I have a thing against Boston. Actually, that’s not true. It’s just Red Sox fans. Boston is actually a pretty cool city. There’s great seafood and a ton of history–it might even be the most historically important city in our country. That’s why The Bostonian Society exists. They’re a Boston, MA based non-profit that “is dedicated to studying, and preserving Boston’s uniquely important history, embodied in materials, records, and structures.” It’s easy to lose our past in the push to create a better future, so it’s good that there are organizations like The Bostonian Society to preserve what’s important.
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We all know that childhood is one of the most important periods in our lives. It sets the stage for what we’ll do and how we’ll do as we become adults, and it’s a time where it’s extremely important to make sure that the basics are accounted for. That’s why Cradles to Crayons exists. They’re a Brighton, MA based non-profit that is focused on “providing to children ages 0 to 12 some of the most important basics of life—free of charge.” For Cradles to Crayons, the focus is on hard goods–things like clothes, school supplies, and toys.
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Branding is one of the most powerful marketing tools known to man. Building a strong brand makes every part of running a business easier, but you better get it right. That’s why a lot of major brands hire consultancies to help them formulate new brands or to breathe new life into existing brands. One of the firms that helps huge companies with branding is Protobrand. They are based in Boston, MA, and they are “an independent research and branding consultancy that offers a unique perspective on emotional insight mining.” That’s the key right there–emotion. It’s what brands are really all about, and that’s why Protobrand puts a strong emphasis on it.
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While I think the education part of college is generally overrated in importance by most people, there’s a part of the college experience that I think is underrated: dorm life. Being thrown into a completely new living situation with people who are a lot like you, but also very different from you is an amazing opportunity to learn and grow. What if we had similar opportunities but at different life stages? That’s what Krash is about. They are a Boston, MA based company that offers a “way for founders, entrepreneurs and innovators to rapidly build the supportive personal and professional networks they need to be successful.” They do this by offering immersive co-living experiences in Boston, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC.
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We’ve all heard someone joke about “their OCD,” but chances are that person was just referring to one of their idiosyncrasies–it’s not really something to joke about. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a disorder of the brain and behavior that “involves both obsessions and compulsions that take a lot of time and get in the way of important activities the person values.” There’s nothing funny about it as it often causes severe anxiety. The International OCD Foundation is a Boston, MA based non-profit that aims “to help individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and related disorders to live full and productive lives.”
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Chances are that there’s something happening in your community that bothers you and you’ve done nothing about it. Most of us could stand to be a bit more engaged in our democracy, but it’s harder and harder to get yourself engaged as you get older. That’s why Generation Citizen wants to start while kids are in high school. It’s a Boston, MA based non-profit that “teaches teenagers direct political action through an innovative in-class curriculum” where “students work with local leaders to fix local problems.” These classes are taught by “near-peer college Democracy Coaches” (college student volunteers) alongside secondary school teachers.
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I’m not usually a big gamer, but I’ve been hooked on a few. The best games create an immersive experience that puts you in another world–you almost forget that you’re playing a game. It’s a lot like watching a great tv show or movie, which is why shows and movies often get turned into games. The world has already been created. Why not let people play in it on their own? That’s exactly what Disruptor Beam allows. They’re based in Framingham, MA, and they’re aiming “to create the most fan-centric game company in the world.” The company’s focus is on mobile/web games, and they’ve started out by working with some pretty big names.
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I haven’t worked in a real office since my internships during college, but that office had a great cafeteria. The food was always pretty good, and the view was spectacular. The chef also made really great cookies in the afternoons. A lot of companies aren’t big enough to have a cafeteria, but they still want to offer in-house food options for their employees. That can be a huge hassle, but not with Cater2.me. They are a San Francisco, CA based company that “was founded with the goal of connecting inspired kitchens with the masses.” A lot of companies have complicated systems for ordering food in. Cater2.me does all of the administrative stuff so that employees stay well fed and productive.
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Think about all of the e-mail lists that you’re subscribed to. Now think about how many of those e-mails you delete, mark as spam, or totally ignore. Every one of those senders includes you when they brag about the size of their lists, but you’re pretty much worth nothing to them (you may even have negative value). Businesses that do e-mail right know that keeping your lists manicured is a smart business decision. Unfortunately, that’s a lot easier said then done, which is why company that are serious about e-mail use FreshAddress. They’re a Newton, MA based company that helps “companies that depend on email to drive revenue by building, updating, segmenting, and cleaning their email lists.”
