See the #FacesofFounders Open Source Platform In Action

Posted on May 1, 2019August 21, 2019 by Case Foundation

As part of the Case Foundation’s commitment to Open Source, we continue to share the code that powers the technology side of our efforts. Last year, we shared the code for our #FacesofFounders website so that others would benefit from the investment we had made into cutting edge technology. Today, we’re excited to share a new video demonstrating the capability this open source platform provides for those who use and build upon it.

Launched in 2016, #FacesofFounders was a campaign to attract entrepreneurs, particularly female founders and entrepreneurs of color, to share their photos and stories of entrepreneurship on FacesofFounders.org. After a review by a panel of 40 judges, who completed their work using this open source platform, FastCompany featured the winners of the campaign. The site has since evolved into a Medium publication that continues the work of showcasing diverse entrepreneurs driving innovation and job growth.

Open source, a medium for freely sharing and collaborating on technology, is yet another way that organizations can give back in the form of their technology. We believe it is particularly important in the philanthropic field as it is an opportunity for social innovators to accelerate their own missions by tapping into the work of the collective community. One gift of open source code can have unlimited beneficiaries, and we believe it to be a key component of the ongoing democratization of technology.

Features

This open source platform contains several features from the #FacesofFounders campaign:

Social Media Profile Photo Filter

The photo upload feature allows visitors to upload a photo (or select a Facebook or Twitter profile photo) and place a campaign-themed filter on top of it. The filtered photo can then be turned into profile images on social media sites, and added to a shared photo wall on a homepage, which will continually display all new and past filtered photos. Administrators have the ability to remove inappropriate photos from the homepage.

Story Submission

In addition to—or instead of–uploading a photo, visitors can submit stories to the judging platform. This submission tool contains customizable forms and can be placed in a “closed” state once judging begins. All submissions entered through the form then go into a queue for a site administrator to assign to judges. Because the platform is built into WordPress, it is also possible to directly upload submissions via WordPress’s dashboard.

Story Review and Judging

The third and final component of this codebase is the judging platform. As visitors submit stories, they queue in the judging section on the backend. Once all submissions are final, assigned judges can log into the platform and request submissions to review. The judges score each submission on a numeric scale, and the platform uses those scores to begin ranking each submission. Site administrators can then log in and view the stories ranked by their aggregate scores to determine winners. The entire codebase comes packaged as a WordPress theme for easy deployment and visual customization using WordPress’s robust theme system.

How You Can Use This

While the Case Foundation used this to support the FacesofFounders campaign, we expect that it can be used in a wide variety of efforts and we can’t wait for you to take advantage of this great project! To help, we’ve created a detailed technical guide that you and your team can use to understand how to best utilize the open source code. To access that guide and more resources, visit the project’s GitHub page.

To show our commitment to the open source community and the importance we place on expanding involvement in open source from the philanthropic sector, we’ve published many of our projects online. To see more of our work, visit the Case Foundation’s GitHub page.

We look forward to seeing what you do with these tools and hope many others will join in this effort and share their open source projects.

Empowering Female Founders and Entrepreneurs of Color in Los Angeles and Beyond

Posted on July 19, 2018October 25, 2018 by Case Foundation

This Spring, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti sat down with our Case Foundation VP for Social Innovation, Sarah Koch, at Urban Tech Connect, a conference designed to support and provide networks for startup founders of color. Together they explored how the Los Angeles tech ecosystem has grown over the past several years—from a record numbers of startups calling LA their home to an influx of funding rounds and the many high-profile acquisitions and exits—and how important the building of ecosystems to support founders from all backgrounds has proven to be across the country.

In 2017 alone, startups throughout the the city of Los Angeles raised $7 billion in capital, through an upsurge in new investments and new firms. And more than $1.4 billion was raised in 2017 across 16 funds. During the conversation Mayor Garcetti shared how his office has sought to expand their startup ecosystem through programs like the Grid110’s and the creation of the TechFair LA which featured more than 200 leading regional startups.

Watch the video as Mayor Garcetti and Sarah share more on how we can be intentional about how we fund, mentor and support female founders and entrepreneurs of color in thriving cities like Los Angeles and beyond.

It’s Time for Philanthropy to Open the Door to Open Source

Posted on May 30, 2018October 25, 2018 by Case Foundation

Innovation is driving technology and change faster than ever before. Yet, when I am asked about technological innovations that have the best chance to make an impact in the future of philanthropy, I often cite a collaborative approach that is closely aligned with the technology world, but can no longer be considered cutting edge: open source.

This may not be the answer that many are expecting, but open source’s collaborative and transparent nature is well suited for philanthropy and its ability to leverage the power of many to do good at minimal cost lends itself to being one of the keys to the next phase in the evolution of philanthropy.

Open source software allows anyone to read, study, modify and redistribute a software’s source code with little restriction other than that free access is maintained. It is often developed in a highly collaborative manner with many people contributing pieces of code and it is found in a wide variety of places – the overwhelming majority of consumer devices include some open source code.

For many philanthropies and non-profits, open source provides the opportunity to save money and time. There is a growing community of coders experimenting openly and sharing ideas and software covering everything from website and app development to artificial intelligence and blockchain. By embracing open source, foundations and nonprofits can tap into this space of bright technologists and innovators for free. In doing so, they will gain access to battle-tested code and ideas, allowing them to focus on their core missions.

