Lets Break Good

Our interview today is with @prettyblocks, a mixed media and generative NFT artist who collaborated with Stella Artois to raise $250k for Water.org. @prettyblocks discusses the campaign, how he started creating NFTs, and balancing the creative and financial rollercoaster that is the NFT space. Also in this episode: hosts Joe Agoada, CEO of Sostento, a 501c3 nonprofit, as well as 'Topshot Tandy' answer questions about using NFTs and crypto to raise money for nonprofits.

In this episode we hear from nonprofits facing some challenges in how they use Web3 to raise funding for worthy causes. Hear from hosts Joe Agoada, CEO of Sostento, a 501c3 nonprofit, as well as 'Topshot Tandy' in this premiere episode of season 3. Make sure to tune in live next time to ask your own questions!

On today’s episode the story of how one nonprofit responded to their shut down of their organization during the coronavirus pandemic. How did a team, with limited money and time, react to the prospect of having to change their operations overnight? Get ready for takeoff for an uplifting and inspiring story.

On today’s episode we look at the economics of social good and how to avoid the disastrous outcome when you do way too much and make very little impact. When can you know that you're out of balance and those overtime hours you are putting in just aren’t worth it anymore? Stop wasting budgets, time and energy and become a master of making more impact -- by doing less, not more.

Our interview today is with Jean-Martin Bauer, Country Director at the World Food Programme in Congo-Brazzaville. Jean-Martin has spent nearly 20 years fighting hunger across Africa and the world with the United Nations. In this episode we will get into what it takes to mobilize huge amounts of aid during a crisis in an area of the world that cars cannot go and mobile phone networks don’t reach. Also, one tasty idea that promises to nourish kids across the Congo.

Welcome back to Let’s Break Good, the podcast where we never settle for good enough. A lot has happened since our last episode just over three months ago. The world has changed. Today a story of setbacks, resilience and rising to the challenge of a global pandemic. Who became an instant partner in a life saving coronavirus response innovation effort. What stuck at home resource fueled a powerful approach to flattening the curve? And what can you do if you are facing unemployment and want to find a way to thrive in the new normal. Let’s dig into it, let’s get started.

Anyone who has attempted fundraising for a social cause will tell you it’s much harder than it seems. A big part of that challenge comes from a widely held false assumption that the best ideas get funding over boring traditional ones. In this episode our host shares some of the biggest mistakes that people make when they are just starting off fundraising and provides a couple secrets that have helped him raise millions for social good.

Or guest today is Professor David Grayson. For over 30 years, Professor Grayson has been a leader on purpose and sustainability in the world of business. He currently chairs the institute of business ethics in the United Kingdom and holds the title of professor emeritus at the Cranfield University School of Management. Today we’ll be talking about the evolution of corporate responsibility, the need for business leadership and what individuals can do in their day jobs to help make the world a better place.

At the center of today's episode will be the story of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, when in 2013 they set out on a mission to connect a billion people without internet access to the benefits of the world wide web. Why did Zuckerberg take on this impact minded initiative? How did Facebook leverage their corporate brand to try and do it? And what happened that caused millions of social good dollars to literally blow up in smoke.

To start the new year we have an interview with Ghanian entrepreneur Bright Simons. Bright is the President of mPedigree, a social enterprise that has developed novel solutions to the problem of harmful counterfeit drugs and agricultural products across Africa and Asia. Bright is a thought leader for the impact sector and a pioneer on powerful multi-sectoral partnerships that create ways of doing business that solve critical human problems. Bright has a long list of recognitions, including TED Fellow, Ashoka fellow, Fortune magazines 50 top World Greatest Leaders, and just last year was given the prestigious Skoll Award for social entrepreneurship. Bright covers the growth of his social enterprise, how he has built a dynamic network that has positioned himself for powerful social impact.

How should social causes determine how much they pay their employees? Some argue that working in the world of doing good means sacrificing the type of pay one would expect in a corporate job. But does that mindset cause there to be less talent, money and results from organizations that are saving lives and improving our planet or does the enormous needs of the poor and vulnerable mean there is a moral obligation to keep salaries low. On this episode we investigate the nonprofit pay dilemma We’ll explore the story of a man who raised millions for charity and then lost it all after the media took issue with his pay. How did he recover from this devastating set-back and go on to change the way many look at nonprofit compensation?

Have you ever clicked the like button on a social media post spotlighting a social cause without taking any other action at all? On this episode we explore if social media be a powerful tool for grassroots activism or if it is just a superficial hashtagification of social change. We will recount the story of one of the most notorious viral videos of all time that got hundreds of millions of likes around the world, inspiring celebrities, presidents and thousands of ordinary people into action for a nonprofit initiative. What lessons can the viral video teach the current social media campaigns on the environment being lead by youth?

On this episode we discuss critical questions on the power and pitfalls of technology in helping society take on the most serious social challenges with Professor Morgan Ames. Profess Ames is an assistant adjunct professor in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley. Her new book The Charisma Machine: The Life, Death, and Legacy of One Laptop per Child is available now via MIT Press. Professor Aims holds a PhD in communication from Stanford as well as bachelors and masters from University of California Berkeley. For more information about Professor Ames and her book visit: https://morganya.org/

On today’s episode we will explore different definitions of failure, how to avoid failing and perhaps most importantly, what to do if you feel like a total failure. We’ll take a special look at failure in the nonprofit and social impact world, where limited budgets and lots of need puts extra importance on separating good failures from bad ones.

