Your Mark On The World

September 4, 2014 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1qAiUuh. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Jaykumar Menon is working to save the lives of millions of people, including those threatened by Ebola in Africa. The diseases that afflict the developing world don't offer the revenue potential of rich country diseases and therefore lack investment dollars. Jay is leading an effort to apply crowdsourcing and open source concepts to find treatments for diseases that plague the Global South. The Open Source Pharma project, by gathering hundreds or even thousands of researchers to work on open source drug development projects, can accelerate drug development and reduce the costs.

September 4, 2014 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1lIBAcz. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. One of the backbones of American philanthropy is the community foundation, which plays a variety of critical roles in building and protecting a community. These community foundations operate in every state in the nation. Personally, I’ve been receiving an education since I joined the Board of the Community Foundation of Utah as a volunteer. Community foundations may become significant players in the impact investing space in the coming decade. Many gifts to such foundations are in the form of donor advised funds, commonly abbreviated as DAFs. A donor advised fund operates a bit like a family foundation, allowing the grantor to “advise” the sponsor holding the assets about what to do with the money, all of which must ultimately be donated to charity. Commonly, whe

September 4, 2014 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1xceQ9R. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. In early 2013, the Your Mark on the World Center, with support from an anonymous benefactor, awarded two prizes to small nonprofit organizations. The Senase Project was one of the winning nonprofits. Founder Chris Toone reports on how the school project in Ghana has been completed: Originally our organization began after studying abroad for four months and seeing the world. During our trip to Ghana, we found our way to the small rural village of Senase, where the people welcomed us with open arms. While here, we traveled to the village of Akatim for the school day where we found not only a lack of a school building, but also a lack of hope. This trip is what ultimately created The Senase Project. I recently returned from a trip to Ghana in April af

September 4, 2014 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1Bc0Mvt. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Clean Energy Advisors is helping investors to put their money to work to create a cleaner environment and a more sustainable world. CEO Chris Warren explains: CEA is committed to the fundamentals of impact investing. Simply stated, impact investing is deploying investment capital in places where beneficial social and environmental change can be achieved. Every dollar invested with CEA goes to work to build renewable energy projects that reduce our dependence on fossil fuels for electricity production. These projects create a more stable electric supply and help protect the environment for the benefit of future generations. CEA creates innovative investment structures that are opening the door for a much larger group of investors to take part in dire

September 4, 2014 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1BZYroJ. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. You don’t want to miss this! Really. Orly Wahba is changing the world through kindness. Frankly, she’s the kind of person I want to be, perhaps the kind of person we’d all like to be. Orly launched a nonprofit called Life Vest Inside (LVI) to inspire people to be more kind and thereby change the world. Lately, LVI is working to formalize kindness training with a focus on anti-bullying in schools.

September 4, 2014 - Read the full GoodCrowd.info article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1xc8B5C. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Richard Swart is one of the leading minds in crowdfunding today, heading Berkeley’s Program in Innovation in Entrepreneurial and Social Finance (academic speak for crowdfunding). Next week, Berkeley is a hosting its annual symposium on crowdfunding, where I will be honored to participate. Richard will also be speaking at GoodCrowd14, the Social Enterprise and Crowdfunding Conference (http://secfc.co), which he co-founded in 2013.

August 27, 2014 - Read the full GoodCrowd.info article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/VMrA5N. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. A new crowdfunding site is now focusing specifically on animal welfare. Sarah Timms is the founder of LoveAnimals.org that gives nonprofits and animal lovers alike a place where they can raise money to care for animals in need.