For others, it is an opportunity to leverage the time and money they have put into building software and programs so others in the field can use them. In our network of changemakers, we see many organizations producing innovative platforms and technologies that are used to create social change. Why not further that effort by open sourcing that work so that many more can use, improve and share it? Our experience shows that by including open source from the outset of a plan, you reap the benefits of including a community in your work and have a product that can be shared with the larger community with minimal effort. And, frankly, isn’t the act of open sourcing software in line with most philanthropic missions?

Open source has other benefits as well. The collaborative nature of open source can encourage philanthropies to engage with new audiences and to connect technical and nontechnical participants. We have seen that reaching beyond your bubble and forging unlikely alliances between those working to solve the same problem can yield impressive and transformational results.

We’re already seeing philanthropies embrace open source. For example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation developed an open source platform to drive the adoption of digital financial services in developing countries. Mojaloop, the platform’s name, creates a standard system for banks and other financial service providers to communicate and execute transactions at a lower cost than competitors for the nearly two billion unbanked people in developing regions.

Throughout the Case Foundation’s history, we’ve recognized the value of open source software by both using it in our work and supporting others who are a part of the community. Some of our greatest efforts such as Make It Your Own and America’s Giving Challenge succeeded because open source software enabled us to move quickly and experiment with new ideas without having to start from scratch. We were also early supporters of groups such as Code for America which produces open source software and organizes communities of citizens to also create and contribute open source solutions for their towns and cities.

And we are now building all the software we produce for specific campaigns with an eye on making them open sourced as well. For example, we have provided the open sourcing code from our #FacesofFounders campaign allowing any organization to launch a similar campaign focusing on user-generated content. And this year, we plan to release even more open source projects produced through our broader work here at the Case Foundation. We hope that–along with many others–we can help the social sector see the benefits of open source, spark innovation, accelerate social good and ultimately help change the world.

We hope you will join us.

Social Good in April: Stories You Don’t Want to Miss

Posted on April 30, 2018October 25, 2018 by Case Foundation

April was full of breaking news in social good, so we’re bringing you another edition of “This Month In Social Good,” rounding up our favorite stories from our Breaking Good newsletter so you don’t miss anything.

Of particular note this month, we saw a lot of great stories across the podcast circuit. Case Foundation CEO Jean Case talked to Wall Street Journal Podcasts about the importance of fearlessness in her journey to spark innovation in the social sector, and our VP of Social Innovation, Sarah Koch, was on Silicon Hills News and EU Now to talk about the need to support women in tech and entrepreneurship. We also revisited our roundup of Seven Fearless Founder Podcasts for those of you looking to brighten your daily commute.

April also brought us stories about industry leaders attaining B Corp certification, local communities embracing Impact Investing and female founders and investors coming together to change the face of entrepreneurship.

B Corps in the news

This month, a major player jumped into the world of B Corps: Danone North America. The certification, which makes them the world’s largest certified B Corp, comes just one year after Danone legally registered as a benefit company as part of their acquisition of WhiteWave. The North American entity is the eighth company under the Danone umbrella to be certified. The company has long been a proponent of corporate social responsibility and socially conscious business and the speed with which this large company achieved certification is a signal to other companies with social-impact goals that B Corp certification is attainable no matter their size. As an added bonus, the company worked with B Lab to create a case study of the steps they took throughout the year so other multinationals could learn from Danone’s experience and, hopefully, follow in their footsteps.

In April, we also got to hear firsthand about how Greyston Bakery, another B Corp, is making waves. For 30 years, Greyston Bakery has been focused on a big bet: to hire anyone, regardless of their background, as they bake gourmet brownies and cookies, including many of the brownies you see in Ben & Jerry’s Brownie Ice Cream, at their for-profit bakery located just north of New York City. On our latest episode of Be Fearless, we talked to CEO Mike Brady and the Greyston team about the success open hiring practices has brought for their company and their community and how they’re helping other companies do the same.

Impact Investing making inroads in local communities

From Atlanta to Lancaster to Baltimore, local foundations and governments are testing the waters with Impact Investing and alternative funding structures. At the beginning of the month, the Lancaster County Community Foundation announced that they would invest $500,000 in two local organizations aiming for both a social and financial return. The recipients were a housing and neighborhood revitalization organization and a financial inclusion organization. The investment is part of an ongoing effort from the foundation to leverage new funding mechanisms to support their community.

In Atlanta, the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta made a splash with a $10 million impact investment fund—the first local Impact Investing fund in the city. The fund, named GoATL will be distributed over the next two to three years and focused on five impact areas: arts, community development, education, nonprofit effectiveness and wellbeing.

Atlanta also is trying out innovative investing models with efforts to raise $12.9 million for an environmental impact bond through Neighborly, the municipal bond broker-dealer. The funds will go toward minimizing flooding and improving drainage. Baltimore is following suit with efforts to raise $6 million for an environmental impact bond aimed at reducing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.

Seeing communities across the country take on Impact Investing to tackle local but large-scale challenges is a great reminder of the field’s potential to grow and scale globally as it continues to move to the mainstream.

