GOOD Example: Taylor Conroy of Change Heroes
I met Taylor Conroy almost 10 years ago, when he helped me and my husband buy a house in Victoria, B.C. We were young, but he was even younger – I remember being so impressed by this fresh-faced guy, in his early 20s, who had already established himself as one of Victoria’s top realtors. He wasn’t just friendly and considerate — he made the transaction easy for us.
We became friends with Taylor, and during the process of buying our second house with him as our realtor, he told us about an upcoming trip to Africa to help a community in need. He had no idea that trip would be so transformative.
“After playing with children who owned nothing more than the tattered t-shirts on their backs, meeting girls who became mothers at age 14, and holding babies with a higher chance of dying of malaria or dysentery before age 5 than living, I was finally introduced to a “bright spot.” It was a schoolhouse in Kenya where children in blue and white school uniforms didn’t just learn math, science, and geography — they also learned about family planning, gender equality, how to prevent diseases like malaria and AIDS, and it was a place where they gained dignity each and every day,” says Taylor.
Taylor was inspired. Following his return to Canada, he learned that there are nearly 1.5 million non-profits working out of North America alone. He also learned that the organizations capable of carrying out world-changing work already exist around the globe, but that 99% of them lack the funding to fully carry out their missions.
I vowed to use my sales, marketing and business knowledge to develop a better method of fundraising — one that had incredibly high returns in little to no time. A method that didn’t depend on people paying $10,000 for a table at a fancy dinner, or going to a charity golf tournament, or paying people to wear coloured vests on street corners and holler at passersby.
He knew there had to be a way to harness online networks to raise thousands of dollars in a matter of days with minimal effort.
In 2010, the results of conducting multiple experiments on giving, studying social enterprise, and doing extensive research into the viral web converged into the idea that is now called Change Heroes.
Change Heroes FAQ’s – Money from Change Heroes on Vimeo.
Since its beginnings in 2010, Change Heroes has raised nearly $1.5 million and funded 142 schools in nations in need. Change Heroes has partnered with organizations as large as the Walt Disney Company, but families and individuals (including kids as young as four years old!) have led campaigns and become part of the Change Heroes Tribe.
A recent phone call with Taylor revealed that he’s shifted his focus from realty to Change Heroes, and now splits his time between the Change Heroes HQ in Vancouver, B.C., and New York City.
“New York is the hub for so many different companies,” Taylor says. “Being here allows us to partner with and help companies wanting to make a real difference, effortlessly. We make it easy for them.”
For more information, or to get involved, visit www.changeheroes.com, and follow Change Heroes on Twitter and Facebook.
