There are a million ways to work on a social problem. What’s the one, two, or five that are going to have a really big impact?

Whether it’s homicide, incarceration, teenage pregnancies, child mortality, or drug addiction, all of these social problems can be tied back to one single cause. But do you know what that is? Would you even know how to address it if you knew? It isn’t obvious, and it might require serious collaboration to affect it. But imagine if we could eradicate 11 social dysfunctions together in one fell swoop.

We invite you to look at the world for a moment, with all the people in it, as a big spherical machine of human interaction, wrought with all sorts of games, systems, emotions, pushes, and pulls - each affecting one another in ways even the most expert of the species cannot predict.

Although some of our systems produce positive outcomes for a few, many of them have unintended negative consequences on many, and the inherent causes of these consequences can hide behind their symptoms for decades.

There are always key moves at the top of the machine that affect all the other parts. It’s time to stop playing social change Whack-a-Mole by addressing the parts without looking at the whole.

In this episode, we’ll hear from Center for Social Change founder and CEO, William Burdette about how he built a social laboratory that brings together the best service-oriented minds in the nonprofit sector to collaborate on solving the hidden causes of the world’s social problems.

William will share the systems thinking required to see through the symptoms of social problems to pinpoint their root causes. He’ll also discuss ways nonprofits in the Center for Social Change network have leveraged their strengths to grow to the next level.

EP1 - Big Social Experiment with William Burdette (made with Spreaker)

When it comes to grants and grant-writing, most nonprofits just want to get the money and carry out their service. Sounds easy, right? It turns out that completing your grant applications is only 20% of the battle.

Expert grant writer Lorinda Gonzalez from Grants Ink discusses the hidden ordeals any nonprofit that wants to sustainably fund their organization needs to know before even thinking about submitting a grant application.

With the right financial strategy, thorough research about appropriate funders, and a little expert guidance, it is possible to get your organization well-funded without feeling overwhelmed.

Learn more about Grants Ink at: https://grantsink.com/
Follow Grants Ink: https://www.facebook.com/grantsinkllc/

Episode host: Daniel Puder, CEO of My Life My Power.
Editing by: Edward Davis
Recorded at the Center for Social Change.
Follow us: https://facebook.com/center4socialchange/
Questions or Comments? Email: communications@4socialchange.org

Music: The Vendetta by Stefan Kartenberg (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/JeffSpeed68/58628 Ft: Apoxode

Subscribe to this Podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-social-changemaker/id1469592372
Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/id2173834
Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvMzU2MjIxMy9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVk
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-727987695-678809150
Spotify: spotify:show:2RZCgabLzvMtAmYlSem0nf
Spreaker: https://www.spreaker.com/show/3562213
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=430716&refid=stpr
Waave: https://wavve.link/socialchangemaker

EP2 - Hooked on Grants with Lorinda Gonzalez (made with Spreaker)

EP3 - Social Entrepreneur Mindset with Lucinda Kerschensteiner (made with Spreaker)

How do you know when your nonprofit actually needs a lawyer, and how do you choose the right one?

Kristina Raattama, founder of MK Consulting, shares about when and how to consider hiring legal advice to organize your nonprofit when you’re on a tight budget. Learn what to look for when searching for a purpose-driven attorney who will align with your cause, understand your organizational structure, and invest themselves into your nonprofit beyond the transaction.

Formerly an attorney in the corporate world, Kristina took time off to study the social issue of income inequality and how legal professionals can use their skills to make widespread systemic change in the face of outdated policies that perpetuate social problems. Her mission now includes aiding mission-driven nonprofit organizations to achieve their goals by providing practical, straight-forward, cost-effective solutions to address their day to day legal and compliance-related needs.

Learn more about Kristina Raattama and MK Consulting at: https://mkconsulting.law/

Episode host: Daniel Puder, CEO of My Life My Power.
Editing by: Edward Davis
Recorded at the Center for Social Change.
Follow us: https://facebook.com/center4socialchange/
Questions or Comments? Email: communications@4socialchange.org

Music: The Vendetta by Stefan Kartenberg (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/JeffSpeed68/58628 Ft: Apoxode

Subscribe to this Podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-social-changemaker/id1469592372
Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/id2173834
Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvMzU2MjIxMy9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVk
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-727987695-678809150
Spotify: spotify:show:2RZCgabLzvMtAmYlSem0nf
Spreaker: https://www.spreaker.com/show/3562213
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=430716&refid=stpr
Waave: https://wavve.link/socialchangemaker

EP4 - Purpose-Driven Lawyers with Kristina Raattama (made with Spreaker)

Our children are leading the conversation on sustainability, and they need our support to make a collective impact. 

