One cool thing about art is that anyone can create it. You don’t have to be a profession or even have any training. And even if you don’t create, you can still enjoy other people’s art. The only problem is that sometimes the arts community can get a little stuffy and exclusive. It goes against everything that the arts are about, but it happens. That’s why ArtStream was started. They’re a Washington, DC based non-profit “whose mission is to create artistic opportunities for individuals in communities traditionally under-served by the arts.” That includes “persons with disabilities, seniors, people with short or long term illnesses and their families or caregivers, immigrants, veterans, people who are grieving, and students and teachers.”
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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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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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One of the most amazing things about the surge in popularity of crowdfunding is that it has allowed many businesses to get off the ground with zero inventory. Instead of having to guess at how many of something you should make, they can pre-sell the product and it deliver it at some undetermined date in the future. While this is totally awesome for those who are able to take advantage of it, the large majority of businesses still have to hold inventory if they ever want to sell anything. The goal is to get “the right product in the right place at the right time at the right price,” but that often doesn’t go as planned. Optoro offers a fix. They are a Washington, DC based company that “unleashes hidden revenue for retailers and creates value for shoppers” by helping businesses with “reverse logistics.”
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A few years ago I was on the board of a startup non-profit. Our programming was going pretty well, but raising money was really hard. We had meetings with a few grant makers, but we didn’t impress them enough to get any money. A grant maker’s job is to give away money, but they need to offer more than that if they want that money to be put to the best use. Grantmakers for Effective Organizations is a Washington, DC based non-profit that is “committed to advancing smarter grantmaking practices that are most critical to bolstering nonprofit success.” They’ve been working towards a non-profit ecosystem with “more grantmakers providing general operating support, an increase in support for nonprofit leadership development as a capacity-building strategy, and more grantmakers seeking input from grantees and community members to shape effective solutions.”
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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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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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You’ve probably looked at thousands of ads already today, but chances are that you haven’t thought about how they got in front of you. Behind all of those ads is a group of people who made a complicated set of decisions to get that specific message to you in a specific place at a specific time. Managing those kinds of decisions at scale is really hard. Centro makes it easier. They’re a Chicago, IL based company that works “to improve the lives of those working in the advertising industry by building media management software that helps marketers engage with audiences across all digital channels in the most successful manner possible.” The goal is put all of the options in one place so that advertisers can make the best decisions for themselves or for clients.
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Gardening is a lot like life. If you work hard, do things right, and get a little lucky, you’ll be handsomely rewarded. That’s why tending to a garden is great for kids. Not only do they learn about the rewards of hard work, but they also get to watch something as it grows from a pile of dirt into something beautiful or delicious. City Blossoms is a Washington, DC based non-profit that is “dedicated to kid-driven, community engaging, creative green spaces.” While they are cultivators of youth; youth are their main cultivators.
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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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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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A few days ago we looked at a company called Groundspeak that uses GPS data to “to make everyone an explorer and to put an adventure in every location.” There are lots of other ways to use location data, and an obvious one is advertising. It used to be that you knew an ad would target a specific locale because it was on a billboard or a local radio station. Today it’s possible to advertise to people all over the planet with a few mouse clicks, but what if you want use where they are to your advantage? xAd is a New York, NY based company that allows advertisers to pinpoint “target audiences at pivotal moments during the consumer’s decision-making journey.” It’s a kind of targeting that seems to get far less attention than it should.
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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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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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There are generally two ways to market to people. You can build your own audience, or you can rent somebody else’s audience. That’s why a lot of companies are built around building audiences to rent to other businesses. FierceMarkets is a perfect example. They are a Washington, DC based company that specializes in business-to-business media, publications, and marketing. The end goal is to “connect companies with the right audience and ensure each campaign generates the highest possible return on investment.”
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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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When I was a little kid, I’d visit construction sites with my dad, the architect. I absolutely loved it, but at some point I lost interest in the construction industry. For me building things online seemed more interesting than building homes and offices. If you disagree, you might want to check out Hanley Wood. They are based in Washington, DC, and they are “the premier media, event, information and strategic marketing services company serving the residential and commercial design and construction industries.” For nearly 40 years they have been the go to source for “builders, remodelers, residential and commercial architects, multifamily and public-works executives, and materials dealers and distributors.”
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Non-profits typically exist to make the world a better place. What that means varies by organization, but our government recognizes that a wide variety of causes should be supported with tax-exempt status. By definition a non-profit’s goals are non-financial, but that doesn’t mean that finances don’t matter. GuideStar is a Williamsburg, VA and Washington, DC based organization that aims to “revolutionize philanthropy by providing information that advances transparency, enables users to make better decisions, and encourages charitable giving.” Unlike Charity Navigator, they don’t rate or rank non-profits. Instead, GuideStar “collects, organizes, and presents the information you want in an easy-to-understand format while remaining neutral.”
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Our government spends a lot of money. $10 billion is essentially a rounding error in the Federal budget. The problem with that is that even the tiniest amount of government spending can have a huge impact on people’s lives. It’s important that our elected officials do a better job of spending our money on the right things. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a Washington, DC based non-profit that “conducts research and analysis to help shape public debates over proposed budget and tax policies and to help ensure that policymakers consider the needs of low-income families and individuals in these debates.” This is an organization that sees the people in the rounding errors.
