Social Impact Blog

French for “to improve,” Bonifier was developed to do just that. Founder Ryan Scott came up with the idea for a web-based app— a virtual sidekick called Pip—two years ago to improve the pediatric-patient experience. Scott’s goal is for Pip to help alleviate the fear, anxiety and loneliness experienced by sick children. “1.7 million kids receive inpatient treatment (every […]

Apply by Tuesday, Nov. 12, for your chance to cash in on more than $100,000 in donations & funding Over the past half dozen years, Philanthropitch, the social impact fast-pitch competition, has been on a mission to scale innovative nonprofits in communities around the nation. Presented by the AEP Foundation and featuring SocialVentures as a […]

Farm-to-table food-grower preps for sustainability, 2020 launch John Schrock is an engineer who has an idea for how to transform the farm-to-table movement. Having worked on the concept for several years, this summer he plugged into SEA Change, an accelerator program in central Ohio focused on jumpstarting social enterprises. Roots Up will manufacture and operate […]

Social entrepreneurs are the new generation of change agents in Columbus because they combine social impact with strong business sense. In 2015, SocialVentures could count only 18 such businesses, but now they number more than 100. These are the entrepreneurs who last year created 253 new jobs for people who have typically been excluded from […]

SocialVentures hosted its third annual Nonprofit Sustainability Showcase event at Vue Columbus on February 7, 2019. Four SocialVentures’ Nonprofit Catalyst participants shared their social enterprise concepts with more than 200 attendees. These four nonprofits will join the rapidly growing social enterprise sector in Central Ohio, which today is more than 100 strong, approximately 60 of […]

In January 2017, EmpowerBus was just an idea on paper and comprised two components: one that involved providing children with safe, reliable school transportation, and another one for workforce transportation. Later that year, EmpowerBus co-founders Jerry Tsai and Aslyne Rodriguez decided to participate in SEA Change, a social enterprise accelerator program. They were matched up […]

Lisa Hinkelman, a former professor at The Ohio State University (OSU), has turned a research study into a multi-state business. Ruling Our eXperiences (ROX) is a nonprofit committed to equipping girls with the knowledge and skills they need to lead healthy, independent, productive, and violence-free lives. The organization achieves this by providing a K-12 school […]

John Rush has started three for-profit businesses over the past six years that are committed to creating more stable lives for survivors of human trafficking, recovering drug addicts, the formerly incarcerated, and those that society has neglected. In six years, he has created 668 jobs and expanded his customer base by 2000 percent. CleanTurn’s brands […]

In late 2015, when Teresa Trost, executive director of Community Shares of Mid Ohio, and her associate director at that time, Ryan Kovalaske, first considered social enterprise as a viable solution for generating earned revenue on behalf of Community Shares, they explored their strengths. With only one and a half full-time employees, human capital did […]

Steve Votaw has used his two degrees in criminal justice to tackle its underlying causes. He spent the first 18 years of his professional life expanding Directions for Youth and Families to a $8 million nonprofit serving at-risk families. For the past three years, Steve has served as president of the Furniture Bank of Central […]