Elevating Impact Summit Reflections: Eric Dawson, Keynote

Guest post by Eric Dawson, Co-founder, Peace First and Peace First Prize, Ashoka Fellow

After having spent a terrific day with an inspiring group of entrepreneurs, investors, and thinkers at the Elevating Impact Summit at Portland State University, I am left with a few big questions:

1. How do we increase the rate of innovation, failure, and learning while staying mindful to the human-scale at which our work gets lived?
2. How do we work to change systems that are desperately in need of improvement — our prisoner re-entry process, early education investment, and capital markets for social enterprises to name a few — while not demonizing people within those systems who are often doing their very best?
3. And how do we design and articulate inspiring sets of measurable impacts, while paying attention to those measures harder to quantify: hope, courage, love?

I’m not sure if I am any closer to answers, but what a gift to explore with such a thoughtful, committed group of people. I may not be cool enough to live in Portland, but I will look forward to visiting!

[Editor: Eric, Portland is as Portland does. Visit often and you may just find your place in it for a good long while.]

If you missed Eric’s short audio story interview leading up to the Elevating Impact Summit, click to hear how he answered the question: “What are your hopes for the future.”

 

Kiva Launches Business Lending Platform in Oregon

We recently interviewed Kiva Fellow Stasi Baranoff about Kiva Zip, a new peerlending platform for small businesses in the US and Kenya. With the program set to launch in Oregon next week, we’re proud to announce that Impact Entrepreneurs has been selected to be a Kiva Zip trustee. Read on to learn more about Kiva Zip and the role of trustees in helping small businesses source zero-interest loans through the program. 

Stasi Baranoff, Kiva Fellow

Kiva is an international non profit that helps underserved, financially excluded, and socially impacful entrepreneurs start or grow their business. In the past seven years we’ve supported over one million entrepreneurs in over 70 countries.

The 940,000 individual lenders on Kiva can lend as little as $25 to borrowers posted on the Kiva website, and all of these $25 “shares” together can make up a significant loan. In 2011, Kiva began a program in the U.S. to reach domestic borrowers called Kiva Zip. By using PayPal, loans that are crowdfunded on Kiva Zip’s website can be sent directly to a borrower at 0% interest.

Impact Entrepreneurs: How would you describe Kiva Zip in a single tweet?

Stasi Baranoff: Lend to an entrepreneur in Oregon, invest in your community! https://zip.kiva.org/loans/s/oregon

How is Kiva Zip different than Kiva?

Kiva Zip is a pilot program in the U.S. and Kenya where Kiva is testing new ways to crowdfund for social good. With Kiva Zip you can:

· Help a borrower receive a 0% interest loan. This differs from typical Kiva loans where partners charge interest to cover their operating costs.

· Directly communicate with borrowers: Once you’ve made a loan, you can post and receive messages from that borrower as they succeed.

· Bring new borrowers to Kiva Zip: In addition to lending, you can vouch for someone to be a Kiva Zip borrower by becoming a trustee. You can apply to be a borrower too.

Kiva Zip is an exciting new step, but it comes with some risk — the repayment rate for Kiva Zip is lower than the nearly 99% for Kiva. In exchange for this increased risk, you have the opportunity to experiment with lending in a new way that could change the world.

What do the loans look like?

· Loan #1 :: Maximum loan = $5,000 :: Loan term = 10 to 24 months

· Loan #2 :: Maximum loan = $10,000 :: Loan term = 12 to 36 months

· Loan #3 :: Maximum loan = $20,000 :: Loan term = 24 to 48 months

· Loan #4 :: Maximum loan = $50,000 :: Loan term = 48 to 72 months

Who qualifies for a Kiva Zip loan?

There are a number of criteria, as assessed by trustees, that borrowers must meet, in order to qualify for a Kiva Zip loan:

· The borrower must have a real social and economic need

· The borrower must have a sound business plan

· The borrower must not be heavily indebted

· The borrower must not be in bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings, or about to enter into them

· The trustee must endorse the borrower’s character

· The trustee must determine that the borrower is financially responsible

How does the application process work?

A Trustee and borrower would typically decide together that the borrower is ready for a Kiva Zip loan. Then the following steps occur:

1. A Trustee endorses the Borrower by answering a few questions on the Kiva Zip website.

2. The Borrower receives an email letting them know they’ve been endorsed; they are then led to the Borrower application on the Kiva Zip website.

