funded by the British Department for International Development, to put sensors on 200 hand pumps across Rwanda to assess the relative efficacy of three different operation and maintenance models with the goal of seeing if sensors can improve the cost-effectiveness of water service delivery in developing countries. This is a critical issue because worldwide, roughly half of the water pumps installed by governments and aid programs are broken at any given time, and estimates of compliance with international metrics such as the Millennium Development Goals are likely over estimating progress.

These projects are expected to result in a large number of scientific publications in the next few years, and will open the door to many additional funding opportunities for comparable programs in several other developing world settings. In addition to the social and economic benefits in the targeted countries, this work can demonstrate the beneficial role of cutting-edge engineering technology in international development, expand the market for carbon credits, extend the global reach of Oregon companies and institutions, form part of the foundation for the new joint OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, and provide unique training opportunities for students from the US, UK, Rwanda, and other LDCs.

Hacking Social Impact, for Gaza Sky Geeks, for Humanitarian Response, for Impact at Scale

This post was contributed by guest writer Carolynn Duncan, Founder of NW Social Venture Fund. It was originally posted here. 

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Last week, Northwest Social Venture Fund co-hosted a series of 7 brownbag talks in support of Gaza Sky Geeks, a Mercy Corps + Google for Entrepreneurs founded accelerator, which aims to generate a spirit of empowerment and a homebase for tech entrepreneurs in Gaza, who are creating new businesses and developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem, in some very difficult conditions.

Innovators gather at the Stanford Center for Social Innovation

On campus at Stanford University, in Palo Alto, CA

Many individuals who attended gatherings in behalf of Gaza Sky Geeks, or who responded through social media, email or other avenues, let us know that they directly have a family, personal, or business connection to Gaza and Israel, that they have been thinking of their ties to the area and not knowing what is occurring on the ground, how to approach discussing the conflict with colleagues, friends and family, or how to absorb the dark, complex topics of the conflict while also maintaining personal motivation to contribute, and to find avenues to supply time, skills, donations, or support to the longterm humanitarian recovery response.

Impact Hub Berkeley, in Berkeley, CA

We love this quote board at Impact Hub Berkeley!

For our team at NWSVFund, to feel inspired to contribute to a humanitarian challenge, but to be disconnected from any actionable way to contribute, is heart-wrenching. We are so grateful to have a strong network and community, where we can work together to address challenges in conversation, and in action.

On this particular effort with Gaza Sky Geeks – Tom Sperry, from Rogue Venture Partners and one of the original advocates for Gaza Sky Geeks, Allison Deverman Vietor, founder of Tech4Change, a Mercy Corps partnership with Startup Weekend, and Lynn Le, founder of Society Nine and formerly at Portland Seed Fund, as well as NWSVFund’s founding partner Carolynn Duncan, a longtime supporter of Mercy Corps special projects – have independently been championing Gaza Sky Geeks, and through the brownbag series, were able to rally collective local networks to bring a broader, community-level awareness to the work that the Gaza Sky Geeks team has been doing to deploy entrepreneurship as a humanitarian tool to inspire longterm economic vibrancy for local Gazans.

On campus at the UC Berkeley Blum Center

Social entrepreneurs at UC Berkeley’s OnRamp program

We’d like to warmly thank our hosts at the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, Impact Hub Berkeley, UC Berkeley Blum Center, Mercy Corps, Mercy Corps Action Center, NedSpace, and StarveUps, for facilitating dynamic conversations and sharing Gaza Sky Geeks and Northwest Social Venture Fund’s work with their communities.

Mercy Corps Action Center, in Portland, OR

Innovators gather at Mercy Corps Action Center

To continue amplifying the message about Gaza Sky Geeks’ important work, we invite folks to get involved by making a pledge to their upcoming Indiegogo campaign to support the accelerator’s operational development, and to make a personal contribution in any form, whether via crowdfunding, broadcasting promotional materials about the Indiegogo campaign to your network, working on special projects, or mentoring Gazan tech founders over the long haul as they work to establish sustainable businesses that provide jobs and hope locally.