Female founders and the changing face of entrepreneurship in America

In the world of Inclusive Entrepreneurship, Vanity Fair’s April feature gave us both something to celebrate and something to work on. The magazine teamed up with Kathryn Finney and digitalundivided to feature the 26 Black women who have raised $1 million or more in venture funding. And while these groundbreaking women are truly worth celebrating, this was yet another reminder of the need to support all women of color launching business, many more of whom deserve to join the ranks of this “million dollar club.”

Also on the founder side, we heard the stories of inspiring female founders like Maneesha Mukhi, a social entrepreneur who created an online marketplace called ImmiGo to help individuals and businesses find high quality immigration attorneys. We also heard from GirlCrew cofounder, Aine Mulloy, who took to #FacesofFounders to tell the story of launching a platform to connect women across the globe, while fighting for female representation across industries.

Female investors are taking a stand too. April also heralded the launch of AllRaise, a group of 34 women investors—representing over $1 billion in investable capital—who are committed to helping women entrepreneurs raise money. Recognizing that there’s a robust pipeline of female entrepreneurial talent, the group is committed to increasing the percentage of venture funding going to women while doubling the number of female partners at venture firms.

These stories have inspired us and motivated us to get to work this month and beyond—and we hope they’ve inspired you too. To stay up to date on all things social good sign up for our newsletter, Breaking Good. 

Is there anything we missed this month? Tell us about your favorite social good story you saw in April!

7 Fearless Founder Podcasts to Listen To

Posted on March 6, 2018October 25, 2018 by Case Foundation

Everyone loves a good success story, and entrepreneurs tend to have especially fascinating ones. The road to success rarely goes in a straight line; rather, most successful people have encountered quite a few failures and obstacles along the way.

Learning from these challenges and failing forward is what often leads to breakthroughs. As our Be Fearless principles state, making big bets, failing forward, trying brave experiments, working with unlikely partners and letting urgency conquer fear can be the keys to success for entrepreneurs.

Being fearless isn’t always easy. But seeing stories of fearless entrepreneurs who have braved the path before can be the inspiration capital needed for aspiring entrepreneurs to begin to build their businesses. That’s why telling the stories of entrepreneurs from all backgrounds, and lifting up role models whose stories are not told as frequently in mainstream entrepreneurship coverage, is so important. Our #FacesofFounders campaign has brought together stories of entrepreneurs across race, place and gender, what they struggle with, what they’re building and why inclusivity makes entrepreneurship even stronger. We also regularly share stories of those changing the narrative of who is and can be entrepreneurs in our weekly newsletter, Breaking Good.

But sometimes hearing—not just reading—stories can be uniquely powerful. So, we asked the Case Foundation team to share some of their favorite stories of entrepreneurship, as told by podcasts. While there are many great stories out there, we compiled a list of nine podcast episodes of entrepreneurs who each stand out in a different way. Read on to learn about some of the founders who inspire us and remind us to Be Fearless.

Spanx—Sara Blakely on NPR’s “How I Built This”

Sara Blakely’s story starts with selling fax machines and ends with her becoming the youngest self-made female billionaire in the US. But her journey to get there may be less well-known. She launched Spanx with the money in her savings after seeing a need for an undergarment that incorporates the control top feature of pantyhose without the legs of pantyhose.

Blakely’s journey gathering support from manufacturers, patent attorneys, buyers and even Oprah is an inspiring one for women founders pitching unique and disruptive products. The story of how she convinced a Neiman Marcus buyer to work with her is also a funny reminder that unconventional methods can sometimes be the most effective ones.

Be Visible—Andrea Guendelman, on Backstage Capital’s “Mission and Values”

As fans of Inclusive Entrepreneurship, we loved hearing about the journey of Andrea Guendelman, who co-founded Be Visible. Recognizing a lack of available professional mentoring and networking resources for Latinx professionals, she built Be Visible as a professional social network for the group.

Throughout the podcast, Andrea breaks down the underlying barriers that separate Latinx professionals from many opportunities available to the wider population. She talks about the group’s unique needs and how Latinx Millennials specifically can be supported and encouraged to be engaged and connected citizens. She also has an interesting backstory that crosses countries and industries before launching Be Visible. Listen through the end to hear about where the platform is going and which big client Be Visible just landed.

**Hamdi Ulukaya—Chobani, on Fast Company’s “Innovators Uncensored”**

For a lesson in humble beginnings, hard work and compassionate leadership, listen to Fast Company editor, Robert Safian’s interview with Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and CEO of Chobani. Ulukaya’s path to success was untraditional, to say the least. He started in a closed down factory in a small town in upstate New York, working with a team of just five people and had no prior formal business, marketing or managing experience.

What was the first thing his team did after opening the factory? It’s not what you’d expect, but Ulukaya’s story bucks tradition from the beginning and you have to tune into to hear it straight from Ulukaya. After Chobani’s massive success, Ulukaya shares how he didn’t let success go to his head, how he has sought to stay accountable to his employees and how he doesn’t shy away from wider issues, like the refugee crisis. Listen to the interview to hear him tell the story of two refugees (of the 600 he’s hired) who found success working for Chobani. Ulukaya’s story is the story of a leader rebelling against assumptions about how businesses are run and putting purpose at the center of his business.

