Archive | Starting the Journey RSS feed for this section

The Non-Vacationer’s Guide to Taking a Break

By on May 6, 2013 in Building a Social Venture, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the need for social entrepreneurs (and everyone, really) to take breaks in order to recharge and be effective, and I totally agree that we could all stand to relax more. But, frankly, I can’t really afford to completely step away from my work for the foreseeable future, and [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

Need a Break?

By on April 1, 2013 in Building a Social Venture, Impact Assessment, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

If you’re like me, chances are you sat and made a business plan that was based off the idea that you’d raise upwards of $50,000 the first year your organization was registered. You likely visited DoSomething and applied for some starter grants and checked out the DoSomething Award winners. Then, at some point, somebody told you [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

A Few of the 29(00) Mistakes I Have Made as a Social Entrepreneur

By on March 15, 2013 in Building a Social Venture, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

If I had to describe myself in one word, it would be unconventional. If I had to pick the road I would travel, it would be the busiest. See, what did I tell you! Entrepreneurship isn’t a road for everyone and it certainly isn’t for the faint of heart. I always like to say that [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

10 Tips for Aspiring Social Entrepreneurs

By on March 11, 2013 in Building a Social Venture, Fundraising, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

We’d all like to think that beyond the warm and fuzzy feeling we get from donating or volunteering, our efforts lead to some form of sustainable change. But how can we measure our impact amidst all the negative news about wasted aid and futility? We certainly don’t profess to know the answers, but in the [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

In the Business of Helping Others, Put Yourself First

By on March 6, 2013 in Starting the Journey

Recently, I ran into a hurdle with my organization, Cheti. The journey to, over, and past this obstacle has been as much a discovery of myself as it was of others. I have seen that during the last three years I have been so concerned with moving things forward that I never gave myself the [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

Why You Should NOT Start a Nonprofit Organization

By on March 4, 2013 in Non-Profit Management, Non-Profits, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

There seems to be a trend in starting nonprofit organizations. Everyone wants to do it, and I’ve had several 19-22 year-olds ask me how it’s done. The first thing I ask them is why they want to start a nonprofit. Why not collaborate with another program or project that is already in existence? Most tell [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

The Fine Art of Fundraising

By on February 27, 2013 in Design, Fundraising, Non-Profits, Sector, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

World-changing social impact idea – check! Recruited an amazing team of passionate individuals – check! Funding to get the ball rolling … well … maybe!! Fundraising is a skill set critical to any start-up, as it’s needed to get things going and keep them rolling once you have started up.  Unfortunately for any nonprofit focused [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

I Am Only One But Still I Am One…Lesson Learned.

By on February 6, 2013 in Building a Social Venture, Education, Poverty, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey, Women's Empowerment

Helen Keller once said “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do”.  This has been the most challenging concept I have yet to face and accept in [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

What’s Luck Got To Do With It?

By on February 4, 2013 in Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

Over fifty percent of all new businesses fail within the first year. After almost three semesters of studying business in college, I’m still not really sure whether professors share the statistic with intentions of intimidation or inspiration. It seems to me that many students are actually comforted by this percentage, it reassures them of the [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

Seattle has Invented the Future

By on December 17, 2012 in Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey, Stories of Impact

Fifty years ago, at the 1962 World’s Fair, Seattle invented the future.  Like the other world fairs of its time, the event showcased a bright, utopian future, where technology solved all the world’s problems. Unfortunately, fifty years later, the world still has problems.  In those five decades, the global population has doubled, and the average [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

Precipice

By on December 3, 2012 in Health, Starting the Journey, Youth Development

It’s a quarter to 9pm PST and I’m currently squatting in a coffee shop on Palo Alto’s University Avenue. I wasn’t able find a place on campus with free Wi-Fi, so I traipsed over here. I’m living in New York now, but happened to fly out just a few days ago for a friend’s wedding. [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

Haiti, Fierce Hope, and Social Enterprise

By on November 21, 2012 in Starting the Journey

“What the heck am I doing?” I’ve asked myself that question countless times in the year and a half since starting my own social venture.  From marketing and pricing to web design and hiring, half the time I feel like I’m just making things up as I go along and the other half of the [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

It All Started in a Dorm Room.

By on November 16, 2012 in Featured, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey, Women's Empowerment, Youth Development

When people ask me how on earth I ended up starting my non-profit Women LEAD at the age of 20, I often don’t know what to respond. The process of starting Women LEAD is full of moments of luck meeting opportunity.  If you had told me 4 years ago that I would be co-founding a [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed

Social Changers: Sometimes Alone but Always in Good Company

By on November 14, 2012 in Education, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

Recently people have given me compliments that genuinely make me feel uncomfortable. I am not doing anything that anyone else cannot do. I am no genius, I am not a doctor, nor a teacher, nor a mother. I’m just a girl trying to figure out the balance between passion, human capacity, and the needs that [...]

Read full story · Comments are closed