3. Once the Borrower completes the application, it is submitted to the Trustee for review.

4. The Trustee reviews the application and then submits it for Kiva’s review.

5. Kiva reviews the application and then posts it to the Kiva Zip website!

What role do trustees play in this process?

Trustees source Kiva Zip borrowers, review the borrowers’ businesses, and publicly endorse them on the Kiva Zip website, specifically by vouching for their character. They maintain a relationship with the borrower throughout the duration of the borrower’s fundraising and repayment period.

What’s next for Kiva Zip?

There’s a lot in the pipeline for Kiva Zip. We’re launching in Portland on June 27th, and we’re so excited for the enthusiasm for the program here. Later this summer, there will be launches in Newark, New Jersey and Richmond, Virginia. Spreading Kiva love!

The Elevating Impact Story Project

Leading up to the Elevating Impact Summit on Friday, June 21 in Portland, Oregon, we’ve invited event speakers, award nominees, and panelists to engage in a storytelling project. We believe that storytelling is an essential part of effective social innovation. How can we tell stories in a way that generates interest and creates connections? How can we listen to the stories of others with the empathy needed to achieve true understanding? Here you can listen to each story from the project  and learn more about our speakers, their journeys, and the promise and challenge of social innovation.

Timothy O’Brien, Founder of Tropical Salvage, provides a powerful meditation on our relationship with the natural world and future generations. Timothy is a nominee for the Impact Entrepreneur Award. Length: 2:45

Nothing delivers more impact to my motivation than the trust, hope and happiness expressed in my children’s eyes. Their eyes are my powerful mandate to act, to guide them thoughtfully into this world and to prove I am an able and honorable intermediary between them and their future.

Evan Thomas, PSU professor, Co-founder of Manna Energy and SWEETsense, answers the question, “What lessons has your work taught you?” with advice on the importance of a multidisciplinary approach. Evan is a nominee for the Impact Entrepreneur Award. Length: 2:11

Andy Giegerich, Editor of Sustainable Business Oregon, answers the question, “What’s my source of personal motivation?” with a story about how to succeed as the underdog (accompanied by music). Andy is a Media for Impact panelist at Elevating Impact. Length: 1:14

Jacob Sherman, URECA Program Coordinator at Portland State University, explains why we should all dare to fail (it’s even tattooed on his arm). Jacob will moderate the Re-entry Redefined panel at Elevating Impact. Length: 2:12

“One of the other important life lessons I learned comes out of a William Carlos Williams poem where he talks about no defeat being made up entirely of defeat, because it always opens a place formerly unsuspected.”

Eric Dawson, Ashoka Fellow and Founder of Peace First, answers the question “What are your hopes for the future?” with a story about the importance of combining service with advocacy and the power of small choices. Eric will give the keynote address at the Elevating Impact. Length: 5:37

Carolynn Duncan, Founder of TenX and the NW Social Venture Fund, answers the question, “What is a hardship you overcame that shaped who you are today?” with a moving story about her ten siblings. Carolynn is an Impact Funding panelist at Elevating Impact. Length: 3:26

Ed Blackburn, Executive Director at Central City Concern, answers the question, “What lessons has your work taught you?” with a story about the importance of compassion applied (an approach that led to him receiving an award from the Dalai Llama). Ed is a Re-entry Redefined panelist at Elevating Impact. Length: 5:57

“Compassion wasn’t just about feeling sorry for people; it was developing the skills to be able to actually do something about a situation.”

Sona Andrews, Provost at Portland State University, answers the question, “What lessons has your work taught you?” with a reflection on her experiences in academia and why power should not lead to privilege. Sona is a Pioneering Education panelist at Elevating Impact. Length: 4:35

Kazi Huque, Founder of Grameen Intel, answers the question, “What lessons has your work taught you?” with a story of design thinking and creating effective technology services for the poor in Bangladesh. Length: 1:59.

John Shepherd, founder of M25 Ventures, talks about the true value that business should focus on creating and the path he took to this realization. John is a Re-entry Redefined panelist at Elevating Impact. Length: 4:45

It’s not about the money that’s made, or the cool gadgets that are created—it’s about, Does it make a difference in someone’s life? Does it make this world a better place to live in?

