Top Twelve Popular Podcasts 2018, Jeff Ochs, Venn Foundation
The Venn Foundation uses Program-Related Investments in surprising new ways. This week, we’re talking to Jeff Ochs of the Venn Foundation. Jeff is an experienced entrepreneur and investor. He invented and commercialized an educational party game that was licensed by Hasbro. He started a successful nonprofit, Breakthrough Twin Cities. And he was the Executive Director […]
Find Your Funding, Part 2, Cathy Clark, CASE Smart Impact Capital
CASE Smart Impact Capital is a toolkit that helps you to raise capital that aligns with your needs. In 1992, Cathy Clark had a conversation with Lloyd Morrissett, the co-founder of Sesame Workshop. Lloyd told her “Change happens when the right people with the right idea and the right capital come together at the right […]
Find Your Funding, Part 1, Jeff Ochs, Venn Foundation
The Venn Foundation uses Program-Related Investments in surprising new ways. This week, we’re kicking off a two-part mini-series how to fund a business that does social good. We did something similar in April 2016 in a series called Founding & Fuding. In May 2017, Ned Tozun generously shared the story of how he and co-founder […]
The Twin Cities Impact Investing Ecosystem Map with Susan Hammel, Cogent Consulting
The Twin Cities Impact Investing Ecosystem Map documents impact investing activity in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. If you would have picked up a copy of the Financial Times last Saturday, you might have noticed a half-page ad asking readers to participate in the Investing for Global Impact research study. Two pages later, you may have […]
Mapping the Trillion Dollar Impact Investing Sector, with Rehana Nathoo, The Case Foundation
The Impact Investing Network Map visually presents the best publicly available information on impact investments. Any good entrepreneur will tell you, problems are opportunities. People in a remote village don’t have access to electricity, and yet, they have funds for kerosene. Companies like d.light and Barefoot Power see a market opportunity. Consumers throw textile and […]
Joel Solomon, Author of The Clean Money Revolution
Joel Solomon reminds us, “There is $50 trillion that is going to pass hands in North America through death in the next 30 years.” It’s up to us what the impact of that transfer of wealth will be. Joel Solomon is the chair and co-founder of Renewal Funds, a mission venture capital firm based in […]
The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, with Mark Norbury, UnLtd
UnLtd is the UK’s largest supporter of early-stage social entrepreneurs. Mark Norbury grew up in the time when Land-Aid, Band-Aid, and Live-Aid were popular. “The idea that you can be a rock star who saved the world was pretty damned compelling when you’re fourteen years old” he confesses. But, with a lack of musical talent, […]
How to Find Your Funding, with Ned Tozun, d.light
Ned Tozun talks about how to find your funding as you start and grow your social enterprise. Social entrepreneurs take on intractable problems. To tackle global challenges, you’re going to need to find funding. One such massive problem is global energy poverty. According to the International Energy Agency, globally 1.2 billion people are without access […]
#MoneyMonday in May
You are a conscious consumer. You buy local, authentic and fair-trade goods. You use your dollars to try to create the kind of world you want to live in. But what about where you bank or how you invest? Here’s the truth: If you have assets, including a savings or checking account, your assets are having […]
What Will You do With This One Short Amazing Life?
Impact: There is Precious Little Time I don’t think about it often, but there is one universal truth all humans share. We have precious little time to make an impact. Do you ever think about that? If you’re anything like me, every once in a while the universe comes along, taps you on the shoulder and […]