Wallis Annenberg & the Annenberg Foundation Host 3rd Annual PEER TO PEER a Celebration and Acknowledgment of the City's Nonprofit Leaders Featuring Los Angeles Social Venture Partners' Social Innovation Fast Pitch on October 25, 2011

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Wallis  Annenberg  and  the Annenberg Foundation are pleased to announce expanded plans for Annenberg Alchemy's 3rd  Annual PEER TO PEER which includes a move to a larger venue at Club Nokia at L.A. LIVE, event programming by Academy Award-winning and Emmy-nominated producer Bruce Cohen and Los Angeles Social Venture Partners' popular nonprofit competition, Social Innovation Fast Pitch.

PEER TO PEER is a vibrant mix of live presentation, mixed media and participant interaction.  The theme for this year's PEER TO PEER is "The Art of Human Engagement through Effective Storytelling."

Building on the Annenberg Foundation's 20-year history of providing support to the nonprofit community, the Foundation hosts this event to both celebrate nonprofit leaders and to inspire them to greatness.

Leonard Aube, Executive Director of the Annenberg Foundation says, "PEER TO PEER allows us to say thank you to nonprofit leaders for their invaluable contributions to our community.   While having fun they will also fortify their networks of support and foster important future collaborations towards the vision and aspirations of the region and beyond."

Where:  Club Nokia located at L.A. LIVE, Downtown Los Angeles

Expected Guests: 1000 leaders and funders.  Expected guests will include nonprofit executives and board members, those in the public sector, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Programming: Philanthropist Wallis Annenberg will give remarks.  Nationally known speakers, public officials, celebrities and a musical performance will be featured.  Woven into the program will be the ten Social  Innovation  Fast Pitch  finalists  delivering  their three-minute  presentations  to  a  panel of  judges comprised of notables from across the city.

About Los Angeles Social Venture Partners' Social Innovation Fast Pitch:

The Annenberg Foundation is partnering with Los Angeles Social Venture Partners (LASVP, www.lasvp.org), a diverse network of professionals who use their money, time, talent and networks to support innovative nonprofits  in  Los  Angeles  County.  LASVP's annual Social Innovation  Fast  Pitch program develops the capacity of and creates visibility for 20 innovative, LA-based nonprofits and the social entrepreneurs who lead them.  Participants are selected from a highly competitive application process based on their innovative approaches to creating social change and their potential for significant positive community impact. These organizations cover a wide range of focus areas, from homelessness to arts education to health care, and also range in size and organizational lifecycle.

The 20 semi-finalists participate in a two-month training program.  At the culminating "Fast Pitch" event, ten finalists chosen by LASVP will compete to give dynamic, compelling three-minute pitches about their nonprofit organizations in front of an audience and judges for monetary prizes.

In addition to the LASVP Investee Prize, a number of additional grant awards will be given including an Annenberg Audience Award.

PEER TO PEER Partners:

PEER TO PEER is  being  held  at  Club  Nokia  thanks  to  the  generous  assistance of Timothy J.  Leiweke, President & CEO of AEG and STAPLES Center Foundation.  Special thanks to Academy Award-winning producer Bruce Cohen, Jessica Leventhal, Eric Cook and the creative team at Bruce Cohen Productions for helping bring this event to life.  Thanks as well to our partners Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Los Angeles Business Journal and the Entertainment Industry Foundation.

For more info about Alchemy visit www.annenbergalchemy.org, call 213.403-3030 or email [email protected].

About Annenberg Alchemy:

Alchemy is a free organizational and leadership development program. It is focused on building the capacity of small to midsized nonprofit organizations and their leaders. The sole cost of admission is the attendance of both the Executive Director and Board Chair during the three days of activities. Enrollment is open to qualified nonprofits with operating budgets of up to $5 million serving Los Angeles County.

About the Annenberg Foundation:

The Annenberg Foundation is a private family foundation that provides funding and support to nonprofit organizations in the United States and globally.  Since 1989, it has generously funded programs in education and youth development; arts, culture and humanities; civic and community life; health and human services; and animal services and the environment.  In addition, the Foundation and its Board of Directors are directly involved in the community with several projects that expand and complement its grant support to nonprofits.  Among them are innovative nonprofit capacity building initiatives, the Annenberg Space for Photography, Explore and the Metabolic Studio.  The Annenberg Foundation exists to advance the public well-being through improved communication.  As the principal means of achieving this goal, the Foundation encourages the development of more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge.

SOURCE The Annenberg Foundation