Cause & Purpose

Lisa Wang is the founder and CEO of Almost Fun, an innovative nonprofit organization whose mission it is to ensure low income and BIPOC students have a culturally responsive, accessible, and engaging resources that empower their learning. Almost Fun is also a graduate of FastForward’s nonprofit accelerator program, which we have featured in our startup edition on the podcast. Lisa joins Cause & Purpose for a tactical and enlightening discussion of what needs to change in how educational content is being made, what she learned from her time at Google about educational effectiveness and progress, and the lessons she has already learned in scaling a non-profit startup.

Larry Gast is the VP of Development at Moishe House International, a nonprofit that creates meaningful, welcoming communities for Jewish adults in a post-college world. Larry joins Cause & Purpose to discuss how he’s infused an entrepreneurial spirit into every one of his roles, from working with large organizations like the JDC to ones that closely resemble startups. He has a wealth of insights that can be used for your organization, no matter your size or mission.

Karin Underwood is the Founder and CEO of Verano Health, an accessible mobile platform built to provide life-changing diabetes self-management training to low-income Americans with chronic disease. She’s spent a lifetime embedded in social impact, from high school service trips all the way to living in Kenya for two years post-college with the One Acre Fund. Karin joins Cause & Purpose to detail her exciting journey as a nonprofit tech entrepreneur and share countless lessons-learned from a lifetime of firsthand experience interfacing directly with the communities she wants to help.

Woodrow Rosenbaum is the Chief Data Officer at Giving Tuesday, a movement designed to unleash the power of radical generosity around the world through a dedicated day for giving. Every year, Giving Tuesday activates over 70 national movements, 300 communities, and tens of millions of people to support organizations across the globe. Woodrow joins us for an exclusive interview on Cause & Purpose to share the origins behind Giving Tuesday, how we can shift mindsets for the social sector, and countless data-backed insights that can be applied to your organization on a year-round basis.

CauseMic is a boutique consulting firm cofounded by Matt Scott, CEO, to help nonprofits who want to truly disrupt the social sector. Their work is hyper-focused on implementing rapid growth plans that will see organizations scale their revenue 10x in 3 to 5 years, using technology to build personalized relationships at scale, and driving authentic engagement between organization and audience. Matt joins Cause & Purpose to share his insights, tactical advice, and so much more.

Shannon Farley is the cofounder and executive director of Fast Forward, an accelerator that focuses specifically on tech nonprofits. To date, they’ve graduated seven cohorts, raised more than $275 million on behalf of their members, and impacted the lives of more than 88 million people. Cause & Purpose was beyond excited to host Shannon and discuss how an entrepreneurial mindset has helped her career journey, from mobilizing the largest network of millennial philanthropists ever to funding the next great nonprofit founders obsessed with making a lasting impact on the world. 

Tim Kachuriak is the Founder, Chief Innovation Officer, and Optimization Officer at NextAfter, a fundraising research lab and consultancy. They specialize in work with cause-driven businesses and nonprofit organizations to help them better understand their customers and inspire their donors to give generously. He's also the founder of The Human Coalition, a nonprofit that is committed to the goal of rescuing children and families from abortion. Tim joined us on Cause & Purpose to tell the story of how he was able to take career experiences from the world of advertising marketing and fuse it with the world of social impact. We also got tons of actionable insights for nonprofits to go along with the exciting tale.

Becky Kekula is a social change advocate, dynamic public speaker, and driving force behind the Disability Equality Index (DEI) from Disability:IN. A lifelong advocate for the rights and representation of people living with disabilities, Becky has covered many miles, touched many hearts, and has made a real impact on how people with disabilities are treated in the workplace. Becky joined Cause & Purpose to share her lived experiences, and talk about some of her struggles, successes, and failures from a life advocating for equal treatment for everyone.

Of all the social entrepreneurs we've met, few have had as diverse and unique a career journey as Rama Chakaki. Truly a citizen of the world, Rama spent parts of her youth in Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. She's run both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. She's pushed boundaries in technology and touched countless lives through uplifting multimedia and purpose-driven e-commerce. Rama joined Cause & Purpose to share stories from her life and career, lessons learned, and discuss her latest ventures, including Ed Seed, a nonprofit crowdfunding platform that gives young refugees the resources they need to succeed in school and giving "their entire family a new chance at life outside of a refugee camp."

As a teenager growing up in New Jersey, Maggie Doyne looked ahead to a future already written - college, career, student loans - and realized there must be more out there. During a gap year spent traveling in Southeast Asia, Maggie came face to face with a reality starkly different than the one she had known growing up - a refugee crisis, children forced into hard labor, and families torn apart by the Nepalese civil war. Struck by a deep affinity for the Nepalese people, Maggie new she had to act. She pooled what little resources she had, and together with her cofounder, a local Nepali man named Top Malla, she founded BlinkNow, a nonprofit organization that runs a school, women's center, and children's home in Surkhet Nepal.