Q: Can you summarize the Waveborn business model for our student entrepreneurs out there? What does Waveborn do in a nutshell?

Waveborn is a sunglasses company that combines affordable fashion with a mission to do major social good. Waveborn’s sunglasses are designed and handcrafted in Italy and sell at a price point well below typical designer brands. For each pair of sunglasses sold, Waveborn provides a new pair of prescription eyeglasses or funds a portion of a vision-restoring cataract surgery for a person in need through our nonprofit partners Unite for Sight and SEE International.

Q: How did you come to be involved in this industry? What was your background?

Our founder Jonathan Schilit was an aspiring social entrepreneur living in NYC and looking to start his own enterprise that would be both fun and globally impactful. He also recognized that high quality sunglasses do not need to cost $200. And thus, the idea for Waveborn was hatched.

Mike McCormick, a core team member and Advisor, joined the project in part because of his experience with vision problems and desire to help people around the world struggling with access to vision correction resources. As Mike put it,  ”I’m extremely invested in the project as I was born with cataracts, which if untreated leads to blindness. Had I been born into less fortunate circumstances I would be extremely hindered or even blind today, so I’m definitely passionate about helping those with similar vision problems, but fewer resources, around the world.”

Q: What can our readers learn from the Social-good sunglasses industry to improve their own marketing and branding efforts?

The key lesson for us has been that doing good and building a successful for-profit company are not incompatible concepts. In fact these goals drive on another. Our commitment to social good brings in folks who might otherwise not look twice at our brand. And on the flipside we are creating a product that people who don’t often think about doing social good can still get excited about.

We look to be as candid, honest and transparent as possible when it comes to marketing. We’re building Waveborn around the lifestyles we live and we think people who see the world like we do will be responsive to that. In short, we want to do good, have fun, build something awesome, and live a life that is about more than just material gain. We try to build that outlook into everything we do.

Q: What was your most challenging entrepreneurial moment, and how did you overcome it?

Just getting started! It’s so easy to have an idea, but getting it off the ground is another beast. It’s really hard to take a chance on yourself. And it’s really hard not being told what to do. Starting a business requires a certain determination, where everyday you have to push the business forward, because if you don’t, nobody else will.

Q: What does the next five years hold for Waveborn? 

Honestly, we want to be brand that stands for something. We want to produce quality products at affordable prices, and give our customers the ability to take part in social giving. I think over the next few years, you’ll see us expand our product lines, and the ways in which we’re able to give. It’s really exciting.

Q: If you could recommend one book, blog, or article to student entrepreneurs, what would it be?

Delivering Happiness Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.

Q: Anything else you would like to pass on to our student social entrepreneurs?

Everyday, do something that pushes your social enterprise forward, even just a little bit. The more you do, the harder it is to turn back. And you don’t want to turn back. It’s an exhilarating time.

Q: How can people follow along with the Waveborn adventure? What’s the best way to connect?

For the next 30 days, people can follow our Indiegogo campaign (and contribute!). Then for people that want to do more, we have an active network of brand ambassadors (many social entrepreneurs themselves). We welcome the Compass community to become brand ambassadors and help make Waveborn an important brand in social fashion and giving.

Q: Can you summarize the Top TV Stuff (TTS) business model for our student entrepreneurs out there? What does TTS do in a nutshell?

Top TV Stuff was built to be a destination that changed the way people purchased their favorite products from infomercials. We found that many items sold in an “As Seen on TV” format feature a confusing or misleading offer that ends up charging customers several times the price they initially thought they were going to pay. Top TV Stuff eliminates confusion from this process and makes buying infomercial products as straightforward as ordering something from your favorite online store.

In a nutshell, we created an online marketplace within which direct response brands can sell their products. We don’t charge anything for inclusion in the Top TV Stuff storefront, but we charge a small commission based on every sale made. We also offer additional promotional inventory for sale on our site, our social media platforms and our email subscriber list.

Q: How did Top TV Stuff evolve and become a reality?

Top TV Stuff grew as a natural output of the team’s work in direct marketing. Once the idea for an online store that offered free shipping, a fan reward program with great incentives and customer engagement came in to focus, the next step was executing and putting the pieces in to place. Top TV Stuff is a brand that is focused on shaking up the model in a highly established industry.

Q: What can our readers learn from the television marketing industry to improve their own marketing and branding efforts?

One important lesson marketers can learn from the television marketing industry is to set up their remarketing channels before executing any television media spend. Often times marketers rely too heavily on the exposure television provides and can be left holding the bag when budgets or media clearance become issues.

