Have any of you seen the movie North? Roger Ebert said, “North is a bad film – one of the worst movies ever made” (and Siskel agreed). I sheepishly admit that I liked it. It’s about a kid who sues his parents so that he can be a free agent and have potential new parents try to woo him. I think the reason that so many people found the movie so distasteful was that North, the main character, has an exceptionally good life–and this makes light of the fact that there are so many real-life kids who really could use legal help to get out of truly terrible situations. Luckily, there’s a real-life organization to help them. It’s called the Juvenile Law Center. They are a Philadelphia, PA based non-profit that “plays a leadership role nationally and in Pennsylvania in shaping and using the law on behalf of children in the child welfare and justice systems to promote fairness, prevent harm, secure access to appropriate services, and ensure a smooth transition from adolescence to adulthood.”
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Bikes have to be one of the most versatile inventions of all time. They’re transportation, entertainment, and exercise all in one. You can even rig one to turn human power into electricity if you really want. They may have been around for a long time, but they’re still a surprisingly good solution to many of our society’s problems. That’s why the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition was started to promote the bicycle for everyday use. They’re a San Jose, CA based non-profit that is working to “to create a healthy community, environment, and economy through bicycling for people who live, work, or play in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.”
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I come up with a lot of business ideas. More often than not I find that someone is already doing it–and usually I’m fine with that. It’s cool to see someone putting the idea to the test since I can’t try most of the ideas that I come up with. A lot of my ideas center around a thesis that more and more people will forgo traditional jobs and instead make a living (or at least supplement their incomes) by reaching new markets through the Internet. Vayable is a company based on this thesis. They are a San Francisco, CA and New York, NY based company that offers “a home for anyone looking to experience honest, local culture through experiences created and hosted by passionate local Insiders.”
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Chances are that most of your communications with employers at this point are your submitting applications and their not responding. If you’re lucky, you may get a rejection letter… or even an invitation for an interview. Eventually it will get better and your communications will lead to the acceptance of a job offer. From there it will get boring–stuff like health insurance enrollment and reminders to clean up after yourself in the communal kitchen. While employee communications are often mundane, they’re an extremely important part of running a business. GuideSpark is a Menlo Park, CA based company that has built a “robust employee communications platform” that “allows HR executives to toss out the stacks of pamphlets and eliminate time-consuming seminars, and offers a new way to educate employees on complex HR topics like benefits, health care reform, and compensation programs.”
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For some people a rug is a functional thing, for others it’s art. A handmade carpet can drastically improve the way a room looks–it can bring an exotic flair to an otherwise muted decor. The problem with handmade rugs is that they are often made by children. Child labor continues to be a problem across the world, and it’s especially bad in the handmade carpet industry–there are more than 250,000 children currently being exploited. Goodweave is a Washington, DC based non-profit that “is helping to combat this problem and transform the rug industry by certifying child-labor-free rugs and by providing education and opportunities to rescued and at-risk children.”
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We live in a 3D world, but we’ve often been constrained by two-dimensional mediums. For a long time it was pencil and paper, but then it became computers. They brought the hope of real 3D capabilities, but it took a long time for technology to get to the point that working in 3D became realistic. Believe it or not, Spatial got its start in 1986 when they released “ACIS, the first commercially available 3D modeling kernel.” Since then the Broomfield, CO based company has become “the leading provider of 3D components for technical application development across a broad range of industries.”
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I have a soft spot for Detroit, the entire state of Michigan, and Vernor’s Ginger Ale. My Dad’s entire family is from the Detroit area (including a former mayor going way back), but now I only have one Great Aunt still living there. The city has obviously seen better times, but I’m hoping that it will find its way again. So is Team Detroit. It’s an ad agency that in 2006 brought together parts of five legendary agencies that were under the same ownership (JWT, Y&R, Ogilvy, Wunderman, and Mindshare) and already working with Ford. Oddly enough, Team Detroit is actually based in Dearborn, MI, but I don’t think that should take away any street creed. They’ve been winning new clients and getting lots of accolades, so it sounds like they’re a winning team.
