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Pennies 4 Progress Start-Up Team Credits a Supportive Entrepreneurship Community at NC State

In the past year, a team of NC State University undergraduate students with a passion for social entrepreneurship launched Pennies 4 Progress. What began as a first place finish in the Inaugural University of North Carolina System Social Business Competition in fall 2012 is now up and running as a pending 501.c.3 non-profit organization, with a C-suite team of student leaders and advisory board.

The organization’s officers credit the support of the entrepreneurship community at NC State University and beyond for helping them put their idea into action.

“It was great to have the opportunity to share Pennies 4 Progress with other brilliant young people at the competition and leaders like Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus,” said Ryan O’Donnell, chief executive officer and spokesperson for the startup. O'Donnell is a senior in Poole College majoring in business administration.

The P4P learned from the other contestants and network leaders in the social sector. Since winning the UNC Social Business Plan Competiton, they have been focusing on building the best model they can and executing to make their concept a reality, O’Donnell said.

“P4P wants to revolutionize how we fund social good,” he said. “We believe philanthropy truly means ‘love the humanity’ but philanthropists usually have a lot of zeroes behind the numbers in their bank account balances; we want to open philanthropy up to everyone. We all deserve the opportunity to create the same social impact as people like Bill Gates; we can do that when we work together.”

 

“At Pennies 4 Progress,” O’Donnell said, “we're in the business of uniting people to drive social progress. First, we partner with point of sale systems and retailers. Together, we make it easy for customers to do a little good when they check out by donating a few pennies electronically whenever they pay by card. These pennies add up fast and we direct these pennies to fund the best non-profit organizations for the causes our donors care about.”

The founding P4P team members – O'Donnell, Kevin Miller and Brandon Narybouth – explain their concept and motivation further in a 2012 UNC GA video about their social venture. 

Opportunities from Abroad

Entering the Hong Kong PolyU Global Student Challenge, an international business plan competition, provided another opportunity for the team. They submitted an executive summary and a 22-page business plan for their venture in late 2012, competing against teams from around the world. In the final round, there were 29 other teams in the corporate social responsibility-social enterprise theme.

Photo at Hong Kong

Entering that competition was “a great milestone,” O’Donnell said. The team spent the next semester researching and refining their business model, he said.

“Great ideas are a dime a dozen but going through the start up process and making an impact is what it is all about. Writing the business plan and preparing our 20-minute presentation have been a great experience for us,” he said. Before flying out for the competition in June 2013, the team filed legal documents to have Pennies 4 Progress registered as an official 501.c.3 non-profit organization.

“We believe we were a qualified entry (in the competition) because our model addresses exactly what this (social responsibility enterprise) theme was looking for. Our goal is to promote social enterprise by working with brands who want to be socially responsible,” O’Donnell said.  

“Most importantly, we were one of only six teams from the U.S. chosen to represent our country in Hong Kong,” O’Donnell said, “While we didn't win the grand prize (at the PolyU Challenge), we won an all expense paid trip to Hong Kong and met an incredible group of young entrepreneurs from around the world. It was incredible.”

The P4P team members have applied what they learned from these experiences and tapped resources closer to home. “We spent the past year talking with experts in the field, building a network of advisers, and pivoting our idea,” O’Donnell said.

He credits the supportive entrepreneurship community at NC State and the Raleigh area. The team now is focused on executing their plan through pilot programs and “soon to be announced” partnerships with point of sale systems, businesses and local non-profit organizations, he said.

Connecting with Soutenu Dancewear for a Pilot Program

“We are finalizing the terms for our first pilot program with another NC State-based start-up,” O’Donnell said. “This will be a great way to prove our model and support another NC State student venture.”

That startup, Soutenu Dancewear, was founded by Suzanne Matthews, an NC State English major in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Soutenu aims to integrate new measures of support in existing dancewear to protect dancers’ vulnerable joints and ligaments.

A Supportive Community

Pennies 4 Progress has been working with a number of local resources as it prepares to launch.

“Our advisers are leaders at NC State like Mike Giancola, associate vice provost for student development, health and wellness; experienced entrepreneurs like Lewis Sheats, entrepreneurship lecturer in Poole College, and non-profit leaders,” O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell, Miller and Narybouth this year also became StartingBloc Fellows, which has connected them with a global network of social innovators.

NC State’s Garage and Entrepreneurship Initiative “have been incredibly supportive, providing opportunities to learn from local entrepreneurs and successful NC State alumni involved in entrepreneurship,” O’Donnell said. “The space is great and makes for an easy place to work and innovate.”

The Poole College of Management and its Sustainability Initiative have also been helpful, he said. “Jessica Thomas, SI director, and Lewis Sheats are by far the most helpful and important people in the college to me personally,” O’Donnell said. 

He also credits the Caldwell Fellows Program at NC State. “It has been immensely supportive through our focus, as fellows, on service leadership and our emphasis on doing better at doing good,” he said.

“Through a Service Learning Team with Pennies 4 Progress, five sophomores in the program are providing impact measurement and evaluation services to the AventWest Children's Mentoring Program,” O’Donnell said. “Their service is helping P4P learn how to effectively distribute funds to ensure we can make the largest social impact possible.”

Caldwell Fellows working with P4P are:

  • Josiah Keilson, Poole College sophomore majoring in business administration
  • Bethany Faulkner, College of Design sophomore majoring in graphic design
  • Brooke Wilner, College of Engineering sophomore majoring in aerospace engineering and at CHASS, in English
  • Kevin Eguiluz, College of Engineering sophomore majoring in chemical engineering and at Poole College, in economics
  • Shrey Satpathy, College of Engineering sophomore majoring in nuclear engineering and physics

P4P’s leadership team has grown from the original three to five, from providing additional expertise in key areas. Following are the venture’s current team members.

  • Ryan O'Donnell, chief executive officer, leads the team across all functional areas and manages all external partnerships and fundraising. He is senior in the Poole College of Management, and a Hamilton Scholar, studying business administration with an entrepreneurship concentration and international studies with a concentration in economics and a minor in Chinese. He also is a Caldwell Fellow. His hometown is High Point, N.C. He recently launched his blog about social good called Impactivist.
  • Brandon Narybouth, chief financial officer, provides management and oversight for all financial systems in addition to ensuring the team has a financially sustainable growth plan. He is a Poole College junior majoring in economics with a business concentration. His hometown is Charlotte, N.C.
  • Shreye Saxena, chief operating officer, manages the strategy and execution of P4P’s point of sale system and retail partnerships. He is a College of Engineering junior majoring in computer and electrical engineering with a minor in business. Saxena is a Caldwell Fellow and his hometown is Cary, N.C.
  • Joseph Moo-Young is chief impact officer. He ensures all the pennies are used in the most effective and efficient way by the organizations that P4P funds. Currently, he is overseeing the team of Caldwell Fellows to provide impact measurement and evaluation services to the AventWest Children's Mentoring Program. He is a College of Engineering junior majoring in chemical engineering. His home town is Charlotte, N.C.
  • Kevin Miller serves on the Pennies 4 Progress board of advisers and is strategic adviser to the core team. He graduated graduated in May 2013 from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences with a degree in international relations and minors in Spanish and entrepreneurship. He was a Caldwell Fellow and his hometown is Charlotte, N.C.

Photo

Top Photo: Pennies 4 Progress inaugural team members Kevin Miller, Ryan O'Donnel and Brandon Narybouth, at NC State's Bell Tower.

In the text: Photo of the Hong Kong PolyU Global Student Challenge participants in Hong Kong.