Before that first large media run, make sure you’ve set up channels through which to acquire users as a subscriber of your brand even if they aren’t quite ready to purchase yet. This means giving users incentives to follow your social media profiles or email newsletter and providing them with an easy way to do so if they choose not to convert on your initial offer.

If you do this successfully, you’ll be left with a pool of interested users to remarket to and drive to convert even after the large-dollar media spend has run its course.

Q: What was your most challenging entrepreneurial moment, and how did you overcome it?

In early 2010, I gave up my job at a successful San Francisco creative agency to join a small startup that was building a product to compete with the big movie streaming services of the world. Just a few months into my new role, our investors pulled the funding on our company and I was left without a job literally overnight. In the weeks following that, I flew back to the east coast for my best friend’s wedding and decided to take a look at the technology companies right in my own back yard. It was through this search that I found Ignite Media Solutions and wound up managing their in-house brand, Top TV Stuff.

Q: What does the next five years hold for TTS?

There is a lot in store for Top TV Stuff over the next several years. We’ll be steadily expanding our product catalog and will be building out sub-stores focused on what our audience is asking for: next up is a mini-store for affordable cell phone offers. We will also be re-launching our TTS Rewards Program that awards users points for taking actions on our site that they can then redeem for real-world rewards. To increase our authenticity and exposure in the blog world, we’re actively onboarding coupon blogs and mommy bloggers to build a network that will receive ongoing product samples and swag to use as giveaways for their readers. We’ve even got a viral video series in the works with a local production company – and this is just the next 12 months! Much further down the pipeline, we’ve got a mobile app with a Shazam-style interface coming that will reward you with TTS gifts just for “Shazaming” your favorite commercials.

Q: If you could recommend one book, blog, or article to student entrepreneurs, what would it be?

The Top TV Stuff blog! Also, one blog I read religiously and recommend to anyone considering joining or founding a technology startup is: http://onstartups.com/

The author is the co-founder of “Hub Spot”, a suite of marketing software, and his posts discuss everything from his insights on how to properly set and measure KPIs to lessons he’s learned being a successful startup co-founder.

Q: Anything else you would like to pass on to our student social entrepreneurs?

We live in a time where technology is being leveraged to offer innovative, new solutions to old problems. Look at any industry that interests you: almost every one of them will likely have a plethora of people who are using one set of tools and methodologies simply because that’s “the way it’s been”. Find a way to make a small improvement in the process and then scale that up across the entire operation of a company or even an industry.

Q: How can people follow along with the TTS adventure? What’s the best way to connect?

The best way to follow along with TTS would be through our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/toptvstuff) as well as our blog (http://toptvstuff.com/blog) where we’ll be providing regular updates of our journey onward.

Compass Partners: Could you tell us a little bit about your background and how you became interested in social entrepreneurship initially?

Drew Tulchin: Sure, and then there is more information on my background and my bio on my company’s website. I first started my professional career in VISTA (the U.S. domestic equivalent of the Peace Corps) and then I was in AmeriCorps as a Team Leader. I worked in a number of education efforts in fundraising and in special events before going to get an MBA. I didn’t know it at the time but it was to do social enterprise – to help apply business thinking and business activities to achieve social betterment. I’ve been doing this now, social enterprise, probably 15 years even though it certainly hasn’t always been with that name.

CP: So when you were in business school, you said that you were studying social enterprise but you didn’t really know it, or it wasn’t really called that at the time. What did you envision yourself doing when you were at business school?

DT: Well I didn’t study social enterprise, as no MBA program I knew of offered that as a course of study. I went to school so I could do social enterprise. It wasn’t available as a curriculum. My goal was to go and learn business and the power of the marketplace, and to use that to leverage triple-bottom-line efforts and non-profits who are trying to earn income.  For example, one of the things I did after I graduated with my MBA is I helped raise private investment for a microfinance organization, and we won the Global Social Venture Competition and then used that business plan to raise $1.2 million to do microfinance in Nicaragua and Honduras.

CP: What does Social Enterprise Associates do and what services do you get the most requests for?

DT: We are a boutique management consulting firm. We do a fair amount of work in the triple-bottom-line. We work in microfinance, helping non-profits to do earned income and also have private sector activities. Most commonly, we do business plans, do market / feasibility studies, help folks raise capital – particularly impact capital or impact investing. We do product development, and operational implementation. It’s a continuum of services. Typically, we like to work with the entrepreneurs and their organizations to help them to advance what they need to do. I think that it is very important to be flexible and not dogmatic about this new emerging field and try to help people where they are at, so that we can all move forward together.