Elevating Impact Stories: Timothy O’Brien

Leading up to the Elevating Impact Summit on June 21, we’ve invited event speakers and panelists to engage in a storytelling project. We believe that storytelling is an essential part of effective social innovation. How can we tell stories in a way that generates interest and creates connections? How can we listen to the stories of others with the empathy needed to achieve true understanding? We hope that by sharing stories of failure, transformation and success, you’ll learn more about our speakers and the promise and challenges of social innovation. 

Timothy O’Brien answers the question, “What is your source of personal motivation?” with a powerful meditation on our relationship with nature and future generations:

“Nothing delivers more impact to my motivation than the trust, hope and happiness expressed in my children’s eyes. Their eyes are my powerful mandate to act, to guide them thoughtfully into this world and to prove I am an able and honorable intermediary between them and their future.”

 Length: 2:45

Timothy O’Brien is the founder and president of Tropical Salvage, a social venture that creates furniture from reclaimed Indonesian hardwood, protecting local ecosystems and creating jobs in the process. Tim first traveled to Southeast Asia in 1989, on a buying trip for Grunts & Postures, a Salt Lake City, Utah retail store he co-founded in 1983, selling alternative music and vintage clothing aimed at the high school and university market. Tim returned often to SE Asia, sourcing products and venturing deep into wild lands, which deepened his interest resource conservation. Returning to Madison, Wisconsin in 1992, Tim brought his entrepreneurial skills to Save the Rainforest, enabling the purchase of primary rainforests in Panama, Ecuador and Costa Rica.

His adventure of starting, managing and growing Tropical Salvage has captivated his attention, thrilled his curiosity, and intensified his desire to contribute to positive change in a world beset by unprecedented social and environmental challenges. As an active board member of the Institute for Culture and Ecology, Tim provided the vision and seed funding that has shaped the Jepara Forest Conservancy into a model for community resilience and the restoration economy. Tim met his wife, Eli, in Jakarta and the couple has two children, Madeline and Rowan. Raised in Evanston, Illinois, Tim holds degrees in English Literature and Education from Lawrence University and is fluent in bahasa Indonesian.

Timothy O’Brien is a finalist for the Impact Entrepreneur Award. The winner will be announced at the Elevating Impact Summit on June 21.

Social Enterprises Pitching at Elevating Impact

Want to see some of the most inspiring new social entrepreneurs in Portland pitch their ventures? Join us at the Elevating Impact Summit on Friday, June 21 at the Gerding Theater for the morning Pitch Fest! A panel of expert judges will provide feedback on each pitch, but you, the audience, get to vote on a winner to go home with $1000 in cash and $2500 in legal aid to accelerate their venture. Pitches begin at 10:30, so don’t be late!

Ventures selected to pitch at the event:

• Consano is a nonprofit crowdfunding platform that enables anyone to donate to a specific medical research project that means something to them.
• FlagTo, a finalist at Mercy Corps’ Tech4Change Startup Weekend, provides GPS-linked addresses to microentrepreneurs in developing nations.
• IncitED is a online crowdfunding and collaboration community for innovative educational programs around the country.
• Pacific Green Development, a member of the Social Innovation Incubator at PSU, is working to bring carbon-negative building materials to the Pacific NW.
• rewear, a member of the Social Innovation Incubator, designs, manufactures and wholesales smart kids clothing and home items made from upcycled materials.
• The Simple Wheel works with nonprofits to measure and communicate their impact and enables donors to better manage their charitable portfolio.

Special thanks to our Pitch Fest sponsor, Immix Law, for donating the cash prize and legal package. 

Circuit Member Profile: rewear

Rewear is a member of PSU’s Social Innovation Incubator Circuit Program. Learn more about their business below, then see them pitch at the Elevating Impact Summit, June 21 at the Gerding Theater in Portland, Oregon. 

We manufacture and wholesale smart kids clothing and home items made from upcycled materials. For instance, from a men’s woven shirt with a stain or hole, we can create a dress, laptop sleeve and a bolster for your home.

The idea for our venture originates from the creative use of upcycled fabrics and the search for more sustainable options in children’s and home fashion. Julianne Stevens, rewear’s designer, saw the need for unique and responsibly produced clothing for children, so she made clothing for her kids from her own garments that were stained, shrunken or torn. Sara Deluca, rewear’s production and sourcing executive, through her 14 years of experience in the traditional apparel industry, realized that even better options like organic cotton and bamboo weren’t truly sustainable practices. Sara and Julianne were both in search of a way to use their backgrounds and talents to find a better solution. Thus, rewear was born.

