The nine winners of the NYC Boss Up Veteran Entrepreneurship Program were announced at a ceremony at Gracie Mansion yesterday by James Hendon, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS), who was joined on stage by NYC Mayor Eric Adams.

The program is administered through a Scholarship & Award Account at FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds, with funding by the Ron and Kerry Moelis Foundation, in partnership with DVS and the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS).  The application process yielded dozens of applicants, and finalists participated in a juried pitch competition. Each winning small business owner will receive a $20,000 grant, and enrollment in SBS’s small business mentorship program to help build and grow their businesses.

NYC Boss Up is a philanthropic program committed to encouraging excellence in entrepreneurship across New York City, and this program follows the successful NYC Boss Up Entrepreneurship Program partnership with the New York City Public Housing Authority (NYCHA) that provides $1 million in grants over five years to budding entrepreneurs living in NYCHA residences.

The winners of the veterans competition are:

• Analiza Quiroz Wolf – Women of Color Rise
  Women of Color Riseis a mission-based organization with the goal of elevating diverse leaders—especially women of color –to positions of power. CEO Analiza Quiroz Wolf served in the U.S. Air Force, attaining the rank of Captain. Analiza intends to use her grant as startup money to expand her organization’s reach.

• Ron Holloway – Woofbowl
  Woofbowl was started as a food truck for neighborhood dogs and has since expanded to work alongside other institutions ranging from the MLB to the Brooklyn Museum in a shared mission of building community. Owner Ron Holloway is an American disabled-Veteran who served in the U.S. Navy from December 2001 through June 2010. Ron plans to use his grant to take Woofbowl nationwide with a new subscription system.

• Nick & Joelle Lynch – Tree ARMY Co.
  Tree ARMY Co.is a Bronx-based tree removal, tree-pruning, planting, and tree-emergency response business that hires transitioning veterans and dependents. Owners Nick and Joelle Lynch both served in the U.S. Army. Nick and Joelle will be investing their grant money in new specialty machinery and equipment that will allow them to hire more Veterans with disabilities.

• Dan Rossi – AJM Business Service, Inc.
  AJM Business Service, Inc. is a food vending service once described by the New York Times as “the New York Hot Dog King.” Owner Dan Rossi is a service-disabled Veteran of two tours of duty in Vietnam with the U.S. Marine Corps. Dan will use his grant to build a new cart with all-new “Hot Dog King” branding.

• Marlin Yinet Santos – Mariachi Mexican Cantina
  Mariachi Mexican Cantina is California-style Mexican restaurant on Staten Island. Owner Marlin Yinet Santos served in the U.S. Army, including a yearlong tour of duty in Iraq. Marlin will use her grant money to purchase a conference bike that will allow her to bring customers directly to her business from the Staten Island Ferry while also giving historical tours of Staten Island’ North Shore.

• Sergio Rodriguera, Jr. – Straylight Systems
  Straylight Systemsis an artificial intelligence company that helps commercial and government entities operationalize data by analyzing thousands of disparate information streams across various file types. Co-Founder Sergio Rodriguera, Jr., served in the U.S Navy as a Naval Intelligence Officer. Sergio will use his grant as seed money to foster additional growth and service more customers.
• Vance Gorman, Jr. – Vanso Visual Imaging
  Vanso Visual Imagingis portrait photography studio and design service. Owner Vance Gorman, Jr., served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Vance is planning to use his grant to scale up his studio and expand.

• Tsikata Apenyo – indeHealth provides a comprehensive healthcare management platform that functions as an intermediary between students and university campuses. Owner Tsiktata Apenyo served as a Fulbright Fellow in China, and as a Medical Corps officer in the U.S. Army. Tsikata will use his grant to scale up his business operations after recently securing a contract with Yale.

• Serghio Adams – Brothers Building Blocks
  Brothers Building Blocksis a cohort-based educational enrichment program designed to empower youth and promote interest in STEM career paths. Founder Serghio Adams served in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Seoul, South Korea. Serghio plans to use his grant to expand his business’ after school curriculum and reach more mostly BIPOC students in LMI communities.

“FJC is thrilled to be helping expand the groundbreaking NYC Boss Up program to provide philanthropic awards to these dynamic veteran entrepreneurs,” said Sam Marks, Chief Executive Officer of FJC. “Programs like NYC Boss Up epitomize the best of philanthropy in bridging the gap between imaginative donors and powerful community partnerships. By bringing together government agencies, nonprofits, and private philanthropy around a common goal we are delivering vital new support to New York City’s veterans.”

