Tuesday, April 13, 2010

One Percent Foundation

My summer "Alma mater," the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, hosted their capstone event tonight called the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition (SEIC) which "stimulates and funds activities that leads to innovative approaches to the area’s social problems." Not only does Skandalaris serve delicious catering such as shrimp cocktails and seafood ravioli at the events, but they also bring in really interesting entrepreneurs.

One in particular is a WashU student Jonathan Kaufman who I actually met two weeks ago through the Taylor Consulting Program (consulting for non-profits). His organization is called One Percent Foundation (www.onepercentfoundation.org) which encourages young people to get involved with philanthropy.

I don't have money. That's often the excuse of poor college students, and I catch myself saying that more and more nowadays.

One Percent's business model is brilliant and very creative:
1. Donate at least 1% of your income to philanthropy (half to 1% Foundation)
2. All donations are pooled to become a grant
3. Nominate organizations to receive the grant
4. Vote on which organization you want to win

Tada! It's doable... and I think I might just do it.

No comments:

Post a Comment