Mari Galloway is the CEO and a founding board member of The Women's Society of Cyberjutsu (WSC), a Northern Virginia-based non-profit organization passionate about helping and empowering women to succeed in the cybersecurity field. Their primary mission is to advance women in cybersecurity by providing programs and partnerships that promote networking, education, mentoring, resource-sharing, and opportunities. Tennisha Martin is the founder and Executive Director of BlackGirlsHack (BGH Foundation), a national cybersecurity nonprofit organization dedicated to providing education and resources to underserved communities and increasing the diversity in cyber. BlackGirlsHack provides black women and girls with resources, mentorship, direction, and training required to enter and excel in the Cybersecurity field.

Alex Wilson is the co-founder of The Giving Block, a platform that makes Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency fundraising easy for nonprofits, empowering mission-driven organizations, charities, universities, and faith-based organizations of all sizes to leverage crypto technology to achieve their mission. Alex’s background is in management consulting where he worked with Fortune 500 companies to develop strategies around emerging technologies like AI, IoT, blockchain and cryptocurrency. As he went down the cryptocurrency rabbit hole, he and his co-founder discovered a need for nonprofits to be able to tap into the new and growing crypto donor demographic. Now, he’s turned his attention to the nonprofit world where he equips nonprofits to accept cryptocurrency donations and build fundraising programs.

Margaret Laws has distinguished herself as a catalytic leader in health care, forging cross-sector partnerships that drive positive social impact. At Hopelab Margaret leads a multidisciplinary team with expertise in healthcare, academic research, and design to create science-based technologies to improve the health and well-being of teens and young adults. She is passionate about bringing together government, nonprofit and private-sector stakeholders interested in advancing the role technology can play in supporting and improving health outcomes, with a particular focus on improving care for underserved populations.

COMMON Foundation combines the power of an incubator with philanthropy and social entrepreneurship to support, promote and develop non-profit ideas and organizations in the US and abroad for the benefit of people, planet, and peace. Prior to becoming the CEO of COMMON LLC, Mark Eckhardt was a principal at UFUSE Visionary Strategy Management, a global consulting firm devoted to unleashing creativity and helping entrepreneurs produce outstanding results through innovative business strategies, organizational design, and alignment of partnerships. Mark is also a Zen Buddhist Priest who has dedicated his life to transforming the nature of capitalism through social and environmental entrepreneurship. Mark joined us at Cause and Purpose to share the lessons he has learned through an entire career of conscious impact-building within capitalism.

Lisa Wang is the founder and CEO of Almost Fun, an innovative nonprofit organization whose mission it is to ensure low income and BIPOC students have a culturally responsive, accessible, and engaging resources that empower their learning. Almost Fun is also a graduate of FastForward’s nonprofit accelerator program, which we have featured in our startup edition on the podcast. Lisa joins Cause & Purpose for a tactical and enlightening discussion of what needs to change in how educational content is being made, what she learned from her time at Google about educational effectiveness and progress, and the lessons she has already learned in scaling a non-profit startup.

Larry Gast is the VP of Development at Moishe House International, a nonprofit that creates meaningful, welcoming communities for Jewish adults in a post-college world. Larry joins Cause & Purpose to discuss how he’s infused an entrepreneurial spirit into every one of his roles, from working with large organizations like the JDC to ones that closely resemble startups. He has a wealth of insights that can be used for your organization, no matter your size or mission. Some social impact leaders know they want to make a difference from a very young age. Others come to it on their own time. For Larry Gast, a career in social impact found him. And when it did, he knew it was what he would commit his life to. It all began at a public affairs firm in New York City. Larry’s boss was a leader at the UJA Federation of New York, one of the largest federations of Jews that pooled resources from supporters and gave them to various causes in need. She assigned Larry multiple projects organizing and distributing the resources, and he fell in love with it. He was working with neighborhood and community groups, but also supporting massive global organizations as well. For example, he supported the Interagency Task Force on Israel-Arab Issues, which focuses on Arab minority relations in Israel. As he went deeper with his work, Larry discovered a profound joy connecting with people both across the globe and in his own backyard. The power of human connection would ultimately become the headline item in his career. It led him to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) for nine years, and then to Moishe House International, where he currently works. Listen to Larry’s interview for the full story and so much more.

Karin Underwood is the Founder and CEO of Verano Health, an accessible mobile platform to provide life-changing diabetes self-management training to low-income Americans with chronic disease. She’s spent a lifetime embedded in social impact, from high school service trips all the way to living in Kenya for two years post-college with the One Acre Fund. Karin joins Cause & Purpose to detail her exciting journey as a nonprofit tech entrepreneur and share countless lessons-learned from a lifetime of firsthand experience interfacing directly with the communities she wants to help. Long before she founded Verano Health and graduated from the Fast Forward nonprofit tech accelerator, Karin Underwood was diving headfirst into service projects with her church and high school. Working with childcare centers, orphanages, and halfway homes for women at this formational time showed her that the world was so much bigger than her comfortable upbringing. The shining example for Karin came while she was in college working with homeless populations in St. Louis. The director of the center where she worked came to a meeting one day without her laptop. When asked what happened, her director said that her house was broken into and had many things stolen. Her response to all this was: “It’s OK, because I’m sure they needed it more than I did. I’m lucky enough to have the resources to get a new computer and replace these things.”“That moment had a huge impact on me. It was compassion in the face of great loss, and it showed me the kind of person I wanted to become.”Inspiration from her mother’s work in healthcare, on-the-ground service in East Africa, and time in the trenches with community health clinics would help her become that person. In this episode, you’ll hear:Heartfelt stories of impact from Karin’s time on the frontlines with patientsWhat a healthcare system of the future could look like in the U.S. About the importance of user-centered design and developmentHow to successfully introduce tech and innovation to people who really need itEditor's Note: In this episode, Karin refers to her company as CoachMe Health. They have since rebranded to Verano Health.

Woodrow Rosenbaum is the Chief Data Officer at Giving Tuesday, a movement designed to unleash the power of radical generosity around the world through a dedicated day for giving. Every year, Giving Tuesday activates over 70 national movements, 300 communities, and tens of millions of people to support organizations across the globe. Woodrow joins us for an exclusive interview on Cause & Purpose to share the origins behind Giving Tuesday, how we can shift mindsets for the social sector, and countless data-backed insights that can be applied to your organization on a year-round basis.

CauseMic is a boutique consulting firm cofounded by Matt Scott, CEO, to help nonprofits who want to truly disrupt the social sector. Their work is hyper-focused on implementing rapid growth plans that will see organizations scale their revenue 10x in 3 to 5 years, using technology to build personalized relationships at scale, and driving authentic engagement between organization and audience. Matt joins Cause & Purpose to share his insights, tactical advice, and so much more.

Shannon Farley is the cofounder and executive director of Fast Forward, an accelerator that focuses specifically on tech nonprofits. To date, they’ve graduated seven cohorts, raised more than $275 million on behalf of their members, and impacted the lives of more than 88 million people. Cause & Purpose was beyond excited to host Shannon and discuss how an entrepreneurial mindset has helped her career journey, from mobilizing the largest network of millennial philanthropists ever to funding the next great nonprofit founders obsessed with making a lasting impact on the world.