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The last time that Amy and I reserved a rental car, they didn’t have a car for us when we showed up. It was straight out of Seinfeld’s The Car Reservation, except the agent didn’t even try to help us. We ended up having to spend $250 on an Uber to get us to the wedding on time. I wish I could say that it’s the last time that I’ll ever use a rental car company, but it won’t be. However, I am tempted to try something new like RelayRides. They are a San Francisco, CA based company that connects “vehicle owners whose cars would otherwise be idle with people who need a car.” It’s a model that makes sense, even if it feels a little uncomfortable at first.
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Think about your favorite small business. If you like it enough for it to be your favorite, they’re probably doing a lot of things right–but chances are that they still face a lot of serious challenges. Unfortunately, they’re small, and that means that there are a lot of factors that they have little control over. That’s why many small business owners have banded together to start Small Business Majority, a San Francisco, CA based “national small business organization, founded and run by small business owners to focus on solving the biggest problems facing small businesses today.” They have offices in thirteen cities across the U.S. that are working to “bringthe voices of small business to the public policy table.”
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The key to effective marketing and advertising is distilling a brand, product, or service into a simple message that the target customers can relate to. For some products that’s really easy, but there are plenty of markets where it gets really complicated–like healthcare and life sciences. If you’re a business in one of those industries, you can’t hire just any advertising agency. You need people who understand science but still excel at marketing… the kind of people who work at HDMZ. HDMZ is a Chicago, IL and San Francisco, CA based healthcare and life science marketing agency. They’ve been around since 1936, but they’ve kept up with the times by excelling at understanding their clients’ businesses.
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From what I’ve seen, the non-profits that work at the community level often have the most impact. They may be smaller, but they’re in touch with the most pressing needs and able to react quickly to them. A great model for big non-profits might be to work through smaller non-profits. In fact, that’s exactly what Local Initiatives Support Corporation does. They are a New York, NY based organization that “has connected local organizations and community leaders with resources to revitalize neighborhoods and improve quality of life” over the last three and a half decades. They do this by bringing together public and private resources and making it easy for partners to access them.
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One of the core functions of nearly every government is to provide a justice system. While one would think that justice and fairness go hand in hand, that often doesn’t seem to be the case. Our country may be way ahead of lots of other countries when it comes to fairness, but what we really need is “a society with safe, equitable and healthy communities, just and effective solutions to social problems, and alternatives to incarceration that promote positive life outcomes.” That’s what the Justice Policy Institute is seeking. They are a Washington, DC based non-profit that aims “to reduce the use of incarceration and the justice system and promote policies that improve the well-being of all people and communities.”
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Becoming a new parent is hard no matter what your situation (at least that’s what I hear), but it’s typically much harder for someone living in poverty. While finances are a big part of it, there are all kinds of factors that make having a new baby especially daunting for low-income parents. Room to Grow is a New York, NY based non-profit that aims “to enrich the lives of babies born into poverty throughout their critical first three years of development.” They start their work before the baby is born and continue through the first three years with the hope that a solid foundation will prevent the child from facing many of the challenges that typically affect a kid growing up in poverty.
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Have you ever thought that you accidentally liked something on Facebook because a post suddenly showed up in your feed from a site that you recently visited? It’s creepy, right? It’s called retargeting, and it’s amazingly effective. For at least the last few years, advertisers have been tracking your movement around the web and showing you ads based on where you’ve visited. Taking to Facebook was the obvious next step, and that’s the specialty of Triggit. They are a San Francisco, CA based company that “enables advertisers and agencies to build, run, measure, and optimize retargeting-driven display campaigns from a single platform.”
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I’ve worked in two real offices in my life (I’ve mostly worked from home). The first was in an old tide mill on a bridge in an estuary. The second was a beautiful building located on 377 acres of black bear habitat. They’re not your typical commercial real estate options, but what are? How does a company know what office space is available? I have no idea, but apparently there isn’t much information available online as you would hope. RealMassive is working to change that. They’re an Austin, TX based startup that has developed the “first-ever source of real-time commercial real estate information.”