August 26, 2014 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1rw15Ag. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Amory Lovins, a “recovering physicist” who founded and now leads the Rocky Mountain Institute, is the author of Reinventing Fire and a Forbes contributor who says that existing technology allows us to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent. For this article he provided a quick explanation of his ideas: The United States now wrings more than twice as much work from its energy as it did 40 years ago, yet most of the energy used today is still wasted. We can now save twice as much as I then claimed (to much ridicule), but at a third the real cost. With the best modern techniques, more efficiently converting energy into the same or better services can save, for example, about ⅔ to ¾ of the energy we use in buildings (with a 33% IRR), half in industry (21% IRR), and ≥4/5

August 25, 2014 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1pwca1u. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. One PacificCoast Bank is rebranding itself to better reflect its social justice agenda as Beneficial State Bank. Beneficial State Bank takes its social mission seriously. The bank is a member of the Social Venture Network and is a registered B Corporation. In fact, B Lab recognizes the bank as qualifying for “Best for Community Impact.” Beneficial focuses on serving business customers that serve the community in an environmentally friendly way. The bank says: Typically, mainstream banks work with big businesses that offer conventional products with relatively low risk — but often in a way that bars new, more sustainable ways of meeting our needs, like sustainable agriculture or clean energy. If we want to build our local community economies, then the underserved s

August 19, 2014 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1pWFBsp Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. PayPerks is a new suite of web- and mobile-based education and rewards tools that work with products like prepaid cards, designed for the emerging middle class, consumers who haven’t always used traditional bank products. Launched by Arlyn Davich while she was earning her MBA at Columbia, the business was built with a goal of expanding financial inclusion.

August 19, 2014 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1pWuAXS. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Unliver’s Lifebuoy soap brand is working to save children in the developing world with an innovative approach: comic books. Tapping renowned comic book artist Craig Yoe to create it, Lifebuoy is working to distribute 20 million copies of the book this year. The comic book is just part of a program targeting young children in the developing world with puzzles, stories and games to teach them and their parents about the importance of handwashing. Unilever reports that 1.7 million children will die this year as a result of easily preventable diseases, one-third of whom could be saved with handwashing. Lifebuoy’s efforts since 2010 have reached 183 million people in 16 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

August 18, 2014 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1pWC5OA. The Halcyon Incubator is working to solve 21st century challenges by helping social entrepreneurs. Through a competitive process, social entrepreneurs pitch Halcyon for a spot in the three-stage incubator program. The first stage is residency, where fellows live and work at Halcyon surrounded by like-minded innovators in a collaborative setting. In the second stage, the fellows move out, but continue work at the Incubator, accessing strategic, legal and PR resources. In the final stage called the “incentivized phase,” the fellows transition to the WeWork Wonder Bread Factory building in Washington, D.C. at reduced rates, while still being able to access Incubator events and programming as they scale their venture. Halcyon is presently accepting applications for the next cohort.

August 19, 2014 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1pWzEf1. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. An expected 500,000 adults with autism are expected to begin seeking employment over the next decade as a tidal wave of young adults with autism age out of school and other programs. A Danish father of an autistic son is leading an effort to create gainful employment opportunities for these gifted individuals. By helping employers to see an employee with autism as having unique personality strengths, especially in information technology settings, Thorkil Sonne is helping to address this growing demographic problem. Sonne launched Specialisterne USA, a nonprofit, to “enable 100,000 jobs in the U.S.” The organization assess, trains and employs individuals with autism in IT and other technically oriented sectors. They report that 80% of their employees are working at

August 19, 2014 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/XvVaOm. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Several weeks ago, the U.S. National Advisory Board to the Social Impact Investment Task Force met at the White House to discuss its newly issued report, “Private Capital, Public Good: How Smart Federal Policy Can Galvanize Impact Investing–and Why It’s Urgent.” Jean Case, cofounder of the Case Foundation, has stepped forward as a mouthpiece for the rapidly growing impact investment market with pieces in the Huffington Post and Forbes. (Separately, I covered Prudential’s $1 billion impact investment commitment here.) Omidyar Network is among the growing list of institutions that are actively investing for impact and was among the early entrants into the burgeoning space for investments that seek positive social impact and financial returns. The White House roundtab

