One of the great strengths of the Social Media Club - Cleveland (“SMCC”) is that the club decided early in its development to be a catalyst for the City of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. As one of the fastest growing social media clubs in the U.S., the SMCC clearly is well positioned to become a voice not only the growing usage of social media but for entrepreneurs as well.
Last week, in fact, the SMCC had a forum on Cleveland, OH-based social media start-ups -
CorkShare,
CitizenGroove,
GamerTrainer and
Within3. All expectations out of the event were that other start-ups were going to begin percolating in Cleveland. I am part of two start-ups (and a third being discussed) that will begin development and beta testing very soon.
Which leads me to another critical issue that the SMCC has been a key proponent of: the Social Media Venture Fund (“SMVF”). The SMVF was originally conceived as an “ever-green” fund that would raise between $3.0 million and $5.0 million in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio to invest in the fledgling social media industry. The SMCC took it upon itself to apply for Third Frontier Funds from the State of Ohio. Every economic development group that the SMCC took this concept too offered key advice but little in the way of overt support. Based upon the complexity and the very short duration of time that the SMCC had to register with the State of Ohio it was decided to shelve the concept until the fall of 2009.
That was until the SMCC, after during significant research, discovered an opportunity to request $30,000 in a grant from the Civic Innovation Lab (www.civicinnovationlab.org). These grant dollars would help support the legal fees and consulting fees necessary to successfully launch the SMVF. Today the SMCC is requesting your support for the SMVF. Please email me (mdealoia@mac.com) for a copy of the original Civic Innovation Lab proposal. But more importantly the SMCC and I are asking for you to show support of the SMVF through a twitter campaign. Please tweet about your support of the Fund by using the at-sign designation of @civiclab and the hash-tag sign of #SMVF.
Key Tweet Nomenclature:
Civic Innovation Lab - @civiclab
Key Hash-Tag Sign - #SMVF
The SMVF would make investments of between $50,000 and $150,000 in social media based start-ups. And with the great wealth of knowledge emanating out from the SMCC - the start-ups would have access to some of the best and brightest in the social media arena. Please get involved today! Make your voice heard so that the SMCC can receive this valuable and necessary grant from the Civic Innovation Lab. The best support of the SMVF must come from the community it desires to serve. This is a critical time for the fund and, indeed, for the future of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. Pledge your support today.
