Hall notes 50th business anniversary by committing $1M for entrepreneurs
Well-known Dallas entrepreneur and real estate developer Craig Hall is marking the HALL Group’s 50th anniversary by committing to provide $1 million in grants from the Craig and Kathryn Hall Foundation to help nonprofit partners invest in and support entrepreneurs impacted by the nation’s “opportunity gap.”
Hall, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, vintner, art collector, and New York Times bestselling author, founded HALL Group in October 1968 at age 18 when he bought his first rooming house in Ann Arbor, Michigan with $4,000 he had saved from childhood ventures, according to a release. That rooming house was the launch point for Hall’s career.
“In all but certain geographical areas of the country and big technology sectors, U.S. entrepreneurship is struggling.”
Craig Hall
Via partnerships with select nonprofits, Hall said this first grant will provide under-served entrepreneurs with much-needed access to capital, mentorship, and other resources through the selected nonprofits, which HALL Group will source.
“We live in a revolutionary time in the U.S., when technology and innovation have really taken hold and entrepreneurship should be booming. But the fact is, the U.S. has a widening opportunity gap for traditional entrepreneurs. In all but certain geographical areas of the country and big technology sectors, U.S. entrepreneurship is struggling,” Hall said in the release. “Although this technology and innovation is benefiting big companies, the rate of startup formation on an annual basis is roughly half of what it was four decades ago, and the situation is even more dire for women and people of color, along with entrepreneurs in many rural regions of the U.S. This $1 million grant is just the starting point for what our foundation intends to do with entrepreneurial non-profit partnerships long-term.”
Good Returns, ORIX named 3 impact organizations funded in new ‘Cycle’
Dallas hybrid social enterprise Good Returns and ORIX Corp. USA, and its foundation, have announced that three Texas impact organizations receiving funding to help them assist under-served communities via the partner companies’ newly launched program to which ORIX deployed $250,000.
Good Returns Network President Kyle Lukianuk [Photos: Courtesy of Kyle Lukianuk]
The three impact organizations are Akola Project Inc., Miles of Freedom, and PeopleFund, according to a release.
Good Returns’ unique Cycle program focuses on economic empowerment in the Dallas area, and this Cycle’s investment amount of $250,000 will support the organizations in scaling their sustainable models to address community challenges.
“Now that we’ve disbursed this important growth capital, we look forward to documenting and sharing the stories of these amazing organizations to help raise awareness about the causes they are addressing and the effective way in which they do it,” Good Returns President Kyle Lukianuk said in a release.
Here’s how the funding with help:
- Akola Project will help 50 women in Dallas receive vocational training and access to work programs to help them attain self-sufficiency and be able to support their families.
- Miles of Freedom will use the money to expand its land maintenance and lawn care social enterprise, as well as provide jobs for two people participating in its workforce re-entry program who formerly were incarcerated.
- PeopleFund’s funding will enable 30 Texas-based veterans to receive money and business training to grow their small businesses. Also, the program will provide 900 hours of free training and will create or retain 25 jobs, giving participants long-term stability.
In its Cycle program, Good Returns uses corporate capital to make interest-free, and fully-guaranteed loans to the most-promising impact organizations that align with a participating company’s social priorities.
Southern Dallas Thrives gets backing from PepsiCo, United Way
PepsiCo’s Plano-based Frito Lay subsidiary and the PepsiCo Foundation are joining the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas for an initiative on early childhood development, nutrition, and college readiness in South Dallas called Southern Dallas Thrives.
It will be funded partly via a $600,000 PepsiCo Foundation grant over three years and $1.5 million in employee giving and corporate matches from the two companies.
Mental Health grant will provide training in 12 North Texas counties
The Texas Health and Human Service Commission has given the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council (DFWHC) a Community Mental Health Grant to help address the mental health needs of local people.
State of Reform said that the Community Mental Health Grant Program was established by the legislature in 2017, and that the state has allocated $30 million in state money over the 2018-19 biennium that is to be matched by local and private funds.
How will the funding be used?
DFWHC Foundation’s, the North Texas Community Health Collaborative, will use the money to provide Mental Health First Aid training in 12 counties in North Texas — Ellis, Erath, Grayson, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, and Wise.
Impact Shares receives $1M grant from Rockefeller Foundation
Impact Shares, a Dallas-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit exchange-traded fund (ETF), received a $1 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation targeted for the expansion of partnerships with other nonprofits and transforming its social values into products for investment.
The rise of impact investing and the growth of ETFs “opens doors” gives opportunities for groups to generate awareness about their causes and create revenue streams to fuel their social missions, Impact Shares CEO Ethan Powell said in a release.
DONATIONS & COMMUNITY SERVICE
$1.2M raised ahead of Conversation With a Living Legend event
The Dallas Morning News reported that The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center raised $1.2 million ahead of A Conversation With a Living Legend, which will be Nov. 5 at the Hilton Anatole.
The luncheon event will feature a conversation between CBS Sports lead NFL analyst (and former Cowboys quarterback) Tony Romo and honoree Jordan Spieth, major-champion winning Dallas pro golfer who has a namesake foundation that focuses on pediatric cancer and other youth and family causes.
Begun in 1990 in Dallas, A Conversation With a Living Legend has been replicated in other cities, and has raised a total of $39.7 million, including $18 million from North Texas, The Morning News said. To see a list of the financial supporters, go here.
Black-tie gala raises $9.3M for AIDS research, Dallas Museum of Art
The annual event that benefits the Foundation for AIDS Research and the Dallas Museum of Art — TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art — netted a record $9.3 million at the 20th anniversary gala recently at the Rachofsky House.
Also, artist Dana Schutz was presented with the 2018 amfAR Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS, and singing icon Diana Ross entertained the 500 people who attended the black-tie event, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Event organizers said the event’s tally brought the total raised over two decades to $84 million.
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