Earlier in November, FJC’s CEO Sam Marks was a guest on Get Connected with Nina Del Rio, New York City’s 106.7 Lite FM’s weekly talk show featuring NYC’s influencers, experts, and vibrant non-profits.

Del Rio interviewed Marks about his background and the world of Donor Advised Funds, as well as the creative ways that FJC puts philanthropic resources to work. 

He spoke about FJC’s Agency Loan Fund, an impact investment vehicle that allows donors to invest some or all of their accounts in a pool of loans to nonprofits, so that funds are actively supporting nonprofits even before they are disbursed as grants. He cited capital grants and contract receivables as payments FJC’s loans typically bridge. “We do a lot financial intermediation, during these timing gaps for nonprofits,” said Marks.

He also spoke about innovative transactions with nonprofits like The Fortune Society and the Tenement Museum. 

From the interview:

People typically think, my philanthropy is to make grants to help an organization hit their goals to operate in the black for the year. But you could also use philanthropic dollars to help organizations be more entrepreneurial and take on more exciting projects that will help them grow and expand their services.

The nonprofits we work with understand the challenges that their businesses face, whether it’s cash flow issues because of late payments or a dearth of capital to take on new, exciting projects.  The nonprofits really know where their gaps are.  The challenge for us is finding donors with the imagination to put their philanthropic dollars to work to fill those gaps. If we could get more of our donors to think about, while the dollars are with us, how they could be invested for the benefit of nonprofits, we could really help nonprofits worry less about where their next dollars are coming from. We could go to the heart of what makes these nonprofit businesses challenging.

You can listen to the whole interview at this link.

We invite you to read this guest essay by CEO Sam Marks published in Inside Philanthropy.  The article suggests that “this is a time to experiment with deploying philanthropic dollars more strategically to help nonprofits address those issues more effectively and spend more effort on mission-critical work.”

The essay recommends that donors look beyond grantmaking for their philanthropy and consider other approaches to using philanthropic capital.  Examples cited include the revolving predevelopment fund FJC arranged for the Fortune Society, and the refinancing of the Tenement Museum’s mortgage through a DAF investment.

From the essay:

The conversation between philanthropy and nonprofits very often begins and ends with grantmaking, and there is no question that grants are a key component of nonprofit business models. But the nonprofit sector could surely benefit if this conversation were more expansive — on both sides. Nonprofit practitioners could be more explicit with their philanthropic partners about their cash flow challenges that distract senior management from a full focus on their missions, or the capital resources they need to grow and be truly transformative. Donors could consider more inventive and mission-focused uses of the philanthropic dollars that are currently invested in the private sector, whether in foundation endowments or in DAF accounts. These approaches depend on donors and nonprofits engaging more deeply and finding a common cause.

Simply put, there’s an opportunity to grow beyond the conventional relationships between donors and nonprofits by elevating creative, entrepreneurial thinking. Sponsors of DAFs, in particular, can play a role in helping small donors align their funds and execute some of the more inventive uses of their philanthropic dollars, such as loans, recoverable grants or impact investments. DAF sponsors have always offered donors operational scale and efficiency; why not also offer technical and legal assistance to facilitate these more complex transactions? Or to pull together multiple donors that want to work collectively to create a solution?

This vision for DAFs is not just about more effective donations; it’s about building a more robust philanthropic ecosystem where the interests of donors, nonprofits and beneficiaries converge.

Read the full essay here.

We invite you to read this op-ed by FJC CEO Sam Marks in City Limits, an investigative journalism nonprofit that identifies urban problems, examines their causes, explores solutions, and equips communities to take action.

Read the entire op-ed, which is excerpted here:

We often hear that solving New York City’s myriad challenges—from an affordable housing crisis to growing a more equitable economy that works for all New Yorkers—will require an all-hands-on-deck approach. Usually, leaders use the “all hands” phrase to signal the need for cooperation between the public, nonprofit, and private sectors.

It can be challenging at times to bring these parties together, but the charitable sector, when it’s working at its best, can act as a catalyst to invent new solutions. With its creativity, flexibility, and mission-driven focus, philanthropy can be a linchpin, capable of bringing together the public sector’s authority and agenda-setting power and the private sector’s financial resources and dynamism.

The piece continues with a description of the Boss Up program, administered by FJC through a Scholarship & Award Account, and funded by the Ron and Kerry Moelis Family Foundation.

