Echoing Green
Echoing Green is a New York-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides seed funding ($100,000), capacity building, and lifelong community support to nearly 1,000 social entrepreneur Fellows across 86+ countries through its flagship 18-month Fellowship, complemented by follow-on grants and the Signal Fund catalytic capital vehicle.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1987
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Echoing Green does
Echoing Green is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit social innovation organization headquartered in New York City that identifies, funds, and supports early-stage social entrepreneurs globally. Founded in 1987 by growth equity firm General Atlantic, the organization has supported nearly 1,000 Fellows working across 86+ countries through its flagship 18-month Fellowship, which provides $100,000 in seed funding per Fellow along with capacity building, leadership development, wellness support, and lifelong community access. The 2025 cohort selected 20 Fellows from a pool of 4,200 applicants, and the 2026 cycle drew more than 4,100 applications from 139 countries.
The organization's core product is the Fellowship itself, supplemented by the Signal Fund (a 2024-launched catalytic capital follow-on vehicle that has deployed over $5M to 18 organizations and catalyzed $15M+ in additional investment), a Follow-on Funding Program offering Catalytic Grants and new Sustainability and Scale Grants (deploying $13M+ cumulatively across dozens of alumni organizations), and community programming anchored by the annual All Fellows Convening. Technology infrastructure is conventional nonprofit stack: web-based application portals, a Fellows directory, Tableau for analytics, Vimeo for video, and standard CMS tools — there is no proprietary AI or platform technology.
Echoing Green's business model is donation-funded. Revenue derives from foundation grants (MacArthur, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Skoll), corporate philanthropy (Ballmer Group, Allstate, Target, BlackRock, PayPal each at the $100,000-$500,000+ tier), and individual giving. For-profit and hybrid Fellows receive recoverable grants (repayable only above $5M valuation or $2M revenue with net profit) rather than traditional grants. There are no fees for application or participation. Notable alumni include Michelle Obama, Van Jones, Wendy Kopp (Teach For America), Raj Panjabi (Last Mile Health), and Kennedy Odede (SHOFCO, recipient of the 2025 UN Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize), with Fellows having collectively raised $16 billion to date and 80% remaining in the social sector post-fellowship.
Echoing Green firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Echoing Green
- Legal name
- Echoing Green
- Website
- https://echoinggreen.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1987
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Echoing Green is a New York-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides seed funding ($100,000), capacity building, and lifelong community support to nearly 1,000 social entrepreneur Fellows across 86+ countries through its flagship 18-month Fellowship, complemented by follow-on grants and the Signal Fund catalytic capital vehicle.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Echoing Green industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Social Innovation Funding and Fellowship Programs
- NAICS
- Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219)
- SIC
- Services-Social Services (8300)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH), Corporate Foundations & CSR Grantmaking (BPAGAKAC)
Keywords
Where Echoing Green is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Echoing Green business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Foundation and Corporate Donations: Echoing Green receives major funding from foundations (e.g., MacArthur Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Skoll Foundation, BlackRock, PayPal, Target, Allstate) and corporations at various tiers ($500,000+, $100,000+, $50,000+, $25,000+, $10,000+, $5,000+, $1,000+). The organization is a registered 501(c)(3) public charity.
- Individual Donations: Individual donors contribute at various levels through the Donate page, including monthly Trailblazer giving program. Notable individual donors include Raj Panjabi, Sharyanne McSwain, and others at various giving levels.
- Fellowship Program (Revenue Offset): The fellowship program provides $100,000 seed funding stipends over 18 months to selected social entrepreneurs. For-profit organizations receive recoverable grants rather than direct grants.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Fellowship Seed Funding - $100,000 over 18 months |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
Echoing Green product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Echoing Green provides seed funding and multi-year support to early-stage social entrepreneurs through its 18-month Fellowship program, which awards $100,000 to selected leaders of nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid social enterprises. Beyond the Fellowship, the organization offers Follow-on Funding (Catalytic Grants and Sustainability and Scale Grants) to alumni organizations and the Signal Fund, a catalytic capital follow-on fund that deploys debt and equity to established Fellow-led organizations at critical scaling stages. Fellows also receive leadership development, wellness support, access to 250+ advisors, and lifelong community membership through virtual and in-person convenings.
Product overview
Echoing Green is a social innovation organization offering a portfolio of interconnected programs centered around its flagship 18-month Fellowship. The Fellowship provides $100,000 in seed funding, capacity building (leadership development, wellness support), and community access through virtual and in-person convenings. Beyond the core Fellowship, Echoing Green offers Follow-on Funding (Catalytic Grants and new Sustainability and Scale Grants) to support alumni scaling their organizations, the Signal Fund for catalytic capital investment in established organizations, and the Social Impact Talent Report as an annual research publication. All programs are tied together through the All Fellows Convening and ongoing community programming, creating a lifelong support ecosystem for social entrepreneurs.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Signal Fund: Echoing Green's catalytic capital follow-on fund that provides investment tools for established organizations on the brink of breakthrough social impact.
Products and services
- Echoing Green Fellowship An 18-month full-time fellowship providing $100,000 in seed funding (recoverable grants for for-profit and hybrid organizations, contingent on valuation above $5M USD or revenues above $2M USD with net profit), comprehensive capacity building including leadership development and wellness support, access to 250+ advisors, and lifelong community membership for emerging social entrepreneurs working across climate, education, health, human rights, poverty, and racial justice.
- Signal Fund A catalytic capital follow-on fund providing a broad range of investment tools for established Fellow-led organizations on the brink of breakthrough impact. Targets organizations at early viability and scaling stages when traditional funders will not invest due to risk, having deployed more than $5M to 18 organizations and catalyzing more than $15M in additional investments.
