At YouthBridge, we invest in children's charities through our three "E" strategy of  Education, Enterprise investments and  Endowment building.  While these strategies are extremely effective in improving business skills and building balance sheets, there is a support gap.  Followup and mentoring are needed to ensure success.  To close this gap, YouthBridge developed a partnership with Innovate VMS, the Venture Mentoring Service of Innovate St. Louis, to provide mentors for nonprofits and included the mentoring role as part of our Enterprise investment services.

InnovateVMS, the Venture Mentoring Service of Innovate St. Louis, was started in May 2007 to focus on educating and mentoring entrepreneurs in the St. Louis area.  Innovate St. Louis and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation worked together to model InnovateVMS after MIT's highly successful mentoring program.  Our program matches teams of experienced mentors with each entrepreneur to provide coaching and advice for developing that venture's product or concept.  It is a free service for qualified start-up companies and nonprofits that could benefit from the advice and counsel of business veterans.

 
Mentors
Our mentors bring a wealth of experience and knowledge from many industries, as well as the desire to assist ventures in their early stages.  We strive to provide unbiased, objective advice, thus InnovateVMS mentors may not invest in, or have an operational interest in, the companies they mentor.  Mentors meet monthly as a group for networking and updates on the ventures, as well as volunteering their time for mentoring sessions.
 

Ventures
Our services support start-up and early-stage ventures, both for profit and not-for-profit,  in the St. Louis region, covering a range of technologies, services and industries.  Interested candidates are interviewed to determine compatibility with the program.
 

Support
InnovateVMS is honored to be working closely with the academic community of St. Louis.  We appreciate the guidance, support, and collaboration of these institutions in working with InnovateVMS to grow the entrepreneurial culture of our region:
 
Harris Stowe State University
Saint Louis University
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
University of Missouri - St. Louis
Webster University
Washington University in St. Louis
 
Additionally, InnovateVMS has received generous funding from the AT&T Foundation and the Ameren Community Development Corporation. 

For more information on Innovate VMS, please visit:  http://www.innovatestl.org/index.html.

To Become a YouthBridge Mentor
If you are interested in becoming a YouthBridge mentor or having your nonprofit mentored, please contact Rex Reed at YouthBridge at 314-985-6777 or at rexr@youthbridge.org. To read about the IVMS program for nonprofits, please visit http://www.ivms.nonprofitsurvey.net/index.html.