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When we talk about healthcare, we talk about doctors, hospitals, biotech companies, insurers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and even the government. We often forget that we’re the most important part of the equation. While there are plenty of situations where we need outside help from the parties mentioned above to ensure our health, individuals need to be empowered “to take more active roles in their care.” That’s exactly what Emmi Solutions does. They’re a Chicago, IL based healthcare communications company that has developed “interactive solutions to achieve meaningful business and clinical outcomes.” Chances are that you can think of a time when poor communication resulted in your having a worse health outcome. (Here’s mine: Stomach bug for a week. Doctor runs tests to see if antibiotics will help. Takes a week to tell me they will. Take antibiotics and get better next day.)
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It used to be that most websites were the same for everybody, but today almost everything seems to be personalized. Whether I log into Facebook, search on Google, or visit a jobs website, there’s a very good chance that my experience is being altered based on data that they’ve collected about me. Sites with this customization based on who is logged in used to be referred to (and maybe still are) as portals. Liferay Portal is free and open source software that allows anyone to build this kind of web experience. Liferay is a Diamond Bar, CA based company that was started in 2004 and “houses a professional services group that provides training, consulting and enterprise support services” focused on the Liferay Portal software.
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It’s easy to forget how important certain ecosystems have been to the development of human civilization. With agriculture, industry, and transportation, we can make any place on this earth habitable. In many parts of the world there are groups of people who are still living close to the land–they depend on nature for their survival and their ways of life. In fact, there are “nearly 400 distinct indigenous peoples [who] depend on the Amazon rainforest for their physical and cultural survival.” That’s why Amazon Watch was founded in 1996. They are a San Francisco, CA based non-profit that partners “with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon’s ecological systems.”
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There’s an episode of Saved by the Bell where Zack Morris convinces Mr. Tuttle (the head of the teacher’s union) that Mr. Belding called him a “spineless jellyfish.” That’s a pretty big insult to someone who is in charge of negotiating against you. Our spines are both metaphorically and anatomically an essential part of our being. That’s why the thought of a spinal injury is absolutely terrifying for most people. Luckily, we as a society have made a ton of progress treating spinal issues. Whether it’s an injury, disease, or deformity, K2M is one of the companies leading the innovation. They are based in Leesburg, VA, and they “deliver and develop technological innovations which enable surgeons to more effectively treat the world’s most complex spinal disorders.”
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I love shows like The Wire, Breaking Bad, and The Sopranos. One common theme in all of those shows is money laundering. When you earn a lot of money illegally, you have to find a way to make it “clean.” While pop culture has made me well aware that money laundering happens on a large scale domestically, I had no idea how big the problem is for developing countries. Not only do these nations have to deal with the initial problem of criminal activity, but they also have to deal with the fact that these activities are sucking money out of their economies. Global Financial Integrity is a non-profit organization that is working to stop this. They are based in Washington, DC, and they promote “national and multilateral policies, safeguards, and agreements aimed at curtailing the cross-border flow of illegal money.”
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I love GPS. I have the technology in my phone (like most people these days), my camera, and even a dog collar. It’s great to know exactly where you are, where you’ve been, and where you’re going–especially if you spend a lot of time in the wilderness like I do. Some people are even more enamored with GPS than I am. Those are the people who participate in communities run by Groundspeak, a Seattle, WA based company that aims “to make everyone an explorer and to put an adventure in every location.” It all started in 2000 when the U.S. government flipped a switch and made the signal from publicly available GPS satellites far more accurate.
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A year or two ago subscription boxes were the hot business model. Startups were finding anything they could to shove in a box and send to customers once a month for 20 bucks. Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of jewelry business pop up. Not fine jewelry, just designer stuff made from non-precious materials. You know why? Because the margins on those pieces are insane. The two business models actually fit together nicely, and that’s what RocksBox is taking advantage of. They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that lets you “experiment with different looks, discover the latest designers, wear new pieces all the time, and only buy the jewelry that you truly love.” It’s a little more like Netflix (the old DVD version) or Rent the Runway for jewelry than other subscription boxes, except for the fact that you can keep anything you like for 20% off retail.
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I’ve heard that the way math is taught in schools has completely changed since I learned to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. That seems crazy to me, but I know that there is a ton of room for innovation in the way that we educate children. While there are certainly some great for-profit companies working on this problem, there are also some great non-profits. One is Digital Promise, a Washington, DC based organization that “supports comprehensive research and development to benefit lifelong learners and provide Americans with the knowledge and skills needed to compete in the global economy.” Digital Promise is a bipartisan effort that is authorized by Congress, so it has serious support.
