The New Age of Change
By James Sancto - Co-Founder & CEO, We Make Change
Change can’t wait ⏳
We are the first generation that can end extreme poverty and the last that can address climate change. I’ve read, written, and said that so many times. Yet every day our challenges become more urgent. From pandemics to wildfires, droughts to wars, we often feel helpless to do anything to help. We don’t have enough money to donate, enough energy to constantly protest, or enough time to find how we can actually make a difference.
We need a revolution 🙌
While our daily lives have been revolutionised beyond recognition, our ways of making impact have remained basically the same. In a few years we’ve gone from local stores to global e-poriums; from office work to remote work; from corporate behemoths to startup unicorns. While the typical ways of making impact - donating, protesting, volunteering - are either expensive, a load of effort, or just not fun.
Change starts here 🏁
If we are going to make the change we need, we need to use what we have. You may not believe it, but we are actually the largest, most connected, and most highly-educated generation ever (yeah, actually). We really do have the skills, resources, and technology to address the challenges we face today. Just as we’ve got used to a new world of work, a new era of commerce, and a new epoch of innovation, we need a new age of change.
Startups have the solutions 🚀
It starts with the solutions. Traditionally NGOs have attempted to address social and environmental challenges funded by donations. While this is still so needed, the type of challenges we face require new solutions. Just as startups have disrupted countless industries, they are now changing how change is made. By harnessing the power of technology they are developing innovative, scalable, and financially sustainable solutions to the urgent challenges we face.
People have the skills 💻
But solutions can only scale with support. While NGOs need donations, startups need skills. Impact startups lack the time and skills to scale, and the funding to pay for a team. Most of us may have little money to donate, little capacity to protest, and little time to waste; yet we all have causes we care about, skills we can give, and some time we can spare. It just so happens that impact startups often work remotely, providing the opportunity for anyone, anywhere to give their skills to support them.
Connected we can change the world 🌎
It will only be possible to address the challenges we face when anyone, anywhere can give their skills to help solve them. By connecting impact startups to people with the skills they need to scale, we can achieve the Global Goals. If we do that, not only could we be the last generation to see extreme poverty, we would be the first generation to address climate change. That’s a world we would all be proud to have made.