CP: So do you do any work measuring the social return on investment?

DT: Sure, we do a lot of SROI work. We also do impact assessment and impact measurement. To me, this is an ongoing evolving field of study. It doesn’t have to be a hard science, it can be evaluative. Impact can also be used for marketing or demonstrative purposes. I like tools like Calvert Foundation’s calculator, which they have online are helpful for everyone, which is important so that the entire field advances on its knowledge and capabilities in this area.

We’ve done a lot of SROI. We had a multi-year project with a public health foundation to help them develop uniform mechanisms to measure their activities. We have also done impact measurement in microfinance, what is called social performance, to help network organizations with them. And we’ve also done things at an association level and we’ve helped small organizations and large ones.

CP: In calculating SROI, what are some of the challenges you face? I’d imagine the calculations are kind of context-specific.

DT: I think the biggest part of SROI – the math is easy – the biggest part is having organizational leadership care and pay attention to such efforts. For management and the people who use it on a daily basis to use it in the programmatic activities and in planning. Measurement for its own sake is really just an exercise, but to adapt it to your programmatic activities and to use it as a feedback source to do a better program is much harder and requires more attention – a lot of people don’t like it. They feel threatened by it. The other element is to communicate impact and SROI in a basic format so that stakeholders and others involved can understand what it is you are doing. Some people get really into the science very deeply, and I think they lose their ability to then communicate its value to other people.

CP: That’s very interesting, I guess my impression was that doing the math is kind of difficult, but I can see why there might be organizational barriers.

DT: Well, it’s not [difficult] to make the measurements. It is harder to learn what the measurements are saying, to look for an organization to then do things differently. For example, if you look at a bunch of events that you’ve done, and you apply your SROI tool to it, and you see that some event that you thought was effective for say, public education, or some other metric, and you find out that it wasn’t as effective as you thought. That might change the organization to adapt to a different strategy, which is tough, and change is difficult. Not everyone wants to do that.

CP: You have a lot of experience working with microfinance institutions and you did some work with Grameen Foundation. What are some of the biggest challenges for microfinance institutions that you have come across in your work and that you see on the horizon?

DT: A couple things: first, in addition to microfinance in itself, what I find very important is for asset development in general for people who are either excluded or have challenges accessing affordable finance. It’s more than just building a microfinance institution. Basically, your typical microfinance institution is just a bank. It’s a bank for poor people, so it’s much more interesting to look at what people are doing to either have inclusive financial services or to have asset development and build wealth for poor people and that’s a much wider, but also a more important, scope.

I think it’s important to take a financial skillset, basically being a banker, and look at how those services – access to affordable finance – can help all people and make it a universal opportunity. You really are looking at how do you run an effective organization, and the difference between an effective non-profit organization and an effective microfinance organization is the same thing. Good ones can be more efficient with the capital that they have and therefore do more, bring on more people, and serve more clients more affordably.

That said, a requirement that is universal in my opinion, and which a lot of people skip, is basic operations and basic good management. Some people go to some kind of magical other beyond and I don’t think that’s a recipe for success. I think, luckily, we have been spending more attention to these things now. There’s capital, when before capital was much more of a struggle. The model has been proven, so the whole idea of the value of microfinance and inclusive financial services doesn’t have to be explained anymore. And, I think we’re really looking at more than just the basics. Things like adopting technology to get further and cheaper services for people in society, social performance, and client protection to make sure you doing this in a way that’s going to help clients that you can demonstrate and show the value of is important.

Then, I think getting to serve more people with more services is important. Every person I should have the right to have insurance. They should have the right to have other financial services that many of us in the global north just take for granted. A lot of college kids probably get, or at least used to get, credit cards offered in the mail. To just have that available to people on a regular basis so they can improve their lives, grow a business, or send their kids to school. It’s just a reasonable thing and it provides a rising tide that can lift all ships.

CP: Switching gears a little bit, our Fellows are just freshman in college. What’s one habit you think inspiring entrepreneurs would do well to pick up?

DT: Are you talking about these young people as social entrepreneurs themselves or as folks who are trying to educate themselves so they can contribute to what social entrepreneurs are building?

CP: I think more the later – trying to educate themselves to either eventually become social entrepreneurs or to contribute to social enterprise.

DT: Yeah, I feel strongly this is a highly viable industry and will continue to be so. Just as people go to school to do pre-med or banking or consulting, you should be able to go to school now to do social enterprise. Especially if people are beginning their college career, you have four years. People should be expansive in the beginning of their college careers and they should experiment and try new things, and see if you like stuff.

