Interview with Dan Morrison, Founder of Citizen Effect: How Citizen Effect Got Started

By envisionGood | May 6 2010 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

This is Part 1 of a 4-Part series with Dan Morrison, Founder of Citizen Effect.

Dan shares insights on “citizen philanthropy” and shares the behind-the-scenes story that inspired him to start Citizen Effect. In our next interview we talk with Dan about how a strong business background and a knowledgeable and talented advisory board are critical when launching a new business like Citizen Effect. You can catch Part II here.

Thank you Dan for your time to meet for this interview.

Behind-The-Scenes: Citizen Philanthropy & How Citizen Effect Got Started

Katrina: Thank you so much for joining. I’m here with Dan Morrison, the Founder of Citizen Effect. And Dan can you tell us a little bit about Citizen Effect?

Dan: Sure. Citizen Effect basically is a platform that empowers anybody to be a philanthropist. The whole idea is that you don’t have to be Bill Gates to save the world. So because of technology and the internet and mobile, you can actually reach and interact with communities halfway around the world and build relationships and have a real impact on their lives. You can actually pick your own project, and then we give you the platform to bring your family and friends all together to raise the money for that project. And probably the most important thing is we put you in direct contact with that community so you see the impact that you are having.

Katrina: How do you connect citizen philanthropists with global communities?

Dan: We go around the world to try to identify best-in-class organizations. They can be big NGOs, they can be small community-based organizations, but ones that have a really strong relationship in that community. And so they actually source the projects, implement the projects and manage all the projects, and they facilitate the communication between the community members there on the ground and the citizen philanthropists and all their donors.

Katrina: Speaking of a citizen philanthropist, can you just share a little bit, what is a citizen philanthropist?

Dan: The way we think of philanthropy is, it’s not just a giver, it’s not someone who just makes a donation. We’re actually looking for those people who just don’t want to give fifty dollars, they want to bring their friends and family together in a strong community relationship and raise five thousand dollars.

Katrina: How is citizen philanthropy different than donating to a cause online?

Dan: I think it’s important to understand that philanthropy is a long-term strategic investment and relationship that you have with another community. That’s what we consider as citizen philanthropy and how it’s different than just giving donations.

Katrina: Fantastic. And can you share, what inspired you to launch and start an organization and build this platform?

Dan: The inspiration for this is really a woman named Reema Nanavatyi. And she was one of the leaders of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) which is an amazing group in India. And I met her and she invited me to come see the work they were doing in northwest India. And I just toured around the rural villages for two weeks helping them and just, really, listening to their stories. And hearing these amazing stories about these poor farmers, these rye pickers, these poor artisans. And they obviously had a very difficult life, which I was completely foreign to – I’m a suburban boy from the western side of Chicago, and have no idea what it’s like to live that life.

And they’re also filled with hope and saw the potential of what was possible. And one of them came to me and said, “we don’t want your help, we don’t want you to tell us what to do, what we want to do is partner with you so we can take advantage of the opportunities right in front of us.” And, I think that was really the big motivation. And then the next woman came along and said, “you know I’m walking four hours a day for water, we know we can build this well in this community, and if we can do that, we’ll unlock the potential of all the women in the community, we’ll improve the health of the community…”

And so I went home and with friends and family raised five thousand dollars for the well. And that’s really how it started.

Thank you Dan, for time to meet for this interview.

Dan Morrison | Founder, Citizen Effect

About: Citizen Effect provides citizens with the tools and networks they need to work directly with communities in need around the world, enabling every individual to be a citizen philanthropist. Website: www.CitizenEffect.org

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