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When a group of people or businesses have a shared interest, they often form an association. Even in extremely competitive markets, it can make sense to come together and work towards common goals. As a result, there’s an association for nearly every possible interest. The problem with associations is that they can be hard to manage–administration can drain a lot of resources. Why should every association build its own management structure when that can be outsourced? Kellen Company is “an employee-owned professional services company serving associations, companies and foundations” with offices in Atlanta, GA; New York, NY; Denver, CO; Chicago, IL; and Washington, D.C. They provide essential services so that associations can focus on the important stuff.
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I grew up about 45 miles outside of New York City. While my parents always worked within five minutes of our house, a lot of my friends’ parents commuted in to the city. Most took the train, but some drove, and one occasionally used a helicopter. It’s hard to move millions of people in and out of the city on a daily basis without cars, but not everybody has helicopters. The Tri-State Transportation Campaign is a New York, NY based “non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to reducing car dependency in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.” They have a tough job, but they’ve already been at for more than 20 years.
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Do any of you remember Flip cameras? They were all the rage for a few years, and then they got completely crushed by smartphones. Who would buy a standalone consumer level point and shoot or video camera when you already have something that offers comparable quality in your pocket? The only good reason that I can think of is that you’re worried you might destroy your phone. That’s where GoPro came in. They’re a San Mateo, CA based company that has built a huge business by offering “the world’s most versatile camera.” While other manufacturers were killing each other with battles over megapixels and size, GoPro was focusing on a niche market of users who wanted to be able to take their cameras on adventures. It turned out that it was a really big niche.
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About 10 years ago I bought a Magic Bullet (in a store, not through the infomercial). I don’t often need a blender, so it has served me well for making the occasional smoothie, pureeing veggies for soup, and chopping herbs. That’s why when it came to our wedding registry, we didn’t do what many couples do and register for a top of the line blender (though we did register and receive a food processor that haven’t even used yet). The consensus top of the line blenders seem to come from Vitamix, an Olmsted, OH based company that is “improving the vitality of people’s lives and liberating the world from conventional food and beverage preparation boundaries.” That’s the kind of hyperbole that you can only expect from the company that created the first infomercial in the U.S.
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Living in a city can be hard when you love nature and the outdoors, but there’s usually a way to get a fix. Here in Chicago we have Lake Michigan and Forest Preserves. The forest preserves are run by the county government and they exist “to acquire, restore and manage lands for the purpose of protecting and preserving public open space.” In Cook County that amounts to more than 68,000 acres (11% of the county’s land mass) that get about 40 million visits every year. Friends of the Forest Preserves is a Chicago, IL based non-profit that was started when a group of people saw the forest preserves being mismanaged and organized “to rescue these treasured lands, knowing that to maintain their vast rewards and ensure they’re here for all of us to enjoy, we’d have to work just as hard as the visionary citizens who protected them more than a century ago.”
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I am an outdoorsman. I fish, I hunt, and try to spend as much time in the wilderness as I can. Ok, that’s not completely true. I tend to stay in hotels/motels on my fishing trips, but I know a lot of people prefer to camp on those kinds of trips. It always seemed to me like a lot of work and equipment for a little more time outdoors; however, for many camping is the main event. In my mind that means sleeping in a tent, but I guess it can also mean sleeping in an RV. The people who prefer the latter definition are likely customers of Camping World. The Bowling Green, KY based company is “the camping and recreational vehicle enthusiast’s one-stop-shop for everything they need to enjoy living in and traveling in their RV.” Camping may be in the name, but it seems to be all about the RV lifestyle.
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We can all agree… that we can all agree on some things sometimes–even when it comes to politics. I tend to like when the disagreement between the two parties locks things up because it means that the government won’t be able to break anything else; however, I understand that occasionally we need our government to actually accomplish something. The Bipartisan Policy Center is a Washington, DC based non-profit that encourages the two parties to work together on important issues where ideological differences can be worked through. The organization was “founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell,” so it truly is a bipartisan effort.
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