Book Summary

According to the author, crowdfunding for social good is about aiding someone to invest yourself as a social entrepreneur. It’s useful in fundraising, and it’s determined by your ability to access money from your network. It has proven to be successful in raising a startup without debt or equity crowdfunding.

The book states that there are four models useful today for crowdfunding;

• Donations – offered only that you will carry out the stated purpose, i.e., feeding orphans.
• Rewards – there are many ways in which one are offered rewards. I.e., Bands promise CDs to fans to get funded.
• Debt – this is when money is raised with the exchange of repaying it back with interest.
• Equity – though it’s still not regulated one is allowed to raise funds.

Devin states that most campaigns, however, raise much less money but equity crowdfunding raises much more money than rewards and donations. There has been fast growth and has become an important means of raising funds for nonprofit organizations and many social ventures.

The book profiles instances in which people or organizations have had success in their crowdfunding efforts.

In chapter 2 some events occurred to Jennifer that made her change her life mission. The diagnosis of her mom with lung cancer who was in Nebraska while she was in Phoenix was behind her creation of the SMAC (Sock Monkeys Against Cancer). Her passing increased her passion for campaign awareness on funding for lung cancer. Jennifer turned to crowdfunding site Start Some Good to launch her social enterprise.

For instance, eight-year-old Vivienne Harr chose to pursue to put to an end child slavery and made her life’s work. She has been successful in raising half a million dollars through crowdfunding to achieve her dream.

Another example is Martha Griffen who wanted to help her son who was born with a birthmark on his face. She wrote a book called Sam’s Birthmark to celebrate what makes him different from others and was able to get $35,000 to publish it through funds.

Thorpe lists some issues that affects the success of your campaign. The image you portray increases the cause’s appeal. The urgency of the more tragic and sudden the situation, the easier it is to raise funds for disaster relief. Campaigns work best when a project or an event is associated with them. It is easier to raise funds if you are already a part of a community who are connected with your cause. The more the people you have in at the center of your network the higher the chance of having a successful campaign.

For one’s team to be effective it is comprised of partners, champions, and boosters. Partners are officially involved in the project, i.e., startup partner. Champions are people outside the circle but help in the campaign. Boosters are fans and friends you can count on to help but not formally committed to the cause of the campaign.

This book distills the teachings learned from successful social entrepreneurs and not-for-profit organizations into actionable and applicable steps that anyone can follow to raise money for their purpose.

The book is meant to help companies to cope up with the change that is happening all over the globe. It’s called Future-proof because it gives the reader a framework, a methodology, and tools which will transform any organization into the sort of the company where change often turns into opportunities and success. It focuses on companies which are highly adaptive such as Nike, Ford, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon. The book states that if you are a business owner today, the business will either radically change in the next ten years by fading or dying.

Young companies have focused their attention on a possible approach to technology incorporation and market leadership that combines the best of the old and the new.

It studies how choices are made and achieved to make the right decisions while other companies fail to do so. It also figures out ways to evolve with the changing times. The results show that the companies focused on seven fundamental pillars that when they are combined they created a right mix of mindset, skills, and abilities that are adaptive, fast in innovation and turns change into a strategic advantage. These seven pillars of the area of focus are; experiences, people, change, leadership, culture, technology, and innovation. Every company studied showed that it invested and prioritized in its ability to make itself future proof

Experiences.

Good business has continuously been about creating a consistently fantastic experience. The success of a company is determined mostly by one’s emotions this is because decisions made whether logical, facts and real-world are never immune from feelings since preferences and personal bias towards a particular brand or a good influence the purchase. Some companies can impress their customers consistently and includes Apple, Disney, and Tesla.

People.

By 2020, millennials will comprise about half of the global workforce; this helps in understanding the changes in transforming workplace and collaboration tools. Millennials rely on efficient workflow which is largely different from those of our predecessors that has vastly led depression of millennials due to limitations of productivity and collaboration tools by past eras. This has led to developing apps, mobile devices, and social media. Tools such as emails which are full of inefficiencies are being replaced by fast messaging apps, desktops by laptops which has reshaped workplaces to fit their collaborative styles.

Change.

Most successful companies put change at the heart of their business model. This is because customer behaviors progress faster than companies, therefore, it is essential to respond quickly to make the difference between winning and regular brands.

Innovation.

Unlocking innovation potential and become game changers in their own right.

Technology.

As stated in the book; deep awareness of data is vital in planning and implementation of strategies. Collection of useful information and requires knowledge to convert data obtained and prioritize developments.

Culture

Culture is the most important as it’s the building blocks of a future-proof business. The business should be set according to their beliefs and ways of life to be accepted.

Pia Silva’s latest book narrates how the author and her husband Steve changed fortunes of her graphic design company Worst Fall Design from being in credit card debt of $40,000 to making $500k within 12 months. They achieved this through making their brand unique and standing against the particular aspects of their industry that were damaging. They gave their ideas to clients who were struggling and helped them gain success on their terms.

Pia first had to let go two employees that were increasing their debt monthly trying to pay them. This made her feel crushed as she anticipated her plan to work on creating a traditional agency that grows according to expectations. Money saved from letting the staffs leave reduced the pressure they had and prevented them from going deeper into debt.

By stepping back from traditional agency model, the company formed a smaller product that they enjoyed and became a favorite among their networking clients whose picks had become high-priced. The product was called Brand Up Whereby Pia and her husband were able to sit down with the firm and do all in a day. After a brief discussion with the clients, they would come up with graphic design elements, business cards, and websites.

By the time Pia revamped her business she had stalled deals like most agency owners. She reached out to her clients and offered them the Brand Up process; a focused and unique service for a fraction of the price. She managed to close four out of five deals.

Chapter four lays out a formula including four angles in which an entrepreneur can achieve his plans. This includes;

• Determining your target market who are most paying and profitable
• Developing your brand personality to stand out from the crowd to grow competition
• Offering your lead product which you can sell at flat and affordable rates and should be visibly defined
• A superior version of lead product that you want to upsell

In her book, she claims that you have to be passionate about your small business to accomplish success, and that a company without profit is not a business but a profession without security. Pia claims that building a business is tough and one should put in all the effort even if they don’t like. Also, there is the fast-technological advancement, and it’s important when one learns on ways to take advantage of your knowledge in a new technique to get you stability back.

The author is anti-corporate to a point where she turned down a client since it was an e-commerce website, which wasn’t their firms’ field.

The book fits with the author’s narrative through storytelling as a method of influence and coaching. You get a sense that through the initial stages, they are learning lessons then implementing them in chapter 4 and later chapters to prove the legitimacy of the teachings. She emphasizes that she and Steve are going through a jungle with the reader and the path they discovered kept them and their self-employed friends.