Capway—Sheena Allen, on “VC Cheat Sheet”

Sheena Allen took a non-traditional route to entrepreneurship, launching Capway, a Financial Tech company, from rural Mississippi. Allen talks about her journey to launching the FinTech company, which serves different groups of financially underserved consumers and talks about the unconscious bias that she had to overcome to succeed.

The ‘aha’ moment that led to her launching Capway came in a grocery store, where she saw a long line of people waiting to cash their checks. Through more research, Allen identified the massive gap in financial services for unbanked and underbanked populations—which leads to people cashing checks at nontraditional financial institutions, like grocery and convenience stores. Despite there being a huge market to serve this community, gaining support from investors was a challenge. Allen shares how she’s been able to find success and find the right investors to work with. And she holds nothing back, giving very direct advice to women and other underrepresented entrepreneurs looking to build support and sharing her advice on how to ask for help the right way. Listen to her story for insight into the experience of an entrepreneur building support for a service for underrepresented consumers.

Radio One—Cathy Hughes, on NPR’s “How I Built This”

For some serious entrepreneurial inspiration, you’ll want to listen to Cathy Hughes’ journey to radio success, which involves a fair share of bumps in the road along the way. As a young, single mom, Hughes moved from Omaha, Nebraska to Washington, DC to help launch the radio station at Howard University. She found success there by creating shows that catered to underrepresented communities in DC, but her journey didn’t stop there.

Hughes’s path to becoming a media mogul takes unexpected twists and turns, including a stint of living with her son in the young, struggling radio station she bought. Her story of navigating entrepreneurship, motherhood, success and expansion as a female founder of color is interesting for so many reasons; from the creative to the financial to the personal.

Coss Marte—ConBody, on Gimlet Media’s “Start Up”

Part 1 and Part 2
This is a story about second chances. Coss Marte is an ex-convict who spent four years in prison for selling drugs. Fast forward to today and he’s running a successful fitness business, ConBody.

The inspiration for the company came while Marte was still in prison. Dealing with health problems and the confinement of prison, Marte developed his own workout routines that could be done in small spaces and without weights, and he helped other inmates do the same. In the podcast, Marte shares his story building up a customer base, battling negative perceptions and making sure to hire fellow ex-convicts, who struggle to get jobs after leaving incarceration. The podcast begins and ends with Marte and his cofounder, Jenn Shaw going to a pitch competition where they’re starkly reminded how much they stand out; he being Latino and Shaw being a woman among a crowd of mostly white, Ivy league grads. The story of his journey there, and the results of the pitch competition, will inspire and surprise you.

Mariam Naficy—Minted, on “Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman”

Mariam Naficy is a two-time founder who launched both her companies in uncertain times. She started with Eve.com, the first major online cosmetics seller, which she launched in the late 90’s, a time when the future of the internet was unclear. In fact, to obtain the domain name, she actually had to make a deal with a very powerful five-year-old by the same name. From there, Eve.com raised $26 million in its first year and continued to scale rapidly until she sold the company in 2000.

After moving on from Eve, Naficy moved on to her next venture, Minted, an online stationary store. In this episode, she shares her challenges raising venture capital as a mom entrepreneur, and launching a company in 2008, at the height of a financial crisis. Minted would go on to raise $89 million in Venture Capital and ship to 70 million households, but along the way, Naficy faced a lot of teachable failures, which she shares with listeners.

We hope these podcasts inspire you as much as they have our team. For some more #BeFearless inspiration, check out our Be Fearless hub, and to learn more about how we’re championing entrepreneurship for all through inspiration capital and more, check out our Inclusive Entrepreneurship page and #FacesofFounders series.

33 SXSW Sessions You Shouldn’t Miss in 2018

Posted on February 23, 2018October 25, 2018 by Case Foundation

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of SXSW, the world renowned gathering that unites more than 420,000 people from across the globe. Each year SXSW dedicates itself to helping creative people expand their knowledge and have the opportunity to meet fellow innovators on a mission to change the world. Featured speakers at this year’s gathering include philanthropist and investor Melinda Gates; internationally renowned chef and humanitarian José Andrés; tech pioneer and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki; social influencers like Karlie Kloss, Guy Raz and Eric Liedtke; and many more. The festival is the essential destination for social impact leaders, startup founders, investors, philanthropists and innovators.

The Case Foundation team is excited to announce that we will take the stage at four sessions this year and that we are also partnering with TechCo where we will host a series of video interviews with startup founders, investors and ecosystem builders dedicated to pushing the Inclusive Entrepreneurship movement forward. Be on the lookout for our Facebook LIVE videos from SXSW debuting on March 10th HERE. We also invite you to check out the Startup Night SXSW 2018 presented by the Kauffman Foundation in partnership with TechCo, as part of their annual Startup of the Year program.

Some other events we’re excited to attend are Latinas in Tech, a showcase with Latina stars in the tech industry who will have a candid conversation on the state of entrepreneurship for female founders of color and how we can move the industry forward. Attendees can also check out a panel with Kansas Senator, Jerry Moran, as he takes the stage with business and policy experts who will discuss a variety of issues that are impacting entrepreneurs during their session on Supporting Startups to Fuel American Competitiveness.

And while in Austin, one must eat, and eat well. In addition to the hundreds of SX sessions and parties, you’ll find top-notch Texas restaurants and food trucks to keep you busy. Our team of former Texans here at the Case Foundation recommends Micklethwait Craft Meats, Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ—the Austin outpost of famed Black’s Barbecue, Launderette, Franklin’s Barbeque, Le Politque, Emmer & Rye, Tiger Fork and Hula Hut. For those looking for a memorable sunset, try the Oasis on Lake Travis.

Keeping with tradition, the Case Foundation has done your homework for you and detailed the 33 can’t miss sessions that are guaranteed to challenge your mind and change your view of the world at SXSW. Mark your calendars and see you there!

Engaging Millennials to Support Education, Mar 8, 2018 – 11:00am – 12:00pm Nnamdi Asomugha of The Asomugha Foundation and Derrick Feldmann of Achieve will discuss the current state of education and how a generation can support educational advancement for all of America’s youth. Feldmann will also debut the newest study from the Millennial Impact Project, a multi-year study in partnership with the Case Foundation on how Millennials engage with causes.
Attracting VC Investment Outside of Silicon Valley, Mar 9, 2018 – 12:30pm – 1:30pm presented by Capital Factory—hear from three VC’s who recently made investments in Texas-based startups to find out what factors they considered and how you can make your pitch stand out from the rest.
Opening Sessions at the HBCUSXSW18 House, Mar 9, 2018 – 1:00pm – 5:00pm featuring presentations on navigating SXSW, high demand technology careers, high growth company building, and multi-generational wealth creation. Featured speakers include Janice Bryant Howroyd (Founder, ACT-1 Global), Brian Bracken (Founder, Kairos & $KRS), Yulkendy Valdez (Founder, Project 99), Pat Kirkland, (Founder, Pat Kirkland Leadership), Samson Williams (Cofounder, Axes & Eggs), Jamarlin Martin (Founder & CEO, Moguldom), Arif Gursel (Founder & CEO, Black TechUnion), Sheena Allen (Founder, Capway), Rodney Williams (Cofounder, Lisnr), Dave Parker (Founder, Six Month Startup), Alicia Jones (Financial Education & Coach, Journey To Wealth), Berto Horne (Founder, The Perfect Gentlemen) and more.
Return on Inclusion: Investing in Diverse Startups, Mar 9, 2018 – 2:00pm – 3:00pm featuring Arlan Hamilton from Backstage Capital, Kai Bond from Comcast Ventures/Catalyst Fund, Sutian Dong from the Female Founders Fund and Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures, panelists will discuss the challenges that entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds face as they look to raise money and build their businesses, and will explore how startups can leverage their diverse perspective as a competitive advantage.
Giving Back Rocks: How Austin Brands Do It, Mar 9, 2018 – 5:00pm – 6:00pm what do a jewelry designer, hair care billionaire, tennis player, and hospital have in common? Successful businesses that give back to the community, while remaining “on brand.” This session highlights how an unconventional collection of panelists: Kendra Scott, John Paul DeJoria, Andy Roddick, Austin’s St. David’s HealthCare—leverage their individual talents and brands for serious philanthropy.
Improving Diversity and Reducing Harassment in VC, Mar 10, 2018 – 11:00am – 12:00pm join Reed Albergotti, a reporter at The Information; Niniane Wang founder & CEO of Evertoon; and Sarah Kunst founder & CEO at Proday.co as they discuss the culture within the VC community, ideas around improving diversity among decision-makers at VC firms, and the climate for women in tech.
Film + Storytelling in a Politically-Charged Era, Mar 10, 2018 – 12:30pm – 1:00pm national Geographic leads a conversation on how private and nonprofit sectors have stepped up to tell the stories of those affected by political actions, increasing activism and empathy. This panel features creative industry pros – top Hollywood directors and execs – sharing how they partner the profit-bearing potential of the business world with visionary storytelling to make waves on Capitol Hill.
Latinas Removing Barriers in Tech, Mar 10, 2018 – 12:30pm – 1:30pm this session explores the role of Latinas in tech both as users and as leaders of tech companies. Join Carolina Casares of Yahoo Latin America and Spain, Kety Esquivel from Edelman, Claudia Romo Edelman of UNICEF and Samira Saba of Smartmatic for the discussion.
New Girls’ Network: Women Funding Women, Mar 10, 2018 – 2:00pm – 3:00pm leaders from iFundWomen, Portfolia and Belle Capital USA share insights on the vast and growing ecosystem of organizations looking to capitalize on the underserved market of women-led companies.
Convergence Keynote: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Mar 10, 2018 – 2:00pm – 3:00pm Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic leads a conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates — national correspondent for The Atlantic, best-selling author, and current scribe of Black Panther comics—about culture, politics, and social issues in the Age of Trump.
Where Are the Women? How to Diversify Journalism, Mar 10, 2018 – 3:30pm – 4:30pm four leading female print and multimedia journalists from the BBC, The Fuller Project, Vignette Interactive and Women Photograph shed light on the gender imbalance in journalism through the lens of their own global reporting.
The End of Global Hunger? AI Will Make it Work, Mar 10, 2018 – 3:30pm – 4:30pm panelists from XPRIZE, Google, Gates Foundation and the UN World Food Programme will discuss how AI’s disruptive potential could help end global hunger.
Creating New Stories of Immigration, Mar 10, 2018 – 3:30pm – 4:30pm narratives of immigration play a crucial role in shaping public opinion and public policy, but nuanced narratives are all too often missing or ignored. The story of the individual, model immigrant is exalted, but what of those who don’t fit this image? Panelists working from varying perspectives and platforms will discuss their efforts to create new forms of storytelling that represent the immigrant experience in all its contours and speak to those on multiple sides of the issue.
Tech-no-color: Advancing Women of Color in Tech, Mar 10, 2018 – 3:30pm – 4:30pm a panel including Aubrey Blanche of Atlassian, Lafawn Davis of Twilio, Y-Vonne Hutchinson of ReadySet and Janet Ikpa of HIRED will shine a light on how to further build diversity and inclusion strategies with a focus on women of color.
Resistance & Disruption Through Diversity & Data, Mar 10, 2018 – 5:00pm – 6:00pm join Hilary Sloan, director of business development at ShopStyle; Nicolette Mason, diversity pioneer and founder; and Blake Gifford, attorney and digital influencer, as they discuss the power of activism and the opportunities for influencers to take a stand.
The Future of Business is Female, Mar 11, 2018 – 12:30pm – 1:30pm join Sonal Shah, Executive Director of the Beeck Center and Case Foundation Board Member as she leads a discussion with Stephanie Lampkin from Blendoor, Jennifer Stybel from the Rent the Runway Foundation and Cindy Whitehead from The Pink Ceiling exploring why intentionality around equal opportunity for women is a cornerstone to building and funding a successful startup enterprise and how new research and the #MeToo movement have opened up new pathways for investing in women leaders.
Corporate VC: The Firms, The Myths, The Legends, Mar 11, 2018 – 5:00pm – 6:00pm corporate Venture Capital is the topic of discussion in this session with Iris Capital, Orange Digital Ventures and Verizon Ventures led by Crunchbase/TechCrunch. They share more on the the rise of Corporate VC, the benefits they can offer startups and the key differences and similarities they share with traditional VC firms.
Minority Report: Engaging Kids of Color in Tech, Mar 12, 2018 – 9:30am – 10:30am Kimberly Bryant of Black Girls Gode, Laura Donnelly from Latinitas, Dalinda Gonzalez-Alcantar of Border Kids Code and Daniel Lucio of Google Fiber take the stage to share how high-touch programs are engaging minority youth in the tech world and inspiring them to go from becoming tech consumers to tech creators.
A Better World: Next-Gen Tech for Social Good, Mar 12, 2018 – 9:30am – 10:30am presented by CI&T—speakers from KnowTheChain, Thorn and Comrade share how companies are harnessing the power of technologies to amplify a social cause or mission.
Designers Who Broke the Internet, Mar 12, 2018 – 11:00am – 12:00pm join some of the designers behind Hulu, Twitter and Instagram to hear what their rationale and guiding principles were when they disrupted their respective ecosystems.
Women Rule, Mar 12, 2018 – 12:30pm – 1:30pm join POLITICO’s Editor Carrie Budoff Brown as she sits down with female leaders on the Women Rule podcast to talk power, politics and policy, and explore how dynamics shift when women have a seat at the table.
Black Women & The Invisible Billion Dollar Startup, Mar 12, 2018 – 5:00pm – 6:00pm breaking down barriers for black women founders is hard. Join TresseNoire, Be Nimble, Precursor VC and KeepUp for a conversation about how they are creating solutions to support black female founders and drive toward a world where the next billion dollar founder is a black woman.
Latino Entrepreneurship: Scaling to Excellence, Mar 13, 2018 – 9:30am – 10:30am how can Latino entrepreneurs manage the challenges to scaling their businesses and what resources are available to assist them? Check out this panel discussion featuring entrepreneurs and leaders that have dealt with this problem.
Democratizing AI for Individuals & Organizations, Mar 13, 2018 – 9:30am – 10:30am AI is the focus of the conversation when Dr. Fei-Fei Li, Director of Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Lab and Chief Scientist of AI/ML at Google Cloud; Megan Smith, CEO of shift7 and former U.S. CTO; and Joanne Chen, Partner at Foundation Capital take the stage. They will discuss the enormous potential AI has for improving the world, from increasing productivity to creating new medicines, as well as the challenges that it must overcome to produce these results.
The Truth about Diversity in Tech, Mar 13, 2018 – 12:30pm – 1:30pm Vice President of Public Policy at Lyft, Joe Okpaku discusses what drove him to pursue work at an early stage tech startup, how he thrives as a black executive in Silicon Valley, and offers advice to others looking to blaze their own unique career paths and improve people’s lives.
Agents of Mass Construction, Mar 13, 2018 – 12:30pm – 1:30pm filmmakers and environmentalists are teaming up to leverage film and storytelling to make a positive impact for nature. Mission Blue’s Sylvia Earle, Exposure Lab’s Jeff Orlowski, race car driver Leilani Munter and academy award winner Louie Psihoyos make media that Psihoyos calls “weapons of mass construction.” They will discuss taking viewers to the depths of the oceans and up close with endangered wildlife to turn audiences into agents for change.
Earth v. Mars: The Future of Exploration, Mar 13, 2018 – 12:30pm – 1:30pm National Geographic unites renowned explorers and astronauts as they dive deep into the future of expeditions on Earth, Mars and beyond. Speakers include Brian Skerry and Nadia Drake of National Geographic, as well as Leland Melvin and Nicole Scott from NASA. Together they will share the risks and rewards of pushing the limits of our capabilities as a species; breakthroughs in the potential to make a new home on the Red Planet; and surprising insights that are making us rethink staying put right here on Earth.
Why Black Women are 2018’s Best Investment, Mar 13, 2018 – 3:30pm – 4:30pm The Case Foundation sits down with inclusive entrepreneurship champions providing important connections, training and mentorships for entrepreneurs, as well as with the investors and influencers working to change the way capital and media attention flows to diverse entrepreneurs. Our VP of Social Innovation Sarah Koch will moderate a conversation with Cheryl Contee of Fission Strategy and Kathryn Finney of digitalundivided.
Creating a Movement Through User Generated Content, Mar 13, 2018 – 3:30pm – 4:30pm User Generated Content (UGC) has quickly become a valuable form of marketing, and today’s rich analytics environment means we have more information than ever about how people are reacting to brands and using different platforms. But creating a campaign that leverages UGC across multiple channels—playing to each of their strengths—remains a challenge for many marketers. Join Kate Coughlin from National Geographic, Megan Bond from the ONE Campaign, Monique Carswell from Comcast NBCUniversal and Jessica Zetzman from the Case Foundation to explore how to use UGC to break through.
How Can Venture Capital Achieve Gender Parity? Mar 13, 2018 – 5:00pm – 6:00pm how can women seize more of the venture capital pie? Doree Shafrir, senior tech writer for BuzzFeed News and author of STARTUP: A NOVEL, will moderate a panel with Trail Mix Ventures GP and entrepreneur Soraya Darabi, Homebrew founder and partner Hunter Walk, and Parity Partners program director Natalia Quintero.
Journalists Shattering the Business Status Quo, Mar 14, 2018 – 2:00pm – 3:00pm join a compelling conversation about how journalists and editors are conquering stereotypes and busting myths every day through their digital, online and print platforms. Seasoned media influencers share how news agencies are crafting stories about entrepreneurs of color, female founders, and the inclusive ecosystems that shatter the status quo. Jade Floyd of the Case Foundation will moderate a discussion with Megan Rose Dickey from TechCrunch, Valentina Zarya from Fortune Magazine and Vanessa De Luca from Essence Magazine.
Building a Bada#$ Business Against All Odds, Mar 15, 2018 – 2:00pm – 3:00pm this session is taught by experienced entrepreneurs from underrepresented sectors of tech who’ve made something out of nothing. Join Danielle Leslie from Course Alchemy, Tara Reed from Apps Without Code, Thomas Stovall from Candid/I’m Black in Tech and Aniyia Williams from Tinsel as they discuss the challenges they overcame and the opportunities they created.
How Tech Hubs Outside SV Lead The Way on Diversity, Mar 15, 2018 – 2:00pm – 3:00pm Detroit, Kansas City, Coeur D’Alene, Chattanooga: Cities with robust tech ecosystems show how starting a company outside Silicon Valley can create more opportunities to under-represented entrepreneurs and elevate diverse business ideas. Speakers from St. Martins Press, SLACK, UBS and Innovation Collective take the stage.

