November 20, 2008 | Posted in Nourish in the News | By nourishadmin
This morning, eight of us (Nourish folks) had the great fortune of scoring a private breakfast with Dennis Whittle, founder and ceo of Global Giving, at the Carolina Inn (many thanks go to Raymond Farrow and the Kenan Institute for hosting the breakfast).
We told Dennis our story and he dove right into the model. Alyson Zandt, one of the UNC chapter’s leaders, told her story as a participant on this past summer’s water sanitation project in Peru. Once she finished, Dennis looked her in the eyes and emphatically stated that she had learned the most important lessons there are to learn in international development. And she did it in college, through Nourish’s model.
The effect was palpable. In one fell swoop, he validated our core model to everyone sitting at the table, which included students, staff and even a board member. Day in, day out, we strive to generate social impact, and we do it because we believe in our mission. Now, here we had someone who had taken a social venture to scale tell our team that he thinks we have what it takes, that our model works. When you fall into a routine, it’s easy to forget how powerful it can be to hear someone external say they believe in what you are doing. Potent stuff, especially coming from someone who has scaled a large social venture.
Needless to say, we were energized coming out of the discussion. Dennis encouraged us to tackle all of the things on our mind head on. Specifically, he emphasized the following points:
1) Continue to hash out a path to sustaining our infrastructure and growth. It’s the most important thing we can do right now, and he was impressed that we are grappling with it rather than backing down.
2) Change the name from Nourish to something that describes the most powerful part of our work: engaging our generation in an experiential business model that works to reduce global poverty.
3) Keep doing what we’re doing. We have the opportunity change the world.
Thank you, Dennis, for all your advice and encouragement.
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