NOVEMBER 13, 2011
HOW A GRILLED CHEESE IS CHANGING THE WORLD
COME TOGETHER, RIGHT NOW, OVER CHEESE
FEELGOOD AND THE MELT “ROUND IT UP” FOR A BETTER WORLD. Small actions make a big difference
YOU MAY HAVE HEARD ABOUT THE MELT, THE LATEST ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE OF JONATHAN KAPLAN, co-founder and inventor of the highly successful Flip video camera. The Melt is a new restaurant chain specializing in—you guessed it—gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches! It was their shared love of grilled cheese—and the striking similarity of our logos—that put FeelGood on Kaplan’s mind as he was looking for a partner to develop The Melt's social responsibility strategy. After several meetings and presentations, Kaplan and his team chose FeelGood as t h e c o m p a n y ’ s fi r s t p h i l a n t h r o p i c p a r t n e r a n d b e n e fi ciary! In what’s being called the “Round it Up” campaign, customers will have the option to “round up” the total of their purchase,
which The Melt will match and invest in FeelGood’s prog r a m t o e n d w o r l d h u n g e- r ! The message to customers: "Round up your purchase and help 'round up' the planet so that everyone has the opportunity to live a happy, healthy and productive life." T h e fi r s t M e l t o p e n e d A u g u s t 29th in the SoMa district of San Francisco, and so far the line has been out the door. Three more Bay Areas locations will open in the next few months. After that, Kaplan and his team plan to expand the chain to 500 restaurants nationwide by 2015, adding more philanthropic partners along the way.
The Melt and FeelGood have two other things in common: a commitment to innovation, and the conviction that change happens one person, one action at a time. While The Melt invites small, world-changing actions through the “Round it Up” campaign, FeelGood invites customers on 24 college campuses across the country to end world hunger, one grilled cheese at a time…simply by having a conversation and donating what “feels good.” From their mobile ordering system to their patented grilling machines, innovation is everywhere at The Melt. FeelGood’s commitment to innovation can be seen in their peer-to-peer experiential learning program called The Academy and their online, community-building platform, Cheese World.
“IN THE END, IT’S JUST ABOUT DOING THE RIGHT THING FOR THE WORLD.” JONATHAN KAPLAN, FOUNDER OF THE MELT
WORLD| Innovation
FeelGood, Creating Changemakers
JULIA HEIDELMAN FROM FG BERKELEY ENGAGING HER CAMPUSCOMMUNITY IN A CONVERSATION ABOUTOUR COMMON HUMANITY
Creating Changemakers FeelGood’s mission is to empower a generation of changemakers committed to ending chronic, global hunger. Students learn to run a non-profit social enterprise—a grilled cheese deli—to raise money and awareness for organizations with a proven track record of sustainable hunger eradication. In the process, they develop the skills of lifelong social entrepreneurs and leaders, able to respond to the world’s most pressing issues in strategic and compassionate ways. Millennials are Responding With active chapters on 24 college campuses and growing—including the first international chapter at the University of the Philippines—FeelGood clearly resonates with the global values of the Millennial Generation. Since its founding in 2004 at The University of Texas at Austin, FeelGood has unleashed the social entrepreneurial spirit of more than 1500 changemakers, who have together: Volunteered more than
54,000 hours Helped to earn more than
$1.2 million for the sustainable end of hunger. Engaged 50,000+ people in
hunger-ending dialogue.
Grown FeelGood Deli sales by 90% since 2008. Changemakers for Life FeelGood alum Jade Christie-Maples (University of Vermont '10) is one example of FeelGood’s life-changing impact. “FeelGood helped me find my
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road in life,” said Jade. “Because of FeelGood, I hope to work for causes that insure others have the opportunity to discover who they are supposed to be.”
September 19th in New York City. The event was sponsored by Sarah Brown, Arianna Huffington, and Donna Karan, and produced in partnership with the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood.
A big part of that discovery process, says Jade, has to do with women’s health. “Health defines so much of what a person and a community can become, and there is much work to be done everywhere.” Jade is currently pursuing her Masters in Public Health from George Washington University, where among other things she is working on a research project called "Empowering Latino Teens," which looks at how new initiatives may help to prevent various risk behaviors.
“I actually applied on a whim, but was very excited to be selected and to have a chance to promote FeelGood’s mission,” said Jade. “It was a great day and I met countless amazing women and men doing good things for the world. It is clear people are not sitting down when it comes to all the issues humanity faces…they are running at full speed!" Jade must have felt quite at home.