August 19, 2014 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/YmTWoS. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Alem Mumuni contracted polio at the age of two in Ghana, a place where few people ever overcome the burdens of the crippling disease, but he has beaten them all, becoming a well educated, world-class athlete. The continent of Africa may soon–if it hasn’t already–experience its final case of polio. The mere handful of polio cases this year suggest the virus is on the ropes in Nigeria, the last country in Africa where the disease is considered endemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). The global fight against polio was begun about thirty years ago by Rotary International. Mumuni has become a potent spokesman for Rotary International, speaking out about the difficulties of the disease and inspiring people to support the campaign to end polio not only in Africa, b

August 7, 2014 - Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://onforb.es/1zULPxb. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. An entirely new wave of health care reform is coming to America with financing from Vital Healthcare Capital, a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI). V-Cap, as Vital Healthcare Capital is known, just made its first social impact investment, $10 million dollars, into Commonwealth Care Alliance or CCA, which serves vulnerable populations, including frail seniors and adults with disabilities. Many of the folks served by CCA are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare but often fall between the cracks in the system if only because they lack the resources to take advantage of the healthcare available to them. CCA reports that it has also proven the ability to reduce costs by helping patients to avoid unnecessary hospital stays and to live healthie

August 7, 2014 - Read the full GoodCrowd.info article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1zUYrV5. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Recently, I had the opportunity to meet Seymor Segnit, the host of the new crowdfunding podcast, The Kickass Crowdfunding Show. He’s a delightful Brit now living in New York. He’s also been successful in many other arenas, including as an inventor who launched via crowdfunding on Indiegogo. More about thingCHARGER: thingCHARGER is an awesome, simple new charger design which Seymour & his wife Amy invented one day while frustrated with all the messy wires and chargers at their home. A few months later they launched it on Indiegogo and it quickly became the most successful crowdfunded mobile accessory of all time! Delighted with and grateful for the response to their own campaign and wanting to help others succeed at crowdfunding they’ve now launched The Kicka

August 7, 2014 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/XFHL60. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Paul Godfrey, a professor at Brigham Young University, is part of a growing movement that says we can end poverty, that it is not a necessary part of of a global economy. His book, More than Money, was just published by Stanford Business Books. In the book he lays out specific plans for enabling and empowering people to rise above their circumstances, helping them to develop five different forms of capital:institutional, human, social, organizational, and physical. Paul will also be speaking at GoodCrowd14, the Social Enterprise and Crowdfunding Conference at Snowbird, Utah on September 26, 2014. More about More than Money: This book presents a novel framework that shows how five types of interrelated capital—institutional, human, social, organizationa

August 7, 2014 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1y7M8BV. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Every year in the United States 100,000 children are victims of sex trafficking. Everyone’s Kids is a nationwide campaign to raise money and awareness about the plight of these kids. Razoo will host a nationwide, one-day crowdfunding giving day to raise money to bring an end to this tragic practice on September 16, 2014. More about Everyone’s Kids: On September 16, 2014, individuals, fundraisers, and nonprofit organization will unite for Everyone’s Kids, Everyone Gives Day, a national, 24-hour giving day that will mobilize hundreds of organizations and thousands of people on a single day across the country to help fight child trafficking in the United States. At TED 2013, a group of influencers were challenged to tackle the issue of domestic child sex t

July 30, 2014 - Read the full GoodCrowd.info article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/1oHmpPP. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. Kevin Hitchen’s left J.P. Morgan to help launch Localstake, a crowdfunding site that facilitates investments in local businesses. The platform has successfully raised over $3 million for entrepreneurs in its first year of operation. More about LocalStake: Localstake is an online investment crowdfunding platform that enables startup and small businesses to raise up to $1 million in funding from individual investors in the community. Our platform allows business owners to efficiently connect with and raise funding from local investors. Individual investors of all wealth backgrounds are able to access, review, and invest in local businesses with as little as $250,something many have never really been allowed to do before. After a business has achieved funding, they