I had a lot of friends in college who started one major, but then either discovered an interest or lack of interest. Really challenging yourself to take classes you might not take otherwise to see what interests you and what can expand your field of knowledge, rather than just taking stuff that is immediately in front of you.

I think another important factor is getting out of the classroom, joining clubs, getting off campus, and joining things in the community, particularly where social enterprises and people who need to be served by social enterprises are going to be. Most schools now have volunteer centers, they have civic engagement centers, and to choose something you care about, whether it’s a type of person or type of activity, and getting involved and making a contribution there – that’s really important.

Thinking about the type of activities you like to do and getting good at something is valuable for advancement. I don’t really care what it is, but become knowledgeable. Whether that’s a geographic area, whether that’s doing a type of skill, whether that’s finance or writing, become an expert in those things in which you are passionate about.

CP: What’s next for Social Enterprise Associates? What are you working on these days and looking forward to working on in the future?

DT: Going forward, we are continuing with our consulting. There is an increasing need for greater efficiency and also diversification of funding for a lot of organizations. We are going to continue helping folks to raise capital and to look at using the power of the marketplace to go much further because philanthropy is not enough. Philanthropy is just too small. In the U.S. there’s $40 billion given away by foundations each year and that is a small fraction of the amount of money that is on Wall Street or in banks, so it’s much better to go after a larger pool of money to try to group together on things that we value.

Helping to provide opportunities for the next generation of leaders, so we can get more into this industry, is valuable. And avoiding silos, as Jed Emerson talks about with the “blended value” proposition, is needed. We’re going to increasingly have to get out of one organization that only provides one product or just does health. You’re talking about communities with extensive needs, whether that’s a for-profit company offering its services and products to provide a value service or quality product, or whether it’s a non-profit that can offer and serve people and help them with their lives. They can’t just be one-trick ponies.

You can find more information about Drew, Social Enterprise Associates, and their work at their website. They have a number of valuable publications that anyone interested in social enterprise may find useful.  

As economies around the world continue to struggle, the roles social entrepreneurship and volunteerism play in the recovery process cannot be understated. Volunteering provides people of all ages with meaningful opportunities to contribute to their communities using the assets they already have. In an economic climate in which resources are scarce and organizations have had to cut back, volunteers do critical work to serve our communities. Similarly, social entrepreneurs are building businesses to solve social problems as they create needed job opportunities.

What are the prospects for social entrepreneurship and volunteerism going forward? I predict that volunteer rates will increase over the next few decades. There is a culture of volunteerism among many young people, and I suspect that as Baby Boomers start to retire, they too will start volunteering more. Just as the wave of volunteerism among young people in the past 20 years has led many of them to become social entrepreneurs, some retirees who volunteer will also emerge as social entrepreneurs. This phenomenon will likely create a completely new group of experienced professionals who are pouring their energies into social entrepreneurship.

It’s very exciting to think that in the next few decades, the world will see social entrepreneurs of all ages. Some of these social innovators will be young people with great ambition, while others will be older individuals with tremendous experience. This expansion of social entrepreneurship has the potential to fundamentally change the way that many people think about both for-profit and not-for-profit companies. With the economy projected to grow only modestly for the next few years, people will start to look at the assets they already have in their community and will figure out ways to leverage those assets to create both jobs and social change. Thus, volunteerism can be a catalyst for potential social entrepreneurs to realize their skills and passions. Volunteering is a great way of making an immediate impact while also opening one’s eyes to the larger possibilities of how social entrepreneurship can be a transformative long-term force for social good.

In the past few weeks, our applicants really have ran with the wow moment concept and went around their communities breaking social norms and making people feel valued. Some students at Georgetown prepared intricate thank-you notes, gifts, and dances to the security guards on campus. Other groups tried to spread some cheer by giving out free food.

We’ve found that creating and sharing these wow moments have been great bonding experiences for our organization. They’re contagious. When one person did a wow moment, others were inspired to do more. People who did one wow moment thought of other ones to do and made habits of creating wow moments for other people. And the more wow moments we did, the more we noticed and appreciated the incredible things people do for us everyday. The Beatles were onto something when they sang, “And, in the end, the love you take / Is equal to the love you make.”

Reflecting on wow moments, I am reminded of a book I just finished called The Happiness Hypothesis. The author, Jonathan Haidt, mentions that people with strong social networks who do things for others are generally happier than people who are part of weaker communities and choose to indulge their own desires. In light of this theory, what will you do to make other people say “wow”? And what can we do to wow you?

