Dear ,
It's starting to feel like fall again. I hope your summer was filled with relaxing days in the sun and long nights of laughter with your family and friends.
And for many of us, this September has been hectic!
We know many in the Stardust community are confronting climate change-driven floods, intense storms, hurricanes, fires, and extreme heat. We're sending our love and healing your way.
It is our sincere hope that the agility, flexibility, and innovation of emerging entrepreneurs will bring solutions for environmental sustainability, mental and physical health, and learning we all need.
It’s going to be our 6th birthday this month!
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Since September 28th, 2015
For those who've been around for that long, our heartfelt thanks go out to each one of you for the support you’ve given to Stardust Startups over the past 6 years.
For those who've joined along the way, thank you for trusting our vision without having necessarily been connected somehow to our origin story. That shows that we've grown into something real.
Celebrating successes...
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We truly began as a startup helping startups. Our mission and priorities originated from a collective, intuitive hunch more than verifiable facts.
We didn't have a 5-year plan, or experience in building a nonprofit. We were just a few people with a need to turn our grief into something purposeful and impactful.
We’ve grown so much since those early days when we were establishing the nonprofit, defining the mission, finding qualified applicants and funding, and creating the selection and award process.
Over the years, we’ve been busy, welcoming exceptional interns, volunteers, and staff, aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), honing the application process, writing the Democratizing Impact report (showing results from our work with early-stage startup founders), hosting Givenars, and leveraging SDG-aware impact investor and impact entrepreneur networks to
raise awareness and open opportunities.
Along with its impact investors and generous donors, Stardust is propelled by the entrepreneurial success of its recipients through recoverable microgrants. When the startups and projects Stardust funds succeed, the recycling of resources (recovered microgrant funds) supports the next
generation of recipients.
It's hard to believe we've been around for six years. Thanks for sticking around. 😘
... and preparing for liftoff to explore new horizons!
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During the Stardust Year 2021-2022, we are launching a new program focused on:
- Developing the Stardust Entrepreneurial Network
- Building professional relationships with accelerator and incubator
communities
- Positioning Stardust in the impact entrepreneur/impact investor worlds
- Improving microgrant applicant recruitment
- Extending our reach beyond the current Stardust community to find new partners
Work at Stardust is human-scale; we pride ourselves on the close ties we nurture among our network of impact partners—startup founders, donors, mentors, interns, Board members, and staff.
Let's continue this amazing journey together!
Our reason for being
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In closing, the Stardust birthday is always a time to remember Angus B. E. Moloney, our inspiration.
On Sunday, September 26th at 2 PM MT, we will celebrate his life at the dedication of Angus’s sitting stone in Maddie Dean Garden in Boulder, Colorado.
The family and friends who made this possible wish that Angus’s sitting stone will be a physical representation of all that is Stardust—providing a place to get rest and relief, a place to catch your breath and to remember that now is the moment we all have. Let’s make it
count.
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What's going on @ Stardust...
➫ Our birthday auction is still going on! Make sure to place your bids now, because the clock is ticking. Vintage items, lessons and consultations,
spiritual development, handmade products, and more—I guarantee you'll find something you like! 100% of the proceeds go to funding innovative projects in our current Impact Portfolio.
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➫ The team is working on so many projects right now related to funding and outreach: events, grant applications, a Wikipedia page, features in magazines, university club partnerships, and much more. Make sure to keep reading our newsletters and follow our social media to stay in the loop!
➫ People shopping in Paris can now use SmartVrac's bulk food device to get their Barilla pasta
without creating any waste (this photo is from an accessible, everyday grocery store)! How cool ☺️
➫ Creopia Productions has been busy building a creative economy in Vanadzor, Armenia and has some exciting updates! Group trainings, peer learning, and all kinds of workshops—helping local
youth expand their skills in Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Blender—are everyday occurrences in their new studio space.
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Until next month!
Camille Babington
Senior Director of Operations, Communication
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