The nonprofit Kiva has helped millions of people in over 75 countries since it started in 2005. Our guest interview with founding member Chelsa Bocci covers her 14 years of amazing Kiva moments that includes turning down a dream school opportunity, Oprah's favorite things (twice) and reaching one billion dollars in support to entrepreneurs world wide.

Equipment giveaways in Africa, unpaid intern labor, software donations to charities..all with good intentions and supposedly at no cost to the receiver, but could these freebies actually have a hidden price? On our season two premeiere episode we ask the question, what is the cost of free when it comes to nonprofit, philanthropic and development work. For more information or to get in touch with the podcast staff follow us on twitter @LetsBreakGood and visit www.letsbreakgood.com.

It's been two months since our season one finale, and new episodes are in the works! Listen to a brief update from host Joe Agoada as she shares about a chance encounter at a coffee shop that got him thinking about the podcast and then goes into a few details about the upcoming second season. You can also access all the episodes on our new homepage www.letstbreakgood.com

On the season one finale of the podcast we look into the global phenomenon known as One Laptop Per Child. It was a project that took off like a rocket ship in 2006, raising enormous amounts of money, grabbing the attention of world leaders and making headlines on all the major news outlets. How did a nonprofit take on the audacious goal of getting every child on the planet a laptop? And over a decade later, how far did they get in improving the education and lives of the poor?

A feature interview with the nonprofit leadership team of Public Lab, a community where you can learn how to investigate environmental concerns and use inexpensive DIY techniques to change how people see the world in environmental, social, and political terms. Shannon Dosemagen (Executive Director) and Jeff Warren (Director of Research) talk about their journey into careers in purpose, the founding of Public Lab during the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill environmental disaster of 2010, and how they have sustained the organization and its community over the past decade.

Many of us are searching for a job that allows us to reach towards our greatest potential. An environment in the workplace that gives us to the room be our best selves. It’s not easy to find that place. Even an opportunity that looks good at first, may become a nightmare once you are in it. What questions should you ask before accepting that new job to make sure the fit is right? What does it feel like when you are in an organizations that can nurture your drive and align with your goals? On this episode we go into finding a workplace that inspires.

Could sustainable energy by the key to eradicating poverty and fighting climate change? On this episode of Let's Break Good, a thought-provoking interview with award winning social entrepreneur Harish Hande. Through his organization SELCO India, Harish and his team are breaking myths on how to deliver sustainable energy to the poor. Listen to the insights and breakthroughs that has lead SELCO to provide 500,000 poor families across India with affordable solar energy systems.

You can't break good alone, so what can you do when those that you work with simply do not have the same drive for purpose as you? In this episode we look at what it takes to find your professional tribe. How did the host of Let's Break Good find his by traveling thousands of miles and bringing together an unlikely group of professionals from all different backgrounds and industries.

On today's episode an extraordinary in-depth interview with Myriam Sidibe. For over twenty years Myriam has been a leader on social and health issues across Africa and Asia. She runs a multi million dollar brand at the global consumer goods company Unilever that also improves the health and sanitation of people across 55 different country. On the podcast, Myriam reflects on her professional journey, talks about the power of branding with purpose, and shares advice on starting and maintaining a career with deep meaning.

If 90% of technology is designed for the wealthiest 10% of the world's population, what does it take to design for the other 90%? On today's episode, we start in Uganda with a story of why many aide and charity groups design approach to doing good has the right intentions, but still fall short. Then we look at an alternative design approach pioneered by Amy Smith at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and our host shares his lessons learned from a month long design summit in Ghana that implemented in Smith's appropriate, co-creation approach to design for the 90%

In a continuation from episode four "So You Think You Can Map", this episode explores overcoming the challenges of scaling a project that has proven to break good. What can you do when your colleagues are not as enthusiastic as you are about a project, even if it is making a huge impact? How can you maintain momentum past the excitement of launch and initial achievements? And what happens when a project grows beyond your control? An authentic, raw look at what it takes to scale social impact.

When the impact you are trying to make seems nearly impossible, the hardest step to take is the first one. How do you assemble the team needed to take on the challenge? How do you get the buy-in and commitments from the community you are seeking change in? For our inspiration we will be going to do the famed city of Rio de Janeiro Brazil to explore the story of a community in conflict that overcome years of non action to take on life threatening disaster risks.How did they get unlikely allies, the local police force and young people, to work together? How did the pinpoint the location of where disaster would strike when no map of their community existed?

How do you get started on breaking good? It all starts with your passion. In this episode we look at the hosts inspirational first experience with breaking good thanks to rap music, teaching kids to read and his college dorm's ethernet. Later some tips to making the case to colleagues and the CEO of your organization. By the end of the episode, you'll see why it is either break good, or get left behind.

After a volunteering trip to a war torn country, Gib Bulloch was inspired by the potential for business skills to help tackle tough social problems. In this episode we interview Gib to learn how he turned his idea into a multi-million dollar venture inside one of the world's largest consulting companies. How did he get employees to line up for a pay cuts to take on purpose driven projects? What did it take to sustain his initiative and how can you find purpose in the workplace without losing your sanity?

In the premiere episode we cover the road trip across Africa and New York City happy hour that lead to the inspiration for breaking good. Later we talk about what inspired the podcast and why we need people to break good in 2019 more then ever before.