For over a decade, Causeartist has published the annual Social Entrepreneurs to Watch list. If you know a founder building a real solution, put them on our radar.

What is Causeartist Next?

Causeartist Next is our annual list of social entrepreneurs building companies that put impact next to profit, not behind it. We cover founders creating practical solutions across climate, food, health, education, financial inclusion, ethical supply chains, and more.

Check out the lists from past years:

2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2020 / 2021 / 2022 / 2023 / 2024 / 2025

Frequently asked questions

Is nomination required to be included?
No. We also source founders through interviews, research, and referrals. Nominations help us find people we might miss.

Do you charge to be featured?
No. If someone asks you for money to get on the list, it is not us.

Can I nominate myself?
Yes. Self nominations are welcome and encouraged. 😀

When does the 2026 list publish?
Deadline for nominations is January 20th. We publish in early February and share the list for all of 2026 via our website, newsletter, and social accounts.

Nominate here

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Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.

Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.

By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

The statistics on marine pollution are staggering: an estimated 11 million metric tons of plastic enter our oceans every single year, equivalent to dumping a garbage truck full of plastic into the sea every minute.

This crisis impacts everything from coral reefs and endangered species to the seafood on our plates.

For decades, the fight to save our oceans was led primarily by large, established non-profits. Today, however, a new, dynamic force has emerged: the ocean conservation startup.

These ventures are attracting significant investment and deploying cutting-edge technology to tackle pollution at its source, in rivers, and in the open ocean. They represent the leading edge of sustainable ocean tech.

Full post here.

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Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.

Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.

By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

For decades, nonprofits have relied on the same narrow funding playbook. Donations spike at year end. Grant cycles are slow and unpredictable. Teams spend enormous time fundraising instead of delivering impact.

Meanwhile, trillions of dollars move through global markets every day with no connection to social outcomes.

In Episode 235 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, we sat down with Martin Simms and Aaron Rafferty, co founders of WYDE Impact Exchange, to explore a bold alternative.

What if markets themselves could fund missions automatically.

What if trading activity generated real nonprofit revenue

 And what if transparency and accountability were built directly into the system.

WYDE is not another crypto exchange chasing speculation.

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Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.

Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.

By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

The push to decarbonize the world’s energy systems now overlaps with a long standing problem: what to do with the massive amount of agricultural waste produced every year.

Billions of tons of crop residues and animal waste are generated across the globe. Much of it is left to rot or is burned, which adds to air pollution and releases methane.

The result is a two sided problem.

We face avoidable environmental damage on one side, and a large source of unused energy on the other.

A growing group of startups is working to change this. They are building practical technologies that convert agricultural waste into clean energy that farmers and rural communities can actually use.

These companies are cutting waste, lowering emissions, and supporting local economies. They are also helping build a circular bioeconomy that treats waste as a resource rather than a burden.

Read full post

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Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.

Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.

By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

The global move toward cleaner energy is gaining speed, yet two issues continue to shape its future. We need a dependable and sustainable supply of battery materials, and we need storage systems that can carry the grid through long periods of weak wind or sunlight.

The surge in electric vehicles and utility scale renewables has put real pressure on both fronts. It has exposed how fragile a linear, mining dependent supply chain can be and how little short duration storage can do when the grid faces extended stress.

These gaps must be solved if the energy transition is going to hold up over the long run.

A new generation of startups is rising to meet this challenge, fundamentally disrupting both the Circular Economy for battery materials and the Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES) market.

These innovators are not just fixing problems; they are building the technological and logistical backbone of a truly resilient, decarbonized grid.

Read full list

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Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.

Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.

By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

Ben & Jerry’s is often celebrated as the blueprint for socially conscious capitalism, a company that set out to prove business could serve both profit and purpose.

Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the brand grew from a local scoop shop into a global symbol of activism wrapped in indulgence.

Its mission, famously defined as a three-part balance between product quality, economic sustainability, and social justice, positioned the company decades ahead of mainstream corporate responsibility trends.

But behind the lighthearted flavor names and progressive branding lies a far more complicated story. Over the past four decades, Ben & Jerry’s has struggled to reconcile its idealism with industrial reality, and its activism with corporate ownership.

The 2000 acquisition by Unilever(SEC Filing) marked a turning point, one that gave the brand global reach but also sparked ongoing tension over how far a subsidiary can push social and political boundaries inside a multinational conglomerate.