Lynn Le, Carolynn Duncan and Iliana Montauk, at NedSpace

Innovators gather at NedSpace, in Portland, Oregon

Likewise, Northwest Social Venture Fund will continue to offer opportunities and special projects, that strengthen scalable social entrepreneurship and impact investing as two important tools in our overall mission, to reduce suffering in the world –

Our upcoming unconference, Hacking Social Impact, is a great avenue to connect with our team and work shoulder to shoulder on special projects and learning new skills in tech, finance, and impact, in order to become a more effective practitioner. We will focus this year’s unconference on how YOU can engage in scalable social entrepreneurship and impact investing, to make a clear and helpful difference to humanitarian initiatives like Gaza Sky Geeks and other special initiatives that we support and advocate for.

To get involved with Hacking Social Impact as a volunteer, sponsor, partner or speaker, please complete this registration link.

Gaza Sky Geeks’ Iliana Montauk speaks to StarveUps founders

Carolynn Duncan, Allison Deverman Vietor, and John Friess at StarveUps

NWSVFund’s Carolynn Duncan, and StarveUps’ John Friess

We also offer the Impact Investing Education Series, for university students, philanthropists/investors, fund managers and practitioners, who wish to more fully engage in the impact investing space, and bring personal skills in finance + impact up to speed through hands on learning in investment frameworks, impact metrics, analytics, and due diligence. To sign up for our fall IIES programs, based from NWSVFund offices in Portland, Oregon and Boulder, Colorado, and open via Google Hangouts video conferencing to participants anywhere in the world, more info is available here.

Finally, what impresses our team at NWSVF so much on a continuous, ongoing basis as we do our work in the impact community, is how much each of YOU really care, and for that, we are so grateful. If we can assist with something you are working on, we hope that you will reach out to let us know.

-Northwest Social Venture Fund

Connect with Gaza Sky Geeks
@gazaskygeeks / imontauk@ps.mercycorps.org / www.gazaskygeeks.com/

Connect with NW Social Venture Fund
@SVSociety / carolynn@nwsvf.org / www.nwsvf.org

How a DIY Healthcare Delivery System Can Solve the American Health Crisis

Each year at the Elevating Impact Summit in Portland, a group of promising social entrepreneurs pitch their new ideas to an audience of hundreds. The audience selects their favorite to receive a cash prize and legal support, and in 2014 they chose Orchid Health.

The Orchid Health idea is to avoid the requirement of health insurance for primary and preventative care by having patients pay a monthly fee of around $50 for unlimited clinic visits. There is a flat-rate deal for small businesses and discounts for families and individuals who pay in advance. By working with clinics in Medically Underserved Areas, Orchid Health can profitably serve those on Medicaid and Medicare.

When Orchid Health stood up to pitch at the Summit, they were already having a momentous year. In 2014 alone they were granted $70K from Lane County’s Business Incentive Program, had won first place for concept-stage ventures at the Willamette Angel Conference, and secured over $100K from local investors.

While their three-minute pitch was awesome, and their press coverage has been extensive, I was still curious about the bright young innovators behind this radical new idea. I sat down with Orion Falvey and Oliver Alexander to try and understand how these recent university graduates were planning to turn health care delivery on its head.

Abby: Out of all the problems in the world, why try and fix Oregon’s primary care delivery?
Orion: I think the answer here is simple. What brought us to healthcare was the size of the industry, its potential scalability, and most importantly the opportunity to help people live happy and productive lives. We saw a service that was costing the average person thousands of dollars per year, yet was not solving any of their problems, and was sometimes even creating bigger problems itself. We strongly believe that primary and preventative care is the foundation of our country’s healthcare system, and that by working directly with patients to come up with a better solution, we will be able to save the entire system billions of dollars in the long run.

