StartSomeGood: The Blog

This UK based ethical cotton bag producer is ready to go solar for women in South India

For many disadvantaged women living in rural India, their reality is living in a cycle of constant and crippling debt just to stay afloat. Vandanamu Ethical Cottons wants to break this cycle by providing these women with sustainable employment so they can feel empowered to provide for their families and secure a bright future for their children and community.

Vandanamu Ethical Cottons sources wholesale orders for cotton bags in the UK and has them produced at their sewing unit, which employs women from a small town in Southern India. These lovely bags are printed by hand and then sewn by the women employed at the sewing unit. Unfortunately, the unit has been suffering from daily 12-14 hour power cuts, which greatly affects productivity. When productivity suffers, turn around time is slower and urgent large orders are lost.

Luckily, Vandanamu Ethical Cottons has a solution! These women’s livelihoods can be saved and all it takes is a few solar panels to generate electricity for 20 sewing machines. Obtaining and installing these panels will cost about £4,990. Not only does this mean more work and better pay for the ladies who need it most, it also means the sewing unit will become ultra green by going completely off the grid. So let’s help Vandanamu Ethical Cottons reach their goal of empowering women in South India. And, in the process, pick yourself up a beautiful handmade cotton bag as part of your backer rewards!

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What good do you want to create? Visit StartSomeGood today to learn about how to start your own campaign.

posted 18 June, 2013
by nricchio
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StartSomeGood News: lacrosse camp for minority girls and a website to tackle the fossil fuel industry

Brand New Good! StartSomeGood’s newest campaigns:

Orlando First Stick Lacrosse started off their campaign with a ton of momentum, tipping almost immediately after launching. This program teaches at-risk & minority girls in Orlando to play lacrosse. They’re raising funds to buy equipment for a pilot program this summer. The city of Orlando will allow a 6-week pilot program during the girls’ regular summer camp, but to make the project work, each girl will need her own equipment.

Help inspire youth to identify their greatness and pursue their dreams. Inner Hero is a no-cost program for 4th through 7th graders that focuses on self-awareness, individuality, conflict management, and positive thinking. Reaching a $2,500 tipping point would enable the program to operate 4 times per week until the end of 2013.

The Perot Museum of Nature has generously donated a Digitalis Alpha 2+ planetarium projection system to Nomad Domes for use in Kenya to help children understand, and inspire them to preserve, the amazing night skies in East Africa. The $8,000 tipping point will cover shipping costs to Kenya and training for the Amateur Astronomy Society of Kenya staff members so children across East Africa can begin to explore the beautiful Kenyan skies.

350 Australia is a grassroots global movement working to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis. Following Bill McKibben’s widely successful “Do the Maths” tour, they’re ready to tackle the fossil fuel industry head on by launching the “Go Fossil Free” website. This will provide tools for individuals, universities, and institutions to switch from banks that are funding fossil fuel projects in Australia. Just $10,000 will help initiate this project to preserve the Australian landscape.

GET Local Ireland creates local employment and delivers quality local Irish food to empower communities to become more resilient and sustainable. They’re currently developing the boabox system. The biabox will allow people to order fresh, local, and fairly priced food online and have it delivered to their doorsteps. This will also make it easier for local producers to enter the marketplace and create sustainable employment. They’re looking to recruit and train 3 ambassadors and support and train 6 new local food producers.

A group of filmmakers, photographers, and sociologists aim to empower Tibetans through digital storytelling. Via digital channels, Tibetans will be able to record and share the increasing challenges and dramatic changes they face on a daily basis. These films can help ignite social change! Through Their Eyes seeks $9,100 to run the first digital storytelling workshop and purchase 5 cameras and 2 laptops to train up to 20 participants in the first year.

There are many children growing up in the UK who learned English as a second language and therefore face an achievement gap when compared to their English fluent counterparts. SmartNative aims to combat these educational struggles bilingual children face in the UK. Campaign funds raised will enable them to launch an interactive website to aid schoolteachers in improving the academic performance of bilingual children.

