I Purchased a Purpose-Driven Pro Sports Team

Breaking news: I just joined an ownership group with Marshawn Lynch (former NFL star), rapper G-Eazy, and Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) to purchase a professional soccer team.

Just to clarify, I joined these notables along with several thousand other investors who have invested $2.3 million toward a $3 million crowdfunding goal for the Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club.

I’ve been a fan of the Oakland Roots SC for several years now (and its new women’s Oakland Soul team, which started last year). I just got my chance to prove my fandom by becoming an “owner” of the team through its wefunder campaign.

So, how’s a guy in Boise become a fan of a relatively new soccer team in Oakland?

I’ve been following co-founders Edreece Arghandiwal and Mike Geddes on LinkedIn for a while now, and what they’ve created in the Oakland Roots Soul Sports Club is something special: a purpose-driven sports team built that way from the ground up. It’s been incredibly inspiring to follow along with them on their journey.

Their aim, besides the back of the net, is to harness the magic of Oakland, CA, and the power of sports as a force for good. They’re all about community engagement and have gathered national and international recognition for their advocacy of anti-racism and gender equity. That’s just the corner kick of their purposeful story to get you interested; there’s plenty more they’re pursuing if you want to put your foot into the ball and learn more.

Oh, and their brand design for Oakland Roots and Soul Club is totally badass.

As for Wefunder, it’s such a cool platform and an affordable way to support companies via an equity stake, especially if you’re looking for a return on causes you care about. (Added bonus: Wefunder is a public benefit corporation.) Over time, it’s enabled me to support several other social entrepreneurs and their worthy endeavors with modest investments: Jennifer Piette of Narrative Food, Dan Kurzrock of Regrained, and Lori Shandro and Eric Gilbert of Treefort Music Fest. All three are certified B Corps.

So, if you love soccer and scrappy startups bent on purposely bending the world toward the positive, join me and thousands of others by becoming an investor. I’m pretty thrilled about it and hoping to rock my owner’s shirt (crowdfunding perk) in person at a Roots or Soul game in 2024.

Godspeed, friends.

Russ

P.S. Shout-out to B Corp Warm Springs Consulting for featuring Godspeed in its monthly newsletter. If you’re looking for sustainability experts that can move your business forward, connect with co-founders Amber Bieg and Deborah Hiller LaSalle.

💥 Quick Hits

• A massive investment in a Public Benefit Corporation - Public benefit corporation (PBC) AI startup Anthropic, which we wrote about earlier this year, took a $4 billion investment from Amazon. It also added a Long-Term Benefit Trust alongside its PBC structure. Hmm - quite the governance goulash, especially given its new investor. It will be interesting to see how this progresses.

• Bet they don't feel any better when you step on them, either - Lego announced it would make its blocks out of recycled plastic - until it discovered after two years of research that the recycled blocks would have a larger carbon footprint than the originals.

⛑️ Public Service Announcement

•  Don't forget to get yours - Remember to get your free Covid tests - the government site to request four free tests (per household) launched yesterday.

🤔 Trivia Time

How many people participated in the "March to End Fossil Fuels" in New York City during Climate Week?

• 25,000

• 75,000

• 250,000

• 1 million

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 "A career change written in code" edition, you'll find purposeful jobs like those below, along with many more at the One Work website.

• CODEACADEMY - Here's your secret code to job with a groundbreaking company: Codeacademy is an online platform that makes it easy for anyone to learn how to code. Curriculum Development, Web Developer, REMOTE.

•  DATA.WORLD - Get your data geek on at this public benefit corporation and a B Corp that helps make data accessible throughout organizations by providing the platform to democratize it. Partner Development Representative, REMOTE.

• COTOPAXI - Public benefit corporation? ✓ Certified B Corporation? ✓ One of the coolest companies around? ✓✓✓ Make your own mark by joining this carbon-neutral company that fights poverty in Latin America and makes rad, colorful, and sustainable outdoor adventure gear. Retail Store Manager, Boise, ID, Seattle, WA, or Boulder, CO.

Trivia Answer‌

Estimates placed it at 75,000 marchers. (We need to make it a million+ marchers.💪)

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!