Why are we calling this event Equinox?

As the Earth orbits the sun, the tilt of the Earth’s axis makes the seasons change. An equinox is a day when the tilt that brings us the extremes of summer and winter is perfectly balanced. It’s the moment of seasonal change.

Virgance is a company that seeks to create another moment of seasonal change. As the world has turned, some organizations have tilted towards the extreme of “business values,” and others towards the extreme of “activist values.” We hope to be an organization that finds the perfect balance between them. Naming this event after the equinox is our way of marking the onset of a new season, and a new era in the business world.

Virgance Equinox: SF Beta 3.2

You’re invited to join Virgance at our first ever Equinox event, in partnership with groSolar and GOOD! We will be showcasing our campaigns and launching something new amidst a fun evening of socializing and celebration. This is a very special edition of the SF Beta event series, so you will be mingling with entrepreneurs, activists, hackers, public figures, press, and of course, the entire Virgance team. People tend to have a lot of questions about Virgance, what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and how you can get involved. You’ll get all the answers, as well as a few surprises on the evening of April 7th. There will be a bit of food if you’re early, and two cash bars all night!

Tuesday, April 7th, 5-9pm

111 Minna St @ 2nd (map)

$15 online, $25 at the door (get your ticket before it sells out!)

Let us know you’re coming on Facebook!

Buy your ticket here before they sell out!

Press Coverage

		“Community solar power is within reach” NPR Marketplace	6.23.09
		“Sustainable Brands Conference: Virgance” World Changing	6.23.09
		“Power to the people” San Diego Union Tribune	5.31.09
		“Persuading businesses to become greener by promising them a ‘mob’ of new customers” New York Times	5.19.09
		“Shoppers, Unite! Carrotmobs Are Cooler than Boycotts” Time.com	5.15.09
		“Is Virgance on the Verge of Web 3.0?” Max Gladwell	5.7.09
		“Virgance: Developing for-profit activism” Ode Magazine	5.09
		“Consumed: Panel Discussion” New York Times Magazine	4.3.09
		“Virgance Looks To Turn Green Options Media Network Into A Blogging Empire” TechCrunch	4.2.09
		“SunRun teams with Virgance to finance solar for consumers” VentureBeat	3.31.09
		“Virgance gets funding, deal to install solar for businesses” VentureBeat	2.20.09
		“Three Lessons We Can Learn From Virgance” Change.org	2.12.09
		“Virgance, Web Startup, Helps Speed Up Environmental Action” Huffington Post	2.11.09
		“Virgance: Harnessing The Community To Save The World (Business Plan Included)” TechCrunch	2.11.09
		“For-profit activism” The Economist	1.29.09
		“A Sizzling Idea: Group Discounts on Solar” Low Impact Living	1.29.09
		“A Green Future for All Americans” Huffington Post	1.15.09
		“Solar advocacy group strikes deal for special pricing, financing” ZDNet	1.10.09
		“Group rates may make solar energy practical” New Orleans Times-Picayune	1.3.09
		“Solar-power industry remains hot in California” San Jose Mercury	1.2.09
		“Solar-panel incentives lure customers” The Denver Post	12.31.08
		“3 Great Reasons to Look Forward to What 2009 Has in Store” Global Sourcing Specialists	12.31.08
		“Mainland company eyes Oahu for solar installation project” Honolulu Star-Bulletin	12.19.08
		“With Carrotmob, 1BOG, and a philanthropic/people partnership idea called Lend Me Some Sugar, Virgance has the beginnings of a model for a new type of cool sustainable capitalism to emerge.  Power to the people!” Huffington Post	12.9.08
		“1 Block Off the Grid acts as advocate, organizer of solar power consumers.” SV/SJ BusinessJournal	11.28.08
		“1 Block Off the Grid launches solar campaigns in 20 new cities in 11 US states.”	11.24.08
		“This rapidly-growing grassroots effort aims to get more than One Block off the Grid.” - cnet News	11.20.08
		“One Block Off the Grid makes solar power possible, hundreds of roofs at a time.” - triplepundit	11.20.08
		“With hundreds or thousands of participants, the numbers add up” -VentureBeat on the New York Times	11.11.08
		“Shining a light on S.F. solar options” -SF Chronicle	10.7.08
		“Will ’social capital’ be the next big industry to emerge” -VentureBeat	10.7.08
		“Virgance gives philanthropy a proletarian twist” -VentureBeat	10.7.08
	Carrotmob Finland	“Carrotmobin perustajan Brettin huomion Twitterissä. Suomalaisia kiiteltiin oikein videolla innostumisestaan. Jaikussa ja Facebookissa joukoitettiin (crowdsource) ideoita.” Carrotmob Finland	9.24.08
		“Yay - the CarrotMob’s coming to London!” -Greenpeace UK	9.11.08
		“With 1 Block Off The Grid (aka 1BOG.org) San Francisco residents can save up to 48% off the cost of a solar system for their home ” -Green Business innovators	8.26.08
		“A new environmental advocacy group is using a mix of satirical rap music and ’shopping advocacy’ to achieve its goal” -Huffington Post	07.04.08
		“What’s so important about Carrotmob is the coordination, because it reduces an inefficiency in other, uncoordinated socially-conscious shopping: ‘mobbing’ lets a business know exactly why the gods of good fortune have smiled upon it.” -Worldchanging	06.13.08
		“it’s great to see that businesses can have such an easy win-win scenario” – Treehugger.com	06.01.08
		“the latest Bay Area strategy for saving the planet” – CBS5 Eyewitness News	05.15.08
		“Carrotmob’s reverse-boycott model is one to watch!” -Springwise	05.15.08
		“Irresistable” – Rocketboom	05.02.08
		“The shoppers were palpably stoked by the notion that their dollars would have a positive and immediate impact on the store.” – Wired	05.01.08
		“Carrotmob, a green consumer activism event, promised to send a big crowd to shop at a convenience store willing to spend the biggest percentage of the resulting retail sales.” - Los Angeles Times	04.04.08
		“a huge success and a source of inspiration for us over at GOOD” - GOOD	04.04.08
		“genius” – San Francisco Magazine	04.04.08
		“Carrotmob proposes to buy out liquor store in exchange for environmental improvements” – Boing Boing	03.26.08