Abby: What’s new or different about Orchid Health compared to other primary care delivery programs?
Orion: We have taken a well-researched and well-supported framework for primary care, and created a do-it-yourself type model that allows us to move significantly faster than other healthcare organizations. The biggest change that we have made is removing insurance billing from everyday healthcare, which allows us to focus almost entirely on our patient experience.

Abby: How has your idea evolved since you started working on it? Was there a person, idea, experience, or policy change that influenced your work in a big way?
Orion & Oliver: The biggest change we have made is our decision to focus in rural communities that have at least 60% of their primary care needs not being met. Spending the past year working with the community of Oakridge, where our pilot clinic is opening next month, made us realize the true extent of what living without healthcare access is like. Additionally, rural communities provide us with a very defined population base, which we can use to show results and validate our model.

Abby: What does success look like for you and for Orchid Health?
Oliver: For us, success is being able to provide the highest quality patient-centered care, on par with the Mayo clinic, in each and every community like Oakridge across Oregon. Our model has the potential to help hundreds of thousands of people maintain and reclaim their health, while also saving them money, which is why we’re so excited about Orchid and the impact that it will have on the people who need healthcare the most.

You can find out more about Orion Falvey and Oliver Alexander, and more about the Orchid Health model here.

Forge Portland: A New Co-working Space for Nonprofits and Social Enterprises

Forge Portland aims to become the city’s newest co-working space, offering participating nonprofits and social enterprises free services and referrals across a range of topics. In May, their space at 1410 SW Morrision will open to members. We interviewed Forge Portland’s Founder, Robert Bart, about their offerings, Indiegogo campaign, and pending launch.

Impact Entrepreneurs: How would you describe Forge in a single tweet? 

Robert Bart: A collaborative workspace for nonprofits, social entrepreneurs and freelancers. Members have access to free basic services to help them run more efficiently.

What inspired you to start Forge? 

The inspiration for this model stemmed from wanting to find a way to help organizations without charging them a premium for delivering the services that they need. I first came up with the broad concept for Forge while biking back and forth to law school last winter. The initial concept was to allow organizations to share basic resources to cut down on overhead costs. Over the course of 200 conversations the concept was refined into our current model which provides Forge members with a physical space to work, while also giving them access to free resources to help them run more efficiently.

What do you see as Forge’s role in the local community?

Our goal is to become a hub for Portland’s non-profits, social entrepreneurs and freelancers. We want them to know they have a comfortable, professional office to work in, while also having access to resources and a community of like-minded people to share ideas and concepts. The services that we offer are designed to help a wide range of businesses and organizations, and as we grow we hope to offer these services to organizations that do not need desk space, but still need business development help.

Our space in downtown Portland is roughly 6,000 square feet and will double as an event space in the evening. We will provide organizations a place to hold regular meetings and events.

What type of organizations are the best fit for Forge?

The services that we offer are intended to be basic enough to address the needs of a wide range of organizations. While we are targeted at non-profits, social entrepreneurs and freelancers trying to do some good in the world, we also want people who work with the types of organizations at Forge. Our goal is to create an ecosystem where when a small business needs a graphic designer they already have a relationship with someone else who is working at Forge. We are creating an economy where members are spending their money with people they know and trust.

What services will Forge offer, and how much do they cost?

Forge members have access to free accounting templates, legal referral, business development, web templates, mentorship and intern placement. We do not charge our members for these services and do not make any money on referrals.

Our desk memberships start at $50 a month for a once-a-week access, $225 for a full-time hot desk, $325 for a private desk, and we have two remaining private offices for rent. We also offer a limited number of service-only memberships to organizations that just need business development assistance.

We intentionally set our prices to be the most affordable in town, because we want people to be able to access our services. Our goal and belief is that by helping organizations grow and expand good things will happen.

How close are you to launching, and how can the community help?

We are opening our doors in May at 1410 SW Morrison St. Right now, we are looking for a few more people to join our community and start working with us. We are limiting our initial membership and have about 10 available spots remaining. We are also about halfway through our Indiegogo campaign, which is helping us raise the last bit of capital to fund our build out costs in the space.

Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know? 

Forge is first and foremost about community and helping organizations. Over the past year dozens of people have contacted us with ways to help improve or add on to our model. If what we are trying to do resonates with you, please reach out and say hello: rob@forgeportland.org

 

Sneak Preview of Hatch, Portland’s New Co-work Space for Social Entrepreneurs

We recently spoke with Jon-Paul Bowles about Hatch, a new community innovation lab and co-working space for Portland social entrepreneurs. Jon-Paul is working with Hatch and Springboard Innovation Founder Amy Pearl to bring the new space to life and create a system of supporting services for local social entrepreneurs. 

Impact Entrepreneurs: How would you describe Hatch in a single Tweet?

Jon-Paul: Hatch: A Community Innovation Lab. An innovation generator, a place where social and local entrepreneurs create solutions. Where good works.

What role will Hatch play in the local community?

Hatch is both a place and a community. We’ve been surprised by the power of place because we’ve already seen people help each other out organically. So in one sense, it’s a place where a lot of incredibly bright, motivated social entrepreneurs work, have parties, host events, and take meetings. A beautiful co-work space. But in the deeper sense Hatch is simply a community of like-minded people who have a lot to learn from and offer each other and are passionate about using enterprise to solve big problems one small solution at a time. We have specific programs to draw community in. So a lot of different kinds of people find a home in this community. More and more every day.

What inspired founder Amy Pearl to create Hatch?

Amy has deep passion and expertise about helping create healthy local economies. Through Springboard Innovation, she’s been working on helping local economies access local capital for almost a decade. She was reluctant to look for a building to house the programs because changing how we invest in local economies really is about influencing existing institutions, habits and economies, and creating new ways to use legal and financial processes to free up capital for community investing. But it became clear that there’s a demand for people working in social enterprise to have spaces that hatch their ideas and build enterprises. Once she found the old Timberline Dodge building, the rest fell into place. The response has been really positive. And we’re not even open yet.

What type of organization is the best fit for Hatch?

Social enterprise. As your program is really good about explaining, social enterprise can take different forms, be for- or non-profit, etc. Anyone who wants to use enterprise as a means to accomplish a social or environmental end is a good fit. It doesn’t matter if you’ve already been wildly successful, or are just putting the pieces together and want some help.

What services does Hatch offer, and how much do they cost?

Hatch has a few different services. We have an incubator space that will provide access to top-notch experts brought in to help make them successful. Right now, desks in the startup space are $250.

We also have co-work space, which starts at $95 a month for 5-day access, and tops out at $295 for full-time, 24-hour access.

We also have Fireboxes (like cubes, but cooler) that cost $350 a month. It’s a dedicated desk with a locker, and lots of other amenities.

But most importantly, all our members have access to our programs, workshops and seminars — which revolve around getting them the expertise they need to be successful in whatever work they’re doing. So we’re trying to create an ecosystem that people can step into and thrive.

Do you have any interesting stories from the planning and buildout process?

The whole process has been a lot of fun. When you step into an old car dealership with a very 1990s feel and say, “Yeah, this would make a great co-work space for the community,” you have to be able to roll with the punches (just like any social enterprise startup). One minute you’re engaging leaders in the Portland community and the next you’re ripping off old awnings and wondering how to install more outlets. But mostly it’s been fun to see our team come together with our ideas and have the whole process evolve. Someone walked in the other day and said, “Wow. This is the new sexiest workspace in Portland.” That was fun.

When is the official launch party?

Glad you asked. We’d love to welcome the PSU community.

Where: 2420 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland
When: Thursday, January 30th | 5:00 – 8:00 PM
Who: Meet tenants including XRAY, Albina Opportunities Corporation, TEDx, Mojalink, and many others who are helping form the Hatch Community. Learn how you can grow your own project or get involved in moving another forward. Hear about our 2014 calendar of many new and favorite programs and events.
Cost: Free! Bring a friend and introduce us!

