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A DreamNow: Providing Follow-Up for Organizations
Voting Summary (Elevator Pitch):
Thousands of organizations run programs which excite people but the momentum created doesn’t translate into action. DreamNow ensures hundreds of thousands of people inspired by programs go home and do something, achieve goals and change the world.
Supporting organization:
DreamNow
URL:
www.dreamnow.org
City:
Toronto
State/Region:
Ontario
Country:
Canada
Project Vision Statement & Potential Social Impact:
Thousands of organizations run programs and hold conferences which excite and inspire people but the majority of this momentum doesn’t translate into real action. DreamNow will ensure that the hundreds of thousands of people who are inspired by programs go home and do something, achieve their goals and change the world.
We want to create an effective way to ‘follow-up’ from other organization’s initiatives while providing organizations with a way to track and report on the impact they have.
We will solve this problem by uniting technology with a sustainable business model going beyond foundations, corporate support and traditional non-profit fundraising.
Our solution includes:
- a search engine which matches individual goals with resources
- a peer-to-peer online mentorship program
- a social network connecting individuals who have met at programs with others working on similar goals
- integrated ‘giving pages’ allowing individuals to be philanthropists
- simple project management tools
- powerful tracking and reporting features which allow organizations to report back to funders on the tangible achievements of their program
Our solution has to be scalable and should work as well for two youth who present to their class as for large organizations which reach 15000 people annually.
During the pilot of this program we worked with 3 organizations and 750 youth and produced results that included an increase of over 600% in the individuals that ‘took action’ on their goals.
As a result of the pilot:
- 5 youth organizations were launched which collectively reached 50,000 people
- Over 300 classroom presentations were made on a diverse range of issues
- Over $80,000 was raised by our members for their respective projects
- Visit www.dreamnow.org to see hundreds of projects
Our next step is to scale this program so that we can improve the results while providing this service to thousands of organizations around the world.
Sustainability (financial) model:
Our business model would include a basic service and a premium service:
We provide the basic service which includes the resources, social network, and e-advisor program for free to organizations and youth who do not have a budget.
We provide a premium service for larger organizations who are interested in having more control over their membership, tracking and reporting results, assigning their own advisors, or developing a custom in-conference action planning component.
To date we have raised 50% of our operating budget through a limited version of this premium service, which shows us that organizations are willing to pay for these tools as long as they produce results.
We have a strong relationship with venture capital groups and are looking to raise the initial seed capital for our project through both venture capital, foundations and corporations. We currently are registered as a charitable organization in Canada
Potential obstacles:
Over the last year, as we piloted this system, we gained an understanding of the barriers we need to tackle in order to scale this project.
These barriers include:
- Creating a scalable website which is capable of weathering dramatic traffic spikes at the conclusion of programs and conferences.
- Developing a creative solution to engaging peer-to-peer advisors through incentives.
- Making it in the self interest for groups and individuals to upload resources providing more value to the community.
- Clearly articulating a business model which meshes the charity with the power and flexibility of for-profit initiatives.
Resource Needs:
In order to take this project to the next level we need more than just the initial capital.
- We need to be partnered with other leading organizations using the Internet as a means of engagement in order to solve the ‘self interest/resource’ problem.
- We need mentors and advisors who have been through the process of scaling a tech company and mentors who have built socially entrepreneurial ventures.
Key Milestones:
- Solidify licensing agreements, venture capital seed money, and corporate and foundation support.
- Create a strong advisory board which has the experience in scaling technology based companies.
- Build/Design/Collaborate on web development work.
- Sign up the first 25 organizations and ensuring as we build we create value for their members.
- Refine the premium service offering, in consultation with both current and potential partner organizations.
- Solidify the business model and structure with both legal and financial advisors.
Project Summary:
We want to create an effective way to ‘follow-up’ from other organization’s initiatives while providing organizations with a way to track and report on the impact they have.
We will solve this problem by uniting technology with a sustainable business model going beyond foundations, corporate support and traditional non-profit fundraising. Read our full project plan or visit our website www.dreamnow.org for more information.
Comments
Our Venture Capital Solution
Thanks for raising that point as it does need some clarification. I can tell you that we are not looking to venture capital in the traditional sense.
We have been fortunate to create a relationship with a socially-minded venture capitalist who has invested in developing a social network platform for another start-up working outside the ‘social change’ world. He is interested in investing in our endeavour by sharing with us the code and programming he is developing with this company and seeing it being used to do good. We are currently looking at creative ways to structure our partnership and create an innovative business model that will work for both of us. We have an amazing working relationship with him and ownership is not on the table.
The majority of the initial investment so far for the site has come from both earned revenue and a few select foundations. I would love to have a dialouge around the model that we are creating for this relationship. I haven't found many models for what I want to do. Thoughts?
Dev
Ideas, Metrics, Values
Hi Dev,
These are my thoughts:
First, you will probably prefer to work with an investor that you trust and that has values that resonate with your mission. This takes time to figure out, so it is probably better if you already have an established relationship with your funder(s).
Second, you'll want to talk about expectations with your team. Understand what the various parties want to get out of the arrangement.
Third, I would publicly articulate your team's values. I recognize that sometimes mission statements and value statements are created by organizations just "going through the motions." Your challenge will be to articulate these values and live by them. This won't be easy, but many worthwhile things are not easy. :)
Fourth, with this understanding, you can structure your agreements, contracts, metrics, incentives, performance evaluations, etc. so that they make sense for your team. Business people, investors, and employees adjust their behavior to align with the incentives facing them. If you don't create incentives to promote the right behavior and discourage the wrong behavior, you probably aren't taking your organization's values seriously enough.
I personally prefer to support companies that behave like good citizens. I think more and more people are doing the same. I wish you luck!
Venture capital?
You wrote in your key milestones: "Solidify licensing agreements, venture capital seed money, and corporate and foundation support." Why are you seeking venture capital? Can you find a VC that will align with your interests? How will you convince your audience that being VC backed is the right thing for a social venture?
I think titling the project
I think titling the project this way "A DreamNow" to get higher in the listings was really immature.