Social Innovators Tap the Crowd

Josh Tetrick
Founder and CEO, 33needs

 
In a year where pessimism often dominates the dialogue, social innovators see problems as their opportunity to thrive. And every so often, we like to step back from the strategies and tactics of crowdfunding and look closer at their stories. 
 
A couple stories about three extraordinary social entrepreneurs who’ve decided to bring their ventures to the crowd:
 
Story 1: I’m running through a coffee plantation in Dembidollo, Ethiopia. I’m flagged down by a group of kids playing soccer with a ball made out of hundreds of rubber bands.
 
One of the younger kids lets me know that I’ll be seeing him in a future World Cup: "Remember my face," he said. "I promised my mom. And she’s watching me." I was confused, until one of the older boys told me that his mom, like so many women across the world every day, died during childbirth.
 
Meet Zubaida Bai, one of my new heroes. Zubaida doesn’t know my soccer buddy, but her vision speaks to his life. She started AYZH, a company founded on a simple premise: Look through the eyes of women and create the tools they need to improve their lives.
 
The second-leading cause of deaths during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth? Preventable infections. Zubaida realized the use of simple delivery kit could help reduce the risk of infections. One of her company’s first products? The JANMA Birth Kit, a $2 solution currently being used in India.
 
Story 2: I’m taking out my trash — plastic cups, dog food cans, and soda bottles — in Los Angeles, California.
 
One man’s trash is another man’s…. Meet Phil and Charlie, the founders of LiveProud, a company that makes performance clothing from well, ah, trash! After a trip to a New England landfill, they borrowed $25,000 from friends and family and started their planet-saving clothing line. Anyone else been inspired by a landfill latey?
 
LiveProud’s signature shirt is made of five post-consumer recycled plastic bottles, taken directly from those stank and nasty landfills. Their process prevents more than 5.5 pounds of carbon emissions from being released while saving enough energy to light a 60-watt lightbulb for 6 hours.
 
And the boxes used for packaging? You guessed it: they’re reused from product and manufacturer discards received in the warehouse.
 
We need more people powered funding approaches to connect with innovators like Zubaida, Charlie, and Phi. We know they get it, but what’s your story? How can crowdfunding serve as a means to your impact-filled end? Let’s discuss!