Your Mark On The World

Warner Woodworth, now 78, is an emeritus professor at the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University. Describing him that way is sort of like saying that Bill Gates used to work at Microsoft. While true, it fails completely to capture the essence of the person. Warner has had a hand in launching 40 NGOs, has worked with social innovators around the world, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammad Yunus. His politics are distinctly liberal. At BYU, a famously consevative and pious school owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he has been advocating for worker ownership for two generations. While worker ownership isn’t incongruous with capitalism it is a hallmark of socialism. He says he advocates for “humanistic capitalism.” He admits his work isn’t always appreciated. “I get my share of criticism from my colleagues and my students and letters from their parents and letters from their church leaders, sometimes to church officials in Salt Lake or the administration, but ble

Visiting with Rotary International President Mark Maloney is a bit like visiting with an old friend. He is absolutely without pretense despite being the elected leader of 1.2 million Rotarians around the world. Having contributed 34 years to the fight to eradicate polio, he emphasizes his role as one of the million rather than allowing he might be one in a million. While acknowledging that 2019’s polio case count is up from 2017 and 2018, he is confidently optimistic that Rotary—with help from its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative—will complete the task soon. Interview with Mark Daniel Maloney, the President of Rotary International. The following is the pre-interview with Mark Daniel Maloney. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above. What is your personal or professional connection to polio? Rotary's long-term, sustained battle against polio has defined our organization for decades. Where are you presently focused? In 1988, polio was endemic in 125 countries, with more than 350

In 1985, Rotary International made the decision to tackle polio eradication. In 1988, it officially launched the effort, hoping to complete eradication by 2004 when the global service organization celebrated its centennial celebration. Now 15 years late, Michael McGovern, the volunteer chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee says he and Rotary are committed to finishing what they started. Early in his Rotary career, which spans more than three decades, one of the members asked him out for drinks and asked him to make a pledge to fight polio. “That was an expensive drink,” he says of his commitment. He’s still following up on that today. Interview with Michael K. McGovern, the Chair of Rotary's International PolioPlus Committee of Rotary International. The following is the pre-interview with Michael K. McGovern. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above. What is your personal or professional connection to polio? Chair of Rotary's International PolioPlus Committee since 2014 Where are you

B Dondolo, a nonprofit named for the father of the founder, Lumbie Mlambo. The organization is working to improve health outcomes at the Igusi Clinic. One of the projects completed was to provide a water filtration system. Prior to completion of the system, the clinic lacked clean water--imagine trying to operate a medical facility without a source of clean water. Lumbie, working with development director Ronda Bowen, raised almost $10,000 on CaringCrowd. Almost half of that amount came from a match from Johnson & Johnson. Preliminary Interview with Lumbie Mlambo, the Founder / CEO of JB Dondolo, Inc. The following is a brief pre-interview that provides context for the recorded interview you may watch or listen to at the top of this article. Lumbie Mlambo is the CEO and Founder of JB Dondolo, Inc. What is the purpose of your crowdfunding campaign? To replace old, rusty and busted water pipes with new ones at the Igusi Clinic. What has been your experience using CaringCrowd? We've been very fortunate

You can probably offset your entire carbon footprint for just $20 per month per person in your household. The process is easy, and you can simply set up a monthly plan and forget about it, so it takes no time. Here’s one way to do it; I’m sure there are others. Cool Effect is a nonprofit that operates a crowdfunding site at CoolEffect.org for buying carbon offsets. Every project on the site not only offsets carbon but also does additional good. Cool Effect CEO Marisa De Belloy joined me for a conversation about carbon offsets you can watch in the player at the top of this article. She describes climate change as the “issue of our time.” The first step in offsetting your carbon is to determine your impact. The average American emits 16.6 metric tons of carbon per year. If you want to get into the weeds, you can use this calculator or any of the variety of calculators available online. It may be easier to simply guestimate how your footprint compares by weighing things like the size of your home, the car(s) yo

My cousin, who is currently in prison, shared with me how much Michael Santos’ work was changing his life so I had to invite him on the show. Michael helps people prepare for and have the best experience possible in prison to help them be successful leaving it. “My name is Michael. I mean, I'm a guy who made a lot of bad decisions as a young man. I was 20 years old when I thought it would be kind of fun to traffic in cocaine,” Michael begins. “And it turned out to be a really bad decision.” “By the time I was 23, I was arrested by federal authorities and locked in prison and facing a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. I made some bad decisions even at the earliest stages after my arrest. I should have been accepting responsibility and working toward reconciling with society for the bad decisions that I had made. Instead, I pleaded not guilty. I went to trial. I perjured myself on the stand,” he continues. “And it was while during that awkward stage between sentencing, between conviction an

