APPLY BY WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013 AT 5 PM

The NewDay Challenge awards up to $20,000 in seed funding to Tulane students dedicated to finding innovative, sustainable solutions to social challenges. Applicants can be any student-created, student-led organization, program, or venture that benefits the New Orleans community. The seed funding is intended to enable student innovators to turn their social impact ideas into reality. 

We are looking for student ventures that:

• Create social value
• Plan to generate revenue (sustainability)
• Solve a social challenge in New Orleans

SOCIAL VENTURE PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS
Applications are due Wednesday, April 3 at 5 PM

To qualify, you must e-mail the following four (4) items to Rebecca at TUchangemakers@tulane.edu.

1. A social venture proposal (5-10 pages) that describes your social venture idea, sustainability plan, and how seed funding will be used. Proposals should provide the following information clearly and succinctly:

• Describe your innovative idea and the problem it is addressing
• Describe how you plan to implement your venture
• Describe how you will market or promote your venture
  
• Describe how you plan to make your venture financially sustainable
• Describe who is on your team and your combined expertise
• Describe how you will evaluate/measure your work and its impact on solving the problem your venture is addressing

2. A budget for use of funds (up to $20,000)
3. A one-page Resume
4. Two letters of references: one faculty member and one external supporter

(Items 2-4 are not included in 10-page limit).

SELECTION CRITERIA

Plans must be for a seed-stage, start-up, or early stage venture and must provide an innovative solution to a specific social challenge faced by the New Orleans community.

To qualify for seed funding, applicants must meet the following objective criteria:

• Be a Tulane student and the primary owner of the social venture idea.
• Generate less than $50,000 in current revenues
• Offer clear and measurable use of funding
• Demonstrate that funding will allow the venture to take the next step needed to achieve goals
• Express a commitment to solve a specific social challenge faced by our New Orleans community
  

A selection committee from the Tulane community will evaluate all entries that meet the minimum objective criteria and select up to three finalists based on the following:

• Strength of social mission
• Innovation and creativity of solution
• Impact on community
• Potential that venture will be self – sustaining
• Ability for NewDay seed funding to help launch the venture

FALL 2012 PROGRAMMING

All potential applicants for the NewDay Challenge are strongly encouraged to apply for our Changemaker Institute and attend our Big Idea Meetups in the fall prior to their expected application (details can be found on our calendar of events or through our weekly newsletter). Please complete the interest form by Monday, November 19, 2012 in order to ensure adequate preparation:

1. Register and create a profile on the Dell Social Innovation website
2. Create your team
3. Complete the project page provided
4. E-mail Andrew and Melanie at TUchangemakers@tulane.edu with a link to your published project page

Congratulations 2012 NewDay Challenge Winners!

SUDZ by Melanie Barlow, Alexandra Russell, & Winnie Pritchett
Academic Departments: International Relations, Public Health, International Development
Sudz Soap is a social entrepreneurial venture designed to address public health concerns in disadvantaged populations. The Sudzmeisters team will start an L3C that sells soap here in the U.S. that pays for soap to be sent overseas to populationssuch as the Haitian refugee camps and rural villages in India where there are many health concerns that can be largely prevented with increased access tosoap. Furthermore, part of the revenue from each bar of soap will go into arainy day fund to be accessed in the event of another natural disaster in the New Orleans area. Sudz is dedicated to both responsive and preemptive public health measures to ensure a cleaner future.
 
Mardi Gras Made in New Orleans by Anne Rolfes
Academic Departments: International Development
A social enterprise that designs and produces distinctive, keepsake Mardi Gras throws that are manufactured locally from recycled materials. This will provide both financial returns and job creation.
 

Other 2012 Submissions Include:

NOLA Eyecare by Anushka Das & Aleena Ashary
Academic Departments: Mathematics, Philosophy, Cell & Molecular Biology, English
NOLA Eye Care seeks to bridge local resources to provide eye camps delivering free comprehensive care to schoolchildren every semester.
 
Prepare & Repair Team (PART) by Ariane Wiltse, Jennifer Hardin, & Adam Maese
Academic Departments: Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy, International Development
The Prepare & Repair Team (PART) provides at-risk youth with leadership and development opportunities and entrepreneurship and disaster preparedness trainings. It sells preparedness and first aid kits to further increase community resilience and sustain the organization’s mission.
 
Road Less Traveled by Sonya Zhong
Academic Departments: Business Management & Finance
Road Less Traveled seeks to support out of school youth by providing apprenticeship opportunities with skilled craftsman in New Orleans.
 
Spilled Art by Summer Johnke
Academic Departments: Newcomb-Tulane College
Spilledart, a website that would spill the beans about art, will provide a place where artists and art lovers can connect while giving artists the opportunity to market their art to a global audience. 

Past Winners Include:

Aquaponic Modular Production Systems (AMPS) by Doug Jacobs, Kevin Morgan, Melissa Hew, and Stephanie Stefanski, 2011

Aquaponic Modular Production Systems (AMPS) goal is to efficiently deliver nutrition where food is unavailable as a result of disasters or where social inequities have resulted in "food desert" shortages of fresh, nutritious foods.   AMPS provides a reliable source of fresh produce to communities where soil degradation, water shortages, pollution and other environmental and anthropogenic factors prevent the cultivation of healthy food. It re-circulates organic nutrients in a closed loop system; as a result, it does not leech harmful pollutants into the environment and water is not lost through evaporation and runoff, as is the case with traditional soil farming.  AMPS are modular, small footprint, high output farms designed for urban settings.

Surround Sound Accompaniment by Christopher "Skip" Wilson, 2011

Surround Sound Accompaniment (SSA) will provide musicians with a revolutionary online platform that will serve as an on‐demand portal in which users can instantly download music, scores, orchestral accompaniment, and performance notes. SSA will provide young New Orleans musicians with educational and professional development. Student musicians from New Orleans will gain the experience of working with renowned staff to produce a product for which there is world-wide demand. SSA will also be providing regional musicians with an outlet for creativity and providing jobs and career opportunities for those passionate about the arts.