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Audacity Factory Launches on Centennial Campus to Provide Social Entrepreneurship Incubator Program

Raleigh, NC; April 1, 2015 – After a year underground, Audacity Factory, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the world a better place for all people, makes its first physical footprint at NC State University. Officially partnering with the Institute for Nonprofits, Audacity Factory will serve as the university’s first incubator dedicated solely to social impact ventures.

Audacity Factory’s first venture is ENDcrowd.com, a nonprofit crowdfunding platform that raises funds and awareness to combat modern day slavery. To date, it has raised nearly $90,000 for organizations fighting slavery around the world. More than a dozen projects are underway around the world due to the efforts of ENDcrowd and its community.

“It is truly a privilege to physically launch Audacity Factory on Centennial Campus,” said Joe Schmidt, its Founder. “Whether it’s access to students or faculty, Centennial provides proximity to world-class thinkers and doers that we could only dream of and it’s in our own backyard.”

NC State’s extended campus is comprised of the College of Engineering, College of Textiles, College of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine and NC State’s Graduate School. More than 1,600 government and corporate employees work on Centennial Campus.

As part of this strategic partnership, Audacity Factory and NC State University have created a physical space for intentional “creative collisions” to encourage cross-discipline exposure and research for social innovation.

“At NC State, we bring together bright minds, encourage bold thought and put the results to work in the real world,” explains Dr. Richard Clerkin, Executive Director of the Institute for Nonprofits. “On behalf of the university, we welcome Audacity Factory and look forward to the opportunities to provide high impact learning experiences for our students as we work across disciplines and with Audacity Factory to address the grand challenges of society.”

Within the walls of Audacity Factory, efforts are focused on both domestic and global issues not currently getting the attention, resources, or expertise needed to create audacious outcomes. Audacity Factory will be unveiling its programming for 2015-2016 in the near future, including working with visionary leaders, nonprofits, students and entrepreneurs.

Audacity Factory

Audacity Factory is an incubator and accelerator for social impact nonprofit ventures that develops and drives initiatives to bring attention to underpublicized, underfunded – yet critical – domestic and global matters. Its mission is to positively impact the lives of 10 million people over the next ten years.