RSVP: to rsvp@hatchthefuture.org

Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

Please check out the Hatch website to learn more. Or just come by and ask for a tour.

I also want to say that Portland is a great place for social enterprise. It’s nascent, but emerging. There are a lot of dedicated people already doing a lot in that space. Our goal is to grow the entire ecosystem of social enterprise, to collaborate with many partners like Impact Entrepreneurs and complement each other’s work.

Guide to Portland Entrepreneurship Events: September 2013

It’s that time of year again. The weather cools, the leaves begin to turn, and our thoughts turn to seed funding, business plans, and networking. At least in Portland, where the end of summer means the start of entrepreneurship event season! We’ve gathered a bushel of  September events every entrepreneur should know about. Did we forget anything? Leave us a comment and let us know.

TechFestNW
September 6-8
Don’t let the name fool you: TechFestNW, part of MusicFestNW, is a celebration of technology, startup and design culture for entrepreneurs from any sector. A startup crawl, hackathon, and sessions at OMSI: what else could you ask for? $325 for TechFest/$375 including music.

OEN PubTalk: Women Entrepreneurs
September 11
Did you know that Portland was just ranked the 5th best city in the US for women entrepreneurs? Join a discussion at Backspace with women business founders Ivo Lukas (24Notion), Jennifer Ferguson (Handful), Juanita Kurtin (Pacific Light Technologies), and Shelley Gunton (Castor & Pollux) to learn why. $30 for non-members.

Oregon BEST Fest
September 11-12
Join keynote speaker Van Jones, researchers, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders at the Leftbank Annex for a conference on cleantech innovation. Learn how to apply for government grants, find the best local resources for your cleantech startup, and cheer on the winners of the PSU Cleantech Challenge and the Red List Design Challenge. $125 general/$65 student.

Pitchlandia Application Due
September 15
“The world’s first completely crowdsourced, crowd-based and crowd-selected startup competition.” Apply to be be one of 20 startups selected to pitch to the crowd at the November 20 event, where 10 will be funded. That’s a 50% success rate! FREE to apply.

OEN Angel Oregon Fall Application Due
September 23
Apply to the new, fall program of one of the largest angel investment conferences in the region. Award to be made November 12. $75 to apply.

Oregon Small Business Fair
September 28
Seminars and workshops, networking opportunities, and a business resource fair at the Portland State Business Accelerator to get your venture off the ground or accelerate your growth. $35 for seminars/FREE for resource fair.

Kiva Launches Business Lending Platform in Oregon

We recently interviewed Kiva Fellow Stasi Baranoff about Kiva Zip, a new peerlending platform for small businesses in the US and Kenya. With the program set to launch in Oregon next week, we’re proud to announce that Impact Entrepreneurs has been selected to be a Kiva Zip trustee. Read on to learn more about Kiva Zip and the role of trustees in helping small businesses source zero-interest loans through the program. 

Stasi Baranoff, Kiva Fellow

Kiva is an international non profit that helps underserved, financially excluded, and socially impacful entrepreneurs start or grow their business. In the past seven years we’ve supported over one million entrepreneurs in over 70 countries.

The 940,000 individual lenders on Kiva can lend as little as $25 to borrowers posted on the Kiva website, and all of these $25 “shares” together can make up a significant loan. In 2011, Kiva began a program in the U.S. to reach domestic borrowers called Kiva Zip. By using PayPal, loans that are crowdfunded on Kiva Zip’s website can be sent directly to a borrower at 0% interest.

Impact Entrepreneurs: How would you describe Kiva Zip in a single tweet?

Stasi Baranoff: Lend to an entrepreneur in Oregon, invest in your community! https://zip.kiva.org/loans/s/oregon

How is Kiva Zip different than Kiva?

