Virgance Announces It Has Acquired 1 Block Off the Grid to Expand Social Activism

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgance (http://www.virgance.com), the for-profit company that scales new activism ideas through the power of online social networks to create positive social change, today announced the acquisition of 1 Block Off the Grid (1BOG) (http://www.1BOG.org), the community-based solar purchasing group. The addition of 1BOG to Virgance's portfolio of sustainable projects will allow 1BOG to launch its next solar purchasing campaigns in 20 US cities. These cities include: Aspen, CO; Austin, TX; Bergen County, NJ; Berkeley, CA; Boston, MA; Brooklyn, NY; Chicago, IL; Denver, CO; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; New Orleans, LA; Oakland, CA; Portland, OR; Sacramento, CA; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; Seattle, WA; Washington, D.C.

"While we have successfully started to scale internally developed campaigns like Carrotmob, which creates incentives for companies to make responsible business decisions by leveraging networks of consumers, 1BOG is Virgance's first test to see if we can acquire an external campaign and then scale it," said Steve Newcomb, Founder and CEO of Virgance. "Today, I am proud to announce that we are expanding the 1BOG campaign to 20 new cities effective immediately and are setting our sites on extending it to hundreds of cities over the long term."

Earlier this year, 1BOG successfully completed its pilot campaign in San Francisco. During a two-month period 1BOG had over 180 residents register for the program and 70 residents prequalify to receive a complete on-site solar evaluation. In three weeks, 35 homes contracted to have solar installations. By joining Virgance, 1BOG hopes to continue to expand this reach and target additional areas for growth.

"At the end of our first meeting with Virgance I knew this was a match, it was just a matter of figuring out how to make it happen," said Sylvia Ventura, Co-Founder of 1BOG. "Virgance is a novel model of for-profit activism that is really going to create change. By growing innovative ideas into large-scale, citizen-powered global campaigns, Virgance will amplify what we've accomplished in 3 months to the tenth power; the next 6 months will be thrilling," says Sylvia Ventura.

1 Block Off the Grid will be announcing new partnerships across the country before the end of November.

For additional information please visit http://www.1bog.org/.

About Virgance

Virgance is a for-profit company that takes new activism ideas and uses the power of online social networks to scale each idea into a large, citizen-powered global campaign to improve the world. Founded in May 2008, Virgance will release a series of products that focus on using online social networks to create positive social change. With the acquisition of 1BOG, Virgance adds another activism campaign to its growing portfolio, which also includes Carrotmob and Lend Me Some Sugar. For more information please visit http://www.virgance.com

About 1 Block Off the Grid

1BOG is a community-based initiative -- the largest in the country -- focused on driving widespread adoption of renewable energy and sustainable solutions through education, community building and group purchasing programs. San Francisco-based 1BOG was founded in June 2008 and quickly demonstrated the power of community purchasing for solar energy in San Francisco. For more information please visit http://www.1BOG.org.

SOURCE Virgance

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http://www.virgance.com
http://www.1BOG.org