Uncle Jack Charles is one of the most well known and loved Indigenous Australian Actors. Stolen from his family at a young age as part of an experiment to merge Aboriginals into white society, he struggled with addiction and abuse in his life and was able to overcome great odds. He is now a greatly respected Aboriginal Elder and role model. Leonie Rhodes is an artist seeking $1,000 for materials and studio rent to make the first original piece of her ‘Significantly Small’ collection. It will be a highly detailed sculpture of Jack Charles that will help share his story and highlight and bring awareness to prejudice issues that still exist in Australia.

Shawn D. Ross

I am a Northwest Native living in Washington State. A graduate of Washington State University and University of Phoenix with degrees in Architecture and Education I write about social, cultural, and personal improvement on the StartSomeGood Blog and SDRinspire. I am also a filmmaker and owner of Giraffe and Penguin Productions, a single daddy of two beautiful children, avid reader, writer, and hat wearer (Not in that picture but believe me, I wear ‘em). I am currently at work on my first feature length documentary. Follow me @shawndross and visit my websites: sdrinspire.tumblr.com and giraffeandpenguinproductions.tumblr.com.

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What good do you want to create? Visit our site to learn about how to start your own campaign.

This Week in Social Entrepreneurship: Ashoka’s social change summer reads and Echoing Green announces the 2013 fellows

The vacation is planned, the dates circled in red, and you are determined to have some “me” time this summer. Whether you are go away or staying close to home, summer is a great time to get in some relaxation and quality reading. You can do both by choosing a few titles from Ashoka’s list of 30 Social Entrepreneurship Reads for Aspiring Changmakers. Written by innovators, Ashoka fellows, social entrepreneurs, and leading experts, these titles will inspire and fire up your ideas.
Echoing Green has announced their 2013 class offellows.Continuing the 25-year legacy for pioneering social change, this class of 28 organizations was selected from a pool of 2,872 applicants. Among this class of ultra impressive social entrepreneurs are two ventures that used StartSomeGood to successfully crowdfund their projects! Of course, we’re so excited for Wecyclers and Anjna Patient Education, but also join us in congratulating the entire the 2013 Class of Echoing Green Fellows!
Starting an impact-driven for-profit business is unique, with mission-focused difficulties that need to be navigated properly. Impact Engine has designed a 16-week program with this in mind. They will teach you the best practices all types of social entrepreneurs should know to launch and grow a successful business. Apply by June 30th and start making an impact.
Do you lead a venture designed to deliver social and/or environmental impact at the Base of the Pyramid in India? Do you need early stage capital to begin further developing it? If you’re reading this and screaming “YES!” you may be eligible to apply for the Artha Venture Challenge, where the winner is awarded $50k in match funding and investment readiness support to add value to their venture. The deadline to apply is June 17th.
Doing Well & Doing Good: Opportunities in Social Innovation is a class for folks wanting to find work with meaning but still be able to pay off those pesky student loans. This class will offer an overview of some of the leading players and activities working in the social innovation space and help you understand where to look for job opportunities.

Shawn D. Ross

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What good do you want to create? Visit our site to learn about how to start your own campaign.

Do you have a social entrepreneurship news story or an event you’d like to see on the StartSomeGood Blog? Email Nicole (Nicole @ StartSomeGood.com)

How one non-profit raised over $3,000 to put an escape manual in the hands of domestic violence survivors

Erin Biebuyck was working with domestic violence survivors for the Middle Way House when she discovered a real need within the community. Middle Way House is a non-profit domestic violence program and rape crisis center in Bloomington, Indiana. They provide emergency shelter and a plethora of other services for women and children who have survived domestic violence. When Erin realized the local libraries in the Middle Way House service area were lacking critical books related to understanding and overcoming domestic violence, she decided it was time to take action…

The Pages for Change display in the Bloomfield Library in Greene County, IL. (source: Middle Way House)

What sparked the idea for the Middle Way House’s Pages for Change project?