The initiative was inspired by research from Center for an Urban Future, and partners included the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), NYC Department of Small Business Services, the BOC Network, and the Brooklyn Public Library.

The program supports entrepreneurs living in NYCHA housing expand their businesses, providing $20,000 grants and business development courses to the  winners of a “Shark Tank”-style competition.

As Marks wrote in the piece, “The Boss Up program is an example of philanthropy at its best and it should prompt all of us to think differently about how we work. If we can form more connections between imaginative donors, entrepreneurial nonprofits, and the public sector there is no limit to the new, creative solutions we can develop to improve people’s lives.”

This fall FJC is working with the Moelis Foundation and the NYC Department of Veterans’ Services to replicate the program with veteran entrepreneurs. 

When Academy Award-winning actress Ellen Burstyn was offered the chance to reprise her role in a sequel to the 1973 horror classic, “The Exorcist,” she thought, “The devil is asking my price!”

Ultimately, Ms. Burstyn agreed to appear in “The Exorcist: Believer,” set to open this weekend, so she could fund her philanthropic legacy, via an account at FJC. 

Ms. Burstyn recounted her story for Philanthropy Women, an online home for women donors and their allies to read about, understand, and amplify feminist philanthropy.

Below is an excerpt from Ellen Burstyn’s Lasting Legacy as a Philanthropist for the Art of Acting.

At 90 years old, Ellen is still incredibly active and currently serves as the co-president of the Actors Studio in New York City, which has launched the careers of people like Al Pacino and Marlon Brando. It’s a labor of love for Ellen, and she recently reprised her role in the Exorcist franchise to fund a $1 million scholarship fund for the studio’s MFA. Burstyn wanted the fund to be specifically geared towards assisting BIPOC artists. She chose an independent partner in FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds, with a history of creating custom philanthropic programs like this one.

As Ellen herself tells the story:

“I became a philanthropist last year, and I owe my newfound role as a grantmaker to my decision to appear in the Exorcist sequel. Since I appeared in the original “The Exorcist” film in 1973, I have lost count of the number of times I’ve been offered roles in sequels. This time, I was offered it again—for a lot of money—and I said no. They came back and doubled the offer. But something told me, “Don’t say no too fast.” I closed my eyes, and the next thought that came to my mind was, “The devil is asking my price.” And my price is a scholarship program for the Masters in Fine Arts program of The Actors Studio, currently at Pace University.”

Read the rest of the story here.

On the heels of the first NYC Boss Up program, FJC has partnered with the Ron and Kerry Moelis Family Foundation for a new version of the program, this time focused on veteran entrepreneurs.  The program will provide 7-10 selected winners with a grant of $20,000 and enrollment in SBS’s small business mentorship program to help veteran entrepreneurs build and grow their businesses.

The NYC Boss Up Veteran Entrepreneurship Program was announced on September 12, 2023 alongside public sector partners at the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS), and the NYC Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS). The program focuses on veteran entrepreneurs living in New York City. SBS will provide the program’s technical training components and all applicants will be provided with information about SBS’s free business support services. SBS will provide the education, training, support, and mentorship through a program that helps veterans apply skills they developed in the military to grow a successful and profitable business.

Funded by the Moelis Foundation, FJC will administer the program through a Scholarship & Award Account (SAA), a variation on a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) account that enables awards to individuals that are consistent with U.S. Internal Revenue Service charitability regulations.  When setting up an SAA, donors like the Moelis Foundation must undergo an application process that is approved by FJC’s Board of Directors, including designing fair selection criteria and assembling a committee of unbiased jurors, which recommend winners. 

“Following the success of the NYC Boss Up program, we wanted to support another cohort of entrepreneurs and give them the financial support and skills to take their businesses to the next level,” said Ron Moelis, co-founder of the Ron and Kerry Moelis Family Foundation. “I’m thrilled to watch our military veteran winners pursue their business plans and encourage many more veterans to apply to the program for its next round.”

“The New York City Boss Up initiative is the kind of imaginative philanthropy that can significantly improve people’s lives,” said Sam Marks, Chief Executive Officer of FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds. “FJC is excited to execute the vision of the Ron and Kerry Moelis Family Foundation, bringing together partners from government, nonprofits, and the private sector to deliver a dynamic program that invests in New York City’s veterans.”