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I went to both a public and a private university, yet I never transferred, and I only got one degree. How did I do this? I went to Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. It’s a New York State school even though it’s part of a private university. While it wasn’t always obvious, there were definitely times when I noticed distinct differences between how the public and private sides operated. Public universities and land-grant institutions often have common constraints, and that’s why they work together through the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. It’s a Washington, DC based non-profit “research, policy, and advocacy organization representing 219 public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems, and related organizations.”
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I’m really excited for Thanksgiving, even though I don’t get to go back home this year. I love having the opportunity to cook new stuff for a big group of people, and I think that meals at a big table are almost always fun. If you agree, you might be interested in Dinner Lab. It’s a New Orleans, LA based “membership-based social dining experiment that unites undiscovered chefs with adventurous diners who are looking for something different from the traditional restaurant experience.” They’re already in Austin, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, DC, and Atlanta, and it looks like the expansion will continue.
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In 1961 John F. Kennedy initiated the Alliance for Progress, “a 10-year, multibillion-dollar aid program for Latin America.” The goal was to revitalize relations with our neighbors. In 1964 Partners of the Americas was founded “as the people-to-people component of the Alliance for Progress.” It’s a Washington, DC based non-profit that works to “build partnerships that create opportunity, foster understanding, and solve real-life problems.” This is done through a chapter model that encourages countries and states to build north-south partnerships.
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Have you ever caught someone talking about you behind your back? Whether they’re saying something nice or something mean, it can be pretty awkward. Still, it’s nice to know where you stand with people. For brands it’s a bit different. The awkwardness isn’t as much of a worry, and the information gained from hearing what people have to say can have tremendous business value. The problem is that overhearing a conversation isn’t a reasonable way to compile actionable information. That’s why newBrandAnalytics has developed “a social media monitoring and online reputation management tool that transforms online reviews into operational social intelligence.” The company is based in Washington, DC, and it helps companies pinpoint ways that they “can excel in customer experience management.”
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Happy Veterans Day. Thank you to all of our readers who have served in our armed forces. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but it seems that the holiday is getting way more attention this year than in past years. I’ve seen way more tv commercials mentioning Veterans Day, and it seems that a ton of retailers are offering special deals. There are free haircuts, free car washes, and all kinds of free meals available today for those who have served. The only awkward part about all of this is verifying one’s veteran status. Nobody wants to have to ask, but how else do you stop freeloaders from taking advantage of deals just for vets? Military IDs are only for active service members, and any other form of proof might be a bit cumbersome. ID.me is a Washington, DC based company that is trying to make the process of ID verification seamless. They started out as Troop ID (and before that they were TroopSwap, a daily deals site for military) and only focused on verifying veteran/military status, but they realized that verifying any kind of group association would give them access to a much bigger market.
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This is the time of year when homelessness becomes more visible for many people. The colder weather combined with the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons help us remember that not everyone has a roof over his or her head. In fact, there are “633,782 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States.” The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a Washington, DC based non-profit that, as its name indicates, would like to bring that number down to zero. As a leading voice on the issue of homelessness, The Alliance “works collaboratively with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to build state and local capacity, leading to stronger programs and policies that help communities achieve their goal of ending homelessness.”
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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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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.
I often find charity events frustrating. It’s not the events themselves that bother me–it’s the auctions and raffles. Non-profits have an amazing ability to get all kinds of high value donations (which should be the hard part), but they completely fail when it comes to extracting as much value as possible out of those donations. It could be an inexperienced auctioneer, poorly priced raffle tickets, a confusing silent auction, or a complicated payment process. Technology can solve a lot of these problems, and that’s exactly what BidPal has done. They’re an Indianapolis, IN based company that “improves charitable fundraising events from start to finish with event management solutions, automated auctions, payment processing, online fundraising, consulting services, and much, much more.” BidPal actually came in at #74 on this year’s Inc. 5000 with 4,323% three-year growth to $10.2 million in revenue.
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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.
Good leadership always seems to be in short supply. There are plenty of situations where nobody is willing to lead, and there are plenty of others where those who are leading aren’t quite as fit for the job as they should be. I’ve seen a lot of non-profits that focus on developing young people into leaders, but it’s not all that common to find an organization devoted to promoting leadership at all levels. That’s exactly what Leadership Greater Washington does. They are a Washington, DC based non-profit that was founded out of The Greater Washington Board of Trade, The Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation and The Junior League. Its goal is to “foster communication and cooperation among the area’s established leaders” and to aid “leaders in every stage of their leadership journey.”
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It sounds stupid to say, but it feels like science is making a resurgence in popularity. It’s hard not to notice when your friends keep liking Facebook posts from “I [expletive] love science.” Science always has been and always will be exceptionally important to the human race, but its popularity seems to vary quite a bit over time. The Society for Science & the Public is a Washington, DC based non-profit that is “dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education.” They realize that science isn’t just for scientists and that keeping the average person engaged with the study of science can have big payoffs.
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I used to be really interested in politics, but over the past decade I’ve come to the realization that business is usually a better way to enact positive change than public policy is. While I might have lost most of the faith I had in the political process, I still realize that it’s necessary for a functioning society. The only way that it’s going to get better is for better people to go into politics. American Council of Young Political Leaders is a Washington, DC based non-profit (big surprise there) that is “recognized as the pre-eminent catalyst for introducing rising political and policy professionals to international affairs and to each other.” The organization was founded in 1966 by leaders from both American political parties because they saw how important fostering cooperation and understanding could be at the height of the Cold War.
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