Rotary International is headquartered in the United States and a plurality of recent presidents are from the U.S., but Rotary lives up to its monicker with a majority of its Presidents coming from outside the U.S. Rotary’s current president-elect is Holger Knaack from Hamburg, Germany. Fit and vigorous, Holger sports reading glasses positioned low on his nose, giving him the appearance of a skinny Santa Claus. The likeness doesn’t end there. Genuinely jovial, he seemed to delight in our conversation. Rotary is an international organization with leaders coming from around the world, operating in a representative manner. Holger shared with me some of the differences he sees between Rotary in Central Europe, including Austria, Switzerland and Germany on the one hand and the U.S. on the other. Differences are remarkable. One key difference is that it remains such an honor to be invited to join a Rotary Club in Germany that he jokes, we only leave Rotary “feet first.” Retention and recruitment are not a problem

Dr. Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho, a former leader on malaria eradication with the World Health Organization and co-author of a recent report published in The Lancet, says we are making progress on malaria eradication as a result of four key interventions being scaled up in endemic countries: Bed nets and other efforts to protect people from mosquito bites Rapid diagnosis leads to earlier treatment and fewer deaths More effective treatments have been developed and implemented Environmental controls to reduce mosquito breeding places Reaching full eradication will require not only continuing to scale these interventions but also adding additional innovation, including the need for an effective vaccination. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin.

Boxabl, led by CEO Paolo Tiramani, has created an innovation for housing construction that could stand up a home ready to move in in a matter of hours rather than months! The process begins with factory-built units that can be assembled almost like Legos on-site to create buildings up to four stories. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin.

Every year, Rotary International spends $150 million on polio eradication. Ever wonder how they decide where to spend that money? Judith Diment, a member of the Rotary International PolioPlus Committee who serves on the grants committee, takes us inside the decision-making process to help us see both how exciting and difficult the process is. Watch the full interview above. Interview with Judith Diment, the Coordinator of Rotary's Polio Eradication Advocacy Task Force/UK National Advocacy Advisor for polio of Rotary International. The following is the pre-interview with Judith Diment. What is your personal or professional connection to polio? I have helped shape Rotary polio advocacy in the UK for more than 20 years. Where are you presently focused? The economic case for investing in polio eradication as an important public health cause. How do we get from where we are to total polio eradication? The GPEI’s updated Polio Endgame Strategy 2019-2023 outlines the remaining challenges in achieving eradi

Eden I&R is an indispensable part of the Alameda County community in the East Bay area of Northern California. Eden I&R does a lot with a little. This small nonprofit with an annual budget of just over $2 million, handles over 60,000 contacts annual, helps 350 HIV/AIDS clients find housing and other services, maintains a database of 73,000 rental units and a list of 3,100 services available from other agencies. Alison DeJung, a nonprofit veteran with 22 years of experience, took the helm of Eden I&R in 2017 and is working to expand its funding and services. Dayton Thorpe, my son, recently joined the Board of Eden I&R. Interview with Alison DeJung, the Executive Director of Eden I&R. The following is the pre-interview with Alison DeJung. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above. For-profit/Nonprofit: 501(c)3 Nonprofit Revenue model: Eden I&R receives just over 2/3 of its funding from government sources--all 14 cities in Alameda County and several county departments. Most of the remainder comes

The population of Africa could almost double to 2.3 billion people by 2050 with a huge portion of that population being prime working age. The UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya, Siddharth Chatterjee, sees this as an opportunity Africa can harness to accelerate economic growth and lift hundreds of millions of people now living in extreme poverty out of it. Sid, a passionate advocate for both women and the people of Africa, sees the opportunity to employ this population in productive work as a key to a prosperous future. Interview with Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya. of United Nations Kenya. The following is the pre-interview with Siddharth Chatterjee. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above. We’ll be discussing Promise or Peril-Africas’s 830 million youth by 2050 with Siddharth Chatterjee. How are you personally affected by Africas’s 830 million youth by 2050? Africa’s population is expected to reach around 2.3 billion by 2050. The accompanying increase in it

In 2014, when the epidemic of Ebola was running wild in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, a few cases of the frequently lethal hemorrhagic disease popped up in nearby Nigeria. This was scary because Nigeria is so much more populous than the other affected countries--almost 200 million people were suddenly at risk. Health officials tapped the existing polio-fighting infrastructure in Nigeria to quickly organize an effective effort to prevent the spread of the disease there. Dr. Tunji Funsho, chair of the PolioPlus Committee of Rotary International in Nigeria was a first-person witness to the effort. During my recent visit to Rotary headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, I visited with Tunji about the Ebola experience. It is worth noting that fighting Ebola did not unduly distract from fighting polio. The country has now been three years without a single case of polio from the wild poliovirus. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin.

