Your Mark On The World

October 8, 2015 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1FVXpiG. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. “The United States was once had IPO markets that made our stock markets the envy of markets throughout the world,” according to David Weild IV, Chairman and CEO of Weild & Co. He continues, “With the move to electronic markets beginning in 1998, the small IPO collapsed. The US should be averaging 950 IPOs a year and we muster only 150 IPOs on average since 2000–a number that doesn’t even replace what is lost in an average year. This cost the US economy 10 million jobs.” Weild, the former vice chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market and an expert on capital formation who worked on many aspects of the 2012 JOBS Act. His concern about where the markets have gone is matched by his enthusiasm for where they could go. “Of course, the JOBS Act was passed and that helps to dr

October 1, 2015 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1LQ9OWA. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Impact investment will be huge, but not necessarily good, says Transform Finance co-founder and Board Chair Morgan Simon, who is passionate about using money to create social justice. Investors controlling $550 million have signed on to her program, she says. “Microfinance leading to huge debt cycles. Wind farms causing land grabs,” are signs of the problem, she says. “ Impact investment is seen as a panacea to the challenges of aid and philanthropy, yet its promise is often unrealized, lacking engagement with and accountability to the people it is intended to serve, at times even harming its intended beneficiaries. Expected to eclipse aid by 10x with over $500B, the field needs principled course-correction to maximize its transformative potential for hundreds of mi

October 1, 2015 - Read the full GoodCrowdinfo article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1LQ0hi5. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. iDisclose is a new business providing private placement memorandum (PPM) preparation services through a web-based application for enterprises raising money, especially through (broadly defined) crowdfunding sites. In other words, iDisclose is bringing the offering memorandum into the 21st century. Co-Founder Doug Ellenoff is one of the industry’s leading legal voices. The iDisclose platform is designed for all the different players in the entrepreneurial capital raising marketplace: the entrepreneurs or issuers, the investors, the platforms and the lawyers. Doug explains, “iDisclose places the job of disclosure back into the hands of the entrepreneur (who is in the best position to provide all of the necessary details). Rather than provide un-contextualized inf

October 1, 2015 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1MHBxHu. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Ask anyone in the nonprofit world and you’ll hear that budgets are constrained. Running a nonprofit, however, is not easy. Brent Andrewson, an attorney at our sponsor Kirton McConkie, offers these three surprising legal tips to help. Be mindful of conflicts of interest. If you have a great board of directors, officers and employees it is likely you’ll find your organization navigating conflicts of interest from time to time. The existence of a conflict does not mean that you cannot proceed with a proposed project or transactin, but it does mean that you need to proceed carefully in this nuanced arena. Be sure to know when you need to register with a state for fundraising there. Forty states require nonprofits to register. Just having a website doesn’t t

October 1, 2015 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1M20cnh. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Rai Chowdhary is a successful engineer, entrepreneur and author. Having accomplished many of his goals, he now focuses on helping others achieve theirs. Rai calls his system “Do Magic with Your Life.” He has a simple, executable plan to help people achieve their dreams. He focuses on helping people identify achievable dreams and then developing a path to get there. He offers these three tips as a short summary of his complete system: Tip 1: Define what you want to become: Time is a one way street, and it is an equal opportunity phenomenon. From billionaires to the man on the street, and from noble laureates to illiterates, all have exactly 24 hours in a day and 365 days to the year. Like fine grains of sand escaping from your fist, it slips away – w

September 15, 2015 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1LISS4j. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Three years ago, I wrote the book, Your Mark on the World. In the book, I profile a host of ordinary people who were doing remarkable things for good. One of the subjects of the book was a group of my students at South China University of Technology where I was teaching when I wrote the book. Please consider whether a friend or colleague might benefit from this piece and, if so, share it.