What does the word ‘social’ in social entrepreneurship mean to you? 

The word ‘social’ can be defined in a broad sense of the word when applied to entrepreneurship. I believe the term ‘social’ means the entrepreneurial venture is formatted to address a societal concern, i.e. a current problem, conflict or issue within a community. The ‘social’ aspect must be evident in that the venture impacts people for the better. Above all, social implies that the venture is concentrated on people working with people, in order to help each other. The main driver in the typical social entrepreneur is to alleviate a social problem – that is, change society for the better.

If you could recommend one activity that every aspiring entrepreneur take up, what would that activity be and why?

If I could recommend one activity for aspiring entrepreneurs to take up it would have to be to read the local paper for their surrounding area. I think most people are surprised to find local problems that can then transcend globally. For instance, my interest in health disparities within Washington, D.C. was sparked by much of what was written in the Washington Post Health and Science section in conjunction with my classes. Connecting local health issues to global ones has been a major foundation in both my entrepreneurial and academic concentrations and I think reading the paper really influenced these interests. Plus, local papers are always apt to identifying problems persisting in the community. It’s a great way to identify what an area needs.

What are some struggles you’ve faced as a young entrepreneur? 

I think the biggest struggle I’ve faced as a young entrepreneur has been deciding exactly what I want to accomplish in conjunction with raising capital. Establishing a form of sustainability for an organization dedicated to serving others without revenue is a very difficult thing to figure out and has been a big learning process for me. Sustainability is a must for any start-up and I’d recommend thoroughly thrashing out a plan with people who have already started ventures to get the best results.

We speak about the ‘entrepreneurial mindset’, and we feel like you are a good example of someone with that mindset. What do you think makes you an entrepreneur?  

I’m flattered to hear I have the “entrepreneurial mindset”! I think it really stems from a drive to address pressing societal concerns. The entrepreneurs I’ve met have really rooted themselves in helping others as their career. I know that has always been one of my driving factors in pursuing a career in health. I also like to think entrepreneurs are innovative and push the boundaries. You don’t always have to play by the rules and some of the best entrepreneurs have broken down major barriers by perhaps not following directions. You have to be willing to set your own path, but be knowledgeable about your pursuit. I feel like I’ve been given a lot more credibility when discussing my venture because I study health disparities and I can speak intelligently about them.

What are you working on these days?

These days, I’m currently in Ghana working in a clinic that focuses on HIV/AIDS. I’ve been helping them a lot with planning events for World AIDS Day, applying for grants, and writing a book on the medical staff’s experiences. I’m also designing prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs for pregnant mothers that come to the clinic. It is very rewarding work and I feel very fortunate to get such a global perspective on a disease that is very pervasive in the DC area as well.

For the past year, I have been working with a small team on starting a program called Healthy Leaders. Healthy Leaders will address major health problems occurring in Washington, D.C., focusing on HIV/AIDS. The program is geared to high school students in high disparity wards. They can participate in weekend long conferences that interweave health problems prominent in their communities and how they can help resolve them. In addition, Georgetown students will be able to be counselors throughout the programs and potentially earn Community Based Learning credit. After high school participants complete the program, they can start their own small-scale version of Healthy Leaders at their local school or in their neighborhood.

What got you interested in healthcare management and policy? 

I attended a small high school in Neptune, NJ named the Academy of Allied Health and Science. The academics at Allied are centered around the medical field, so students are required to take courses focused in the science and health realms. We also volunteered at the local hospital and participated in senior year mentorships focused in the healthcare field. I have always wanted to stay in the healthcare sector because it is a direct way to help people and make positive change. I believe health is a necessary foundation for anything in life, so if I can impact the level of health and increase the standard of living for others, I will be very satisfied with my career.

How can people connect with you and help your venture move forward?

Anyone interested in the healthcare sector can feel free to connect with me to discuss more about different topics currently facing the Washington, D.C. area. I am very open to any advice anyone is willing to offer, especially on making Healthy Leaders sustainable. Any school interested in the program is also welcome to contact me, and I would be happy to explain more about any potential partnerships! Thanks!

Developing a metric for the value of job creation would be an important first step to make social entrepreneurship and traditional entrepreneurship more comparable. We would then be able to understand which traditional enterprises create significant social impact (positive or negative) and which social enterprises have the biggest effects. A recent This American Life episode on the tricky business of measuring job creation is well-worth a listen for anyone who wants to take a closer look at what people mean when they sax “x jobs were created last month.” To begin assessing the value of job creation, let’s start out by looking at what we can measure, or at least estimate.