- Follow-on Funding Program Grants supporting Echoing Green Fellowship alumni as they validate impact and prepare to scale their organizations. Includes Catalytic Grants for testing new ideas and Sustainability and Scale Grants for building long-term financial resilience, with over $13 million invested across dozens of Fellow-led organizations to date.
Quantifiable outcome
- 901 leaders have kickstarted ideas with Echoing Green's help
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Echoing Green
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Echoing Green technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Echoing Green partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- McNulty FoundationcorePartnership for sidebar session 'When the Ground Shifts: How Leaders are Building Lasting Impact' at the 2026 Skoll World Forum. Session followed fishbowl-style format with Echoing Green Fellows leading peer dialogue on building stable organizations.
- Skoll FoundationcoreEchoing Green participates in annual Skoll World Forum with CEO co-emceeing closing plenary. More than 50 Echoing Green Fellows, supporters, leadership, and staff attend, host, or headline events. Echoing Green held five independent events at Skoll 2026.
- Marmalade FestivalminorSeries of free-to-attend sessions produced in association with Skoll World Forum. CEO Cheryl Dorsey featured at two Marmalade-sponsored events including panel on organizational governance.
- Give LivelyminorEchoing Green has partnered with Give Lively to securely process online donations using credit card, bank account, or donor advised fund transfers.
Scale indicators11 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Echoing Green competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Ashoka: Ashoka is the most direct peer: a global fellowship for leading social entrepreneurs that provides stipends, network access, and lifelong community membership. Both organizations identify and support system-changing social innovators through selective fellowship models with similar cohort sizes and global reach.
- Skoll Foundation: The Skoll Foundation awards the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and operates the Skoll World Forum, which Echoing Green actively participates in. Both organizations deploy capital to proven social entrepreneurs and convene the field, though Skoll focuses on later-stage leaders than Echoing Green's seed-stage Fellows.
- Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation: DRK selects early-stage social entrepreneurs and provides multi-year unrestricted funding plus board-level support over a 3-year period. Like Echoing Green, it focuses on seed-stage social enterprises with high-impact potential and a selective cohort model.
- New Profit: New Profit is a venture philanthropy fund that provides unrestricted capital and capacity-building support to breakthrough social entrepreneurs, with a portfolio model similar to Echoing Green's follow-on funding approach. Both organizations serve as intermediaries between philanthropy and social innovation.
- Mulago Foundation: Mulago Foundation is a small, focused philanthropy backing a portfolio of cost-effective, evidence-driven social enterprises working with the world's poorest. It shares Echoing Green's selective, high-engagement approach to funding early-stage social innovators.
Broad incumbents
- Acumen: Acumen is a larger impact-investing pioneer that deploys patient capital to social enterprises tackling poverty. While Echoing Green gives grants, Acumen's investment approach serves overlapping entrepreneurs and represents an established incumbent in the social-enterprise capital stack Echoing Green Fellows eventually tap.
- Omidyar Network: Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm founded by eBay's Pierre Omidyar that deploys both grants and impact investments across social innovation. It represents a much larger capital pool addressing the same entrepreneur segment Echoing Green supports.
- The Rockefeller Foundation: The Rockefeller Foundation is a major global philanthropic institution that funds social innovation and impact at scale. Echoing Green's donor base and ecosystem partners overlap with Rockefeller's grantmaking focus areas in health, equity, and climate.
- Tides Foundation: Tides is a large philanthropic partner and fiscal sponsor that channels significant capital to social-justice, climate, and equity-focused nonprofits. It shares Echoing Green's grantmaking function and operates overlapping donor relationships, including corporate CSR funding.
Others
- Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship: The Schwab Foundation recognizes leading social entrepreneurs through its Social Entrepreneur of the Year award program and convenes them at the World Economic Forum. Multiple Echoing Green Fellows have been Schwab honorees, making it a directly adjacent network partner.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Echoing Green social profiles
Digital presenceEchoing Green financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Echoing Green leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
Echoing Green funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Echoing Green M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments7 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Echoing Green
What does Echoing Green do?
Echoing Green provides seed funding and multi-year support to early-stage social entrepreneurs through its 18-month Fellowship program, which awards $100,000 to selected leaders of nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid social enterprises. Beyond the Fellowship, the organization offers Follow-on Funding (Catalytic Grants and Sustainability and Scale Grants) to alumni organizations and the Signal Fund, a catalytic capital follow-on fund that deploys debt and equity to established Fellow-led organizations at critical scaling stages. Fellows also receive leadership development, wellness support, access to 250+ advisors, and lifelong community membership through virtual and in-person convenings.
Is Echoing Green a public or private company?
Echoing Green is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Echoing Green founded?
Echoing Green was founded in 1987. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Echoing Green based?
Echoing Green is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Echoing Green make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Foundation and Corporate Donations are the primary driver. The others are individual Donations and fellowship Program (Revenue Offset).
Who are Echoing Green's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Ashoka, Skoll Foundation, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, New Profit and Mulago Foundation. Broad incumbents are Acumen, Omidyar Network, The Rockefeller Foundation and Tides Foundation. Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is listed as an others.
Does Echoing Green have an API?
No public API is recorded for Echoing Green.
What industry is Echoing Green in?
Echoing Green's product category is Social Innovation Funding and Fellowship Programs. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDADAHAC, Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts, with a secondary code of BPAGAKAH, International Grantmaking & Development Foundations. Its NAICS code is 813211 and its SIC code is 8300.