Your Mark On The World

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2xChRXh. Around the world, local parks and recreation leaders serve without much notoriety or attention. You will immediately recognize the value parks bring to your community the moment you think of your city, town or neighborhood without them. Beyond the parks, the activities within them provide a lifeline to underserved and at-risk community members. The hydro therapy pool in the Town of Parker in suburban Denver is an example of a community resource that is making a difference there without making much of a splash. Deni Parker, 25, runs the therapy pool programs. The classes--and for now she teaches them all herself--serve only up to a handful at a time. Many of the sessions are one-on-one. A six-week course meeting twice per week costs just $30--about the cost of one session of physical therapy. In other words, the Parker therapy program cost

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2vSmN5x. “Social entrepreneurship has proven to provide impactful innovations for poverty alleviation ,” says Abby Maxman, President of OxFam America. Maxman was among a diverse group of people working on poverty eradication who contributed to a recent roundtable discussion on ending extreme poverty and homelessness. The idea of ending poverty seemed absurd a generation ago. Today, the idea has been enshrined officially in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs as something the world should achieve by 2030. The roundtable participants addressed a range of topics, including a focus on how social entrepreneurs would help achieve the SDGs. Watch the 80-minute discussion in the video player above. Judith Walker, the chief operating officer for African Clean Energy, which sells clean cookstoves that generate electricity, explains the need for social

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2wqUn3U. Have you ever had a question you wanted to ask a doctor but couldn't find one to ask? Have you ever wanted a second opinion but decided it would take too long or cost too much? Alice Crisci did. Unlike the rest of us who'd had such problems, she decided to do something about it. She founded Ovum Medical to provide MedAnswers, an iPhone app that gives patients direct access to doctors and other experts to answer questions. Crisci plans to launch Android and web versions of the service before the end of 2017. She traces the history of the company to her own scare with cancer. "I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was only 31 years old." Three weeks after her cancer diagnosis she launched a nonprofit called Fertile Action. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2wqUn3U. Need a corporate social responsibility speaker?

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2wjpnCP. Michael Trainer, 40, one of the founders of the successful Global Citizen events in Central Park in New York City, had a life-altering experience following the third concert. His father was diagnosed with dementia. Trainer had been focused almost exclusively on Global Citizen, an event that people earn the right to attend by doing good deeds, activating tremendous cumulative impact through collective advocacy, donations and volunteerism. The shock of his father's diagnosis caused him to reassess his priorities. Recognizing that Global Citizen was in good hands, he left and began researching dementia, its causes and treatments. He came away determined to help people achieve "Peak Mind" and so created a new social enterprise that would encourage people to improve their health with an eye on preventing dementia. Read the full Forbes article and watch the i

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2vZOP1B. A lesson all successful entrepreneurs seem to learn quickly is that they must solve a problem. For social entrepreneurs, this is even more important. If people are literally dying as they wait for a solution, the ones who show up to help have a greater obligation to do so something that will solve the problem—at least for some of those experiencing it. Classy, which operates a crowdfunding platform for nonprofits and social entrepreneurs, has created an award the company calls the Collaborative + Classy Award to recognize social entrepreneurs who “are tackling some of the world’s most complex problems,” according to a company press release. The awards were presented on June 16, 2017 in Boston. For this article, the ten winners and Classy co-founder Pat Walsh, the company’s chief impact officer, came together to record a discussion about the problems they

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2w6qPKR. Imagine Dragons lead singer Dan Reynolds is hosting the LoveLoud music Festival in Orem, Utah on August 26 to benefit LGBTQ youth with the explicit blessing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The singer, acknowledging that his life as a musician requires him to be an entrepreneur, says he avoids the business side as much as possible to focus on the creative side, adding that the mission of bringing people together influences his work. In a face-to-face conversation you can watch in the video player at the top of the article, Reynolds says the mission of the music festival is "to provide a platform--a place--where the community can all come together from all different political climates--religion, non-religion, whatever it is--where everyone from all different cultures come together and agree on one thing." Read the full Forbes article a