September 15, 2015 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1NzRbYu. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. The achievement gap GPS -3.23% between affluent and poor students gets worse every summer as the less fortunate forget much of what they learned during the school year, a phenomenon known as the “summer slide.” Karim Abouelnaga, the young social entrepreneur who launched Practice Makes Perfect, explains, “The achievement gap is damaging to our society at a basic level. In 2009, McKinsey & Company estimated that the gap was costing our economy $310-$525 billion in GDP each year, which is the equivalent of a permanent national recession. The achievement gap is likely to widen as our income gap widens.” “Our nation’s summer school system is broken. It’s well-intentioned but, as currently conceived, it doesn’t work. In reality, summer school is punitive; it’s for st

September 15, 2015 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1URwXs6. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. K-12 education in the United States just ain’t what it used to be. (Please pardon my use of the vernacular to emphasize the point.) Sajan George, Founder and CEO of Matchbook Learning, explains, “Our nation’s K-12 public education system is in need of a turnaround. Children born in the bottom 25% income zip code have just a 9% chance of graduating from college. Our nation’s schools continue to slide against international peers. We once ranked at the top of the world in how we educated our next generation and now we are in the middle. We are failing both as a country and particularly our children of poverty. Our country needs a sustainable, scalable turnaround solution.” George is leading revolution in education that he hopes will turn this disturbing trend aroun

September 15, 2015 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1OrathR. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Our supporter, Mike Schwager, is a PR pro who specializes in helping people and organizations, especially those doing good in the world, to share their stories for maximum media exposure. He’s sharing his three key for promoting your story with Your Mark on the World readers today. 1. Be Persuasive: Pitching a story to an editor or reporter has some basic tenets for a persuasive publicist. First, always tell the truth. Second, know your outlet before you call or email. Third, have the right attitude: See the journalist as a peer in communications. Believe in your story. Believe in yourself. 2. Be Creative: Creative formatting tips: First, use news to make news. Remember “relevance,” “impact,” “timeliness” and “novelty.” Second, seasonal tie-ins. Onc

September 15, 2015 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1QddaBV. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. “It’s a tough fact of life that women with disabilities face challenges many of us cannot even imagine. But the tragedy is that many of their most difficult challenges could be avoided,” says Richard Ellenson, CEO of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. Ellenson elaborates, “Women with cerebral palsy and other physical disabilities receive basic healthcare services that are widely and persistently inadequate, inconsistent, and substandard. In fact, many physically disabled women experience life-threatening crises, and endure life-draining experiences, directly related to deficient medical care. All women deserve recognition and delivery of optimal healthcare; for women with disabilities, efforts aimed at improving their particular requirements for optimal healthcare d

September 10, 2015 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1LXUDZr. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Mary French is a on a crusade to improve literacy around the world. Partnering with organizations like Rotary International for help, Mary French has collected and distributed 25 million dictionaries, mostly to third graders in every state in the U.S. and in other countries around the world. “The problem is that children do not have access to dictionaries with more than 32,000 words in school. In order to be functionally literate a person must know more than 5,000 words to be able to read instructions or hear them and understand them to complete a task,” Mary explains, adding, “A dictionary is a reliable resource that makes a person self-reliant and able to think independently.” Mary is making remarkable progress with the Dictionary Project. She not

September 10, 2015 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1idLrGV. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Your Mark on the World sponsor Gate Global Impact is trying to change the way impact investing is done, giving ready access to deals and investment opportunities to more people than ever before. Joseph Latona, Managing Director for GGI, says, “GGI is working to centralize the fragmented Impact investing sector. Many people have heard about Impact investing, but then do not know where to find these investments or even a place to find information on what an impact company or fund looks like.” “GGI mission is to provide a centralized regulatory compliant market place that allows investors to source Impact investments and providing Companies the ability to connect with like minded investors to raise capital,” Joseph concludes. Please consider whether a

September 10, 2015 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1Nq0ZUT. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. In what could be a sign of the maturing of the crowdfunding industry, NonProfitEasy has acquired Fundly, the crowdfunding site widely used by nonprofits, and simultaneously rebranded the entire business Fundly. Fundly President, Mark Feinberg, explains, “NonProfitEasy, the integrated and affordable data management solution for nonprofits, has acquired Fundly, a top online crowdfunding platform for individuals and organizations. With this acquisition comes an opportunity for NonProfitEasy to capitalize on the strong Fundly brand, so the entire NonProfitEasy product line will be rebranded to reflect the Fundly image.” “The goal is to bring consistency across all products and to offer any organization, regardless of size, a seamless and affordable way to manage all

September 3, 2015 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1JCaiNj. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Tim Stay, one of Utah’s leading tech entrepreneurs and executives, recently launched a new venture with successful entrepreneur Joseph Grenny. They’ve chosen several ex-convicts to run the new business, The Other Side Academy. [Jump to page 2 to watch the live interview.] This may not be such an odd choice. You see, the new venture, modeled closely on Delancey Street Foundation, is a nonprofit that will work to really rehabilitate convicts. Stay explained to me recently that our prisons “provide criminals with a masters degree in criminology” rather than rehabilitating them.” He elaborates, “The problem is that there is a portion of the criminal population that doesn’t get better by doing time. Many of them are repeat offenders, spending their lives in and out

