Are you letting me know why I should make a donation, sign a petition, cast a vote or buy what you’re selling?  It’s an obvious statement, but one that’s not always executed on, despite perception.

Kiva.org has faciliated more than $100 million in loans in a few short years. Really outstanding, except it could be millions of dollars more. Nearly half of the people who create member accounts on Kiva don’t end up making a loan. One reason for this is because Kiva doesn’t show you the impact of your potential loan at decision-making time. A lender only sees the impact of the loan he made some months after he made it. Instead, imagine this

Welcome Olivia!

Want to see what Jim did with $25?  His $25 funded 20% of the money Amelia needed to buy a refrigerator to store the lunches she makes and sells. Now she sells one-third more lunches by traveling to new neighborhoods. She used to spend every morning making food to sell that afternoon, but now Amelia can make food one day and spend the entire following day selling it, allowing her to reach more customers.

How far can you make your $25 go? Here are a few suggestions to get you started…

Does this give you greater incentive to part with $25?  People who lend through Kiva make an average of five loans, so Kiva’s lending power will grow exponentially, but it’s critical to get people in the pipeline and hooked on the feeling of direct impact.

Framing your message and setting up the action for users doesn’t need to be complex. 37Signals shows their products by how you will benefit from them. Simple, clear language; no humorous, clever or emotional pitch needed. 

Are you missing the information in front of you?

It’s difficult to see the flaws or weaknesses in products or landing pages that we look at every day.  It’s the curse of knowledge tag-teaming us with the curse of familiarity.  But if we don’t unglue ourselves from our expectations and think critically and creatively, it can mean the difference of $51 million.

Yesterday I was researching an organization that uses an online platform to help alleviate poverty and I calculated that 46% of site visitors who created a member profile didn’t take the crucial step of making a loan.  The lending potential of this user group is more than $51 million (based on the average amount loaned per person through the organization).  That’s considerable unrealized potential from individuals who’ve already demonstrated their interest by taking the time to register on the site.

This organization pioneered the process of connecting diverse individuals for the sake of eliminating poverty, but there was a break in the chain that was leaking impact.  I wondered how aware the organization was of this? Was its perspective broad enough to spot this pattern and fix it?

I put together a fairly quick email with four ideas to convert more registrants into lenders (communicating the potential impact of a loan at the onset of the process, bundling options based on characteristics, un-glitching the check-out process), and emailed it to the business’ president.  He was appreciative and said he would share it with his team.  I haven’t a clue whether my ideas have already been tried and how effective they might really be, but because I’m standing on the outside I can offer a potentially new perspective.

Image credit: Banksy

Your next pair of Levi’s might come with a clothesline or shoebox-sized dryer.  After a recent lifecycle assessment, Levi’s realized that 60% of the climate impact of a pair of jeans comes after the jeans are made and sold; nearly 80% of this is from drying the jeans in a dryer.  The presumed and easy response to this would be for Levi’s to say, “Not our problem. We abide by fair labor practices, use recycled and organic fibers and run fuel efficient trucks to transport our jeans. What happens after we sell them has nothing to do with us.”

But Levi’s didn’t.  Instead, it launched Care to Air, an awareness campaign and contest to shift consumer behavior in favor of the environment.  In partnershihp with Myoo Create, Levi’s will award $10,000 for the world’s most innovative, covetable, and sustainable air-drying solution for clothing.  This isn’t a money maker for Levi’s.  You don’t have to buy jeans, or even own Levi’s products, for the campaign to be a success.  And since Levi’s has chosen the environment-at-large as a beneficiary, it doesn’t get to leverage the credibility or press that a nonprofit partner would bring to bear.

So why do it?  Is it just about being viwed as a socially compassionate brand?  That’s part of it–and it’s not taboo because the Levi’s actions consistently reflect a commitment (rather than lip-service) to sustainability.  Part of a company’s responsibility (I know, I task them with a lot) is to educate and involve its consumers in making more responsible choices and to pressure their competitors to raise their responsibility game.  Influencing consumer behavior also happens to be one of Levi’s commitments: “To reach far beyond the boundaries of our company to influence not only what people wear but the way people think and act.”

This is exactly what Levi’s is doing with Care to Air, and it’s brilliant because as much as you register the brand behind this campaign, it isn’t about the brand at all.  It’s about what I do with my clothes at home and how I understand this to affect the environment.

In this video, shot by Lee Fox at the Social Enterprise Alliance Summit, Pamela Hawley, founder and CEO of UniversalGiving, talks about the experience that set her on her path at age twelve and how social responsibility can specifically benefit a company.

Pamela Hawley founded UniversalGiving as a nonprofit social enterprise to match donors and volunteers with international organizations.  The organization is a hybrid of Pamela’s passion for and experience in volunteer service, technology, international giving and global CSR. UniversalGiving generates revenue through its UniversalGiving Corporate program, which provides strategic and operational support to global companies and matches them with vetted NGO partners across the globe.  Its corporate program allows 100% of donations to go directly to recipients and provides the critical service of helping companies engage in corporate philanthropy and volunteering.

Michael Van Patten used to give out his entire allowance when he lived in Ecuador during high school.  This went against common practice to ignore people with their hands and pretend they weren’t there.  The poverty he saw stuck with him for years but didn’t affect the way he made a living, until recently.

Click the player to listen to my conversation with Mike or right-click and save for the MP3.

After two decades working in capital markets on Wall Street, Mike began thinking about how he could apply his background to social capital markets. “I wanted people to consider valuing social and environmental characteristics as much as they do the financial aspects of their investments, while also giving them market-rate returns.”   The product of his financial experience, exposure to poverty and desire for people to invest with a broader set of goals is Mission Markets.  

Mission Markets is the first U.S. electronic platforms geared toward social and environmental companies and investors, as well as people buying and selling environmental credits (carbon, water or fishery licenses).  It’s divided into two platforms.  The Capital Marketplace is for accredited investors, social enterprises seeking capital, foundations offering PRIs and third-party service providers.  The second platform, Mission Markets Earth, is “an environmental markets trading board,” to support market based mechanisms for environmental conservation.

“Mission-related investments aren’t anonymous. They’re about engagement with companies, organizations and people.”  Mike sees Mission Markets as an information delivery system that supports localized and collaborative interaction and encourages investors and companies to talk to each other and develop strategic relationships with nonprofit organizations.  ”The transaction part [of the platform] is incidental. It’s only 25-30% of what we offer.”

For-profit social and environmental companies looking for funding can apply online by filling out a profile and taking B Corporation’s survey, which is Mission Markets’ current metric for assessing sustainability.

The Capital Marketplace will launch later this month and Mission Markets Earth will launch in mid-June. Mike demoed the site for me and it’s an incredible resource for individuals and companies interested in impact investing.

About Mike Van Patten

Mike is CEO and founder of Mission Markets, Inc.  He has more than 20 years experience in capital markets, including serving as a vice president at Bear Stearns and co-founding NYPPEX.  He’s also an avid outdoorsman and has completed more than 50 triathlons.