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Karen Hanson, Full Circle Fund member and former community fellow, is the Executive Director of The Freedom Prize Foundation an innovative organization aiming to award the best solutions to the nation’s dangerous problem of dependence on foreign oil. Along with the Freedom Prize Foundation and Senator Jeff Bingaman, the U.S. Department of Energy recently announced that it would provide $5 million in seed funding for the Freedom Prize Foundation. This funding is integral in helping the foundation during its startup phase, and will allow them to pursue additional funding to grow beyond first year. The original idea for the Freedom Prizes emerged from co-founder Jack Hidary’s support for the X Prizes. He and Full Circle Fund Founder, Josh Becker, then pursued the idea and were successful in their efforts to include the Freedom Prizes in the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

>Read about the Josh Becker and Jack Hidary’s successful lobbying three years ago by clicking here…

The Freedom Prize Foundation will be looking for the most creative ideas as to how existing technologies can be deployed to reduce our dependence on oil. Prize criteria and guidelines are still in development, and applicants can begin applying in the fall.

Inspiration from Full Circle Fund

“Josh and I share a similar passion for putting a challenge out to the community at large, and using a combination of policy and business levers to achieve change,” shared Karen about her relationship with fellow Full Circle Fund member and The Freedom Prize co-founder. Karen notes that The Freedom Prize is interested in the nexus between public policy and entrepreneurism and innovation— one of the reasons the Department of Energy wanted to support the foundation was to really drive the problem-solving into a more innovative and creative arena.

Like Full Circle Fund, the Freedom Prize model brings multiple creative powers together. At her work at the Freedom Prize, Karen has drawn inspiration from Full Circle Fund and the Environment Circle Grant Cycle. “My engagement with the circle has kept me very committed to elevating good ideas—the common theme between the Freedom Prize and Full Circle Fund is elevating good ideas that are at an inflection point that could really make a difference in society. That’s the same type of effort we’re trying to make happen with the Freedom Prize, just at the national level.”

Full Circle Fund Environment Circle member and Ella Baker Project co-Lead, Sanjay Wagle, is also a member of the Freedom Prize Foundation Advisory Board.

“I first found out about the Full Circle Fund when I was doing research on social entrepreneurship and looking for examples of how business leaders were bringing their experience to challenges that nonprofit leaders were also tackling,” says Karen. Executive Director Amy Lesnick and Founder Josh Becker encouraged her to apply to the Full Circle Fund Community Fellows Program, which she became part of in 2005.

>Applications for the Full Circle Fund Community Fellows program will be available in the Fall. Learn when they are available by subscribing to our newsletter

Posted in The Freedom Prize, Sanjay Wagle, Karen Hanson, Josh Becker