Education is another passion for Jade. “Health and education pretty much go hand in hand” said Jade. So she applied for, and got, a highly competitive internship with the Saylor Foundation, whose mission is to enable everyone, everywhere to have access to a free online college education. “It’s been an amazing experience,” said jade, “to be able to work with so many experts from so many fields, and then make their content available to anyone!” Perhaps now it’s clear why Jade was recently selected as one of “20 inspired, enthusiastic, and powerful young women” to represent America’s "Generation: Inspiration" at the second-annual Women: Inspiration & Enterprise (WIE) Symposium, held this
“BECAUSE OF FEELGOOD, I HOPE TO WORK FOR CAUSES THAT INSURE OTHERS AHVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DISCOVER WHO THEY’RE SUPOSED TO BE.” PICTURED ABOVE, JADE DURING HER 2011 FG INTERNSHIP
WORLD| Innovation
A NATIONAL MOVEMENT! FeelGood Chapters 1. Academy of the New Church HS 2. Bryn Athyn College 3. Chestnut Hill College 4. Clemson University 5. Columbia University 6. Delaware Valley College 7. Northern Arizona University 8. Oregon State University 9. UC Berkeley 10. UC Riverside 11. UC Santa Barbara 12. University of Arizona 13. University of Connecticut 14. University of Illinois at Chicago
15. University of Illinois at U.C. 16. University of Massachusetts 17. University of Pittsburgh 18. University of the Philippines 19. University of Utah 20. University of Vermont 21. University of Washington22. Western Kentucky University 2011 Start-Up Chapters 23. Boston University 24. Brown University 25. Bryant University 26. Bryn Mawr College 27. Hofstra University
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28. Northwestern University 29. Palisades HS 30. Pitzer College 31. Prospect Hill Academy HS 32. Rutgers University 33. Sciences Po - Paris 34. Stevens Institute of Technology 35. UC Los Angeles (UCLA) 36. University of Colorado - Boulder 37. University of Kentucky 38. University of Missouri - Columbia 39. Ursinus College 40. Washington and Jefferson College 41. Weber State University 42. Wheaton College
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WORLD| Innovation
The FeelGood Changemaker Academy FeelGood’s process is equipping a new generations of changemakers: social entrepreneurs who are ready and able to respond to the world’s most pressing issues in loving, strategic and sustainable ways. The key to FeelGood’s success in creating changemakers is a social entrepreneurship training program called the Changemaker Academy. Two initiatives form the core of the Academy: 1. Social Entrepreneurship Training Intensives 2-6 times yearly, FeelGood brings together young social entrepreneurs from across the
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country to participate in intensive multi-day trainings in 3 domains: Being Changemakers (broad worldview, leadership, teamwork, and applied empathy), Deli Ope r a t i o n s ( e . g . , s t a ffi n g a n d training, marketing, accounting, food safety and vendor relations) and Expanding the Dialogue (educational outreach strategies and events). Each participant leaves these trainings with new skills and
a renewed commitment to the mission, their chapter and the movement. 2. Social Entrepreneurship Training Curriculum FeelGood has an innovative college-accredited, peer-facilitated curriculum that builds on the content of the Training Intensives, while helping each chapter f u l fi l l t h e s p e c i fi c , m e a s u r a b l e goals they set at the beginning of the school year in the three domains mentioned above: Being Changemakers, Deli Operations, and Expanding the Dialogue. Engaging in the curriculum deepens member commitment, strengthens leadership, maintains momentum, and tracks results throughout the year. In 2011, FeelGood completed its fi r s t 2 - t e r m c o u r s e a t B r y n A t h y n College in Pennsylvania, which w i l l b e o ff e r e d a g a i n i n t h e 2011-2012 school year. The University of Vermont will pilot its fi r s t c o u r s e i n t h e s p r i n g o f 2 0 1 2 .
“I found the entire [Summer Training] experience life changing. Being around such a supportive group of amazing Individuals was incredibly empowering, and it gave me so much faith and hope in humanity. Now I know that I can truly make a difference. ” Trisha Hlastawa. University of Vermont. Social Entrepreneurship Training Intensive, 2011.
WORLD| Innovation
FEELGOOD LAUNCHES CHEESE WORLD 2.0 It's impossible to capture all the energy of the FeelGood movement, but one tool that really helps is the innovative online social entrepreneurship education platform, Cheese World!
lution as changemakers. FeelGood launched Cheese World Beta last year, which enabled students to earn over $16,000 in investment capital! This year FeelGood introduced Cheese World 2.0, which is taking the movement to a whole new level of connectivity.
is a good thing! Now on Cheese World students can see a ranking of each chapter by cumulative number of Cheese Points earned, as well that week’s Action Guru: a title given to the chapter that earned the most Cheese Points this week!
Social and Networking Features. It’s great to see what actions others are Some of the cool new features of taking, it's even better to “like” their Cheese World 2.0 posts and to be able to respond with a The Action Feed. Now students can see note of encouragement, learning, or advice. Cheese World makes it easy to Feel the pulse of the movement the actions everyone else is taking, right from the main home page. Rather communicate with other chapters and other FeelGood members across the Cheese World uses on-line gaming than just knowing what your own design and psychology to help Feelchapter is doing, you can see (and feel!) movement. Gooders keep track of and fulfill the the pounding pulse of the entire FeelCheese World was developed in partneraction plans they develop at the begin- Good movement! This feature allows ning of the school year. Every hungerfor a grassroots process of sharing best ship with Ripple Q, a San Francisco technology company. FeelGood looks forending action members complete earns practices around the movement. ward to partnering with social entrepretheir chapter Cheese Points, which conneurship and service learning based orvert into dollars that chapters can invest The Leader Board and Action Guru. in their deli and in their member’s evo- Sometimes a little friendly competition ganizations to further expand the usage of this change-making platform.
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1 ACTIONS:
SOCIAL NETWORKING:
Students stay inspired and connected to the movement by learning from each other’s b e s t p r a c t i c e s . They support each other by “Liking” and commenting on their posts on the Feed.
Students create a s t r a t e g i c p l a n every year which is then hosted on Cheese World.
2 PRIZES:
By completing actions from their strategic plan, students earn C h e e s e P o i n t s , which are cashed out as investment capital to grow their delis and attend FG training events and international trips.
4 GAMING:
A yearly leaderboard and a weekly Action Guru call attention to, and r e w a r d the most active chapters and members.
C h e e s e W o r l d is FeelGood’s online education platform and alternative currency. It runs through and connects all aspects of the FeelGood program. Check out the different features of Cheese World that turn social entrepreneurship learning into a fun, social and fulfilling experience.