When Economic Equality Increases, We All Rise

August 31, 2020

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus, EnrichHER.com

I founded my company, EnrichHER, partly because my mother instilled in me at a young age that, as a Black woman, I was going to have to be my own financial advocate. She knew she had to teach me this because she knew that the outside world would try to teach me many cruel lessons — lessons that compounded to tell me that I did not deserve the same monetary access and decision-making power available white men. Because of the stories my mother and her friends told me about the doors financial literacy opened for them, I was inspired to earn a PhD in Systems Engineering and Finance, and to use my knowledge and skills to empower others to own their own economic destinies. Because that empowerment is important to a diverse and equal society, I want to introduce you to a couple of people who themselves have amazing stories to tell.

This is Barbara Jones. She started out working as a cashier; now she’s known as a technological innovator. Barbara earned a Computer Science degree from the University of Texas at Austin and became an early Java developer. She combined this knowledge with previous experience as a cashier and began writing point-of-sale software (in layman’s terms — cash register software). After refining her skills at Freescale Semiconductor and 360 Commerce, Barbara founded LilliiRnB, a boutique IT consulting firm that helps Fortune 500 companies and government agencies increase their revenue, while improving the retail experience. LilliiRnB specialties include integrations for merchandise returns management, loss prevention and asset protection, cyber security and cloud-based POS systems. LilliiRnB plans to use the money raised from the All Rise Factory to grow and scale Freeing Returns, their proprietary merchandise returns platform. Doesn’t such perseverance and innovation deserve as large a platform as possible?

This is Missy Koefod. During the Snowpocalypse of 2014 in Atlanta, she and her wife Kristin passed the time experimenting with different flavors of bitters to add to their cocktails. Because they enjoyed these experiments so much, they launched a Kickstarter campaign to see if anyone else might be interested in what they were mixing up. Their campaign earned $9,225, which was 23 percent more than their $7,500 goal. You might say that things snowballed from there. 18.21 Bitters (named for the 18th amendment, which established Prohibition, and the 21st, which repealed it) now produces shrubs and syrups in addition to the eponymous bitters, and the company has a brick and mortar location in Atlanta’s Ponce City Market. When Missy was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2011, she and Kristin had just gotten married after she graduated from law school. The timing could not have been worse. After battling her way back to good health, she returned to work at her law firm, but her heart wasn’t in it. Although she was looking to make a career change, starting a beverage company had been the furthest thing from her mind before the snowstorm. She let that change in priorities prompt her to lean into her creativity, and she hasn’t looked back. Missy and Kristin plan to use the money earned through the All Rise Factory to increase their production capacity so they can meet current user demand.

These two amazing women and their companies are members of EnrichHER’s All Rise Factory cohort; you can meet the other five companies in the cohort by clicking the link in this sentence. The All Rise Factory is designed to allow investors to support a group of vetted, successful women-led and Black-owned businesses so that their success can increase. They have products and services that people want; they just need capital to grow. These businesses need support because our current financial system has proven time and again that it is not yet equitable. When financial equity increases, access to power and decision-making is tied to more diverse perspectives; when that happens, we all rise together.

Using Seasonal Giving to Make Longitudinal Impact

August 27, 2020

By: Brent Macon, Chief Partnerships Officer

 

At its heart, Daymaker is a compassion platform. We believe that giving expands our capacity to love one another while transferring resources so that every kid can develop into a life of physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. 

Our product has historically helped companies run seasonal giving campaigns like Back to School and Holidays that enable employees to empower kids in their local communities by donating gifts and much needed supplies. We fulfill those gifts in partnership with high-impact 501(c)3 nonprofit partners serving children who lack access to resources. The hallmark of Daymaker is that it is personally connective. Donors give to a specific child whose story they get to learn about, developing a sense of kinship as they share love and resources. 

We believe we are all connected in our shared humanity, and our team has been looking for ways to deepen the support we offer to the wonderful children on our platform. These kids often lack access to the tools and experiences needed to thrive, through no fault of their own. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) compound the developmental challenges. The pain and tragedy of systemic racism and the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on marginalized communities have made the need for equity conversations more clear and more pressing. 

Starting with our back-to-school campaign that is currently live, Daymaker is announcing the ‘Receiver’s Journey’ element of our platform – a shift towards making a long-term commitment to the kids and nonprofits on our platform, with expanded ways for donors to support and empower the children they give to. 