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I haven’t updated my business cards in years; in fact, I’m not sure that I’ve given anyone a business card in at least a year. I do most of my business online, so it makes sense that I don’t use a lot of paper products. More and more people are moving in my direction, so if you are going to use printed materials, they need to pop–they need to be able to compete with the interactivity of a website. MOO is an East Providence, RI based company that loves to print. They’ve even invented a word to describe what they do: “printfinity.” It’s a technology that they’ve developed that allows you to “print a different photo or design on every Business Card, Sticker or Postcard in a pack.”
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Businesses are always looking for ways to extract more value from their customers. Sometimes this means “sharing” customers with other businesses. I’m sure you’ve seen (and probably ignored) plenty of cross-promotional offers. The problem is that they often get in the way of what I’m trying to do right now. Maybe I’d actually take advantage of them if they were made a little more seamless. That’s what Cartera Commerce is doing. They are a Lexington, MA based company that offers “a comprehensive, fully-managed, performance-based offer platform for card issuers, frequent flyer programs and merchants.” What does this mean? I get offers through bank cards, credit cards, and loyalty programs. I can opt in with a click or a tap, and all I that I have to do to redeem the offer is use my card.
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Over the past 7 years, I’ve heard from a lot of frustrated college grads who can’t find jobs. Some of the most frustrated have been international students. They came to the U.S. to get an education, and they’d love to stay here and put that education to use. Unfortunately, the current laws make that extremely difficult. Right now we have a system that is both unfair and economically damaging. We can do better, and FWD.us is a San Francisco, CA based non-profit lobbying organization that wants to make that happen as soon as possible. It was “started by key leaders in the tech community to promote policies to keep the United States and its citizens competitive in a global economy—including comprehensive immigration reform and education reform.”
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It’s hard to feel any sympathy for software developers. They’re one of the most employable groups of people on Earth, and they can apply their skills to almost anything they want. However, they’re working in the technology industry which is defined by constant change. A piece of software that used to need to run on a single platform is now expected to work on all kinds of devices. Xamarin is the answer for developers who want their software to work for as many people as possible. The San Francisco, CA based company allows developers to write “apps entirely in C#, sharing the same code on iOS, Android, Windows and Mac.” Why do something four different ways when you can do it once?
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Every employer wants to get the most out of its people. Obviously their work product is the number one priority, but there are other objectives that a company might want to accomplish through their employees. I’m talking about things like zero waste initiatives, health and fitness goals, or retirement saving. Reaching goals usually requires behavior modification, and that’s a really hard thing to do (especially when it’s not tied to your compensation or reviews). WeSpire is a Boston, MA based company that provides “technology-based engagement programs to inspire employees for measurable impact.” It’s all about positive behavior change.
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Have you ever seen an article in the middle of the day explaining that a stock’s price was rising on specific news and then seen essentially the same article in the evening saying that the same piece of news caused the price to fall? There are rare occasions when it actually works out that way, but often it’s just lazy journalism. The truth is that it can be pretty hard to explain why a stock’s price moves up or down; however, we all know that specific products can have a huge impact on how a business performs. That’s why Trefis has developed a set of tools that “helps you understand how a company’s products impact its stock price.” The Boston, MA based company “was founded by MIT Engineers and former Wall Street analysts who realized that most people do not understand the seemingly familiar companies around them.”
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We’ve all had a time when we wanted to break our computers, tablets, or phones. In reality we’re often directing our anger in the wrong place. It’s usually the software, not the hardware, that is causing the problem. Even though the quality of software seem to continue to get better, we keep spending a bigger percentage of our time interacting with electronic devices. Every developer can aspire to make better software, and SmartBear is a company that helps them do that. They’re based in Beverly, MA, and they make “tools to help you manage the quality of your desktop, web, mobile, and api-based applications.” It may seem a little meta but SmartBear develops software for software developers–and I’ll bet that they use their software to develop software for software developers.