I was working as an advocate for domestic violence survivors, and I found myself wanting to recommend books to many of the women I worked with. Books like Lundy Bancroft’s Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men and Ginny NiCarthy’s Getting Free: You Can End Abuse and Take Back Your Life can help domestic violence survivors to understand that they are not alone and that the abuse is not their fault. These books also provide information about safety planning, the characteristics of abusers, the likelihood that an abuser could make a permanent change, and resources that are available to domestic violence survivors. Reading a book like this can help a domestic violence survivor make an informed decision about her future.

I wanted to recommend these books to the clients I worked with, but many of them could not afford to buy a copy. I began searching for the books at the libraries in Middle Way House’s service area, thinking that I could tell my clients to check the books out from the library. I was very disappointed by the selection of books on domestic violence and sexual assault in our local libraries. The more I read and the more I worked with clients, the more convinced I became that we needed to do something to fix that problem and make these books available in our community.

What made you decide crowdfunding was the right platform for Middle Way House?

As a small non-profit providing free services to our clients, Middle Way House didn’t have money to buy the books and donate them to libraries. We thought about simply asking the libraries to buy the books themselves (and a few larger libraries did), but many of the libraries in our service area are small libraries with small budgets.

I had heard of Kickstarter, and I thought that soliciting donations online might be a good way to fund Pages for Change. Middle Way House had never done a crowdfunding campaign, and I was excited to try something new. After discovering that Kickstarter does not allow non-profits, I asked my intern, Lindsay, to research crowdfunding sites for non-profits and charities. We decided on StartSomeGood because the site takes a smaller cut of the donations than some other sites, and we found the site to be more attractive and user-friendly than similar sites.

You were able to raise over $3,000 for your Pages for Change project. What do you believe were the main contributors to your success? Any insider tips for crowdfunding rookies?

The biggest contributor to the success of our campaign was the support of friends, family, and supporters of Middle Way House. Most of the people who donated to our campaign had a personal connection with me, Lindsay, or Middle Way House. We promoted the campaign heavily on Facebook and Twitter, and personal connections were really key to our success. We also raised awareness about Pages for Change through posters, radio ads, newspaper articles, and tabling at our local farmer’s market. Through these outreach efforts, we were able to reach people we didn’t know personally, which helped to put our campaign over the tipping point.

I’m currently preparing for a new crowdfunding campaign, and this time around, I am starting much earlier. My hope is that by spreading the word about this new project well before the launch of the crowdfunding campaign, we will be able to reach more people outside of the personal networks of those involved in the project. When we finished Pages for Change, I realized it would be really helpful to ask donors how they heard about the project. Having that information would be very helpful in running future campaigns, and if StartSomeGood hasn’t added that question to the check-out process, I will add it to the Google form that we use for rewards after the campaign has ended.

The Pages for Change project was initiated to get important books about domestic violence and sexual assault into libraries you serve in Indiana. Do you have any updates to share with us on how this project turned out?

The project turned out great! We were able to buy over 250 books for our partner libraries, and we put a bookplate with Middle Way House’s crisis line number in each book. The libraries were happy to receive the donations, and the books are being checked out. My colleagues and I are now able to refer clients to the library to read these books and learn more about domestic violence and the resources available to them.

Several of the libraries that we donated books to put up displays in October for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The displays helped to educate library patrons about domestic violence and sexual assault, and they spread the word about the new Pages for Change books that donations from our campaign’s supporters made available to library patrons. Above is a photo from the display at the Owen County Library in Spencer, Indiana.

You said you’re planning to run another crowdfunding campaign on StartSomeGood in the near future. Can you give us any teasers about this upcoming campaign?