September 3, 2015 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1NYyht1. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. It used to be that everyone who saw Jason Hewlett perform asked, “Why isn’t this guy famous?” As his reputation grows, folks simply observe that he may be the funniest person ever to take a stage. It turns out, however, that the answer to the initial question provides an important insight into who Hewlett really is. Years ago, he was performing in Las Vegas and was offered his own show. The deal was huge for young Hewlett as he’d be headlining in Vegas while his peers were still in college. When it came time to sign contracts, he says, he found the terms unacceptable. In order to appeal to an adult audience he was to be required to use language and perform material that he personal found objectionable and had never wanted to perform. Hewlett walked. Fame and fo

September 3, 2015 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1UsiItt. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Over three years ago, I launched the work of the Your Mark on the World Center with the publication of my book, Your Mark on the World. In the book, I profiled some wonderful people doing amazing things to make the world a better place. One of the most fascinating people I profiled was Rabbi Benny Zippel of Chabad Lubavitch of Utah, who had launched a program to provide spiritual help and support to at risk youth spending time in residential schools, including some who were there as an alternative to incarceration. Three years later, I’m eager to catch up with Rabbi Zippel and his Project HEART. “Thousands of precious young souls find themselves in Utah for 9-18 months at a time in a variety of residential treatment centers, to help them be able to

September 3, 2015 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1UnmauC. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. “ It is a little known fact that cooking is the fourth biggest killer in the world ,” explains Judith Joan Walker, Director and COO of African Clean Energy. [Jump to the second page to see the live interview.] “It’s this huge invisible elephant in the room because, in the western world, we are so used to being able to waltz into the kitchen and whip up a healthy meal. In fact, cooking indoors kills more people than Aids, Malaria and TB combined; over 4.3 million people,” she continues. Last month, I had the opportunity to meet Walker, along with a dozen other social entrepreneurs, at Santa Clara University, as I reported here. Walker seems to take this personally, “This fact is sickening enough without considering that the majority of these people are women an

September 3, 2015 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1O9gMEg. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Damian Miller wants to transform emerging market economies from fossil-fuel dependent to self-reliant on clean solar energy. Miller isn’t just a dreamer; he’s making it happen. As the founder and CEO of Orb Energy he’s quickly scaling up his business in India and recently launched in Kenya. He is also a recent recipient of the SAP Social Entrepreneur Fellowship in collaboration with Acumen. He explains Orb’s mission as follows: Our company’s mission is to make solar energy affordable, accessible, and hassle-free to millions of customers looking for a better energy alternative. To do this, we first design and manufacture our own products for superior quality and cost. Then to deliver and install them to our customers in the right way, we have set up our own bra

Read the full GoodCrowdinfo article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1EUroll. subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Shock Top beer is challenging the California drought by challenging people to pledge to use less water and to support Indiegogo campaigns that help nonprofits help people there to use less water. Jake Kirsch, Vice President of Shock Top, explained, “Shock Top is teaming with Indiegogo and a host of California Nonprofits to bring water-saving solutions to a state thirsty for them. Every month Shock top is giving $50-$100k to an inventor to bring a water-saving invention to life, with thousands of products donated for free or low cost in CA.” Christian Busch, the Head of Marketing at Indiegogo said, “After months of water restrictions across California, water conservation is starting to sink in among California residents, according to a new survey from Shock Top. In fact, a vast m

August 26, 2015 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1Ju5OFb. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Joe Sanberg is an investor in a few of the social I’ve profiled recently (Aspiration and Bright Funds) and so I wanted to learn more about him. Sanberg told me about the start to his career, “I grew up in a middle class family and by the time I was leaving for college at Harvard, the house I had grown up in was being foreclosed. I’m sobered by the staggering amount of luck and chance that came together in my life. I never could have imagined it.” This experience guided his philosophy on life and business. “I don’t think we should leave to luck and chance the kinds of opportunities in life that people get to enjoy. I’m determined to build companies and champion public policies that systematically create more opportunity for people because I can’t bear thinking that