First, there is the actual figure of number of jobs created, as measured by the increase in employment. The social impact of that change in employment might be measured in terms of the extra income someone earns and whether the job has benefits like health insurance or tuition support.

Another important factor is how other people benefit from the multiplier effect of creating that job. For example, say a parent in a family of four gets a new job. With the family’s extra income, they might be able to pay for a child’s education or to buy a more energy efficient car. Even people who don’t support families produce benefits for others when they get a new job. If a recent college graduate becomes employed, she might spend that money at the local corner store or coffee shop, thereby supporting the livelihoods of the people that work there. There is a ripple effect from creating even one job.

But not all jobs are created equal. The creation of a job at one company does not necessarily have the same social impact as the creation of a job at another company. For example, supporters of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which will run from Alberta to the eastern part of Texas, say that if built, the pipeline will create 20,000 jobs directly and about 120,000 jobs indirectly. Detractors argue that the pipeline’s costs do not outweigh the benefits of these added jobs. Specifically, they mention this safety risks and environmental impact of the pipeline. If the critics of the pipeline are right, the construction of the pipeline might result in negative social impact and more jobs. With cases like this one, it quickly becomes difficult to measure the social impact of creating a new job.

So what are the alternatives? How can we emphasize what we really want to maximize (social impact), if we can’t agree about how to measure it? The short answer is that it’s probably impossible without standardized metrics that all employers keep track of. But that doesn’t mean we can’t distinguish different types of job creation and try to promote job creation that creates the most social impact. What if we separated job creation figures into two groups: one that met certain basic criteria for socially beneficial job, and one that didn’t? Of course, deciding on what these criteria might be is easier said than done, but there might be some potential indicators that most people could agree upon. A job that had health benefits, paid a living wage, and was not created by a company that severely damages the environment or the communities in which it operates might be considered a socially beneficial job. Jobs that failed on some of these criteria would not earn this label. A metric like this would be fairly rudimentary, but it might add some perspective as to which jobs are producing a greater social impact than others.

What this discussion about measuring the social impact of a job ignores, however, is that some of the most important aspects of employment can’t be measured. Russell Muirhead describes the importance of finding fitting work in his wonderful book Just Work, and argues that the dignity and satisfaction of working on a job that contributes to the common good are fundamental parts of good work. Although attempts to measure the social value of a job are important, we shouldn’t lose sight of these less tangible benefits. By simply looking at basic employment figures, we lose sight of how much jobs vary in terms of how much social good they create. We should prioritize jobs that promote the common good and produce internal goods that are harder to measure like self-worth and the opportunity to develop one’s capabilities as a human being. Until we take a closer look at the differences between jobs, the term “jobs created” will remain vague and won’t tell us much about what actually matters.

From Gate 17 at Stockholm-Arlanda airport, my final window into Swedish culture after two weeks in this fine country, I write you this message.  And what a two weeks it has been.  Among navigating new city maps, public transit systems, currencies, and language barriers*, it was easy to forget what I was doing in Sweden: growing the Compass Fellowship.  Perhaps it’s a well-worn tidbit of knowledge for the working travellers among us, but it surprised me to learn that a business trip is hardly a place to get any business done.  I quickly found myself packing as many people into the schedule as possible, heaping experience upon experience, hoping that this whole experiential learning idea holds some merit.  Judging by my initial reflections, it does.

Why Sweden?  This question was often uttered before and during my trip, as it surely will be after.  Like most operational strategies at Compass, the answer is being unapologetically planned along the journey.  The easy response is in our partnership with Hugo Stenbecks Stiftelse, the foundation responsible for bringing us to Sweden.  Stenbeck identified two things which I agree are true.  First, Swedish universities – and the country in general – are fertile grounds for social entrepreneurship to thrive.  Second, the Compass Fellowship fits a specific niche in the social entrepreneurship development pipeline by rooting tomorrow’s leaders in a particular set of values and attitudes.  The latter explains how we got here while the former explains the why.  After my time Skypeing, meeting, and playing with these Swedes, all I know is they live the values and culture Compass envisions when we think about social entrepreneurship.  Rarely have I felt so intellectually welcomed.

The degree to which students, universities, and third-party partners have embraced us is inspiring and telling.  Experience within Sweden’s supportive entrepreneurship ecosystem – where collaboration is the norm – clarified the vision of our Fellowship’s role in building these ecosystems all around.  By putting our program into practice in this ideal setting, it will teach us which inputs the Fellowship requires elsewhere.  Learning by doing – who knew we practice what we preach?

