June 9, 2015
Amplify4Good Addresses NonProfit Inefficiencies and Hacks Problems in Underserved Communities
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Womack believes the current ecosystem for change in our communities is incredibly inefficient, and he asserts the biggest reasons for that are lack of awareness and ego among those looking to effect change.
“I think that the goal of nonprofits should be to put themselves out of business,” he says. It’s a subversive way to think, and the idea of organizations “cannibalizing themselves” is a difficult one to swallow. Such a disruptive mentality is not without its challenges. For one, Womack says that egos come in when individuals or organizations looking to create change are more focused on being credited with crafting the solution, rather than collaborating. He also asserts that part of the problem is some nonprofits act like for-profits, with a disproportionate focus on raising money.
Then there’s the problem of awareness.
“You can often have individuals working on the same problem and maybe sometimes in the same area of the city and they have no idea that each other exists. So, our thing is if we can get people to collaborate in some way, shape or form we can then amplify those efforts so that one plus one doesn’t just equal two; it equals four or five.”
Similarly, he finds that there’s even a lack of awareness between organizations doing the work and companies and foundations looking to fund those efforts. He says, “In many cases, we find that the people doing the work either: don’t know the funders exist and they have this money available or the other way around – where funders don’t know who some of the best organizations are. If we can create better awareness around who’s already out there doing this work, we think that’s a huge step.”
The vision for Amplify4Good’s efforts is to build a huge database with an ecosystem of resources, mapping needs and creating recommendations for collaboration.
The organization is working to amplify its own efforts and raising awareness around their work by doing what they do best —equipping other social impact organizations. Through events like Goodie Innovation for CARE USA, Amplify4Good hosted a hackathon to help the humanitarian agency, whose mission is to deliver emergency relief and long-term international development projects, make steps toward solving their biggest problems.
Womack says he hopes the mixer will drive awareness for the Entrepreneurs Summit among young, upstart entrepreneurs in Atlanta. He also hopes to facilitate discussion among entrepreneurs in the Atlanta ecosystem to highlight recommendations for resources and organizations people can use to propel their businesses and their causes forward. Finally, he hopes new entrepreneurs will be able to take that information and know exactly where to go to seek out things like mentorship and funding.
Learn more about Amplify4Good’s efforts by visiting their Website, and connecting with them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Courtney Herring is the founder of The Champ Media Agency and a digital strategist dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and organizations create effective content strategy to nurture inspired and engaged online communities. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.