Core Stats

What is Greenfund?
The idea behind Greenfund is to create the first crowdsourced venture capital fund whereby we empower each and every person on all of the social networks to invest up to $100 dollars in Greenfund and become a voting partner of the fund. Greenfund then works with its members who vote to invest in the companies or projects that cause the most positive impact. If the hundreds of millions of people using Facebook and MySpace all signed up, Greenfund would be a multibillion dollar, community-powered fund that would rival the financial power of the World Bank.

Who founded Greenfund?
Steve Newcomb

When was Greenfund founded?
The idea for Greenfund was created in October of 2007

How does Greenfund make money?
Greenfund makes money like a typical 2/20 fund

How does Virgance distribute and market Greenfund campaigns?
Through social networks, social media and video.

What is Virgance’s goal for Greenfund?
Our goal is to make Greenfund a new funding route for large-scale complex projects that improve the world.

Core Stats

What is 1 Block Off the Grid?
1BOG is a community-based initiative – the largest in the country – focused on driving widespread adoption of renewable energy and sustainable solutions through education, community building and group purchasing programs. San Francisco-based 1BOG ran their first campaign in summer 2008 and quickly demonstrated the power of community purchasing for solar energy in San Francisco. For more information please visit http://www.1BOG.org.

Who founded 1BOG?
Sylvia Ventura, Dan Barahona and Dave Llorens

When was 1BOG founded?
1 Block Off the Grid was founded in March of 2008.

How does 1BOG make money?
1 Block Off the Grid generates revenue through a referral fee from each selected vendor participating in 1BOG programs. Consumers are charged nothing for enrolling in a 1BOG campaign.

How does Virgance distribute and market 1BOG campaigns?
Primarily through www.1BOG.org, but we will also be integrating with some other distribution assets that we haven’t announced yet.

What is Virgance’s goal for 1BOG?
Our goal is to build a consumer buyers club in every city in the United States. We aim to help people minimize the cost and complexity of buying large-ticket green items while gaining the benefits of community-based purchasing.

Core Stats

What is Lend Me Some Sugar?
Lend Me Some Sugar is a way to crowd-source corporate philanthropy. We ask corporations to give their philanthropic budgets to Virgance, then we give our users the ability to determine which non-profits get the money.  Our goal is to create a mutually-beneficial paradigm shift in power whereby citizens have a say in which charities and non-profits companies should support.

Who founded Lend Me Some Sugar?
Steve Newcomb

When was Lend Me Some Sugar founded?
Lend was a brainstorm that Steve has been developing since October of 2007.

How does Lend Me Some Sugar make money?
The Lend Me Some Sugar application sits on social networking sites like Facebook. As an application within Facebook, we make money by placing advertising at the top and bottom of the application. We NEVER take a cut of the donation money - every penny goes toward the cause.

How does Virgance distribute and market Lend Me Some Sugar campaigns?
Lend Me Some Sugar is an application deployed on websites, Facebook, MySpace, Hi5 and Bebo.

What is Virgance’s goal for Lend Me Some Sugar?
Our goal is to create an application infrastructure that can launch campaigns for Fortune 500 companies as well as mom and pop shops all around the world, channeling more money to good causes.

How do I start a Campaign?

If you would like to start a 1BOG campaign in your city, first check our site to see if we are already planning one. If we’re not, we’ll happily let you know what steps you can take to bring 1BOG to you. Email us at: campaign@1bog.org

Press Releases

Below are Virgance’s official press releases:

About our company and our campaigns

About Virgance
Virgance is a company that seeks to promote world-changing activism campaigns using market-based methods that are effective, transparent, profitable, and scalable. We do online organizing to create offline positive change that is direct and tangible.

About 1 Block Off the Grid
1BOG is a community-based initiative – the largest in the country – focused on driving widespread adoption of renewable energy and sustainable solutions through education, community building and group purchasing programs. For more information please visit http://1BOG.org.

About Carrotmob
Carrotmob is a method of activism that leverages consumer power to make the most socially-responsible business practices also the most profitable choices. Businesses compete with one another to see who can do the most good, and then a big mob of consumers buys products in order to reward whichever business made the strongest commitment to improve the world. It’s the opposite of a boycott. For more information please visit http://carrotmob.org.

See more projects on our projects page.