Every month, we round up our “best” of all time on topics ranging from content marketing and social media to analytics and CRO. We delve into everything you need to get your startup the attention and traction it deserves!
As we approach the holiday season, giving is always top of mind. Though these startups have the right to argue that #GivingTuesday shouldn’t be an annual event, but an everyday event. Through their skills in technology, community building, speaking, selling, and more, the following four startups have built stellar startups that manage to support causes, charities, and communities the world over.
Without further ado, here are the four all-time best startups making a social impact:
1. Callisto
Callisto is a confidential way to document and report sexual assault on campus.
How they’re making an impact:
With 1 in 5 women being assaulted on college campuses in the United States and less than 10% of that number actually filing a report to the college or police, Callisto is looking to make a much-needed change.
"Created by survivors, for survivors," the initiative was first presented at the White House Data Jam on Protecting Students from Sexual Assault. The site has been live since August 2015 at University of San Francisco and Pomona College, their founding institutions, and they are looking to bring Callisto to every school nation-wide. The code will be open-sourced to help others develop new and important solutions within the space.
"Callisto and similar technologies are an extremely low-cost way to help end the culture of silence. Technologies like these should be deployed everywhere -- college campuses, companies, in the armed forces, and in any other large community where sexual assaults are underreported. Which, I'm sad to say, is everywhere." - Yasmin Green, Head of Research and Development, Google Ideas from this Huffington Post article.
2. Soko
Soko uses innovation to produce ethical jewelry that is handmade in Kenya from sustainable materials.
How they’re making an impact:
Soko connects consumers to global makers and handcrafted jewelry from the developing world. They offer market access and training to expand economic opportunity for artisans, the majority of whom are women in impoverished nations. Soko's innovative supply chain connects mobile-enabled artisans from developing countries directly to brands, retailers, and online customers around the world.
"Soko has coordinated existing infrastructures in innovative ways to revolutionize international trade", explains Cecelia Bittner in a FastCo article. By gaining access to mobile phone users across remote networks, Soko users can use basic SMS text entry forms to upload personalized images of work, as well as product details. This information is then automatically uploaded to the Soko website, creating a virtual storefront with the entire world as her potential clientele.
“Witnessing the live experience of breaking down barriers and witnessing an artisan, who lives and works in conditions that most people cannot imagine [in America], having sold a product to a woman in the U.S. and getting confirmation that her work is appreciated abroad [was truly inspiring],” says Soko co-founder Gwendolyn Floyd.
3.The Kind Campaign
An internationally-recognized movement based upon the powerful belief in KINDness that brings awareness and healing to the negative effects of girl-against-girl crime.
How they’re making an impact:
Founders Lauren Paul and Molly Thompson were both personally affected by female bullying during their childhood. Lauren, in fact, tried to take her life when it got to a certain point. Fast forward, and these bad-ass, strong and compassionate women recognized the need for change, birthing the Kind Campaign. They filmed a documentary and soon their non-profit organization was changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of girls through school assembly programs. Entirely funded by donations, all generosity to the Kind Campaign goes towards providing Kind Campaign Assemblies free of charge to the 360 schools and counting across North America and the world.
"We have learned the value of female friendship and how important it is to surround yourself with people who lift you up, celebrate you, and are there for you. Therefore any struggle or hurdle that we overcame was worth working through because of who we are fighting for." - Molly Thompson, via this LaurenConrad.com interview.
4. Sevenly
Sevenly creates and sells unique art and limited edition products, designed to raise funding and awareness. For every product sold, Sevenly delivers a dedicated donation to a non-profit organization.
How they’re making an impact:
Every week, Sevenly highlights a new cause or charity partner, passionately promotes them for seven days, and creates unique Cause Art apparel to raise funding for them. For that week, every Cause of the Week item donates $7 or 7% to that partner. All other Sevenly goods donate 7% to the featured cause or their past charity partners. A few recent partners include the UN, Cure Childhood Cancer, Girls on the Run, Autism Speaks, and Show Hope.
Sevenly was founded in 2011 by four people who shared the mission of leading a generation toward generosity. Based on a core belief that “People Matter,” they began a journey to do their part in helping to change the world for the better. Sevenly's model allows them to support a variety of charities, while dedicating their time to only one per week. To date, they've helped approximately 1.6 Million individuals and the ripple effects of that generosity are greater than we can imagine.
"I don't think there's any person on planet Earth that gets a chance to work with a charity as intimately as we do every week," co-founder Dale Partridge says. "By doing that, we have a chance to train charities so they leave our campaigns smarter than when they came in."
The All-Time Best Startups Making a Social Impact ft. @Shop_Soko, @kindcampaign, @sevenly + more...
Click To Tweet
There you have it, friends: but we want to hear who tops your list. Leave a comment below and let us know who we’ve missed!
The post The 4 Best Startups of All Time Making a Social Impact appeared first on Onboardly.
