Cultivating the American Dream

About Us

The Second Service Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports military entrepreneurs through coaching, resources and capital, as well as an innovative mentorship program.

Supporting Military Businesses

Our Mission

Launched in 2016 on Veteran’s Day, The Second Service Foundation (formerly StreetShares Foundation) set out to provide comprehensive resources for military community entrepreneurs.

 

We are cultivating the American Dream for military businesses. As a private foundation, we aim to inspire, educate, and support veterans, military spouses, and gold star families as they grow their enterprise. We provide coaching, resources and capital, as well as an innovative mentorship program to support entrepreneurs in scaling from startup to the stars.

Core Activities

Objectives

Inspire

Inspire underserved veteran and military spouse business owners with compelling success stories and content.

Educate

Educate underserved veteran and military spouse business owners through 100% free programs, tools, and resources.

Support

Support underserved veteran and military spouse business owners with awards, coaching, and public promotion.

Our Impact

People Behind the Businesses

Find out more about past Military Entrepreneur Challenge grant recipients and how they are impacting their communities.

serving Military Entrepreneurs

Our Community

There are approximately 2.5 million veteran-owned small businesses in the United States, representing 9.1 percent of all U.S. businesses and employing nearly 6 million Americans annually (SBA, 2017). According to a recent study conducted by Syracuse University’s Institute for Veteran and Military Families, the three most common challenges veteran entrepreneurs face are limited networks, difficulty developing mentorships and access to capital.

 

The Second Service Foundation’s programs solve all three of these challenges. It’s our mission to create opportunities for these veteran small business owners through inspirational success stories, educational content, mentoring, coaching, networking events and grants to provide a boost of financial support to grow their business.