A little bit can go a long way: Kiva, inKindness, IGC, & YOU!

(photo courtesy of Kelly Bentley)



Last year in lieu of sending holiday gifts or cards to our members and close colleagues, we set aside $1 for each of them and loaned the money through Kiva to women entrepreneurs around the world.

Since then, we have continued to reissue loans as soon as the original ones were paid back.
Using just the initial funds, we have loaned $1000 to date. These 15 loans have reached dozens of women in 10 countries!

We are inspired by how far this little gesture has gone and will be making a similar contribution this year.

Want us to make a contribution on your behalf? Let us know in the comments section.

Want to join our lending team? Do so here.

inKindness: A new IGC initiative about finding creative ways to give back

We are excited to introduce you to inKindness – a new IGC initiative that captures our belief in the importance of giving back and creating ways to increase small businesses’ philanthropic efforts regardless of size or stage.

We started inKindness because we believe that engagement matters and that is a fundamentally important aspect of entrepreneurship.

WE BELIEVE that when it comes to philanthropic involvement that you’re never too small and it is never too soon.

LEVERAGING YOUR BUSINESS as a vehicle for change should be a business practice from the start.

This inKindness initiative is about finding ways to ENGAGE IMPORTANT CAUSES that are possible now.

inKindness doesn’t always require cash but does REQUIRE CREATIVITY.


Our recent inKindness gestures include ‘in kind’ donations and contributions to organizations such as Girls Write Now, NOW NYC, and Starting Bloc.

Inspired in part by giving initiatives such as:
Fred Wilson’s donors choose funding challenge
The launch of the Tory Burch Foundation

And influenced by these idea campaigns:
Malia Mills’ Love They Differences Campaign
And Operation Nice

We decided to make our initiative official!

We will now share our inKindness gestures and continue to look for creative ways that we can give back and do our part, and we encourage you to do the same!

Imagine! What you can do inKindness?

Join us by creating your own inKindness gestures and telling us about them!

Clothes --> Food!

With the help of IGC Member Joan Reilly, IGC is hosting a clothing drive run by Wearable Collections, which is a VERY cool non-profit who is bothered by the fact that every year 386 million pounds of perfectly good but unwanted clothing and textiles enter the NYC waste stream, making up about 6% of the total waste in New York City.

In response, Wearable Collections has dedicated themselves to solving this problem by getting unwanted clothes out of landfills and into the hands of those who need them. AND, what's more is that for each pound of clothing donated, they will donate 5cents to your desired charity. (Joan, who is focused on helping IGC to make a local impact, has selected the NYC Food Bank as the recipient of IGC members' bounty!)

This is a win-win-win-win initiative. You can get rid of things that you don't need and want, wearable collections distributes the clothes to people in need around the world, the city benefits from less waste in the waste stream, AND the proceeds are donated to another very deserving charitable cause! whew - I mean, is that all?!

So far, this relatively new organization has diverted nearly 1Million pounds of clothing from landfills. Help them! IGC Members have until May 15th to participate by bringing their unwanted clothes& textiles to the office. Others can either start an initiative in their own building (WC is co-op approved) or visit one of the drop off centers.

I wish I could say that this was IGC's planned Earth Day initiative, but truly all the credit goes to Joan! So for more questions about the partnership (or for help actually deciding what items to donate and what items to keep or repurpose!) contact Joan Reilly - lifeofreillyorganizers@verizon.net.

posted by Adelaide

IGC Members Step Up!!

A couple weeks ago, IGC hosted participants of The Step Up Women's Network's Pathways to Professions programs at IGC. The program allows college-bound girls to visit and learn about various business settings and careers.

We had a blast talking about entrepreneurship!

Several IGC members took part in this initiative, including Eden Abrahams of Clear Path Executive Coaching, Karla Lightfoot of Ladies Who Launch, Anne Kilcullen of Blade, Annie Lansing of Ann Lansing Designs, and Emily Wolper of E.Wolper Inc.

These IGC members shared their thoughts on and experiences of entrepreneurship with the group and talked about how and why they started their own business.

The Step Up gals were great, and by the end they were able to brainstorm and create businesses of their own. We were so impressed by their ideas and were glad to see the socially conscious components integrated in each of their desired ventures.

Thank you Step Up for this great opportunity! Thank you Eden, Karla, Annie, Anne, and Emily for sharing your time and experience! See us all hard at work below: