Influence Nation Summit is on September 6th in Washington, DC
Where to eat, what movie to see or which insurance plan to select—these are just a fraction of the personal decisions we make every day based on influences we may or may not be aware of. As consumers, community members, employees and in all of the everyday roles we assume, the decisions we make are often influenced by advertising, online reviews, media, recommendations by celebrities and friends, etc. But are these the same sources that influence us to get involved in trying to remedy a social issue we hear or care about?
We’re determined to find out. For the last ten years, the Case Foundation has led extensive research on how the Millennial generation engages with social issues and causes. From the launch of Social Citizens in 2008 and continuing from 2011 to 2017 with the Millennial Impact Report, in partnership with Derrick Feldmann and the researchers at Achieve, we’ve surveyed more than 100,000 Millennials in an effort to understand why and how our nation’s largest generation, Millennials, were taking action on the causes that they care about most. We initiated this work a decade ago because we saw the potential impact of this young generation and sought to gauge how their voice, digital networks, idealism and commitment to innovative ideas could bring about true social change.
As we continue to build on the spirit of curiosity that powered our last ten years to research the Millennial generation and a belief that understanding what influences young Americans to take or not take action is important for all in the social sector, the Foundation is excited to support the launch of a new body of research on these topics focused on 18-30 year old Americans from Cause and Social Influence and to support the inaugural Influence Nation Summit on September 6 in Washington, DC.
A significant portion of the new summit will focus on the social and media influences that drive young Americans to action on causes and participation in movements. We are looking forward to joining this important conversation, where we will join with others to share our own fearless journey, and learn from the expert organizers and communicators powering key movements today. The organizers of the summit have pulled together a compelling list of voices including:
- Michael Skolnik, who was described in the New York Times as “the man you go to if you want to leverage the power of celebrity and the reach of digital media to soften the ground for social change.”
- National Geographic storyteller Lillygol Sedaghat who aims to inspire conscious consumerism – the realization that every choice we make affects the environment – and spark a global discussion on trash.
- Christine Montenegro McGrath whose work transforming Mondelez International’s cocoa supply chain seeks to apply big and small actions every day to positively affect people and the planet.
We’re experiencing the pull of powerful movements today. And this leads us to ask: what drives the power behind one idea to spread like wildfire, becoming a culture shifting movement, and another to remain an idea shared by only a relatively few. As we seek to answer this and other key questions, we must learn to understand the role of influence over individuals and the masses. This is particularly important if we hope to inspire people to take action on causes we all care about.
That’s why we’re inviting you to join the first step in the journey to examine how social movements arise and lead people from understanding to action to sustained behavior change to, we hope, real, measurable progress on the world’s social challenges—the Influence Nation Summit!
The Summit will only be the beginning and we hope to see you in D.C. and online as we discuss the power of influence to lead Young Americans to action using #INSummit18. Don’t worry, if you can’t make it in person, we’ll be streaming the sessions live.
Tickets and Scholarships for the first Influence Nation Summit are still available.