Finally, I’m excited to also serve as a WeDC Ambassador this year where I will be joined by fellow Washington, D.C. creatives, chefs, makers, entrepreneurs and innovators who each represent DC’s vibrant business sectors. Led by the Washington DC Economic Partnership and Executive Office of the Mayor, D.C. is committed to inclusive innovation focusing on providing access, opportunity and resources to the people, companies and organizations. Be sure to check out the many #WeDC House events taking place at SX this year.

Have a session you want us to share that didn’t make the list? Tweet us @CaseFoundation and @JadeFloydDC

A Month of Entrepreneurial Stories

Posted on November 30, 2017October 25, 2018 by Case Foundation

Our Inclusive Entrepreneurship work at the Case Foundation is built upon the core value that we must change the way we all talk about entrepreneurship, expanding who we lift up as success stories and busting myths that hold entrepreneurs back. National Entrepreneurship Month gave us a great opportunity to dive into the subject again and to celebrate entrepreneurs from a wide variety of backgrounds. It also gave us a chance to provide an honest look at some of the challenges of entrepreneurship.

We focus our work in Inclusive Entrepreneurship on challenges across race, place and gender, driven by the stark statistics that show the disparities faced by diverse entrepreneurs. Just looking at venture capital distribution reveals that only 10 percent of venture-backed companies have a female founder and only one percent have an African American founder. And just 75 percent of all venture capital is being distributed to just three states; California, New York and Massachusetts. Talent is everywhere; opportunity is not. And many of these elements are central to the stories that were at the core of our National Entrepreneurship Month blogs.

November 1^st was both the first day of National Entrepreneurship Month and National Stress Awareness Day, so we kicked off our series with an examination of the role stamina and support plays in becoming an entrepreneur. We asked our #FacesofFounders entrepreneurs how they manage the stress of launching and running a business. See what they said in Confronting the Dark Side of Entrepreneurship.

On Veteran’s Day, we shined a spotlight on veterans in entrepreneurship and ways to support them. Our friends at Bunker Labs took to #FacesofFounders to share how the organization is working to build an ecosystem to support veteran entrepreneurs. Read what CEO Todd Connor had to say in How Bunker Labs Is Building an Inclusive Ecosystem for Veteran Entrepreneurs.