We’ve asked our nonprofit partners to make a commitment to have kids on the platform for 3 or more years. Donors will still give during seasonal giving campaigns, but they’ll see expanded wishlist items and the opportunity to help with more holistic interventions in addition to one-off gifts and supplies. For our back to school campaign, that means we have standard school supply kits, but have also added face masks, books celebrating diverse heroes, and ‘Daymaker Discover Bundles’ that come once a month over the course of the fall and keep kids engaged and inspired. Longer-term, we plan to help with things like consistent access to counseling and healthy meal kits.  

See below for example of current wishlist:

Givers will be able to support the same kid over multiple campaigns, donating alongside their teammates and creating a sense of longitudinal connection.  This shift will offer children more sustainable, consistent, and reliable support from people in their community, fostering a more inclusive and cohesive space for them to develop and grow as human beings.  

To make this change, we’ve worked with each of our nonprofit partners to identify fit with this new model and determine the unique needs of each community during this 2020 back to school season.  During one of those conversations, a nonprofit leader said something that has resonated with us ever since: “Sustained support from outside the home would’ve changed the whole story that it was me against the world.”

We are hopeful that these changes to the Daymaker product will bring more light and love into both the giver and the receiver’s experience, because the shared journey of giving is the foundation for a healthy, vibrant community.  We know there are challenges in every community, but together, we can help tell a new story. 

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Daymaker is a benefit corporation with central operations in Atlanta; to participate in the current ‘Hope at Home’ campaign, please visit our Daymaker ‘Friends and Family’ campaign page.  If you are interested in turning on a giving page for your company for the Holiday campaign, please reach out to Brent Macon, [email protected].

Georgia Enacts Benefit Corporation Legislation

Businesses in Georgia Can Soon Incorporate for Profit and Purpose

ATLANTA – August 26, 2020 – The Georgia Senate passed House Bill 230 on June 25, just before the end of the 2019-2020 regular session. Governor Kemp signed the legislation on July 19, 2020, with an effective date of January 1, 2021. Businesses in Georgia will now have the opportunity to incorporate as benefit corporations, making Georgia the thirty-fifth state to create such a designation.

In the U.S., there are more than 1,200 benefit corporations (similar but not the same as “B Corps”), which stand behind their commitment to certain environmental, social and governance standards, as a part of a broader trend of blending social good into business practices. Most benefit corporations are concentrated in one of the 34 states that have already passed benefit corporation legislation, including Delaware (passed in 2013) and the southern states of Florida (2014) and South Carolina (2012). Around the world, there are more than 2,500 globally across 50 countries.

“We know Georgia-based businesses have gone to states where this legislation already existed,” said State Representative Scott Holcomb (D – Atlanta), the bill’s lead sponsor. “Georgia may be late to the conversation, but we have a thriving ecosystem of social entrepreneurs who will be able to take advantage of these new rules.”

Benefit corporations commit to operating their businesses in a manner that creates a public benefit – a positive effect on society, the community or the environment –  in addition to providing a financial return to their shareholders. As a part of this commitment, the Board of Directors shall consider the effect their company will have on their employees, community, supply chain, environment, etc. when making business decisions. Benefit corporations don’t just adopt policies, they must create a standard by which to measure progress toward their particular public benefit, and then measures that impact and report it to their shareholders and the general public. This transparency, often measured against an independent third party, allows business owners, investors, employees, and consumers to have confidence that a given company adheres to socially responsible and sustainable business practices, as opposed to “greenwashing,” which are superficial efforts to boost sales or avoid litigation.

“This legislation recognizes something that many businesses already know: It’s possible to both do well and do good,” said Jeff Woodward, nonprofit counsel at Taylor English Duma LLP and a founding member of the Georgia Social Impact Collaboration (GSIC). “Consumers are demanding a commitment to the community, employees, and the environment  in business, and now there’s a chance for businesses in Georgia to make strong commitments.”

GSIC’s steering committee and network of over 400 investors, enterprises and partners have long supported benefit corporation legislation in Georgia. Several from GSIC’s network and founding members testified in front of members of the Georgia House and Senate, and the organization held several events in early 2020 to help drum up support for the legislation. GSIC’s partners from B Local Georgia and Goodie Nation provided vital resources to broadly educate and advocate for an economy that works for all.

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About the Georgia Social Impact Collaborative
In late 2016, a group of Georgia’s community leaders, representing a diverse range of constituencies, came together to confront a shared concern that impact investing was not developing in Georgia at the pace seen elsewhere. With an expansive network of over 400 throughout the state, the Georgia Social Impact Collaborative (GSIC) is committed to connecting, educating and inspiring stakeholders for the purpose of accelerating the development of Georgia’s impact investing ecosystem.