Non-Profit Tech Blog

I admit it… I’m not up on my beauty products. However, I am up on Shaw Treatment. They’re a husband and wife team, Brad Arsenault and Michelle Shaw, from Canada who have created a social entrepreneurship where all profit will go to charities that help Africa. They are NOT a 501c3. I read about them first over at 4nonprofits.org. They’re an interesting case in that they’ve adopted many Web 2.0 marketing strategies, YouTube and their participation in other social networks such as kiva.org.

There’s a strong emotional element that they bring across when they write about their enterprise. Most prominently, this text piqued my interest:

I vaguely remember several discussions and lessons about South Africa that year. Mr. Tobin opened our eyes to the importance of world politics. I heard his message, but it wasn’t until recently that I really and fully understood it. A number of factors have played into my and my wife’s decision to do something. It has been over 10 years since Apartheid was abolished in South Africa and it now exists as a footnote in history. “Why did you come here?,” asks one of my class-mates. Mr. Tobin responds, his face and answer are full of emotion, “That’s no way to live.”

And you’ll hear a further explanation of that quote in the audio stream. It’s worth listening to if only to understand the emotional component that is all too often lost when a founder is no longer running an organization (non-profit or otherwise).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.