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2ur2USu. Chris Bray, a fixture in Utah's nonprofit community, has launched a social enterprise she hopes will power the rest of her career with still greater impact. Chris recognized that nonprofits are always looking for more funding, especially from funding partners that understand their mission and objectives and will support them appropriately. She decided to become such a funder. She created Upscale Purse, an online retailer that sells new and used high-quality purses and gives 10 percent to charity. The upstart is already breaking even and she's excited to see it grow. Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2ur2USu. Need a corporate social responsibility speaker? Learn more about Devin Thorpe at http://corporatesocialresponsibilityspeaker.com.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2wK36x1. Sometimes it takes the perspective of a kid to see problems that impact children and find a solution. When Jack Griffin, then 16 years old, saw a news story about two kids living out of a truck in Florida who were homeless as a result of their late mother's medical bills, he recognized a problem he hadn't seen before. He began researching and watching. He discovered that "there are so many kids across the nation that are, you know, getting ready for school in the bathrooms of libraries and gas stations. I realized that it's so prevalent and yet still so hard to see if you're not directly impacted by it." Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2wK36x1. Need a corporate social responsibility speaker? Learn more about Devin Thorpe at http://corporatesocialresponsibilityspeaker.com.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2uTH50m. Ryan Scott, 48, CEO and founder of Causecast, is working to make corporate social responsibility easier for everyone involved, from the corporation and the employees to the nonprofits they support. Causecast, a Certified B Corporation, operates a web service that matches corporate volunteers to nonprofit projects. The system provides a comprehensive reporting and management system. Causecast allows both management and rank-and-file employees to put projects into the system to garner volunteer support. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2uTH50m. Need a corporate social responsibility speaker? Learn more about Devin Thorpe at http://corporatesocialresponsibilityspeaker.com.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2w4EAq2. Sagegreenlife is bringing living walls to a growing market with new technologies that allow people to bring the outside inside. The company builds its living, green plant walls on a patented hydroponic system without any soil. The "Biotile" stone was developed by UK-based Biotecture, Ltd. Sagegreenlife's founder, Richard Kincaid explains that LED plant lights provide an enabling technology by allowing plants to grow without direct sunlight. Kincaid estimates the 2015 market for living walls at about $100 million. He hopes to see Sagegreenlife achieve revenue of $3 to $5 million for 2017. The business generates gross margins of about 60% but is not yet profitable. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2w4EAq2. Need a corporate social responsibility speaker? Learn more about Devin Thorpe at http://corporatesocialresp

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2tKiyY2. Jason Trager is more than a throwback to the sixties or a cliche. He may have earned a PhD at Berkeley with a focus on improving the energy efficiency in buildings by applying statistical process controls, but he's also a hard core entrepreneur who relishes profit--so long as it doesn't adversely impact others. He calls himself and his firm "Sustainabilist." He says that unlike a capitalist who hordes profits and socializes externalities like pollution and carbon, a Sustainabilist hordes profits without socializing externalities. He says, "Our quest is carbon reduction. Every dollar that we make can be linked to some amount of carbon that does not make it into the atmosphere." Sustainabilist, the firm, is working on a number of projects, but one key area of focus is on applying statistical process controls to the process of solar installa

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2toEZGR. Andrew Yakub may be onto something. Big. Sliced bread big. Yakub, 30, is the CEO and founder of Rayton Solar. A physicist who had used particle accelerators for cutting silicon had launched a solar installation business. Fearing the end of Federal tax incentives that might slow his business, he was thinking about ways to cut the cost of solar enough to make it economical without them. He surmised that the silicon in solar panels could be sliced with a particle accelerator rather than with blades, radically reducing wasted silicon. From that foundation, Yakub has built a promising startup. Targeting a 60% reduction in manufacturing costs, he hopes to both lower costs to customers and operate with better-than-industry average margins. In addition, he expects the solar panels to be 25% more efficient. With those goals, he raised $2.8 million in seed funding

