Fledge is exceedingly happy to announce today that it has received certification as a B Corporation. What exactly is a B Corporation? These are companies which realize that capitalism can be a force of good in the world. Companies that can be a benefit to the world. The “B” in B Corporation stands for “benefit”. These are companies which believe that shareholder values...
What can be done to improve the world in a single weekend? A whole lot more than you probably think. The world is full of big, important problems. Issues of sustainability, pollution, community, unemployment, etc. The 50 attendees of #SocEnt Weekend: Next 50 spent last weakened with the goal of solving some of these problems, while learning about social enterprise and having fun doing it...
Seven inspiring companies with the potential impact to improve the lives of billions… to save millions of lives… to make it easy to share and reuse the planet’s limited resources… to make it easy for us to share our time with those in need… to recreate the world where we know our neighbors… and to work with those neighbors to create the world we want to live in...
Bloom is an event focused on innovation in sustainability: environmental, social, and economic. Eight speakers will share their stories; what’s new and what’s making an impact. We want our attendees to leave the event with their minds expanded and hearts inspired by learning about what people are building for a more sustainable world. We’ve got a killer lineup of speakers...
Ready to try your hand at being a social entrepreneur? Have an idea that you would like to turn into a company, but are not sure where to start, or what to do next? Or are you eager to join the movement of socially-minded companies, with no idea of your own, but talents to share with others? #SocEnt Weekend is a 50-hour, one-weekend, hands-on workshop, where you can learn how to be a social...
This month begins a tsunami of social entrepreneurship: #SocEnt Weekend, Fledge “Demo Day“, and Social Innovation Fast Pitch (SIFP).
The mobility of Americans over the past six decades has led to huge cultural changes, with the norm now for Americans to move every five or so years, and with those moves, to have friends scattered across multiple states. The rise of email, instant messaging, and most recently, social networking, it is become commonplace for Americans to connect to those friends online. Meanwhile… as we spend...
Americans gave nearly $300 billion to charities last year (2011). That is almost $1,000 per person, and surveys show almost 90% of that giving was by individuals, with those individuals consisting of 67% of the total U.S. population. Meanwhile… in the same year, 64 million Americans volunteered their time, just shy of 25% of the total population. Why do more Americans give away their money vs...
I want to live in a town with a thriving downtown core, with good restaurants, a great bakery, nice shops, and a comforting grocery store. I want to live in a community which supports these business owners. A community where I don’t have to get in a car, drive a half hour, sit in traffic, and shop in a 100,000 square foot store to buy things made halfway around the world. The problem is… it’s...
Living in our comfortable homes in America, boiling a pot of water is as easy as turning a dial on the stove. We forget that for billions of people around the world, heating water involves making a fire. Where is the fire, there is smoke, and where there is smoke, there are shortened lives and early deaths. The team at BURN Design Labs on Vashon Island outside of Seattle knows all about fire, and...