Your Mark On The World

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2opUnyv. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2opUnyv. Jean Krisle sold her home, bought a 40-foot RV and hit the road for a year. What would you be willing to do for your nonprofit? Krisle launched 10,000 Beds in 2014. The "beds" are addiction treatment beds, typically for 30 days, in treatment centers across the country. Her goal is to get 10,000 people in treatment by 2020. In 2016, 10,000 Beds awarded more than $1 million of scholarship beds to people seeking treatment, she reports. And she expects to more than double that amount in 2017, having already received more applications in the first quarter of this year than she did in all of last year. 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. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Read the full GoodCrowdinfo article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2oZu5S5. Oliver Thornton says his Aspergers is his super power. His brother, who is also on the autism spectrum, serves as a role model. Because autism hits close to home, he wanted to do something to address the unemployment rate for those with autism, which approaches 85 percent, he says. So, he launched Coding Autism with Austen Weinhart. Oliver, who serves as the company's CEO, says, "Although we are pre-revenue, we just recently launched our crowdfunding campaign with the goal of fundraising a minimum of $50,000 on StartSomeGood. If we are successful with fundraising $50,000 on that platform, we will be able to cover the minimum costs to make the Coding Autism ASPIRE program happen." The money they are raising

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2om3pKT. --------------- Young men thrown into the national spotlight for their athletic prowess in the NBA are also taking time to give back. Sherrie Deans, the Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association Foundation visited with me to share insights about the efforts of extraordinary athletes to make a difference, especially in the communities of their roots. Deans points to the “current Isaiah Thomas” of the Boston Celtics, clarifying that she’s not talking about the Detroit Pistons legend of the same name, as one who has given back. Of the 5’ 9” Thomas, she says, “He is a tiny guy. He is not supposed to be in the league, by all accounts.” --------------- Read the full Forbes article and watch the in

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2nKyWsg. ------------------- Lots of people hold themselves out to be crowdfunding experts. I haven’t met anyone who has raised more money in on Kickstarter and Indiegogo than Funded Today’s Zach Smith. He reports raising over $110 million total across hundreds of campaigns. Smith visited with me (watch the video recording of the interview above) to talk about how to apply his experience and insights for social entrepreneurs. He thinks of himself as a social entrepreneur, helping other entrepreneurs to be successful. He is almost a prototypical entrepreneur. Young, confident—even brash—he has built his company to 50 employees and reports “eight figures plus” in revenue. Funded Today charges 25 to 35 percent of funds raised,

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2o3l3Gf. ------------------ Clean Energy Advisors announced a major new financing that will take the firm from having invested about $140 million in solar energy projects to about $800 million. CEA President Scott Hill also notes that building on this success, the firm will establish a foundation to fund more charitable initiatives. (Watch or listen to my discussion with Scott using the players above.)Scott explains that the unnamed financing partners, two "multinational families," have committed about $350 million. Combined with additional debt financing, the firm anticipates reaching $800 million in financed projects, "completing the pipeline of projects in North Carolina." He anticipates that deploying the

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2mnHofJ. --------------------- "If you do a gesture for charity, you should always make sure that it’s from not a press spin, but a natural, organic effort," John Travolta said at the City Summit and Gala organized by social entrepreneur Ryan Long. The City Gala held around the Grammys raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities, including Travolta's own Jett Travolta Foundation, named for his son, who passed away in 2009. Travolta said his interest in philanthropy began with Katrina. "It was organic. It really was. When Haiti happened, when Hurricane Katrina happened, I had a plane. Nobody was helping them. Why wouldn’t you do it?" --------------------- Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: h

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2mdnSRv. --------------------- The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, commonly referred to as J-PAL, is based at MIT and seeks to reduce poverty by providing academic research on interventions by social entrepreneurs and others working in the space. Quentin Palfrey, the executive director of J-PAL North America, worked for the Obama Administration before taking on the role at J-PAL. He notes that the center receives its funding from MIT and other philanthropic donors. The center has a staff of more than 30 full-time employees. He says, "J-PAL North America does not charge for services or generate sales revenue." J-PAL works on global poverty. J-PAL North America focuses on poverty in the United States. A lawyer by trai

