Building a Newsletter for Creators of Impact

This whole newsletter business is a grand experiment to see if I can scale my experience and connections to help entrepreneurs and companies embrace social and environmental impact. So, let's have a look at the experiment with this month's update on building a newsletter business.

Over the past 30ish days we've increased the number of Godspeed members by 26%, now totaling 123 kindred spirits interested in the business of social and environmental impact. We added two new paid supporters 🎉, bringing the total to seven. This continues our trend line of 5% of all members supporting our efforts via a small monthly investment 🙏.

Engagement continues to track pretty steady with a 70% open rate and clicks on links at around 10%. We're even starting to get some comments, which were pretty much nonexistent for the first few months of publication.

The growth came largely by emailing a number of people I know who then signed up – that's a pretty good way to add members, it turns out 😉. LinkedIn continues to generate members, and while I haven't seen any new members from syndicating posts on Medium, posts there are starting to get likes and comments. I signed up to get exposure within the newsletter platform I use, Ghost – so far nothing. I'm starting to see a few organic conversions – people floating out there in the ether looking for good in the world and somehow discover Godspeed and sign up.

In order to successfully scale, I'm thinking membership has to be in the thousands somewhere. Stay tuned for more results next month.

🤔 What Would You Think About...

➡️ In the meantime, my piece a couple of weeks back on Mutual Aid Societies got me thinking about Godspeed as an opportunity to help one another. What if we added a community element inspired by the concepts of mutual aid – voluntary participation, collective support, shared responsibility, etc. – a place where people can ask questions, receive advice, provide counsel, get motivated and inspired? It would rely on people who are committed to giving help (givers=😍). The payback would simply be helping someone, with the possibility of needing assistance yourself at some point in the future. It wouldn't be a place to get slimed by the sales come-ons of strangers; if business relationships develop organically as a result, "relationships" being the operative word, well, that's great and fruitful – but the idea here isn't "How can I make a sale?" Rather, it might be "How can I help someone with their sales effort?"

I believe the business of social and environmental impact is tougher than the traditional way of conducting commerce. We need all the help we can get, and perhaps this experimental "second" seed beyond the newsletter might germinate and blossom into something beautiful. Would you be interested in exploring a community for Godspeed? Or do you have all the community you need? Let me know.

Godspeed, friends.

Russ

💬 Quote of the Week

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” Albert Einstein

💥 Quick Hits

• Now it all makes sense - Anyone else out there share my a-ha moment when seeing the question mark captured by the James Webb Space Telescope? Turns out the universe has a wicked sense of humor.

🛠️ Cool Tools

• Find your dream job on purpose - One of the more popular parts of this newsletter is the section with meaningful career opportunities provided by One Work. It has now launched a jobs board with more than 3,000 social impact jobs. You can also create a profile so that social impact companies can find you. What's keeping you?

🤔 Trivia Time

Benefit corporations adopt a specialized legal structure that allows them to create and prioritize public benefit of stakeholders alongside financial returns without fear of shareholder lawsuits for not singularly maximizing bottom-line profit. Which of the following countries DOES NOT have benefit corporation legislation (or similar stakeholder governance structures)?

• Italy

• Peru

• France

• Rwanda

• Japan

Today's trivia answer can be found at the bottom of this newsletter.‌‌‌‌

‌Find the Most Meaningful Work of Your Career

Our partner One Work has you covered with meaningful work that goes beyond a paycheck, a cubicle, or a weekly team Zoom call. In this week's "The Seeds of Economic Impact" edition, you'll find purposeful jobs like those below, along with many more at the One Work website.

• TECHSTARS - Techstars is a certified B Corp and one of the leading pre-seed accelerators, including some that focus on social and environmental impact. Managing Director, Techstars Workforce Development Accelerator, Denver, CO.

• CATCHAFIRE - If volunteering sparks your fire, put your spark to work with this social impact marketplace that connects nonprofits with skilled volunteers. Even if you're not looking for work right now, their database of volunteer opportunities might be of interest. Senior Product Designer, REMOTE.

• KICKUP - Want to kick it up a notch with a career in the educational sector? KickUp makes teachers's lives easier and maximizes their professional learning opportunities. Client Success Manager, REMOTE.

Check out One Work's full jobs board of purposeful jobs with mission-driven companies and organizations.‌‌‌‌‌

Trivia Answer‌

While you might be able to form a business keiretsu in Japan (look it up, they're pretty interesting), you can't become a public benefit corporation there. Italy (2015), France (2020), Peru (2020), and Rwanda (2021) all have public benefit corporation or similar legal structures.

Have an interesting social impact tool, idea, or trivia question you'd like to share? Reply to this newsletter and let me know - I'd love to hear about it. You can also hit me up at rstoddard@oliverrussell.com.

Also - please don't hesitate to forward this to a friend you think would benefit from it - thank you!