New Impact Offerings, Save People and the Planet, Impact Crowdfund Investing Aligns With Rotary and Nonprofit Housing for Veterans
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YouSolar Featured Among New Impact Offerings - January 29, 2024
Each week, Superpowers for Good shares a list of new impact-related offerings added to FINRA-Registered crowdfunding portals and by broker-dealers. We’ll share four separate lists:
Impact offerings as determined by KingsCrowd reviews.
Offerings with minority founders.
Deals with women founders.
Those with LGBTQ founders.
Climate Solutions Save People and the Planet - s11 ep50
AI Episode Summary
1. **Introduction**: Devin Thorpe introduces Richard Lawrence as the guest on the "Superpowers for Good" show. Richard is an author, philanthropist, fund manager, nonprofit founder, and the writer of the newly published book Carbon Done Correctly.
2. **Carbon Done Correctly**: The book tells the story of Richard's life over the last 20 years, focusing on his efforts in environmental and social work, particularly highlighting a transformative experience during a medical mission in Honduras.
3. **Family Trip to Honduras**: Richard's initial involvement in social work began as a concern for his children growing up in a hedonistic society, leading to a family trip to Honduras to participate in medical missions, which revealed health issues linked to inadequate cookstoves.
4. **Discovery of Health Issues and Cookstove Solution**: During the Honduras mission, they observed a pattern of respiratory illnesses in women and children, which Richard's daughter linked to smoke from indoor cookstoves. This became the impetus for Richard's work in designing and implementing better cookstoves.
5. **Funding Stove Projects**: Richard learned about the carbon market and its potential to raise funds through gold-standard-certified carbon credits. Realizing the power of this mechanism, he decided to use it to finance the building of improved cookstoves.
6. **Challenges in Cookstove Implementation**: Acquiring gold standard certification and selling carbon credits took four years. To ensure the initiative's success, the project emphasized holistic improvements in stove design, education, supervision, and monitoring.
7. **Cookstove Project Expansion**: The cookstove project expanded significantly, leading to the construction of over 310,000 stoves in Honduras and Guatemala, employing 250 people, and proving the efficacy of using carbon markets for funding.
8. **Response to Carbon Credit Criticism**: Richard acknowledges criticism of carbon credits, admitting some issues relate to flaws in methodology and over-crediting. He emphasizes the ongoing work to improve standards and ensure carbon credits effectively contribute to fighting climate change.
9. **Social Justice Aspect of Carbon Credits**: Devin mentions, and Richard agrees, that carbon credits represent a means to transfer capital from wealthier nations to places with less capital where climate mitigation strategies can be implemented more cost-effectively.
10. **Superpower – Competitiveness**: When asked about his superpower, Richard cites his competitiveness and determination as critical to his success. He shares a story where this trait helped solve a significant problem in the cookstove initiative, leading to a simple but impactful innovation. Richard also advises us to keep moving forward, not dwelling on mistakes and emphasizes the importance of teamwork.
Impact Crowdfund Investing Aligns With Rotary's 4-Way Test and 7 Areas of Focus
About a dozen years ago, I joined the Salt Lake Rotary Club and became a Rotarian. I joined precisely because Rotary aligns so well with my work and vision for a better world. Other organizations like Lions and Kiwanis have similar social missions and impact.
Today, I want to highlight the alignment between the work that Rotary International does through its 46,000 clubs and 1.4 million members around the world and the impact crowdfunding community we support through the SuperCrowd.
Developer Builds Nonprofit Housing for Veterans - s11 ep51
AI Episode Summary
1. Devin introduces the show "Superpowers for Good" with the guest Dana Spain, founder of Veterans Village, which is aimed at supporting veterans through housing and community.
2. Veterans Village was born out of Dana's experience running a homeless shelter for female veterans, where she saw a need for better housing solutions after transitional programs.
3. Dana’s father, an army veteran, proposed building a respectful, safe and affordable housing project for veterans, which led to the founding of the first Veterans Village, named the Bernard Spain campus.
4. The project was funded privately through corporate and foundation donations, grants, and traditional financing without relying on government funding or tax credits.
5. Key supporters of Veterans Villages included Saint-Gobain's Certainteed, Dow Tile, Amira Vets, Quatro Capital, and First Citizens Community Bank.
6. Dana's professional background includes a career as a developer after working in various fields, such as translation for a French bank, retail with Hallmark stores, publishing, and commercial real estate.
7. Transitioning to veteran-focused charity work, Dana identified a lack of safe housing for female veterans, particularly those suffering from military sexual trauma.
8. Dana describes her leadership style as direct and results-oriented, with a propensity to surround herself with expert teams and adapt plans as needed.
9. A past accomplishment highlighted by Dana was the successful fundraising campaign for the Philadelphia Police Foundation to reintroduce the mounted police, a project initially deemed too expensive.
10. Dana invites listeners to visit VeteransVillages.org to learn how to get involved with the initiative, highlighting the variety of ways support is welcomed, including donations and volunteering.
Upcoming SuperCrowd Event Calendar
If a location is not noted, the events below are virtual.
SuperCrowdHour February with the CfPA Executive Committee: This free event features President Brian Christ, Vice President Jenny Kassan, Secretary Brian Belley and Chair Scott McIntyre. Learn how you can join and make a difference. Earn rewards!
SuperCrowdBaltimore, March 21, 2024 This in-person event at the B&O Rail Museum features some of Baltimore’s prominent citizens and community leaders. Save 30 percent with the discount code “SuperCrowd.”
SuperCrowd24, April 17-18: This two-day virtual event is our biggest event of the year. Don’t miss it. Save 50 percent with the discount code “SuperCrowd.”
SuperCrowdChicago, June 12, 2024. Save the date! More information is coming soon!
SuperCrowd Community Event Calendar
If a location is not noted, the events below are virtual.
Local Investment 101 with Michael Shuman, January 27 - February 24, Lake Katrine, NY
CfPA Webinar: A Conversation with Brendan Ballou, Author of Plunder, January 31
Crowdfunding & SBA Lending with Kathleen Minogue of Crowdfund Better, February 6
Neighborhood Economics, February 26-28 in San Antonio, Texas
If you would like to submit an event for inclusion on our community calendar, click here.