Our first international experiment, then, is a social experiment, the results of which will help us greatly in scaling growth domestically.  Of course it’s much more than that.  I’ve left out all of the amazing student Mentors, our pilot universities – Högskolen Väst and Chalmers University – and our friends at Drivhuset, the Chalmers School of Entrepreneurship, the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship, Young Entrepreneurs of Sweden, Playing for Change, The Hub Stockholm, Bookhouse, STING, SE Forum, JA-YE, Sandbox, the Entrepreneurship Church, and beyond.  These people and the organizations they’ve created will provide a welcoming community for the Compass Fellowship in Sweden.  As long as HQ doesn’t mess this up, the Compass Fellowship can find a home in this emerging Swedish social entrepreneurship community with the help of our entrepreneurial friends who are already flourishing there. Here’s to wishing us luck.

* The only language barrier was my inability to pick up any spoken Swedish.  Nevertheless, my apologies for “being a dumb American” were consistently met with dumbfoundedness, the Swedes being too naturally accepting to imagine that a foreigner travelling in a foreign land should bother to learn some of the foreign tongue.

When I was an eensy-weensy high school student, I organized benefit shows in church basements for a charity about which I was very passionate. It had numerous challenges: finding an adult to sign the church’s contract, scrounging up $350 (only $150 of which would be returned as it was a deposit), getting six bands who were civil and peaceful and shared our values without being too expensive, marketing, and finding someone—ANYONE—to run sound. Nothing ever went the way it was supposed to, but it ended up working out alright in the end… except for that one time when a crotchety old man told the last act (our best performer that we were willing to spend the $100 for) to get up and leave “right NOW.” But that’s beside the point.

To be quite honest, starting the [blank] canvas was simply the manifestation of “that girl who keeps talking about that Africa concert” desperately wanting to provide a better avenue for people like her to make a change through something creative. Since its inception, it has been tweaked and altered due to the issues facing my friends as art students, crafters, activists, designers, musicians, and everyone else in between.

That’s why the [kickoff] was like déjà vu all over again.

The [kickoff] was the first event my organization, the [blank] canvas, ever initiated. For those of you who haven’t heard my spiel, the [blank] canvas aims to be a center for community and creativity with its socially conscious café, shared studio/work space, and a reasonably priced venue in my home state of Delaware. I tried to incorporate these three things into the event to allow everyone to see the three guiding forces behind this idea: food, art, and performance.

My team, Jaime and Terra, and I started by calling every fire hall, venue, convention center, and gathering place in New Castle County, Delaware. Unfortunately, I was benched when I interned in South Dakota on an Indian reservation. When I got back in June, we weren’t going to meet our original goal of having it in mid-June by any means, so we pushed it back to mid-August—August 19^th to be exact. And thus, the frenzy began.

I cannot honestly tell you how many times we were rejected by local venues. Jaime would tell me her stories of cranky ladies on the phone who shot her down and hung up. Terra would find a relatively suitable venue, but it would have hidden costs and mandatory catering. When we finally looked into World Café Live at The Queen Theater, it seemed perfect. I emailed them, called them, nagged them as much as I could, and finally got a price for a public event: $6000.

… NOPE.

Despite the sticker shock, we kept in touch with the people at The Queen, specifically a lovely woman named Julie who was very nice and seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing. When I informed her of our budget ($1500), she told me she could make it work and to come in and check out the room she had in mind. And when I tell you she made it work, she made it work. She picked out the Olympia Room, which was beyond perfection. A contract and a payment later, the [kickoff] was officially happening.

After we had the space officially booked, we went on a rampage via social media, word of mouth, everything. We were snatching up artists and musicians left and right. A few days before the event, we sat and took a look at our master list: four musicians/bands with 40-minute sets, and about 12 artists who would have tables to sell their work. Lookin’ good.

Until I realized that one of the modes we used to try to recruit people to sell their art, our simple Google form, didn’t notify us when it was filled out. The day before the [kickoff], there were five people that hadn’t heard back from us at all. On top of that, two artists backed out last minute. It was like high school all over again—scrambling to find great people that could do it last minute.

When August 19^th finally came, it was simultaneously nerve-wracking and overwhelmingly exciting. It was a rainy day, so we worried that artists and bands wouldn’t be able to make it in time, or that people wouldn’t show up because of the gloom, but we were proved wrong. So very wrong.

Not only did everything go off without a hitch, but over 100 people attended, and we made over $600 in one night. Despite that success, the best part of that night—my “WOW moment,” if you will—was when a woman named Joan that I had corresponded with over email for weeks came to talk with me about the [blank] canvas’ progress. “When are you opening again? Late December?” She asked. I laughed, “No way! This is our first event; we just incorporated. We’re nowhere near opening.”

