Founders Fund is comprised of three major parts:

Programming (Education)

Membership includes 6 months of structured programming with 12 months of content and support from our team and mentor community

Programming is catered specifically to your stage of growth covering core topics like: marketing, operations, finance and legal.

In addition, members will have supplementary programming for founders for every growth stage that includes:

• Diversity & Inclusion training
• Mental health for entrepreneurs
• Money mindset
• Learning from failure
• Preparing for investment & funding

Funding

• Estimated over $80k in available funding
• Easy to apply to (takes under 1 hour)
• Support sessions to prepare you to apply with confidence
• Applications scored by a selection committee that reflects member demographics to minimize unconscious bias

Community

• Custom online portal including easy booking for sessions, searchable directory, easy community forums and connections
• Custom app to attend and watch recorded sessions
• ‘Bad for Business’ podcast featuring members of the community and focusing on underrepresented women and non binary founders disrupting traditional industries

Membership includes 6 months of structured programming with 12 months of content and support from our team and mentor community

Programming is catered specifically to your stage of growth covering core topics like: marketing, operations, finance and legal.

In addition, members will have supplementary programming for founders for every growth stage that includes:

• Diversity & Inclusion training
• Mental health for entrepreneurs
• Money mindset
• Learning from failure
• Preparing for investment & funding 

Programming will begin in January 2021 (running for 6 months until June, with access to recorded resourced and mentor support for 12 months), funding applications will open in April, and finalists will receive funding in summer 2021.

We work with values aligned funders and corporate sponsors to power our programming, with money for our primary funding program coming from a portion of our membership fees ($125). That means you and your fellow members are coming together to support one another, and create space and opportunity for women-identifying entrepreneurs to thrive.

We’re a social enterprise. We believe that the future of commerce is conscious and that profit supports the acceleration of purpose.'

We are in the middle of the most significant evolution in business in history. Business owners no longer have to choose between only doing good (like a traditional not for profit) or only advancing profit (like a traditional for profit), it is now becoming standard practice to do both, which means we can choose work that serves the greater good while growing our profits in an intentional, sustainable way. As champions for businesses doing good (and using profits to advance the lives of the business leaders, their families, their teams), we have structured Founders Fund in a way that will advance our profits while advancing our purpose.

$125 of your membership fee goes directly to a pool of zero-equity, non-repayable funding, with the remainder contributing to operating and programming costs.

We can’t offer tax receipts. However, since your membership to the Founders Fund is an investment in the growth of your business, this is a tax deductible expense (not sure what else is? Don't worry, we cover that in programming 🙃

Yes!

If the membership fee is more than you can afford at one time, simply choose the partial.ly option when checking out and you can split your payment into four instalments.

We also have a limited number of discounted memberships available for those whose businesses would benefit from our accelerator programming but for whom the membership fee is a barrier — if this sounds like you, reach out to our team at hello@foundersfund.ca.

To be eligible for funding, your business must:

• be at least 50% woman- identified and/or non-binary-owned
  
  Yeah, it's that simple.

Yes! A Founders Fund membership makes a great gift for the ambitious entrepreneur in your life. It’s also a great way to show support for women-identifying entrepreneurs as an ally. If you’d like to gift someone a membership, simply add the recipient’s contact info when you make your purchase.

It means that we remove as many barriers as possible keeping you from the fund you need to grow your business. That includes:

- No repayment on funding

- No equity taken of your company

- Application process with simple (2-6) questions

- Support sessions to help you feel confident about your application

- Language support for English as a second language applicants

- Selection committee (who evaluate applications) that reflects the cultural and ethnic make up of applicant pool

- Subconcious bias training for selection committee

Yes! Our resources and community are digital and available worldwide, so we welcome international members. Just a note, our funding is in Canadian currency 😉

Yes! If your business has generated more than $1 million in revenue, you won’t be eligible to apply for our funding program, but you’ll still have access to all Founders Fund accelerator programming, events and digital resources. Plus, you’ll be paying your success forward by contributing your membership fee to the Founders Fund. You can also pay it forward by sponsoring another entrepreneur’s membership fee.

Or, if you’re serious about supporting women-identifying entrepreneurs, consider becoming a funder of the Founders Fund — email us at foundersfund@teasetea.com to learn about how to get involved and what’s in it for you.

Absolutely! Our programming offers three levels of growth stage specific training, including pre-launch and start ups!

Although You won’t be eligible to apply for funding through the Founders Fund, but our programming would still provide you with knowledge-sharing, mentorship and access to resources that will help you grow your organization.

Of course! We work with values-aligned companies and organizations to provide memberships to their communities who would benefit from our programming. If you’re interested, you can reach out to us at hello@foundersfund.ca.

Thank you! We’d love for you to share our story with all your entrepreneur (and intrapreneur!) friends. We’re also always looking for values-aligned people and companies to partner with — if you’d like to get involved, send us an email at hello@foundersfund.ca.