A recent NPR survey reported that 80% of parents and 86% of teachers support environmental education.

Even with support for greener curricula on the rise, 55% of teachers still won’t teach environmental responsibility due to demanding core curriculum requirements and strenuous testing schedules.

Dream in Green Executive Director, Barbara Martinez-Guerrero discovered a way to involve more South Florida parents, students, teachers and schools in our global efforts to curtail climate change by making the conversation - not about what’s taught in schools - but instead, about the choices we make based on what we value in life.

In this episode, you’ll hear about how children are changing their family’s environmental impacts at home, while actively engaging 114 South Florida schools in the annual Green Schools Challenge that makes a large-scale measurable dent in our environmental footprint.

Learn more about Dream in Green at: https://dreamingreen.org/

Episode host: Daniel Puder, CEO of My Life My Power.
Editing by: Edward Davis
Recorded at the Center for Social Change.
Follow us: https://facebook.com/center4socialchange/
Questions or Comments? Email: communications@4socialchange.org

Music: The Vendetta by Stefan Kartenberg (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/JeffSpeed68/58628 Ft: Apoxode

Subscribe to this Podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-social-changemaker/id1469592372
Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/id2173834
Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvMzU2MjIxMy9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVk
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-727987695-678809150
Spotify: spotify:show:2RZCgabLzvMtAmYlSem0nf
Spreaker: https://www.spreaker.com/show/3562213
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=430716&refid=stpr
Waave: https://wavve.link/socialchangemaker

EP5 - Green Schools with Barbara Martinez-Guerrero (made with Spreaker)

Poor planning is one of the top reasons businesses like startups and nonprofits fail in the first year, according to one Investopedia article.

Does this sound like someone you know? 

A well-meaning person with a startup or nonprofit idea gets into business with a passion for their cause without considering how they’re going to fund it and build their team.

They open a new restaurant because it sounds fun, but they didn’t understand the business or consider the startup costs.

They start a charity organization because they love helping kids, but they failed to create a business plan to organize, finance, and grow their operation.

For months or years, they invest their hard-earned money, work late nights, and struggle to keep their business going, all while feeling stressed, losing sleep, and missing valuable time with their families.

The thing is: They have what it takes to pull it off. 

It’s just that no one has ever given them the simple tools and advice they needed to start their business on the right path, so they don’t have to sacrifice their lives (and the lives of their families) for their startup dreams.

What’s more, many startup and nonprofit leaders hate the idea of learning the administrative, marketing, or sales sides of their businesses because they haven’t yet learned to associate those aspects of entrepreneurship with the passion they have for their cause.

Ricardo Casas, Co-Chair of SCORE Miami-Dade, offers free business mentorships, workshops, and resources to help small business startups and nonprofits thrive with the business knowledge and tools they need to feel empowered, love their businesses, and be successful, even if they don’t have any funding or prior business experience.

In this episode, Mr. Casas will share about some of the vital skills you can work on right now to be a successful entrepreneur without additional stress. He’ll also share about some of the tools and resources you can get from SCORE right now for free, so you don’t have to spend your hard-earned money on expensive software or business consultants without first knowing whether your business is viable.

Learn more about SCORE Miami-Dade at: https://miamidade.score.org/

Episode host: Daniel Puder, CEO of My Life My Power.
Editing by: Edward Davis
Recorded at the Center for Social Change.
Follow us: https://facebook.com/center4socialchange/
Questions or Comments? Email: communications@4socialchange.org

Music: The Vendetta by Stefan Kartenberg (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/JeffSpeed68/58628 Ft: Apoxode

Subscribe to this Podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-social-changemaker/id1469592372
Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/id2173834
Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvMzU2MjIxMy9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVk
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-727987695-678809150
Spotify: spotify:show:2RZCgabLzvMtAmYlSem0nf
Spreaker: https://www.spreaker.com/show/3562213
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=430716&refid=stpr
Waave: https://wavve.link/socialchangemaker