The new campaign will be to raise money for Middle Way PAWSS. PAWSS stands for Providing Animals and Women with Safe Shelter, and the goal is to create a network of volunteer “foster parents” to care for the pets of women and children coming into shelter at Middle Way House. The link between domestic violence and animal abuse has been well established, and we want to make sure that our clients do not have to choose between their safety and their pets’ lives or safety. This campaign will be much larger than the Pages for Change campaign, and we will use the money to pay for routine vet care for PAWSS pets, offset the cost of fostering pets, and establish an emergency fund for life-saving veterinary care.

For more information about Pages for Change, check out their campaign page on StartSomeGood. And, of course, keep your eyes peeled for the new Middle Way PAWSS campaign coming to StartSomeGood very soon!

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Now…what good do you want to create? Visit our site to learn about how to start your own campaign.

Dorje Gurung and GalliGalli know education is freedom for the children living in rural Nepal

GalliGalli exists to assist the citizens and visitors of Nepal navigate the city and government services in an effort to literally get most of Nepal on the map. In their second campaign with StartSomeGood, they are raising funds to help provide high quality education to children in rural Nepal.

Dorje Gurung was born into a family of low socio-economic status in a small town in Nepal, which meant he had to attend a local government school. These local government schools suffer from poor infrastructure, a lack of resources, poorly trained teachers, high dropout rates, and very low exam pass rates. A teacher recognized Dorje’s potential and helped get him into a high quality school in Kathmandu where his education was subsidized by the owners. This simple step was a real life-changing moment for Dorje. He was able to attend college on scholarship and become a teacher. He realizes how much education has contributed to his success and his freedom and now wants to give back to his community by helping one of the government schools he visited last summer.

(a typical government school classroom in rural Nepal)

The government school in Sindhupalchowk needs an overhaul, and Dorje is ready to help its students succeed. His $28,135 tipping point goal will help him and GalliGalli begin a holistic intervention at this school and find a sustainable source of income to keep it growing. Projects include building a playground, updating the teaching methods for Science and English, building a community-based fishery as a sustainable source of income for the school, and building the first floor of a new school that will include two classrooms. Funds beyond the tipping point will help the team build a library and a second floor to expand the school from 8th grade to 12th grade. If you believe education can change the lives of the children of Sindupalchowk for the better, please help Dorje and GalliGalli reach their fundraising goals!

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What good do you want to create? Visit StartSomeGood today to learn about how to start your own campaign.

posted 11 June, 2013
by nricchio
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StartSomeGood News: an ethical cotton bag producer goes solar and Australian farmers connect with local food enthusiasts

Brand New Good! Recently launched campaigns:

It will take £4,990 to install enough solar panels to power 20 sewing machines in rural southern India where Vandanamu Ethical Cottons employs and empowers marginalized women to produce cotton bags. Unfortunately, Vandanamu suffers from daily power cuts, which results in lowered productivity and loss of wages. Going solar would improve productivity and improve the lives of those depending on power to complete their jobs.

CommuniToy Toy Hacking workshops bring people together to make new exciting hybrid creations out of toys destined for landfills. These free workshops hosted by Exploring Senses encourage people to develop and learn new skills while simultaneously reducing landfill waste. Exploring Senses needs £2,500 to host six CommuniToy Toy Hacking workshops in Brighton and Hove.

Let’s Celebrate! Recently Tipped Campaigns:

Food Connect Sydney connects city dwellers with farmers, hopefully increasing their awareness about how food is grown. They are launching a series of local farm tours and were able to raise $6,402 to help get the ball rolling on a local scale.

World Wellness Group raised enough funds to expand and move their healthcare clinic for marginalized migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers into a bigger space. They’ve raised over $15,000, which means they can find a new space and begin to cover rent so they can provide services to more patients in need.

Access Afya is creating a chain of ultra mini-clinics, which provide standardized health services for the extreme poor in Nairobi slums. With over $10,000 raised and still 11 days to go, they’ll be able to begin construction on a second mini-clinic.

Shawn D. Ross

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What good do you want to create? Visit our site to learn about how to start your own campaign.

This Week in Social Entrepreneurship: Ashoka seeks nutrients for all & StartingBloc introduces its next class of social innovation fellows

Ashoka’s Nutrients for All and Ashoka Changemakers are seeking your innovative solutions that will ensure the availability of nutrients for healthy farms, food, and people. Nutrients for All: Vitality for People and the Planet is looking for solutions that have grown beyond the conceptual stage and demonstrated impact and sustainability. With $45,000 of unrestricted funding to boost your project you can’t afford not to enter!
What exactly is Acumen? Join NY+Acumen Tuesday, June 11th for two, one-hour sessions: Acumen 101 and Acumen 201. These sessions will introduce you to the work of Acumen and answer questions like: What is patient capital? How does Acumen choose and make investments? And, what is Acumen’s impact? They’ll also dig deeper into patient capital and lead an interactive case study on a real Acumen investment. NY + Acumen is a volunteer-led chapter that aims to support Acumen, so any donations for the classes would be largely appreciated!
The hunt for changemakers has begun! The Ashoka Associate Program through Ashoka United Kingdom: World Leaders in Social Innovations is seeking bright sparks to join their year-long associate program starting in July 2013. Apply by Friday, June 14th.
Meet the most diverse group of social innovation leaders in NYC on June 9th. Hosted by StartingBloc, the NY ’13 Institute for Social Innovation Launch Party is where you need to be to meet and mingle with the newest class of social change leaders.
Millions of people worldwide participate in the Social Good Summit each September and out of that comes some amazing things, but what about the people that are doing amazing things each and every day? In classic Mashable style, they have created +SocialGood to address this gap, a platform providing online tools to assist in creating social good events. This platform will help build a global community around social good.

Shawn D. Ross

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What good do you want to create? Visit our site to learn about how to start your own campaign.

Do you have a social entrepreneurship news story or an event you’d like to see on the StartSomeGood Blog? Email Nicole (Nicole @ StartSomeGood.com)

“Do or die” for migrant health

There’s a prominent and growing gap in access to affordable, quality, and culturally relevant healthcare for migrants and refugees in Australia. Because of this, they hold off on seeking help until it’s too late, resulting in higher costs for everyone involved. This quickly escalates into a lose-lose situation; the migrants are extremely sick and are therefore an even larger burden on the public healthcare system.

World Wellness Group is a not for profit started by a group of professional healthcare practitioners striving to address health inequality in Brisbane. Last year, they launched the World Wellness Clinic, a makeshift operation that they set up with no financial support at the Brisbane Multicultural Centre. They have been operating there in two rooms rent free for the past year, but they have quickly outgrown their capacity and need to set up something larger and more permanent.

World Wellness Group has tapped into an unmet need, but this means the demand is now exceeding their available resources. Just $60,000 will secure them rent for an entire year, in addition to allowing them to set up the administrative services necessary to support a much larger clinic. This will help accommodate the growing list of healthcare practitioners who want to join the center in providing services to migrant patients in need of support. It’s “do or die time” for the clinic and your help will mean contributing to the health of countless migrants in need.

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What good do you want to create? Visit StartSomeGood today to learn about how to start your own campaign.

StartSomeGood News: Tinker Tour raises over $50,000 to teach students about free speech and Nepalese students get educated by GalliGalli

Let’s Celebrate! Recently Tipped Campaigns:

Mary Beth Tinker and the Student Press Law Center raised over $50,000 to fund Tinker Tour, a two-month tour during the 2013-2014 school-year meant to inform students about free speech and civics education.

23 young entrepreneurs will represent Australia at the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance Summit in Moscow because the Enterprise Network for Young Australians was able to raise $12,265.

The need for literacy training, especially among low income youth, is extremely high. With funds raised through this project, Access to Meaning can now collaborate with schools in Southern Berkshire County to offer intensive reading instruction to low-income youth in the region.

Brand New Good! Recently launched campaigns:

GalliGalli’s second campaign with StartSomeGood, Education is Freedom-Nepal, will allow them to provide a high-quality education to children in rural Nepal. This will give children the freedom to pursue their dreams and provide hope for a better future.

