Access Ventures, a private-operating foundation based in Louisville, Kentucky which works to initiate systemic change in communities that results in a more inclusive and creative economy, is excited to announce a new public benefit corporation called Render — a for-profit entity that will work with local corporations, nonprofits and community partners to drive innovation and growth in the Louisville and Southern Indiana region.
Founded in 2014, Access Ventures has launched many exciting initiatives over the years, including the Reconstruct Challenge and the investment strategy Render Capital — a regional fund that provides early-stage risk capital for local entrepreneurs in the area. Now, many of the experienced team members that make up Access Ventures will move to the new public benefit corporation, Render, to help organizations create impact at the local level — partnering with businesses and nonprofits to unlock new ideas that solve their most challenging problems.
“We’ve been doing this work as Access Ventures for the past seven years and are excited to now have Render take this team and the approach to the next level,” said Bryce Butler, Managing Director of Access Ventures. “While Access Ventures is still very much active in building a more inclusive and creative economy both regionally and nationally, the Render team is positioned to exponentially serve the regional community by working with partners to maximize their impact. This is an exciting organizational change and strategy move that will ultimately drive growth for countless businesses in our region.”
With a vision of helping create a world where opportunity outweighs obstacles, Render has already started working with a number of local corporations and community partners, like Louisville Water Company, to help maximize impact. Patrick Henshaw, Managing Director of Render, says there are more exciting partnerships to soon announce, and the goal is for Render to also become a Certified B Corporation.
“We believe in the impact of innovation, and it’s exciting to already have local corporations and organizations see this value and want to sign on to work with our experienced team,” said Henshaw. “There are a lot of exciting things happening in our own backyard as a result of Render, and we’re calling on other for-profit and nonprofit partners to get onboard and really start focusing on their innovation, growth and impact.”
Joining the Render team will be Rebecca Brown Rice, the former Director of Operations at the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council, has joined the Render team as Director of Product. Rice is formerly the ExCITE Program Manager for the University of Louisville, Director of XLerateHealth, and she studied neuroscience at Brown University and Yale University.
“For years, I have enjoyed watching all that Access Ventures has been doing to help communities flourish and to create impact, and now we’ll be able to do this for many different organizations under Render,” said Rice. “I’m thrilled to join this experienced and knowledgeable team, and I look forward to being part of the solution in our local community as we help startups, corporations and nonprofits grow.”