12/4/2013 San Francisco Business Times by Renée Frojo
A new nonprofit accelerator is hoping to use the power and influence of technology startups to solve pressing urban problems.
Through a four-month program, Tumml offers a select group of civic-minded entrepreneurs $20,000 in seed funding and the chance to learn from some of the brightest minds in local government, tech and socially conscious organizations and companies.
“Our mission is to expand how people think about solving problems,” said Clara Brenner, who co-founded the company with fellow MIT Sloan MBA graduate Julie Lein. “We think tech companies can really step in and augment what people can do.”
Launched only last year, the nonprofit has received backing from Common Angels managing director James Geshwilder, the city of San Francisco chief innovation officer Jay Nath and Revolution Foods co-founder Kristen Tobey, to name a few — all of whom serve on its mentorship board to choose and guide entrepreneurs.
Tumml already has helped five organizations in its first cohort successfully get off the ground. Since completing the program in September, companies in the program have raised about $1 million in follow-on funding, creating media buzz.
They include WorkHands, a networking service for blue-collar workers, which has grown to over 5,000 registered users in the skilled trades since September. There’s also HandUp, a crowdfuding platform for the homeless that launched with 50 members and is now averaging $200 donations per active member per month.
Other companies include KidAdmit, an online program that helps parents search for and compare preschools, and Earth Starter, an all-in-one garden system that helps city dwellers grow food and flowers in small spaces.
Now, Brenner said, the nonprofit is on a nationwide search for its next batch of entrepreneurs attempting to tackle big issues in their communities and looking to scale their services from city to city. Brenner said the group is searching for entrepreneurs in small and mid-sized cities around the U.S. that have, for the most part, not had as much access to urban impact companies.
While Tumml is currently backed by a number of corporations and foundations — including the Blackstone Foundation, Accela and Nixon Peabody — Brenner hopes the organization will soon be self-sustaining by taking equity in return for the money it grants participants. As of now, it’s on track to end its first fiscal year with a budget of $500,000.
The application deadline for Tumml’s next cohort is fast approaching, and Brenner said the organization has received more than double the number of applications it took in last year.
“We take this as a great sign that we are reaching a larger and larger audience with our urban impact entrepreneurship message,” Brenner said.
The deadline for applications is Dec. 8.
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