Our goal is to make a positive impact in four key ways:

• Saving from the landfill materials that could not, or would not, otherwise be used. (Americans throw away about 68 pounds of clothing per year, which creates about 5% of the volume in landfills).
• Offering customers the choice of buying something upcycled versus something manufactured from scratch. (This saves about 29 pounds of CO2 [per garment]).
• Creating local jobs.
• Influencing consumer buying decisions. If your customers choose to buy new items, we inspire them to thoughtfully buy something that is manufactured in the US, will last, and to think about what they can do with that product at the end of its lifecycle.

To help us succeed, we’re looking for strategic relationships and potential investors. Also,

• Shop our online store: http://rewearkids.bigcartel.com/
• Visit our website: http://www.rewearkids.com/
• Like our Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/rewear/286936678015463
• Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rewearkids
• Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/rewearkids
• Email us at info@rewearkids.com

Circuit Member Profile: Pacific Green Development

Your house probably doesn’t sequester much carbon (unless you live in a log cabin). But what if you could build with a material that was sustainably sourced, nontoxic, reduced your energy usage, and actually stored carbon rather than releasing it? Andy Kim, founder of Pacific Green Development and a member of the PSU Social Innovation Incubator Circuit Program, is working to bring this material to the Pacific Northwest.

Hempcrete, a mixture of industrial hemp and lime, is increasingly being used in green building projects around the world, but is only now starting to enter the US market. One of the first hempcrete projects in the US, built by Pacific Green Development’s supply partner, was recently completed in North Carolina (photo below).

Photo by Hemp Technologies

Andy has an exclusive license from his supplier to distribute hempcrete in the Pacific Northwest, and is currently in talks with the Portland Development Commission and Building Research Establishment to build a demonstration home in Portland’s new Green Innovation Park. He is also working with local nonprofit Green Empowerment on ways that Pacific Green Development can support their community-based clean energy projects in developing nations.

What’s next for Pacific Green Development?

“We are currently at a proof of concept/prototype stage for the startup, and are looking for investors and strategic partners that align with our mission and values and have the experience to scale this venture.”

Learn more or meet Andy at the Elevating Impact Summit on June 21, where he will pitch Pacific Green Development to the audience. You can also reach Andy at PacGreenPDX@gmail.com.

Elevating Impact Stories: Evan Thomas

Leading up to the Elevating Impact Summit on June 21, we’ve invited event speakers and panelists to engage in a storytelling project. We believe that storytelling is an essential part of effective social innovation. How can we tell stories in a way that generates interest and creates connections? How can we listen to the stories of others with the empathy needed to achieve true understanding? We hope that by sharing stories of failure, transformation and success, you’ll learn more about our speakers and the promise and challenges of social innovation. 

Evan Thomas answers the question, “What lessons has your work taught you?” with advice on the importance of a multidisciplinary approach:

“I’ve found over and over again that the more willing people are to learn other expertise and be able to speak in the language of other experts, the more successful they are.”

 Length: 2:11

Evan A. Thomas, Ph.D., P.E., is an Assistant Professor and Director of the SWEET (Sustainable Water, Energy and Environmental Technologies) Laboratory, and a Faculty Fellow in the Institute for Sustainable Solutions at Portland State University. Evan works at the interface of engineering, environmental health and social business, with professional experience working in government, industry, non-profits and academia. Evan holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado at Boulder and is a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) in Environmental Engineering in the State of Texas.

Evan is also a social business entrepreneur engaged in global health programs. Evan was a founding volunteer with Engineers Without Borders-USA in 2002, which led to co-founding Manna Energy Limited in 2007. Manna was acquired by DelAgua Health in 2013. In 2012, Evan co-founded SWEETSense Inc., an Oregon technology company co-owned by Portland State University and Manna. Evan is currently the Program Director for DelAgua Health, a social enterprise currently working with the Government of Rwanda Ministry of Health to develop a water treatment and improved cookstove program for 600,000 households.

Evan Thomas is a finalist for the Impact Entrepreneur Award. The winner will be announced at the Elevating Impact Summit on June 21.