The company’s evolution highlights both the potential and the pitfalls of value-driven business. Its impact programs, from Fairtrade sourcing and regenerative agriculture to refugee employment and racial equity initiatives, have made real contributions to ethical commerce.

Yet, the same mission has exposed Ben & Jerry’s to accusations of hypocrisy and partisanship. The gap between its public commitments and operational constraints has grown increasingly visible as global scrutiny around corporate activism intensifies.

Today, Ben & Jerry’s stands as both a pioneer and a cautionary tale.

Its enduring popularity and strong brand equity demonstrate the power of purpose-driven storytelling, while its public controversies and internal governance conflicts reveal the structural limits of idealism in a profit-driven system.

The lessons drawn from its trajectory extend well beyond ice cream, they speak to the broader tension facing any brand that dares to mix business with belief.

Full case study

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Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.

Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.

By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

Climate action often feels heavy. The headlines focus on crisis, the solutions demand sacrifice, and the average person ends up believing their choices are too small to matter.

Robert Luo has been working to break that cycle.

As the CEO of Tanbii, he is building a platform that turns climate restoration into a daily habit through play.

His team has found a way to turn virtual energy into real world reforestation.

The idea is simple.

When people enjoy something, they stick with it.

When they see the results of their actions, they stay committed.

Tanbii uses those truths to make sustainability feel accessible, social, and rewarding.

Players plant virtual trees, complete missions, and build worlds within the game.

Behind the scenes, every eligible planting triggers a real tree planted on the ground through verified NGO partners.

What began as a frustration with the traditional sustainability message has grown into a global early access community with thousands of players and thousands of trees already planted.

In this interview, Robert breaks down the origin story of Tanbii, how the platform works, and what it takes to create a climate action experience that people actually enjoy.

Full interview

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Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.

Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.

By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

Allbirds is a sustainable footwear and apparel company founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, California (though with roots in New Zealand).

Its mission centers on creating environmentally responsible apparel using natural materials, minimizing carbon footprint, and promoting sustainable consumer habits.

From its early viral growth and celebrity adoption to raising hundreds of millions and going public in 2021, Allbirds enjoyed momentum as a “sustainable darling.”

However, since its IPO, the company has struggled with declining revenues, losses, leadership turnover, over expansion, and brand fatigue. In 2024, revenues fell ~25 % year over year to ~$189.8 million, with net losses exceeding $93 million.

Key lessons include the hazards of rapid product-line expansion beyond core brand identity, balancing growth with profitability, and the challenge of proving sustainability claims under investor scrutiny.

The remainder of this case study dissects Allbirds’ journey across structural, financial, competitive, operational, and strategic dimensions, and concludes with forward-looking recommendations and lessons for other impact-driven companies.

Full case study here

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Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.

Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.

By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

The idea that doing good should be simple is not new. The problem is the world rarely makes it simple. That is where Tab for a Cause comes in. What started as a clever college experiment has grown into one of the most accessible digital giving tools on the internet.

With nothing more than an internet connection and the habit of opening new browser tabs, millions of people have helped raise real dollars for causes that matter.

Under the leadership of co founder and CEO Alex Groth, the company has pushed a straightforward idea into a global engine for everyday generosity.

The platform has already helped raise two million dollars for nonprofit partners, all without asking users for a single cent.

It turns a routine digital behavior into a steady source of funding for environmental, health, education, and animal welfare efforts around the world.

Below, Alex walks through the origin story, the mission, how the business works, and what tools power the team behind it.

Read full interview.

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Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.

Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.

By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In the crowded world of consumer packaged goods, few companies truly live their mission from the inside out. Waiākea Hawaiian Volcanic Beverages, founded in 2012 in Hilo, Hawai‘i, stands apart as one that does.

Co-founded by Ryan Emmons, his cousin Alex Preston, and friend Matt Meyer, the brand was built on a simple but revolutionary idea: great taste should never come at the planet’s expense.

From using 100% post-consumer recycled plastic to pioneering OceanPlast®, a proprietary coastal recycling initiative, and creating the Kōkua Initiative nonprofit to uplift local communities, Waiākea has become a model for what the next generation of sustainable businesses can be.

The company’s products, from its naturally alkaline volcanic water to its new coffee line, all flow from a foundation of respect for the land, its people, and a shared responsibility for the future.

We sat down with Ryan Emmons, Co-Founder and CEO, to talk about the origins of Waiākea, the company’s triple-bottom-line philosophy, and how it continues to redefine what it means to build a purpose-driven brand.

Full interview

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Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.

Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.

By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.