Then we looked back at the Essence Festival panel our senior vice president, Sheila Herrling, moderated with a group of entrepreneurial changemakers. Herrling shares some of the top takeaways from the informative and action-inspiring conversation in Changing the Face of Entrepreneurship.

Finally, to celebrate Small Business Saturday and #Giving Tuesday we focused on some of the many ways individuals can support entrepreneurs running businesses of all sizes. Not every entrepreneur has the same financial and social resources, and in Keeping Entrepreneurship at the Heart of the American Experience, we highlighted the many ways that individuals can support entrepreneurs in their daily lives and with the purchasing decisions they make.

We hope these stories has given you a chance to learn more about entrepreneurs, their valuable contributions and how you can support them. To learn more and to access a list of resources on these subjects, visit our website, follow our Medium publication #FacesofFounders and subscribe to Breaking Good, the Case Foundation’s weekly newsletter, to see more from us on entrepreneurship, race, place and gender.

There is much more work to be done and while Entrepreneurship Month may be over, we will continue to champion building onramps to entrepreneurship for all with the goal of everyone having an equal chance at unlocking the American Dream. We hope you will join us.

Keeping Entrepreneurship at the Heart of the American Experience

Posted on November 20, 2017October 25, 2018 by Case Foundation

Entrepreneurs are vital members of our communities. The products and services they provide, innovation they spur and jobs they create are critical to the economic wellbeing of a community and a core part of the American Experience. As we have seen in the growth of the Impact Investing movement over the past ten years, entrepreneurs are also increasingly focusing part, if not all, of their efforts on addressing social and environmental problems that other stakeholders have been somewhat ineffective at solving.

While we know that the idea of entrepreneurs toiling away by themselves alone in a garage is a myth, while bringing forward these innovative new ideas, many entrepreneurs do spend a significant amount of time working by themselves or in small teams before their business gets to scale. It takes a village to get a startup off the ground, but building the community needed to succeed can be challenging. For example, 48 percent of women founders cite a lack of available mentors as a barrier to success and the average cost to launch a startup is around $30,000 with reports claiming that 80 percent of funding for new businesses comes from personal savings, friends and family. This creates additional roadblocks for entrepreneurs without wealthy friends and families.

We believe that entrepreneurs are only as strong as the community around them — investors, ecosystem builders, their team, supportive policy and you! As we approach Small Business Saturday and #GivingTuesday, we have rounded up some of the ways that anyone, anywhere can help entrepreneurs succeed.

Head to #FacesofFounders to read more about how you can support the entrepreneurship ecosystem…

A New Form of Digital Philanthropy: Open Sourcing #FacesofFounders

Posted on November 6, 2017October 25, 2018 by Case Foundation

Open source software, by its simplest definition, is a work of software whose source code is available for others to read, study, modify and redistribute with little restriction other than that the free access is maintained. Earlier this week, I wrote in an op-ed in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) about how we at the Case Foundation see open source as another form of philanthropy—a digital one whose contributions influence the success of many by providing publicly accessible software. In the article, I shared how we see the potential of open source software and how it can spark innovation, accelerate social good and ultimately help change the world.

Building on the early work of Jean and Steve Case—pioneers in the democratization of information with AOL—technology has always been a crucial part of how the Case Foundation works, and our tech-centric legacy has led us to champion early ideas that are now commonplace such as online giving and digital advocacy. In the course of that work, we have often used open source technologies because of their scalability and opportunity for customization. Giving the technology we create for projects at the Foundation back to the open source community is the next logical step. As we take on new challenges and new campaigns that serve our movements, we will also begin to take the time to ask ourselves and the community if a project that we think would be good for our efforts would also be good for others’ efforts. If that is true, we will dedicate time and resources in the project to open source the components that the community needs. Our contributions will always follow the needs of our broader goals, and we will open source the work in which we and the community find of real value.

So, as a part of our commitment to this open source ideal, we are excited to release the code that powered our #FacesofFounders campaign. This open source code includes features that powered the social photo upload and filters, applicant and story submissions, and the distributed judging platform. By releasing this platform’s code into the community, we are aiming to help those looking to launch similar campaigns where applicants must submit information and have a pool of judges evaluate the submissions.

We designed this platform that powered the first phase of the #FacesofFounders campaign to attract entrepreneurs, particularly women founders and entrepreneurs of color, to share their photos and stories of entrepreneurship on FacesofFounders.org or on Twitter using #FacesofFounders. Launched at the White House’s South by South Lawn festival, in partnership with Blackstone Charitable Foundation, Google for Entrepreneurs and UBS, along with Fast Company, #FacesofFounders sought out and lifted up America’s dynamic entrepreneurs who are key to driving innovation and job growth. The winners of the crowdsourced contest, who were reviewed by our panel of 40 guest judges, were selected because they bridged innovation and a commitment to inclusiveness. We then featured the winners of the contest on FastCompany.com and our #FacesofFounders Medium publication.

The technology powering this campaign was a huge part of its success, and we’re excited to share this code with the open source community. Throughout the judging process, we received numerous comments on how easy it was to use. The platform has three unique components that are all a part of a combined codebase.