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2t9BvnB. Twice a year, the streets of downtown Salt Lake City are overrun by princesses, storm troopers and superheroes of every variety. Salt Lake ComicCon reports that 120,000 people attended the last event. That it is profitable is surprise enough. That it serves the community may be the real surprise. Bryan Brandenburg, 58, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Salt Lake ComicCon, has strategically sought to use the event to build the community. Since its founding, the event has donated about $2 million of cash and in-kind donations--mostly in the form of tickets, but also including celebrity photos, signatures and experiences. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2t9BvnB. Need a corporate social responsibility speaker? Learn more about Devin Thorpe at http://corporatesocialresponsibilityspeaker.com.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2sRf2LO. Eric McCallum says he likes to invest in "simple and elegant business models that have multiple impacts." A startup called Himalayan Wild Fibers fit the bill and he led a round of financing. Founder and CEO, Ellie Skeele, has been working in Nepal for nearly two decades to commercialize her idea. "Himalayan Wild Fibers is a company that is commercializing a textile fiber that's extracted from a wild growing plant, a form of stinging nettle that grows in the forests of the Himalayas. It is wild harvested. We extract from that a fiber, we refine it and then we sell into existing developed supply chains," she explains. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2sRf2LO. Need a corporate social responsibility speaker? Learn more about Devin Thorpe at http://corporatesocialresponsibilityspeaker.com.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2srrFNo. It may be no secret that Google is giving away $10,000 per month in free Google Ads to nonprofits, but many are still not taking full advantage of the opportunity. Daniela Larsen, who leads both a for-profit marketing agency called Navanas Agency and a nonprofit called the Navanas Institute doing economic development work and education online and around the world, shares insights on how to get and use the monthly grant. Daniela says most active nonprofits qualify. View eligibility details here. The basic guidelines require that you have a substantive website and that you be a legitimate nonprofit. Hospitals and universities are not eligible. Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2srrFNo. Need a crowdfunding speaker? Learn more about Devin Thorpe at http://crowdfundingspeaker.org.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2szSliU. As Americans head to the beach or the mountains to celebrate Independence Day they may give some thought to the freedoms they enjoy. With a bit of prompting from some patriotic music accompanying fireworks tonight, they may even give some thought to the soldiers who have fought and died to make those freedoms possible. Former Miss America Sharlene Hawkes, 53, never forgets. In 2005, she helped found the Remember My Service Military Production division of StoryRock. Remember My Service, RMS, produces videos and books about the service of America's armed forces. The division got started "kind of accidentally," Hawkes says. StoryRock produces a variety of personal and group history products, using a digital approach. The products include video yearbooks and scrapbooks that include video. The profitable division employs six people full time and another five

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2tVq0Rx. Last summer, at a meeting of Seattle impact investors, one of the members said she didn't have need for additional deal flow--investment opportunities--what she needed, she said, according to Nancy Reid, director of the Seattle Impact Investing Group, is a way to build an investor syndicate. "What we need is investor flow." Enter Luni Libes, 47, and Matt Eldridge, 48, who heard that need and set out to create a nonprofit, online platform called Investorflow.org to address the concern. "Impact investors are spread around the world, investing all around the globe. This makes it incredibly difficult for those seeking funding to find these investors. It also means that investors tend not to know each other," Libes said, framing the discussion. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2tVq0Rx. Need a corporate social responsi

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2sbcN9X. Plastic pollution in our oceans represents an "Eco-genocide" according to Bonnie Monteleone, Executive Director and Director of Science Research and Academic Partnerships at Plastic Ocean Project, Inc. Priyanka Bakaya, 34, founder and CEO of PK Clean, invented a scalable process to convert plastics back into the diesel fuel they came from, not quite spinning straw into gold but the process does convert garbage into fuel profitably. When Monteleone had learned that plastics could be converted back into oil. She saw that as a way to emulate nature by creating a circular system where plastics removed from the oceans could be converted back into fuel. When she looked for partners, she was worried about the contaminants in the plastics extracted from the oceans. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2sbcN9X. Need a corpora

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2s121Tp. “Our nation is in the midst of a true affordability crisis.” Daryl Carter, founder, chairman and CEO of Avanath Capital Management, sees that as both a problem and an opportunity. He’s found a way to deliver returns to investors while serving working families at the same time, that is, without being evil. Let’s start by looking at the problem. “The median income of a renter in the United States is $36,000. To be considered affordable, renters should be spending no more than a third of their income toward rent. However,” Carter says, “in many coastal markets such as Los Angeles and New York, over half of all renter households are allocating more than 50% of their income toward rent.” That threshold matters, because if you are paying more than half of your income in rent, it is difficult to also provide food, healthcare and education for the people living

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2syfNKw. "In a recent survey of 1,400 adults believing in climate change caused by humans, 75% agree that there is something they can personally do to help the planet, but yet only 40% have taken action," says Marisa de Belloy, CEO of Cool Effect, the crowdfunding site that helps people buy carbon credits simply and affordably. Americans produce an average of 17 tons of carbon per year, she says. The remarkable thing is how affordable it is to offset that production at CoolEffect.com. The site provides a clear price for a one-ton carbon credit for each project on the site. The lowest price per credit: $4.12. At that price, Americans can offset their entire year's carbon production for just $70.04. De Belloy hopes to get the nonprofit site's users to look past their own carbon offset requirements and to focus instead on supporting great projects, most of which pro