The Women’s Bean Project doesn’t just make chili, it makes a difference. It also makes a variety of other products, many that feature beans. The nonprofit doesn’t exist to make its products, it works to change the lives of the women who make them. Tamra Ryan, CEO, and Miranda Zamora, a production supervisor, joined me to talk about the program’s products and its impact. Miranda is a prime example of the life-changing impact of the work at the Women’s Bean Project. Miranda came to work there a bit over two years ago with the encouragement of a case manager. She has four kids, the youngest of whom is now two years old. She was completely lacking in self-confidence and hadn’t finished high school. She flourished in the program, overcoming challenges with transportation and daycare to become a dependable employee. When she was ready to graduate from the program, a permanent position came open as a supervisor and she was offered the position. Now six months into her tenure as a boss, she’s helping other women—

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most complex and aggressive type of cancer that originates in the brain. There hasn’t been a new FDA approved treatment brought to market in 15 years, and survival rates for GBM have not changed in 30 years - 90% of those diagnosed succumbing to the disease within five years. For the 1.4 million people worldwide living with malignant brain tumors, and an estimated 256,000 that will be diagnosed by the end of the year, this is a grim reality. Venturing where others have not, the Ivy Brain Tumor Center is taking a completely different approach to personalized care with industry-first clinical trials that are based on: Advanced genetic testing that matches each patient with the best possible treatment. Micro-dosing, which reduces short-term side effects. The combining of FDA approved treatments for GBM with other FDA approved cancer drugs that have never-before been used for brain tumors. As a result, the Ivy Brain Tumor Center can now determine if any given course of treatment is w

Carol Pandak, director of PolioPlus for Rotary International announced in this episode of the Your Mark on the World Show recorded on October 22, 2019 that wild poliovirus type three has been officially eradicated. “The achievement of polio eradication will be a milestone for global health. Commitment from partners and countries, coupled with innovation, means of the three wild polio serotypes, only type one remains,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization and Chair of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) Polio Oversight Board in a statement. “We remain fully committed to ensuring that all necessary resources are made available to eradicate all poliovirus strains. We urge all our other stakeholders and partners to also stay the course until final success is achieved,” he added. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin.

MAP International is a nonprofit that accepts mostly in-kind donations of drugs from pharmaceutical companies and delivers them to people in developing countries who cannot afford them. Each year, the organization receives about $500 million in donated pharmaceuticals. Cash donations from foundations and individuals provide the funding for logistics to move the drugs to where they are most needed with the result that millions of people are receiving life-saving drugs they otherwise could not afford. President and CEO, Steve Stirling, leads the organization. He is the author of The Crutch of Success: From Polio to Purpose, Bringing Health & Hope to the World. Yesterday, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative marked its annual World Polio Day, celebrating the progress toward eradication of polio. The GPEI is led by Rotary International; Steve is a member of his local Rotary club. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin.

Dr. Scott Leckman is a dear friend, so yes, this is personal. If we are known by the company we keep, I certainly want to keep his company. Rotary connected us, specifically the Salt Lake Rotary Club where he is a past president. For the year ended June 30, 2019, Scott served as the district governor for the state of Utah. (District 5420 is, I believe, the only Rotary district to cover exactly one U.S. state.) He has been the district’s leading voice on polio eradication for at least a decade, often leading immunization trips to India. It turns out, Rotary is just the tip of Scott’s iceberg. He served for years on the international nonprofit Results board with Mohammed Yunus and Sam Daley-Harris fighting extreme poverty globally. He served as the Chairman for a year. He presently serves as the Chairman of the board for Citizens’ Climate Education, the 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit affiliate of the 501(c)(4) advocacy organization Citizens’ Climate Lobby. The organizations jointly work toward finding commo

Alissa Sears, co-founder of the adVenturesAcademy, has seen it over again: entrepreneurs and investors bond in the outdoors, in challenging circumstances, in ways they never could in the boardroom. Just as importantly, sometimes they discover that they don’t want to be in business with someone when the chips are down. Trips with Alissa’s adVenturesAcademy don’t just build character, they reveal character as well. For entrepreneurs looking for investors, learning who can handle challenges without flipping out is important. Vitally important. And the same is true for investors evaluating entrepreneurs—they simply can’t afford to invest in an entrepreneur who will cut and run at the first sign of trouble. adVenturesAcademy involves mostly mission-driven entrepreneurs, investors and advisors in the outdoor and natural products industries. Trips are rigorous trips from climbing to surfing in places as varied as Ecuador, California and Colorado. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joind

The United Nations recently suggested that reversing climate change before global warming reaches 2 degrees Celsius would require annual investment of $2.4 trillion. Impact Assets is one of the players working to close the funding gap. The need likely exceeds $2.4 trillion as that estimate includes only climate-related investment requirements. Other pressing social issues, including extreme poverty and related problems identified in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs will require additional investment. Impact Assets is a nonprofit that funnels philanthropic capital into impact investments that provide social and environmental impacts as well as financial returns. “Our goal is to accelerate the velocity of capital to impact investing,” says Margret Trilli, president and chief investment officer. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2MLfuX8.