“Really? Because everyone’s talking about this.”

If the smiles, the laughter, the art, and the beauty of the whole evening wasn’t enough to validate all the work I have done (and continue to do) for the [blank] canvas, that small response was.

–Heather Hingston, Founder of the [blank] canvas and Compass Fellow at American University

To learn more about the [blank] canvas, visit our website at www.the-blank-canvas.org.

Tell us a little bit about REaction and what you did this summer.

REaction Strategy Group is a creative consultancy that works with nonprofits to create longer-lasting, more valuable relationship with all of their donors. Our philosophy is simple: when you show donors how their money is making a difference, they become empowered, spread the story, and give more money (more often). You can learn more about how we do this from this short video.

With homework and tests always weighing on our minds during the school year, it was hard to get some real momentum going. So, for the summer, a few members of our team decided to see what REaction could do full-time, what our potential was. They flew in to Los Angeles (where I’m from) to work with some new organizations. What resulted was an amazing, immersive startup experience—something I’ll never forget and would definitely recommend everyone try at some point. We ate, slept, and breathed nonprofit consulting. We challenged each other. We came up with some crazy, crazy ideas (some of them regrettable). We took road trips. We met nonprofit directors. We blogged about it. And we got a lot closer, ready to work in the new year—I have to give them all a lot of credit for dealing with me for four months.

What does the word ‘social’ in social entrepreneurship mean to you?

‘Social’ means that business no longer has to be about cutting throats or selling your soul. ‘Social’ means no longer having to choose a traditional path in consulting, management, or finance coming out of school. ‘Social’ means no longer having to wait—to make tons of money, retire, start a foundation, and then give back. In the words of Compass advisor Robert Egger, this ‘social’ is the combination of .com and the .org… and it’s freakin’ beautiful.

If you could recommend one book, blog, or article to any incoming Compass Fellows, what would it be and why?

All Compass Fellows should read Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. No matter if you’re working on some new business idea, prepping a presentation for class, or telling a friend a new sidesplitting joke you heard, the Heath brothers’ principles of communication are going to help you communicate clearly and effectively. It’s the most useful book I’ve come across and it’s required reading for our team!

If you’re ever in the need for some motivation, watch The Social Network and read this blog post. Really gets the blood going, right?

If you could imagine your ideal life in 5 years what would you be doing? 10 years?

Hopefully it will be the same in 10 years as it will be in 5—I’d like to continue helping launch ventures that solve problems we see in our local and global communities. Hopefully I’ll still be able to enjoy that incredible rush of learning with every high and low that comes with starting something new. And hopefully I won’t be living with my parents because of it.

We speak a lot about the ‘entrepreneurial mindset’ and we feel like you are a good example of someone with that mindset at such a young age. What do you think makes you an entrepreneur?

I think that mindset is really just a combination of curiosity, initiative, and perseverance. I guess that means being willing to admit you’re dumb, being dumb enough to start something that will more or less take over your life, and sticking with it even when others call you dumb. But personally, as Dan Eldon said, the journey is the destination.

What got you interested in starting REaction? What has surprised you most so far in this experience? 

In high school, we discovered a YouTube channel called the Uncultured Project. We were awed not only because the founder, Shawn, had dropped out of school to bring clean water to Bangladesh, but also because he had more YouTube subscribers than all of the major international NGOs combined. His donations had also been ever-increasing. Why?

His recipe for success was his frequent YouTube updates that documented exactly how he spent money on each project and told the unbelievable, inspiring stories of the villagers’ progress. His refreshing storytelling and transparency built trust, and his fans were sharing his videos over and over to spread the word. Seriously, if you do anything with this blog post, watch this Uncultured video.

In short, REaction was created to help other, just-as-deserving causes grow using this very same model. We think it’s the way the giving experience should be, and how it’s going to be. What has surprised us is just how many great nonprofits know that this is the best thing to do, but just don’t have the resources or know-how to do it.

How can people connect with you or your venture? How can our readers help you move forward with your venture’s mission?

There are so many ways we’d love to get you involved. At the very least, we hope you’ll help us expect and demand a higher level of transparency and storytelling from the organizations you work with and donate to.

If you’re interested in joining the team or just meeting us to geek around about nonprofits, please shoot me an email at james(at)reactionstrategygroup.com. You can also sign up for email updates on the left side of our blog if you’re into that kind of thing. Send us any cool donor experiences you see; we will be forever grateful.