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2mo45lf. --------------- Lauren Sullivan and her husband Adam Gardner, a touring musician, wanted to make the concert scene more environmentally friendly. They’ve created Reverb, a nonprofit, to help the industry get its green on. Adam explains, “The live music industry has historically been highly disposable, creating large amounts of landfill, energy and water waste. Think of all the plastic cups on the ground at the end of a concert or a weekend long festival, for example. Tour busses and trucks guzzle fuel carrying large crews, and large amounts of equipment across long distances every day on a tour. Tens of thousands of fans commute to a venue typically located 40 miles outside of major city centers, con

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2lKlcKr. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. ----------------------- Collaboration is a word that gets thrown around a lot more than it actually happens. Pledgeling, a small social enterprise, proved the power of collaboration when it signed Evite as a customer and delivered over $1 million in donations in the first year. Pledgeling is a mobile-centric donation processing company with fifteen employees. CEO James Citron says the company hopes to double the staff within 18 months. He rattles off early milestones: -Powered over 30,000 fundraising campaigns -Raised $3 million in donations for 4,000 nonprofits -Had 10,000 nonprofits join their network ----------------------- Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2lKlcKr. Need

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2kpOgs0. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. --------------- Lindsey Tropf, CEO and founder of Immersed Games, is working with her team to create a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that is as entertaining as World of Warcraft and as educational as school. Their core product is Tyto Online, is expected to launch soon. One module of the game, Tyto Ecology, is available for sale and has generated $140,000 of revenue to date. This module is a single-player game that has sold 18,000 units. The Immersed Games team includes 13 full-time staff members plus others working from a "local labor grant." The startup isn't yet profitable, but does generate 70 percent gross margins on sales today and expects to ramp that up with volume. --------------- Read th

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/2kiHDWK. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. -------------------- Why do some corporate social responsibility programs seem to backfire? There are lots of reasons, but University of Kansas Assistant Professor Jessica Li recently published a paper that explains why some do. Her research shows that people in some countries have distinct reactions to two companies engaging in the same behavior when one of the companies is foreign and the other domestic. Jessica has provided us with three tips for creating a corporate social responsibility program that works. 1. Consumer attributions are key. It is important to understand that CSR is not always perceived positively by consumers. Consumers make attributions about why a company is engaging in CSR,

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2kxuKbG. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. ----------------- The University of Southern California has recently created the Center on Artificial Intelligence for Social Solutions or CAISS, specifically to develop uses of artificial intelligence--AI--for use cases of interest to social entrepreneurs. The Center is a collaboration between the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Eric Rice, an Associate Professor from the School of Social Work, has been tapped to lead CAISS. The potential for AI to be an effective tool for entrepreneurs with no background in technology is confirmed by Rice himself. When asked about his LinkedIn profile URL, he acknowledged not only that he doesn't have one, but also said, "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/2keFgVa. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. ---------------- John Lee Dumas is one of the most successful podcasters on iTunes. Last year, when he decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign for his "Freedom Journal," he partnered with Pencils of Promise. He raised $453,000 on Kickstarter and donated $75,000 to the nonprofit. Now he's at it again. Dumas boasts over 1 million listens to his "Entrepreneur on Fire" podcast every month. You wouldn't think he "needs" to partner with Pencils of Promise in order to be successful with his campaign. Dumas is a savvy entrepreneur. He's clearly figured that this is an important part of the strategy. His last campaign for the "Freedom Journal" raised enough to build three schools in Ghana, Guatemala or Laos, the three co

