HOUSTON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lemonade Day, a national youth entrepreneurship program, has received a donation of $120,000 from Portfolios with Purpose® (“PwP”) at a recent award celebration in New York City. Reid Walker, Five T Investments chief investment officer and co-founder of Lemonade Day-Dallas, earned first place in the Portfolios with Purpose Master Class 2017 stock selection competition that garnered this $120,000 donation for Lemonade Day, his charity of choice.
Steven Gordon, Lemonade Day national president, joined Walker in New York at the April 19 celebration to accept the donation. The Portfolios with Purpose donation of $120,000 will be used for ongoing Dallas-based Lemonade Day programs, resources, and special events.
Headquartered in Houston, Lemonade Day is a non-profit organization that teaches young kids skills that will serve them for life through the experience of starting their own lemonade business. Kids of kindergarten through fifth grade age can register to participate in Lemonade Day for free and host lemonade stands in the United States and Canada from April through late summer. Portfolios with Purpose, a non-profit organization, is the brainchild of Stacey Duran. Duran worked as an investor relations and marketing professional in the hedge fund industry for six years before devising the Portfolios with Purpose concept to tap into Wall Street investors’ philanthropic nature.
Portfolios with Purpose hosts several annual competitions for both professional and amateur investors who raise funds for their favorite charities. Hundreds of players competed in the 2017 contest, which included professional and novice investors playing for a total of over $250,000. In 2016, Walker earned third place in the Master Class competition and won $29,000 for Lemonade Day.
“We at Portfolios with Purpose are incredibly humbled by the success and engagement of our players across the Master, Professional, and Novice classes. It’s because of players like Reid Walker and charities such as Lemonade Day that we are all inspired to continue raising the bar for such an enjoyable and rewarding contest. We hope that the momentum that PwP is gaining will enable us to continue to raise much-needed funds for charities of all types, both large and small. Without the support of our dedicated contestants, none of these donations are possible,” noted Duran, Portfolios with Purpose co-founder and chief executive officer.
The Portfolios with Purpose contest features three investor levels: master class, which is by invitation only and carries a $10,000 entry fee; professional class, which requires two years of financial industry experience and approval by PwP with a $1,000 entry fee; and novice class, which is open to the public for a $100 entry fee. First-, second- and third-place winners in each class at the end of the contest split the pool of entry fees among their nominated charities. All entry fees go directly to charitable organizations and causes.
“I love Portfolios with Purpose and its mission to encourage investors to play for their favorite charities and causes. As an investor, the contest combines three things I’m passionate about: investing, competing and giving back,” explains Walker. “Every year it’s fun to compete against my former peers from the professional investing business and see what charities they are supporting. Similar to Portfolios with Purpose, Lemonade Day is about investing but its investing in the youth of our country to empower and encourage kids to bet on themselves and their future by teaching the satisfaction of earning their own money.”
Gordon expressed sincere appreciation to Walker and Portfolios with Purpose: “Portfolios with Purpose serves as an excellent platform for those with an affinity for investing who also are committed to philanthropic causes. I commend Reid Walker for his commitment to Lemonade Day and for designating our organization as the recipient of this significant donation. Gifts such as these from Portfolios with Purpose and its supporters make a tremendous positive impact on our ability to empower youth to become entrepreneurs and to build self-esteem and new mindsets that can propel youth to success they likely would not have pursued otherwise. Lemonade Day is teaching financial literacy as we educate them about every aspect of business ownership using the lemonade stand, which is an endearing symbol of American entrepreneurship. After paying back their investors, we encourage Lemonade Day kids to spend some, save some and share some of their profits with a cause that matters most to them.”
About Lemonade Day
Founded in Houston in 2007 by entrepreneur Michael Holthouse and his wife, Lisa, Lemonade Day is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching every child across North America important business and financial skills that are the key ingredients of entrepreneurship. By learning these skills early in life, children will be better prepared to be successful, financially healthy adults. Through the fun, hands-on Lemonade Day program, kids of kindergarten through fifth grade age are empowered to start their own business — a lemonade stand — and experience earning money, using 100 percent of their profits to spend, save and share based on their own goals.
Lemonade Day has expanded to 66 licensed markets in the United States and Canada and to six U.S. military bases. More than one million children and thousands of adult mentors have participated in Lemonade Day since 2007. Adults can register a child to participate in Lemonade Day and give them a taste of the sweet success that comes with owning their own business. For more information, visit lemonadeday.org/find-your-city.
About Portfolios with Purpose
Founded in 2011, Portfolios with Purpose (“PwP”) is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit institution that hosts stock selection competitions in which participants compete on behalf of their favorite charities. PwP unites the public with some of the world’s most renowned investors to bring global awareness to impactful philanthropic causes. For more information, visit www.portfolioswithpurpose.org.
