Unstoppable

Ashindi is an independent strategist and donor advisor in democracy reform, social and racial justice. She has developed funding strategies informing more than $100 million in investments from some of the largest foundations and individual donors in the United States  - including the Democracy Alliance, the Ford Foundation, The Women Donors Network, the Sandler Family Foundation, and PowerPAC. Ashindi co-founded the Emergent Fund, a post 2016 election rapid response fund supporting organizing in the most impacted communities where Muslim, Black, immigrant, Latino, Asian, women, and LGBTQ leaders took the lead in decision-making and were the primary recipients of over $1 million raised in the first 100 days of the new Administration. In May of 2016 she also co-authored, with Urvashi Vaid, the first comprehensive report on high net worth donors of color titled, “The Apparitional Donor: Understanding and Engaging High Net Worth Donors of Color”. She also piloted voter engagement projects geared at Asian American

This week we’re proud to bring you our first Podcast Mash-up.  Jonathan McClelland, recent Pepperdine Grad and the Host of Between Two Millenials, and I - decided to co-host a show on the ways in which Millenials are approaching social innovation and social entrepreneurship.  We cover a broad range of topics from cultural influences to changing perspectives on traditional nonprofit organizations.  We also talk about the role of the socially aware consumer and the steps Millenials, in particular, are taking to be more intentional about their social innovation efforts.   Thanks so much for listening to Unstoppable. If you haven’t already, please leave us a review on iTunes and let us know how we’re doing.  We’re always looking for ways to improve the show and welcome each of your comments.   If Two Golden Fish can ever be of service, please reach out to us at hello@twogoldenfish.com.  Supporting Social Innovators is our mission and we’re here to help. We’ve got an exciting announcement coming in September so b

At some point in time, every social innovator faces the daunting task of growing beyond their initial customers and inspiring the larger community.  Questions quickly arise in response to the challenge: How can we connect in a meaningful way to more and more people? How can we leverage our existing supporters to get the word out?    What does it take to create raving fans and evangelists for our product or service? To help us explore these questions and talk through tangible strategies any social innovator can employ, we reached out to Peachy Myers - Director of Community Engagement at Foundation Communities in Austin, TX. After joining the original field leadership team for then Senator Barack Obama in 2008 and going on to serve in the White House ( the story of which we’ll be exploring in another podcast with Peachy), Peachy returned to the non-profit sector to design and deploy new ways to organize and support communities of change.  In this episode, Peachy walks us through ways in which we can proactively

This week we’re switching things up and launching our first Tools You Can Use episode. We’ve been trying to think of an efficient way to respond to the questions that have been coming in from listeners - and thought we would try this on for size.   The most common question we’ve been asked is “how do you even get started?  I’m committed to a cause but not sure where to begin.” There are so many ways to begin, but here are three quick steps that come to mind: Step 1: I’d read  “It’s not what you sell, it’s what you stand for” by Roy Spence.   Roy does a great job of speaking to “how to fall in love with the problem” and letting that drive the arenas in which you innovate.  If you’re an organization that’s been around for awhile, it will help you return to that original problem and help inspire the next innovation.  If you’re a new organization, it will help you get off on the right foot. Step 2:  Read “Jobs to be done: A Roadmap for Customer-Centered Innovation” by Stephen Wunker, Jessica Wattman and David Far

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Lidija Sekaric about ways to disrupt an industry and leveraging government resources.  Lydia has held a number of progressive positions within the Department of Energy over the last eight years.  As a Director, Deputy Director, and Group Manager in the SunShot Initiative, Lidija managed a portfolio of $1B in project funding in solar research and development. She helped drive the near and long-term solar program strategy, out-year budgets, and new initiatives.  As a Senior Technical Advisor for the Under Secretary for Energy, Lidija oversaw strategic projects involving $4B in renewables, fossil, nuclear and grid technologies at the Department of Energy.  In our discussion, we focus on the significant progress made under the SunShot Initiative. When SunShot was launched in 2011, it set a goal for solar energy to become cost-competitive with traditional forms of electricity by 2020 without subsidies. This goal set cost targets at $0.09 per kilowatt hour for residential photovol

Scaling the Social Enterprise There are generally three types of risk a social enterprise must manage as it grows and scales over time: concept risk, execution risk, and scale risk.  In this week's episode we talk with Hal Cato, CEO of Thistle Farms as he manages the execution risks of a growing social enterprise and lays the groundwork for a dramatic scaling effort that includes more than 450 Whole Foods stores, supply chain integration with other social enterprises across the globe, and deepening support for women surviving trafficking, prostitution and addiction. Grounded in Hal's humility and intellectual honesty, we explore: how to stay grounded in your core mission, how to get the right folks on your tea, how to think about governance, structure and capital raising, and  ways in which to be intentional about each facet of your organization - creating value through process and structure. Hal was the highlight of my week and hope that you'll take as much away from our conversation as I d

Throughout the world, we can find instances where the market has failed to deliver sustainable solutions.  Whether addressing education, health, or energy, a market may not have the necessary capital, expertise, or free cash flow to design and create an adequate response to a community challenge.   In this week's episode, we explore how PATH is taking a proactive approach to commercializing health solutions in some of our most remote communities.  Tala de los Santos, Global Program Leader for Diagnostics, walks us through the core processes PATH uses to bring new products to market.  Along the way, she talks about her own professional journey, the importance of building an informal network, and challenges of last mile implementation.   Show Notes: Path Website Tala recognized by the Washington Global Health Alliance.   Bio: Tala de los Santos is the Diagnostics Global Program Leader at PATH, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and improving health, especially among women and chil

Climate change remains one of the biggest threats to humanity and will no doubt change the direction of our economies, cultures, and collective futures.  It can be hard, however, to determine the ways in which we can combat such changes given breadth and scale of the changes underway. Thinley Namgyel serves as the Chief Environment Officer for the government of Bhutan and works on the front lines of our changing landscape.  Even though I've known Thinley for more than twenty years - I learned a great deal from our conversation: Water conservation and water flows are one of the largest challenges to Bhutan's future, Bilateral government funding remain crucial to supporting low-income countries and their work on behalf of the environment, Least Developed Countries (LDC) are their own organizing entity and are helping inform some of the most dramatic environmental challenges around the world. We also talked about the intersection of life and climate change - and what we can do to support the wider ecosystem.  

This week's guest - Michael Macharg   Overview: There are very few social entrepreneurs with the breadth and depth of experience as Mike MacHarg.  Mike's career spans micro-finance, drug development, progressive purchasing and sustainable energy, and now impact investing with Mercy Corps ventures.  In this episode, we take a look at:  the decisions Mike has made along the way why he's chosen to pursue certain initiatives (and to walk away from others) challenges he's faced over the years (and what advice he has to offer in return) thoughts on the future of impact investing the advice he has for social innovators just getting started. Mike's self-effacing style is a pleasure to listen to and the show is chalk full of wisdom for new and experienced social entrepreneurs alike.   Show Notes: Experience: The World Bank PATH Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship Mercy Corps Ventures   Places: Petra, Jordan   Reading: Thank You for Being Late by Thomas L. Friedman   Mike's Background: Michael brin