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/2iEGHJZ. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. -------------- Back in the 1930s, the United States remained largely a rural country, with almost half of the population still living in rural communities–without electricity. Electrifying rural America was a key part of the New Deal. The key then was distribution of electricity generated in utility-scale plants. Today, the world is in a race to electrify rural communities in the developing world. This presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs and investors around the world, say Chris Warren, CEO of Clean Energy Advisors, and Erik Melang, co-founder of Distributive Solar. Unlike the New Deal-era effort to electrify rural America, today’s electrification efforts run the full gamut from solar lamps ch

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2k7Pq9T. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. -------------- The international development community learned decades ago that when relief organizations bring in donated goods that are distributed for free to people in need, one of the outcomes is often the death of local businesses that provided those goods. Why then are NGOs continuing to employ this model in Haiti, asks author, entrepreneur, investor and professor Daniel Jean-Louis. Jean-Louis is based in Haiti. His firm, Bridge Capital provides small loans to businesses that otherwise don't qualify for loans from Haiti's conservative banking sector. His 100,000 jobs initiative is working across sectors with NGOs, governments and the private sector to create 100,000 jobs by 2020. He reports having helped to c

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2jazXIW. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. --------------- How many times have you wanted to give some money to help solve a crisis somewhere in the world but didn't simply because you didn't know to whom to give the money? The problem wasn't likely that you didn't have some candidates; more likely, you found too many candidates and couldn't determine which would do the most good with your money. Enter Iguacu. Iguacu screens nonprofits working to address crises around the world to identify those that are having the best impact. Iguacu is a social enterprise that is so new it hasn't yet set up its own 501(c)(3) organization, but that is the plan, according to founder Katherine Davies. To date, Davies has funded the operations of Iguacu, but she is looking t

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/2jojC04. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. --------------- Georg Kell might not have anticipated the global reach of his work when he started his career more than 30 years ago. After joining the United Nations in 1987, the opportunity for global influence presented itself. Georg took full advantage. Georg started his career as a research fellow in engineering at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Innovation in Berlin. He then spent a few years working as a financial analyst in various countries in Africa and Asia, helping him to gain a global perspective. After joining the UN in 1987, he became “obsessed with modernizing the UN from within and working with the private sector,” he says. A key point in his career came 12 y

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/2jpmKsD. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. --------------- Stephenie Larsen and Andrea Smardon have each found their own way to help others cope with challenges. Their work intersected last fall when Andrea produced and reported a story about Encircle, Stephenie’s LGBT outreach center in Provo, Utah, for NPR. The NPR story highlights the odd juxtaposition of Encircle’s new center located within sight of the Provo Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, noting that in the fall of 2015, the Church implemented a new policy toward married gay couples and their children that excludes them from full participation. Stephenie sees an urgent need for helping the LGBT community in densely Mormon Provo. “Utah has the fifth highest ra

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2jRs7TV. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotswitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. ----------- The calendar’s juxtaposition of Martin Luther King’s birthday and the Presidential inauguration have never seemed so ironic as in 2017. In a single week, America will celebrate the person who gave his life for civil rights and the inauguration of Donald Trump, whom New York Times columnist Nick Kristof called a racist. One person developed a plan to unify people this week. Aria Finger, CEO and “Chief Old Person” of DoSomething.org, is yet to turn 40 and so qualifies as young in my book. As CEO, she founded the affiliated agency TMI Strategy and serves as its president. This week, DoSomething.org leads a social campaign to engage its 5.5 million young followers, creating “Resolution Walls” in public to c

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full GoodCrowdinfo article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2igQ4zp. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. ---------------- Amy Cortese is a rare bird indeed. She is almost alone in focusing her pen on crowdfunding’s ability to build underserved communities. She is equally interested in the place-based communities and demographic communities. Her book, Locavesting, is the definitive book on the topic. Amy’s business, also called Locavesting, serves as a source of information for communities seeking greater access to capital. Amy explains her view of the problem, “We live in an age of massive wealth inequality and lack of economic access, especially for women, people of color and those in underserved areas. How do we create an economy that works for all, instead of the few? The first thing is to tackle finance an