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I’m definitely not a chocoholic, but I think that a good piece of chocolate is the perfect dessert for when you want something sweet but don’t want to loosen your belt after. The fun thing about chocolate is that it has a ton of range. Some people are completely happy with a Hershey’s bar, and others want something with a little more thought put into it. One of my favorite chocolate companies is Taza Chocolate. They are a Somerville, MA based company that makes “stone ground, organic chocolate” that is “perfectly unrefined, minimally processed with bold flavor and texture, unlike anything you have ever tasted.” Their Mexicano discs almost have a cookie like texture, and that’s why they’re one of my favorites.
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I swear that every kid who grows up in Connecticut goes on a field trip to Old Sturbridge Village at some point. For me it wasn’t until 10th grade (and we were on our way back from a longer trip to Boston and Plimoth Plantation), but I think most kids go earlier in their lives. If you weren’t lucky enough to grow up within a couple hour bus ride of Old Sturbridge Village (which is based in Sturbridge, MA), you should know that it’s the “largest outdoor history museum in the Northeast” and it “depicts a rural New England town of the 1830s.” It’s the perfect place for immature children to try to get the staff to fall out of character.
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Raise your hand if you’ve come to the realization that college didn’t prepare you for the job market. I see a lot of hands. I’m not knocking college, but the skills that I’ve developed from starting a business are way more marketable than the ones that I developed in the classroom. So what do you do if you realize that you don’t have what employers want (or you want to start your own business)? You can hustle and develop the skills on your own, or you can speed up the process by enrolling at General Assembly. They are a New York, NY based company that is “creating a global community of individuals empowered to pursue work they love, by offering full-time immersive programs, long-form courses, and classes and workshops on the most relevant skills of the 21st century.”
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In a few months my typical Saturday mornings will include a trip to the farmers’ market, but right now it’s not happening. They may keep the market going indoors, but it’s just not the same. Farmers’ markets have always been a thing, but they’ve surged in popularity over the past decade–especially in urban centers. As more and more markets pop up, they can all gain by banding together. That’s what Mass Farmers Markets is about. They are a Waltham, MA based non-profit that aims “to partner with farmers, consumers, and communities to foster, enhance and sustain farmers market in Massachusetts in order to improve regional farm viability, consumer nutrition, and community social and economic development.”
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While it has become increasingly apparent that graduating college isn’t close to enough to get you a job these days, we also know that not having gone to or graduated college makes finding a good job so much harder. If young people are going to succeed in life, they need to start with success in high school and college. Bottom Line is a Boston, MA, Worcester, MA and New York, NY based non-profit (they also are working in Chicago) that “has helped thousands of low-income and first-generation students stay in college and earn their degrees.” The organization was founded in 1997 and now reaches more than 3,000 students every year.
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Our federal, state, and local governments do a lot of things that are bad for their constituents, but one of the worst has to be state-run lotteries. They are great at generating income for things like schools, but they are a massive regressive tax that disproportionately harms lower-income individuals. It’s almost as if people see lotteries as a savings account instead of a long shot bet. For a long time I’ve had an idea that state lotteries should be transitioned into an investment vehicle. Imagine how much better off people would be if a one dollar scratch off ticket contributed 50 cents to savings account, 40 cents to prizes, and 10 cents to education or something similar. You could even engineer it so that people win “prizes” out of their own savings accounts. To my surprise I recently learned about a non-profit that is working on similar ideas. It’s called Doorways to Dreams Fund, and they’re based in Allston, MA. They work “with the financial services industry, government agencies, national non-profit groups, grassroots community agencies, and public policy organizations to generate promising ideas, pilot test financial products and services, build awareness of the needs and potential of low-income communities, and advocate inclusive social and economic policies.”
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I got my wife an Airport Express for Christmas. I’m not the typical male idiot portrayed on many American sitcoms–it was a good gift idea. The whole point was that I could hook up our wireless network to the fifteen-year-old wired speaker system that came with our apartment. The speakers were working when I started (I had the radio playing in all of the rooms), but after three hours of frustration, I ended up with the music from my iPhone playing in one room, and no music whatsoever in any of the other rooms. I’m going to have to find a way to fix this, and I think Sonos might be the answer. They are a Santa Barbara, CA and Cambridge, MA based company that set out in 2002 “to reinvent home audio for the digital age.” Their products certainly look a lot better than the circa 1997 sound system that my landlord left behind.