Applications will be made available to veteran entrepreneurs with existing businesses located across the five boroughs and will be reviewed in three rounds, culminating in a pitch and panel interview featuring SBS Commissioner Kim, DVS Commissioner Hendon, veterans, and stakeholders in the philanthropic and veteran communities. Interested applicants can apply until 11 PM on October 6, 2023 using an online application portal. A virtual information session will be held on Friday, September 22, 11 am – 12 pm.  Interested applicants can register on Eventbrite.

Read the press release.

An anonymous donor at FJC is converting minefields back to productive agricultural land in Ukraine, the most mined country in the world, thanks to a $25,000 grant to APOPO. This innovative nonprofit has developed a training and breeding program for animals who can sniff out and mark the ground where unexploded landmines exist, including dogs and African Giant Pouched Rats.

FJC’s grant represents only the most recent support in a decades-long relationship between the donor and APOPO, which dates to 2007. “The social entrepreneurs at APOPO focus on prevention, rather than prosthetics,” notes the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous.  “I also found their focus on animal welfare to be compelling. The majority of APOPO’s animals live to the end of their expected lifespan, and none of their animals has ever died because of their detection work.”

APOPO (a Dutch abbreviation of Anti- Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development) was founded by rat pet-owner Bart Weetjens and his former schoolmate Christophe Cox. APOPO’s mine action teams have set foot in eight countries that suffered from the legacy of past conflicts and are currently operational in Angola, Cambodia, South Sudan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Zimbabwe.

It is estimated that Ukraine contains over 96,000 square miles of minefields covering 40 percent of the country’s area. Many of these minefields are filled with small antipersonnel landmines, which have been internationally prohibited since the 1997 international Mine Ban Treaty and are triggered by the weight of a human body. These types of mines cannot discriminate between civilians and soldiers, and an April 2023 report showed that 1 in 8 civilians killed or injured by landmines was a child. Despite calls from the UN Development Program for all developed countries to aid in Ukrainian demining, and the presence of over five hundred different demining teams in Ukraine, with current annual demining productivity it will take 757 years to complete the process of humanitarian de-mining.

By relying on animal detection, de-mining efforts can cut costs and avoid the drawn-out and environmentally costly process of relying on slow metal detectors and vegetation cutting machines. APOPO animals have been described as having a positive work-life balance, with the rats only surveying for 1-2 hours a day and being rewarded with peanuts on their day off. APOPO championed a 100-page animal welfare standard operating procedure for both its dogs and rats, which goes above and beyond traditional SOPs.

In 2018, APOPO also began training and deploying an innovative mine detection dog system that enhances productivity over typical mine detection dogs, by training dogs to run in 30 meters lanes (three times longer than the typical 10 meters), and to run through vegetation, greatly reducing the need for machine or handheld vegetation removal. This helps increase cost efficiency and leaves environments intact.

This fall, APOPO is launching a program in Sumy, Ukraine, which will initially include the deployment of 16 of APOPO special mine detection dogs along with 8 local female handlers. Between October, 2023 – March, 2024 APOPO will work to train, and accredit dogs and Ukrainian handlers, as well as conduct in-person community baselines surveys, so that its animal teams can be deployed in Q2 2024, as the weather becomes warm enough to begin mine clearance work. APOPO also hopes to expand the first ever Development Impact Bond linking Mine Action and Agriculture, a model they are piloting in Cambodia, to help restore agriculture in Sumy in 2025 or 2026. Given the reports that Russia was targeting farmland to prevent future agricultural recovery in the area, this joint program is essential in supporting Ukraine’s recovery.

To expedite the program, the survey animals and handlers will be trained within the already existing center in Cambodia before being deployed to Ukraine, as it is too cold to train handlers and dogs in Ukraine during late fall and winter months.  For Charlie Richter, the head of APOPO US, this international training model is tough for the traditional mine action government and UN funders whose procurement processes are usually too rigid to support a training program for Ukraine taking place in Cambodia. He noted that “this concept is too out of the box for most governments,” but that private donors can appreciate that by primarily training in Cambodia, APOPO can avoid an idol period during the Ukrainian winter and launch much needed and cost effective mine detection dog operations in Ukraine earlier.

Richter and his team welcome additional contributions. To donate, submit a grant recommendation to APOPO US (EIN# 47-1389723), or email trombold@fjc.org for more information regarding the development of the program.

Special thanks to FJC Grants Administrator Sophia Trombold for writing this story.

