ignite
“We are on an unsustainable path. The challenges are huge. The potential of inaction catastrophic, yet we are doing less than we need to.  Top-down isn’t working. No one person has all the answers and none of us can do enough alone. Each of us needs to have the moral courage to do our part.  We must collaborate and support each other.  To get us on a path to a more sustainable future, we must all Ignite Good.” – Ignite Good’s statement of “The Problem”

There is a new bootcamp for millenials called Ignition created by Ignite Good. Dedicated to maximizing millennial social impact, Ignite kicked off the first-ever Ignition, a four-day workshop with special guest speakers, training, best practices strategies, and storytelling. Ignition is purposed to mentor and train the nation’s top millennial social innovators to ignite a broader movement that engages others to integrate service into their own lives and amplify this generation’s natural inclination to serve.

Last week, Conscious attended the Igntion’s panel called, “The Future of Social Impact,” which included Bill Drayton (Founder and CEO of Ashoka), Arianna Huffington (President and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post Media Group), and Jacqueline Novogratz (Founder and CEO of the Acumen Fund). They are all deemed changemakers, and together, they expressed the importance of practicing “changemaking,” as they too recognize “the problems” facing our society like poverty, violence against women, lack of education, lack of access to clean water, and these are just some of the issues. There is also the realization that the capitalist system (as we know it) is not working. The questions are: Who is going to tackle the world’s most pressing social problems? Who is going to demand change and create it? Who is going to be all in? Ignite Good has recognized 15 millennial leaders, who are leveraging technology and fostering a global sense of community to build movements and sustainable solutions for the world’s biggest problems. Those leaders include:

› Detroit Food Academy
› ScriptEd
› Urban Creators
› El Departamento de la Comida
› Angaza Design
› Educate Lanka Foundation
› Watsi
› Re-Nuble
› Semilla Nueva
› Random Farms
› Young Invincibles
› Charity Miles
› One Degree
› BOULD

The panel discussion addressed the many questions shared by these social leading innovators. Questions, such as: How has the field of social entrepreneurship changed? How do you scale your organization, but keep that intimate connection? How can we balance our own ambition with the energy and ideas derived from the community we are trying to help? What are effective ways to raising capital? How can someone be a good manager?

L I V E  Q U O T E  S
To sum up the panelist’s advice to the millennials, we present some of their quotes:

“There is power in creating a small model, and then you can create an alliance of other small models.”
– Jacqueline Novogratz

“To be part of building a movement, you have to keep moving.”
– Jacqueline Novogratz

“Focus on joy, wisdom and empathy as the definition of success, beyond money and power.”
– Arianna Huffington

“Don’t let people tell you to do it this way. You are on the verge of figuring out hybrid models — with companies and nonprofits, markets, government, crowd-sourced philanthropy. The capitalist system as we know it is not working.”
– Jacqueline Novogratz

“Just start and let the work teach you. You don’t need a big plan.” 
– Jacqueline Novogratz

A B O U T
Ignite Good
Ignite Good invests in millennials by identifying, incentivizing and supporting high-impact leaders, by facilitating collaboration and by democratizing storytelling and movement building strategies.

L E A R N +  C O N N E C T
Learn more about Ignite Good.
Connect via Facebook and Twitter.

F R O M   T H E   E D I T O R:
At Conscious, we are inspired by the various communities that pop up in our city and around the globe. Through community events, we can find ways to connect and collaborate. You can read more stories like this and learn about different communities that may appeal to you when you pick up your copy of Conscious Magazine. Subscribe today via our Conscious Shop and sign-up for Conscious Updates