Hi Tom, I saw your post and thought i would drop you a line. I founded GoPetition.com a while back, which has assisted the causes of tens of thousands of people, companies and non-profits. It now has 12 million members. Although it looks crap (too busy on other projects), the social feedback loops are incredibly well engineered so it keeps growing...
Anyway, I live here in Sydney and would definitely be interested to sit down for a beer or coffee when you get back into town. Cheers, Hamish --- [email protected] @hamishogilvy On Jan 6, 8:32 pm, Tom Dawkins <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > Respecting the no lurkers rule I wanted to introduce myself having recently > joined this group. > > I'm an Australian currently living in San Francisco. I've been here almost > two years, and was in Washington DC for two years before that. I am, > however, returning home to Sydney mid-year and joined Silicon Beach to > better familiarise myself with the Sydney startup community. While I love > it here for a variety of family reasons the time has come to head home, > which is also exciting. > > I'm currently the co-founder of StartSomeGood.com, a crowdfunding platform > for social good initiatives. Think Kickstarter but for social change. My > co-founders are all ex-UCLA locals, although spread out around the country > (Washington, LA). My goal in my remaining months here is to grow and > iterate StartSomeGood as rapidly as possible and learn as much as possible, > potentially via an incubator. Time isn't on my side and my trajectory is > unusual (hoping to raise funds then move home, doesn't usually happen that > way, but with my co-founders staying will hopefully be possible) and I'm > looking into Australian-based incubators as well. My initial research led > me to this group which was clearly a must-join. > > The significance of StartSomeGood is that we are lowering the barriers to > people with great ideas who want to make a difference. Currently you're > told you have to register as a charity before you can access most > fundraising platforms, which builds in costs and delays and excludes social > enterprises. StartSomeGood allows social good projects from over 100 > countries, whether for profit, non-profit and unincorporated, to raise > funds based on their vision, plan and credibility, not their tax status. So > far 35 initiatives, including several from Australia, have successfully > raised from $1,000-$100,000 on StartSomeGood. > > Prior to StartSomeGood I spent my time in the US helping social change > organizations reshape their digital strategies around social media - I was > the first social media director at Ashoka then worked as a consultant for > SmallAct. I have previously founded a number of community and non-profit > initiatives, including Vibewire (www.vibewire.org), a Sydney-based > organisation that supports young creative and social entrepreneurs and who > run the Vibewire Enterprise Hub, a social innovation-focused co-working > space in Ultimo. > > I'm looking forward to meeting in person when I get back, or for those of > you who seem to be based in the Bay Area, before I depart. I'd love to meet > up with any Aussie entrepreneurs in the neighbourhood - or at SXSWi in > March - please drop me a line at [email protected] if you'd like to get > a coffee or a beer. > > Cheers! > > Tom > > -- > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > @tomjd <http://www.twitter.com/tomjd>www.about.me/tomjd > Cell: 347 371 2887. > Skype: tjdawkins > To organize a meeting: tungle.me/tomjdwww.StartSomeGood.com > "You don't need eyes to see, you need vision." - Faithless -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more Forum rules 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