For its Fourth of July broadcast, BronxNet’s OPEN program featured Fortune Society Deputy CEO Stanley Richards in dialogue with FJC CEO Sam Marks on our recently-announced revolving loan fund.

“I would encourage donors who are thinking about impacting nonprofit organizations to look at this model,” Mr. Richards said.  “It’s an innovative model that allows the recycling of an investment to bring about transformative opportunities for people.”

See the interview here.

The Fortune Society is a leading provider of services and housing for people coming out of incarceration.  FJC recently worked with Fortune to arrange a revolving fund, which will help Fortune scale its work developing supportive housing, providing a dedicated source of capital that can be used to initiate these time-intensive, critical projects.  The revolving fund was capitalized with funds from a handful of Donor Advised Fund (DAF) accounts, matched by Fortune’s own resources.

“Where FJC comes in is helping Fortune Society with a particular bottleneck they face in the housing development process,” explains Marks. “Fortune staff are experts in assembling all the complex financing to build supportive housing.  It’s in those early stages – predevelopment – where they might need a few hundred thousand dollars” to access the tens of millions of public and private financing needed to build these projects.

In the interview, Richards notes that Fortune is attempting to have a lasting, generational change.  He cited his own experience as a formerly incarcerated individual, who received the resources and support to turn his life around, start a family, and break the cycle of incarceration.  “That’s what Fortune does every single day when we serve the men and women who walk through our doors. We provide supportive housing, education, and employment.  It’s about generational change.”

Richards also noted the importance of partnership in accomplishing Fortune’s mission, and that by working together, Fortune, FJC and its donors can be more impactful than by working alone. 

“This is a model that nonprofits in the housing sector should take a look at,” Mr. Richards said.  “And it’s also a model for someone who has resources asking, How do I leverage my resources to make a difference?  This is an opportunity for people to lean in, in a way that is aligned with your values and the impact you want to have.”

Crain’s New York Business has published an op-ed by FJC CEO Sam Marks and JoAnne Page, the president and CEO of The Fortune Society.  The piece, titled “How Creative Funding Can Help Kickstart Complex Capital Projects,” describes a unique partnership between a leading nonprofit serving people coming out of incarceration and a foundation sponsor of donor advised funds (DAFs).

Through the initiative, FJC has arranged a fund that will empower The Fortune Society to scale its housing development work.  See our FAQ document for more information.

From the op-ed:

The Fortune Society, a leading supportive housing provider, and FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds, recently launched a revolving loan fund that will provide desperately needed working capital to kickstart supportive housing projects.

The fund’s low-interest loans are capitalized by contributions from FJC’s donor-advised fund holders and matched by additional resources from the Fortune Society. The loans will allow the nonprofit Fortune to significantly expand its supportive housing portfolio over the next five years.

Most donors are not thinking about using their philanthropic dollars this way. But imagine the possibilities if philanthropic leaders who think and act in business terms were to partner closely with nonprofits. They could help identify and fill common gaps that nonprofits face. Donors would see a bigger impact from their giving, and entrepreneurial nonprofits could take on more ambitious projects to solve our most challenging problems.

Read the full article here.

“My name is Legacy, so I decided why not start one,” says 11-year old Legacy Clemens.  Along with her mother Loria Clemmons Stairs, Ms. Clemens is a co-founder of Legacy’s Flavors, a Bed-Stuy business that is one of the winners of the NYC Boss Up award program, funded by donor Ron Moelis and administered by FJC. 

View the Spectrum NY1 News story here.

A healthy alternative, Legacy’s Flavors offers ices and ice creams without artificial flavors, colors, and dyes.  “There isn’t a lot of exposure to healthy options, so I decided to try and make a change.”

Spectrum NY1 News featured a story about Ms. Clemens, who was one of ten winners of the Boss Up competition, which provides $20,000 grants to help entrepreneurs living in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residences to build and grow their businesses. The program has received a commitment of $1 million over five years from donor Ron Moelis.  FJC is administering the program through a Scholarship & Award Account.

The NYC Boss Up initiative was inspired by a report from the Center for an Urban Future, “New York’s Untapped Entrepreneurship Opportunity,” which identified a significant increase in the number of NYHCA residents reporting business income in recent years.

“It’s empowering people who don’t have access to the same friends and family that some of us do,” says donor Ron Moelis.  He expects to fund up to 10 companies each year for the next five years.

As Legacy states at the end of news story, “My biggest hope would be to inspire other kids to start a business, and maybe the world will be full of kid entrepreneurs.”