I’m not a financial advisor; nothing I write in Superpowers for Good should be considered investment advice. You should seek appropriate counsel before making investment decisions.
Today, we’re hosting the January SuperCrowdHour. You can watch it at 1:00 Eastern/10:00 Pacific right here in the YouTube player above.
Even better, you can earn credit toward a $100 reward by registering and attending via Zoom—we use it to track attendance. Click here to register and attend via Zoom.
The panel features a diverse group of perspectives. Each one is an active impact-focused investor using crowdfunding as a tool. Fiona is an accomplished ballet dancer. Jackie spent two decades on Wall Street. Bill and Karl work with companies raising money via crowdfunding. Justin and Jackie work for portals.
Their depth of knowledge is impressive. Whether you want to improve your investing or learn to better appeal to impact-minded investors, this is a can’t-miss event.
Check out the panelists:
Justin Renfro is a leading expert in early-stage fundraising. He currently leads Revenue Based Financing at Wefunder, a new initiative designed as an alternative to banks and VCs. Justin has mentored hundreds of startups and captured top insights about fundraising. These insights include pathways to secure funding, the mindset of successful founders, and how to raise money from the crowd. In 2017, Justin also successfully raised money for his own company, Chill Charters.
Jackie Logan is a co-founder, co-CEO and CIO at Raise Green. She has 25 years of experience in the capital markets, having had roles in institutional sales on the trading floor to compliance in Private Wealth. In her last role at Goldman Sachs, while working with product teams developing ESG investment strategies, she realized that we need significant private capital moving into direct climate solutions, and now. Ratings and rankings just did not have the consistent and granular data to effect the needed impact.
During Climate Week NYC 2019 - she happened to meet her fellow co-founders by chance. Very quickly, she knew Raise Green offered a solution and joined Raise Green to make this happen and never looked back. Jackie is a New York City native, has a BA degree from Williams College in Chemistry, and graduated with Honors from The Wharton School with an MBA.
Bill Huston is an Inc Magazine Top 19 Global Crowdfunding Expert who has managed or consulted on 6 investment crowdfunding campaigns that have raised over $700,000 since 2021. Bill was a content consultant for the Rutgers University Crowdfunding With Impact program and a board member of The National Coalition for Community Capital, and a founding member of the Black Crowdfunding Coalition along with the 10K Project and Crowd Wall Street.
I, Fiona Budd, was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and grew up in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, where I began ballet training at the age of 5. I completed my ballet training at the Royal Ballet School in London in 1989 and then returned to South Africa to dance professionally with PACT Ballet. In 2000 I was the Head of Ballet at the Frenchwoods Performing Arts Festival in upper New York State, USA. In 2001 I was one of the six founder members of The South African Ballet Theatre (now Joburg Ballet), where I danced as Senior Soloist and was ultimately Managing Director before leaving in 2011.
In 2011 I was chosen as one of the first ten South African Volunteers for the inaugural year of the Vodacom Change the World Programme. In 2012, I joined Charities Aid Foundation Southern Africa (CAFSA), part of the global alliance of CAF offices, where I worked with corporate companies and nonprofits to increase giving, philanthropy, and volunteering. In March 2014, I was invited to speak on a panel at the WINGS Philanthropy Conference in Istanbul, Turkey, reflecting on corporate philanthropy.
I joined St David’s Marist Inanda in October 2014, where I am currently a Trustee and the Director of the St David’s Marist Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa – my focus is primarily on sourcing local and international philanthropic support for the St David’s bursary fund and for the school’s satellite campus which opened its doors this year in the township of Alexandra – St David’s Marist Inanda Alexandra.
During Lockdown in 2020, I compiled a book called ‘A Little Book of Tree Wisdom’, which I published the following year. For every copy of the book sold, I donate to plant a tree through the global tree-planting nonprofit ‘One Tree Planted’ (for whom I am also a Tree Ambassador). To date, I have been able to contribute to planting over 500 trees around the world.
Karl Dakin is a professional entrepreneur. Over 44 years, Karl Dakin has participated in hundreds of startup and technology businesses regarding strategy development, planning, business formation, fundraising, contract negotiation, technology acquisition and transfer, and litigation. Mr. Dakin has held positions as a mentor, consultant, attorney, instructor, leader, advisor, lobbyist, author, speaker, director, manager, investor, and author.
He is currently engaged in supporting organizations and communities in the design, staging and conduct of their capital campaigns and sharing his knowledge on raising capital. Mr. Dakin additionally contributes his expertise part-time, assisting various businesses in their startup ventures.
While waiting for the SEC to issue regulations for the JOBS Act, Mr. Dakin teamed to champion the Colorado Crowdfunding Act in 2015. He operated Invest Local as a licensed Colorado crowdfunding intermediary and is currently acting as the setup person for a series of farm-to-table Colorado business offerings on the CrowdSprout platform. https://crowdsprout.co/
He designed the current customer-focused Reg CF campaign for Splish Naturals on the Silicon Prairie platform. https://splishnaturals.sppx.io/ He acted as an advisor to the new Reg CF platform - EquityVest. https://equityvest.org/.
Plan to join us in February for our special panel discussion with the entire executive committee from the Crowdfunding Professional Association. I’m honored to serve as the volunteer treasurer this year, having concluded my tenure as president at the end of 2023. President Brian Christie, Vice President Jenny Kassan, Secretary Brian Belley, and Chair Scott McIntyre will all participate.
You’ll learn about how you can join the Crowdfunding Professional Association and participate to make a difference.