John Edwardson, '72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC)

OVERVIEW
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The John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC) is run by the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at Chicago Booth in partnership with the Polsky Center. It is the cornerstone of the Rustandy Center’s Edwardson Social Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Chicago, which has helped businesses and nonprofits like solar-powered light company LuminAID, African tractor-leasing company Hello Tractor, online voter guide BallotReady, edtech venture together.science, and access to justice company Period.

SNVC teams can be for-profit or nonprofit organizations, but must present a business model with a social mission at the core as well as a plausible plan for financial sustainability—either through earned income, philanthropy, government aid, or some combination thereof.

2024 Winner

Congratulations to Exactics, the winner of the 2025 John Edwardson ‘72 Social New Venture Challenge. Exactics is developing adaptable, repeatable, and scalable platforms and products for diagnosing common infectious diseases at the point-of-need. Their system for designing and developing new solutions reduces early-stage costs and minimizes development timelines, enabling swift and competitive market entries, starting with a truly at-home screening test for Lyme Disease. The team took home first place and $135,000 in venture funding at the 2025 SNVC finals.

Since 2011, the Edwardson ‘72 SNVC has helped jump-start more than 200 companies and nonprofits, and SNVC companies have gone on to raise more than $260 million in philanthropic dollars, grant support, and venture capital funding.