Valeria Hinojosa of Water Thru Skin is known for her transparent approach to blogging about a conscious lifestyle, sharing not just the heights of her career and travels, but also the low points, struggles, and the hard reality of building a freelance, socially responsible career. Valeria’s honesty is one of many things we love about Water Thru Skin – we also …
There has never been a better time to launch a business as a female entrepreneur. Investments in startup and growing businesses isn’t just for men clad in dark suits at the top of flashy financial institution buildings any longer. Many people, not just friends and family, want to help entrepreneurs solve problems, innovate, and create jobs. This is particular of …
Before Marketing to Social Entrepreneurs, Crowdfunding Platforms Should Understand Social Enterprise
There is an old adage about the benefits of teaching a man how to fish, rather than giving him the fish. But what happens if you simply give the man a fishing rod and walk away? Technically a service has been provided, but without any guarantee of long-term success. Most large Crowdfunding companies knowingly or unknowingly, operate on this principle. Crowdfunding …
Exciting news! The UpEffect team recently implemented several new features that not only make our platform an equal player with industry giants like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but in fact exceed these platforms’ capabilities. According to the World Bank, initiatives to modernize payments are crucial in efforts to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2020. UpEffect is the first crowdfunding platform to not …
Happy Friday UpEffect Tribe! To celebrate the coming weekend, we’re sharing some of our 100% success rate secrets with a video from our own head of marketing – Annie Brown. In our last marketing post, we talked about WHY marketing is different for social enterprises. Now we will show you HOW to market your ethical and sustainable product or service …
Social enterprises face unique challenges with regards to marketing. A social entrepreneur creates a business to fill a gap in the market and serve a neglected community. For this reason, tools for market research for ethical/impact products are underdeveloped. When defining your audience for social enterprises you have to both define your customer and the community you impact – a …
“Each year, I send a letter to the CEOS of major companies – which we invest in on behalf of our clients – in support of practices that drive long-term growth. I wrote this year’s letter in the context of society’s rising expectations for companies. People are demanding that companies have a social purpose and demonstrate leadership on key issues. …
Over the past 10 years, the crowdfunding industry has become more than a side project happening on the borders of the established circuit of banking and financing. This change became more evident as people grew tired of standing on the sidelines of business. Everyday, small entrepreneurs with great ideas bravely decided to put them forth and consumers responded accordingly – …
A social enterprise born out of a research project for Sarah Beydoun’s Master’s thesis in Sociology in 2000, has gone onto become one the favorite brands carried by celebrities and royalty like Queen Rania, Frieda Pinto and Amal Clooney. Items from Sarah’s Bag has been featured in literally every fashion magazine you can think of – Vogue, Bazaar, Elle, Stylist, …
Last year, crowdfunding dominated the funding space, over venture capitalists. It is projected to hit the $93 billion mark by 2025. This tremendous growth in the industry is due to people like you, fellow founders and enthusiastic backers who keep startups and great ideas moving forward. Unfortunately, on mainstream crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo there are very few …