The Cambodian Children’s Trust (CCT) strives to give vulnerable Cambodian children the best chance at leading a happy, fulfilling, and successful life by teaching them critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The $2,241 tipping point goal will pay for half of the pilot project.

Around the world, thousands of people are working to create a better future. NGOpolis brings these people together to share their ideas and work. NGOpolis seeks £16,000 to maintain their website, hire two people, and generate content to inspire and support those working for conservation, aid, and development.

Ü berfoods wants to produce automated food production systems, or smart gardens, as an alternative to the current food options. These EcoGardens will empower communities to provide themselves with their own food. Reaching their $8,000 tipping point goal will allow them to cover pre-revenue material costs and their website launch.

The idea behind BOGO Bowl dog food is simple: For every bag of food purchased, we donate another bag of food to dogs in need. Over 50 animal welfare organizations in 25 states are BOGO buddies that have already given away thousands of bowls of food. This project will help connect these organizations and send BOGO Buddy kits to help shelters, rescues, and pet food pantries.

Student volunteers and doctoral students from UCLA will travel to 11 remote villages in Fiji to bring clean water and sanitation to improve the health of 8,000 local residents. This rural water and sanitation assessment program will ensure proper wastewater treatment and disposal and provide residents with knowledge of sanitation issues in the hopes that public environmental health will improve.

People driven from their lands; conservation funding misused—you can help change this story. The Conservation Justice Video will promote the conservation of our natural world in ways that ensure the rights of those living in or around conservation areas are respected.

Shawn D. Ross

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What good do you want to create? Visit our site to learn about how to start your own campaign.

This Week in Social Entrepreneurship: building local economies, a series of nonprofit webinars, and a new generation of philanthropy in Australia

You’re invited to one of Philanthropy Australia’s most exciting events of the year, the inauguration of their New Generation of Giving program. They are bringing a US young philanthropist and CEO to Australia, Daniel Lurie, one of the luminaries of Silicon Valley and San Francisco. He founded the grantmaking organization, Tipping Point Community, which is now backed by Google co-founder, Sergey Brin. Daniel will join Katrina Strickland, Deputy Editor of the Australian Financial Review Magazine, on June 11th at the Sydney Opera House and June 12th in Melbourne.
4Good Webinars hosts 3 free webinars each week covering all aspects of nonprofit management, strategy, and technology. Check out upcoming webinars here and make sure not to miss the one Tom hosts on June 5th, Crowdfunding: Not just for first-world problems. When registering for a webinar, please mention that StartSomeGood sent you.
In the next NY+Acumen Speaker Series, four inspiring women leaders—Donna Campbell, Melissa Kushner, Tricia Morente, and Catherine Rohr—will discuss what it means to stand by the new manifesto of Acumen. Hosted by NY+Acumen this Thursday evening, June 6th, this speaking series will also include networking and light refreshments, including doughnuts and drinks, after the discussion.
The 2013 BALLE Conference is a can’t-miss gathering, a who’s who of innovators collaborating to build a new economy. From international thought leaders and on-the-ground social entrepreneurs, to policymakers, network builders, local economy funders, and philanthropists, this conference takes place in Buffalo, NY at Buffalo State College Wednesday, June 12th through Friday, June 14th.
Join MakeSense on June 8th in London for SenseCamp UK 2013-Best business is Social Business. This gathering will bring together social entrepreneurs, social business enthusiasts, and the MakeSense gang for a full day of inspiring talks, workshops, and networking. Tickets to the event include entry into the Hub, lunch, and, of course, the chance to be an integral part of expanding the social business movement in the UK.

Shawn D. Ross

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What good do you want to create? Visit our site to learn about how to start your own campaign.

Do you have a social entrepreneurship news story or an event you’d like to see on the StartSomeGood Blog? Email Nicole (Nicole @ StartSomeGood.com)