Fundraising

A few months ago, when I started trying to raise money for 2People, I thought that if I could just find the right "angels", they'd be dying to give money to such a great project. And maybe they will ... some day. But after meeting with a few very progressive, ecologically aware angels, I found out that they still wanted a good ROI. So I've begun to think about more traditional non-profit fundraising -- simply for seed money until we can become self-sustaining. I think we do have a great business model, but it will take time to get rolling.

In this vein, two good things that have happened recently: Leith Sharp (of Harvard's Green Campus Initiative) put me in touch with a Boston-based freelance fundraiser. We met last week and hit it off, ... I expect good things to come of that. It never would have occurred to me that there are freelance fundraisers in circulation.

The other thing I'm excited about is the How to Build a More Ethical Society competition sponsored by Ashoka. Ashoka is a highly-respected incubator for social entrepreneurs, and in addition to the $5000 prize, the opportunity to network with them would be great. As I wrote up the entry for 2People, it was nice to hit upon this language: sustainability is ethics at societal scale. You can go to their site and vote on entries from around the world.