Kiva Zip is a pilot program in the U.S. and Kenya where Kiva is testing new ways to crowdfund for social good. With Kiva Zip you can:

· Help a borrower receive a 0% interest loan. This differs from typical Kiva loans where partners charge interest to cover their operating costs.

· Directly communicate with borrowers: Once you’ve made a loan, you can post and receive messages from that borrower as they succeed.

· Bring new borrowers to Kiva Zip: In addition to lending, you can vouch for someone to be a Kiva Zip borrower by becoming a trustee. You can apply to be a borrower too.

Kiva Zip is an exciting new step, but it comes with some risk — the repayment rate for Kiva Zip is lower than the nearly 99% for Kiva. In exchange for this increased risk, you have the opportunity to experiment with lending in a new way that could change the world.

What do the loans look like?

· Loan #1 :: Maximum loan = $5,000 :: Loan term = 10 to 24 months

· Loan #2 :: Maximum loan = $10,000 :: Loan term = 12 to 36 months

· Loan #3 :: Maximum loan = $20,000 :: Loan term = 24 to 48 months

· Loan #4 :: Maximum loan = $50,000 :: Loan term = 48 to 72 months

Who qualifies for a Kiva Zip loan?

There are a number of criteria, as assessed by trustees, that borrowers must meet, in order to qualify for a Kiva Zip loan:

· The borrower must have a real social and economic need

· The borrower must have a sound business plan

· The borrower must not be heavily indebted

· The borrower must not be in bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings, or about to enter into them

· The trustee must endorse the borrower’s character

· The trustee must determine that the borrower is financially responsible

How does the application process work?

A Trustee and borrower would typically decide together that the borrower is ready for a Kiva Zip loan. Then the following steps occur:

1. A Trustee endorses the Borrower by answering a few questions on the Kiva Zip website.

2. The Borrower receives an email letting them know they’ve been endorsed; they are then led to the Borrower application on the Kiva Zip website.

3. Once the Borrower completes the application, it is submitted to the Trustee for review.

4. The Trustee reviews the application and then submits it for Kiva’s review.

5. Kiva reviews the application and then posts it to the Kiva Zip website!

What role do trustees play in this process?

Trustees source Kiva Zip borrowers, review the borrowers’ businesses, and publicly endorse them on the Kiva Zip website, specifically by vouching for their character. They maintain a relationship with the borrower throughout the duration of the borrower’s fundraising and repayment period.

What’s next for Kiva Zip?

There’s a lot in the pipeline for Kiva Zip. We’re launching in Portland on June 27th, and we’re so excited for the enthusiasm for the program here. Later this summer, there will be launches in Newark, New Jersey and Richmond, Virginia. Spreading Kiva love!

Social Enterprises Pitching at Elevating Impact

Want to see some of the most inspiring new social entrepreneurs in Portland pitch their ventures? Join us at the Elevating Impact Summit on Friday, June 21 at the Gerding Theater for the morning Pitch Fest! A panel of expert judges will provide feedback on each pitch, but you, the audience, get to vote on a winner to go home with $1000 in cash and $2500 in legal aid to accelerate their venture. Pitches begin at 10:30, so don’t be late!

Ventures selected to pitch at the event:

• Consano is a nonprofit crowdfunding platform that enables anyone to donate to a specific medical research project that means something to them.
• FlagTo, a finalist at Mercy Corps’ Tech4Change Startup Weekend, provides GPS-linked addresses to microentrepreneurs in developing nations.
• IncitED is a online crowdfunding and collaboration community for innovative educational programs around the country.
• Pacific Green Development, a member of the Social Innovation Incubator at PSU, is working to bring carbon-negative building materials to the Pacific NW.
• rewear, a member of the Social Innovation Incubator, designs, manufactures and wholesales smart kids clothing and home items made from upcycled materials.
• The Simple Wheel works with nonprofits to measure and communicate their impact and enables donors to better manage their charitable portfolio.

Special thanks to our Pitch Fest sponsor, Immix Law, for donating the cash prize and legal package.