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I ate a lot on Thanksgiving, and I kept it up through the weekend. I used to be able to do that without feeling any ill effects, but those days are over. I guess it’s time to get back to a healthier lifestyle. Maybe I need to head to the store and buy some natural products. Though I’ll probably just do my typical meat cleanse instead, if I went the natural route, I’d probably be buying from clients of Pure Branding. They are a Northampton, MA based consultancy that “builds leading brands for values-based companies in the natural products industry.” They’re selective about the clients that they take, as they want to ensure that they’re working world changers.
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The world of non-profits revolves around money. I know it’s counterintuitive, but only the leanest organizations can operate without significant funds. When you’re a business and you’re using money to make money, you typically have some margin for error. But when you’re trying to use money to do good, every bit of effectiveness makes a difference. That’s why The Center for Effective Philanthropy exists. They are a Cambridge, MA and San Francisco, CA based non-profit that works “to provide data and create insight so philanthropic funders can better define, assess, and improve their effectiveness – and, as a result, their intended impact.” They are what I like to call a meta-non-profit; an organization that serves other charitable organizations.
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Over the past six months baby blue bikes have been popping up all over Chicago. As a driver, they’re a bit scary because many of the riders seem unsure of themselves on two wheels, but it’s an overall good thing for the city. The bikes are part of the Divvy Bikes bike sharing system. The program seems to be a huge success so far, and I’m hearing the same thing about similar programs in other cities. The company behind Divvy, CitiBike, Bay Area BikeShare, Capital Bikeshare, and quite a few others is Alta Bicycle Share. They are based in Portland, OR and have offices in San Francisco, Columbus, Chicago, Brooklyn, Chattanooga, Boston, Washington, DC, and Melbourne, Australia. They’ve been able to launch programs in such major cities because they ” provide solutions for all aspects of bike share, from location assessment and business modeling to system maintenance and expansion.”
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I admit to liking bad music. I don’t listen to music all that often, but when I do, I’m perfectly happy listening to Top 40 stuff. I know that most of it is musically questionable, but I can’t help that I like it. I’ve tried listening to Classical music, but I can’t get into it. Maybe one day that will change. And if it does, I’ll have to check out the Handel and Haydn Society. They are based in Boston, MA, and they are “considered America’s oldest continuously performing arts organization.” They’re coming up on 200 years of excellence “in the field of Historically Informed Performance” (see here for a more in depth explanation). In other words they perform pieces “using the instruments and techniques of the composer’s time.”
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At this point you’ve spent a lot of your life in a classroom. Do you think you’d be better off if you spent more or less? I lean towards saying less, but only if I would have put that time to good use. I tend to think that a lot of today’s kids are overworked when it comes to school, but that’s probably because I went to a very competitive private school. There’s a lot of research that shows that more time in school leads to better outcomes, and The National Center on Time & Learning is a Boston, MA non-profit that “is dedicated to expanding learning time to improve student achievement and enable a well-rounded education.” Even though it pains me to say it, The National Center on Time & Learning probably has it right.
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InvestmentNews is our sponsor this week, and they would like to tell you about their NextGen Virtual Career Fair on November 8th. It’s an awesome opportunity for students and interns to network and find finance jobs on the spot.
Although I always knew that I wanted to run my own business, it took me until after I graduated college to actually do something about it. It’s a shame because there are all kinds of resources available for entrepreneurs who are enrolled in college. A great example is the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. They are an Amherst, MA based non-profit that supports “technology innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education to create experiential learning opportunities for students and successful, socially beneficial innovations and businesses.” The organization exists to bring all of the great thinking ideas that happen on college campuses to life through business.
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My knowledge of anatomy is a mashup of what I learned in my college Meat Science class (it’s amazing how similar animals are to humans when it comes musculature) and what I’ve picked up from reading about professional athlete’s injuries. Luckily, I’m not a doctor and don’t have any intention of being one. Otherwise I’d have to hit the books hard. Firecracker would probably be my best bet. They are a Cambridge, MA based company that has built the “most advanced learning platform for the next generation of Physicians.” If you guessed that it’s not made with dead trees, you would be right. Firecracker is also the name of their app that can help you prep for both Pre-Med and Med School.
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