subject matter expertise
Anna Taylor
What's your YES?

Each year, about 64 million Americans - one-fourth of the adult population - are invited to volunteer. For many, volunteerism is a source of great joy and satisfaction. In fact, the National Institutes of Health has found improved mental and physical health in folks who volunteer. April is National Volunteer Month, and nonprofit organizations across the US are celebrating their volunteers and asking more people to get involved with their causes. If you’ve found volunteering less joyful than you’d hoped, or even just an obligation, I’d like to have a word with you this month.

Anna Taylor
The Greater Sum Is Turning Four!

Four years ago, I could never have predicted that we’d have 65 deserving nonprofits growing today in sustainability and innovation through our incubator. Three years ago, I wouldn’t have guessed we’d have awarded $375,000 to deserving nonprofits by mid-2021. Two years ago, I couldn’t have known that our volunteer ranks would continue to swell, helping so many altruistic people contribute to world-changing nonprofit movements. And one year ago, as the pandemic raged, I would never have guessed that the forced migration to virtual competition pitch and incubation would push us to unimaginable tenfold growth in our first four years.

founder story

Founder Story: MilkCrate

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Morgan Berman combined her professional experience working in nonprofits, design education, and love of tech to create MilkCrate, a company that creates gamified apps for nonprofits. These apps help nonprofits track outcomes and engagement at a reasonable price point, making MilkCrate a great “representative that business can be a force for good in the world.” We sat down with Morgan to talk about how MilkCrate came to be, their work with nonprofit and foundation clients, and how she navigates self care as a start-up founder.

LISTEN to our interview with Morgan

READ a transcript

Interested in connecting with MIlkCrate? They’re hosting a Syposium on Foundation and Nonprofit Impact Tracking in Philadelphia this Friday, February 6th. Click here to learn more!

Founder Stories: Reflecting on 25 Years of Scholarships, Mentors, and Hope with Take Stock in Children Founder Don Pemberton

Twenty-five years ago, Florida’s low-income, academically qualified youth were given a unique chance to break the cycle of poverty and earn college degrees. It all started with a nonprofit program of mentoring and scholarship launched in 1995 by a former school guidance counselor. Called Take Stock in Children, the program, built on the experience of one counselor in one Florida county, had blanketed the state within six months. Founder Don Pemberton cites three key factors to explain the program’s breathtaking success…

Founder Story: Heroic Gardens

Collie Turner, a daughter and granddaughter of US military veterans, founded Heroic Gardens to provide US Veterans and Active Duty members on a fixed income access to free gardening services at home or within their communities. The Philadelphia-based organization is in its second year of operation, and Collie took time to chat with us about the experience of starting a nonprofit, lessons learned, and plans for growth.

Founder Story: FuelEd

Founder Story: FuelEd

When FuelEd founder Megan Marcus created a 10 person pilot program to test her theory that elements of therapist training would help teachers to build positive relationships at school, she could not have foreseen that seven short years later the program would have expanded to reach over 10,000 educators. Listen to our first “Founder Story” audio interview to learn more about how she and the FuelEd team are helping to put relationships at the center of schools across the country.

WASTEWATER TREATMENT IS NO SMALL BUSINESS

WASTEWATER TREATMENT IS NO SMALL BUSINESS

The West Virginia Alternative Wastewater Treatment Coalition (AWTC) is one of the grantees from The Greater Sum’s 2018 cohort.

Blog contributor Mindy Ong caught up with Professor Katherine Garvey, co-founder of the AWTC and Director of the Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic at the West Virginia University College of Law, to understand what motivated her to start the AWTC, and what’s next in store for the Coalition.

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