Ventures
Ventures form one of the major pillars of Nourish International. Ventures are self sustaining income generating events on college campuses that build awareness, a membership base, and social venture capital all at the same time. Ventures are at the heart of social entrepreneurship in that they:
- Are self sustaining, efficient businesses
- Raise awareness, funding, and membership simultaneously – i.e. they get more done with less resources
- Proceeds go to global development projects to help impoverished communities and back into Nourish so we can grow and do even more.
A good way to understand Ventures is to consider a few successful examples:
- Hunger Lunch – sale of rice, beans and cornbread in a high traffic area on campus. First Nourish Venture ever and still a keystone venture.
- Hold 'em for Hunger – Charity Texas Hold 'em Poker tournament. We bring the prizes, ontestants bring the skills. Everyone wins.
- Global Music Jam – What do local dance clubs, radio stations and Nourish have in common? They all like to break it down. Every hour of the Global Music Jam features dance music from a different region of the world. Whether its Euro hour or Asia hour, students can generate funds for projects by shaking what their momma gave them.
Complete List of Great Venture Ideas
Nourish has been successful by trying new ideas. Many of our ventures have been less successful than others – that’s ok!. As the current director of Nourish, I can tell you first hand that my first venture raised just $136 after a month setting it up. And $100 was donated by someone because they were trying to impress one of the attending ladies. So really, a whopping $36 after a month of hard work. We stuck with it, however, and, a year later, our Hold’em for Hunger team put together the largest charity poker tournament in North Carolina, raising $6,000. We encourage students to try new things – YOUR idea could be the next BIG idea.
Joel ThomasExecutive Director, Nourish International