Archive | Interviews RSS feed for this section

The Woman Who Hires DoGooders–With Ellen Weinreb

Likely you are reading this to A) learn how you can start or fortify strategic social initiatives; B) hire someone who can; or c) looking to be this hire.  You’ll be better equipped to draft a job description or scan the job boards once you understand the CSR/sustainability job market and what makes a company […]

DOING Good Only Gets You So Far: 15 Points on CSR Reporting–With Elaine Cohen

I write Cause Capitalism to arm companies and entrepreneurs with the reasons, examples and tactics to integrate a social mission into their business. Many of the start-ups and sole proprietors that I speak with are just beginning to look for ways to add a social element as they launch their business. It’s challenge enough for […]

What is Cause Marketing and Is It Right for You?–With Joe Waters Part I

Before you can come up with ways to implement cause marketing (or even decide whether it’s right for your business) you need to get a basic understanding of what cause marketing is and what it isn’t. That’s why I invited cause marketing expert Joe Waters to Cause Capitalism and asked him to explain what cause […]

Why More Money is Made on Environmentally Astute Companies–with Carsten Henningsen

Portfolio 21 Investments, a mutual fund that invests in ecologically sustainable companies, was founded by a man who received two shares of Mattel Toys as a boy and explored the world at large as a young man. Pairing his interests in finance and social good, Carsten Henningsen founded Portfolio 21 in 1982. The firm is stringent […]

Building a Bank that Advises Muhammad Yunus and Bill Clinton–With ShoreBank’s Brian Berg

When Muhammad Yunus set about creating Grameen Bank in 1983 he asked ShoreBank for launch advice and help raising capital. By then ShoreBank had already been busy for the last 10 years revitalizing urban communities on Chicago’s South Side by funding development projects and providing small business and home loans to under-served, low to moderate income populations. Founded in 1973, ShoreBank […]

The Accidental Niche: How GiveForward’s Fundraising Platform Attracted an Untapped Audience–With Desiree Vargas

In March 2009 Amy Cowin raised $32,000 through a personal fundraising page to pay for an operation to remove one of her kidneys and donate it to her sister Jessica. This is not Amy and Jessica’s story. It’s the story of GiveForward.org–the idea and technology that enabled this operation and hundreds of others like it. […]

How Doing Good and Belly Fat Ads Relate–with Faisal Sethi

Doing nothing changes everything. It’s a bit hyperbolic admits Faisal Sethi, but it gets people thinking about how they can leverage their regular actions and routines for good. Sethi is the co-founder of DoGood Headquarters, a new startup out of Ottawa. DoGood Headquarters is virtual factory of online solutions that have a social impact in […]

A “Bohemian’s” Escape From Traditional Marketing to Do-Gooding and the Tools She Carried

Nancy Goldstein took her skills and acumen developed from two decades with consumer packaged goods giants General Mills and Pillsbury and launched the brand strategy and marketing firm Compass (x) Strategy in June 2009 to help socially and environmentally responsible businesses reach their potential.  No longer in the business of marketing frozen toaster products, she […]

Poverty Alleviation at a Rate of 7: The Unitus Model

. . .. Microfinance hit hockey stick growth in the past few years in large part because: Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace prize in 2006 for providing credit to the poor with Grameen Bank; Kiva created a participatory platform that engaged Americans in micro-lending and financed $100 million worth of loans; and It’s mighty […]

This Online Bake Sale Makes Cookies Even Sweeter by Donating 15% of Every Purchase

Author’s note: Baking for Good was recently featured as a gift that gives back on iGiveTwice, an awareness campaign I started to encourage people to choose gifts that have a social benefit. Ask Emily Dubner what her company, Baking for Good, is and she’ll explain how it’s an online gift giving site, online bakery and […]