What differentiated this program in its early days was that it was among the first to offer a suite of support mechanisms for impact-driven founders without taking any equity in participating ventures.

Today, a growing number of programs meet that criteria, but few offer the same robust set of benefits Halcyon fellows receive: 14 weeks of rent-free housing at Halcyon’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., workspace, a $10,000 stipend, legal and consulting support, mentorship, training in Investment Readiness, Business Fundamentals, Impact, and Leadership,  But more than anything, the Incubator offers fellows a community of people who will see them, challenge them, and support them.

We get to know our fellows well, and we never stop asking them: What do you need? What they tell us is backed up by our own research, which says that there’s a need for more and better investment mechanisms for social entrepreneurs, particularly women founders and founders of color.

In 2019 we launched the Halcyon Angels, a regional angel network investing in impact-driven businesses and dedicated to growing the pool of angel investors to be more diverse and more compelled by the promise of social enterprise.

While that’s the only project we’re sharing publicly right now, watch this space as we continue to invest (pun intended) in evolving the funding side of the social enterprise ecosystem, meeting a need for our fellows and other entrepreneurs like them.