In November of 2016, a pro-life evangelical minister, a tech company CEO, a VR artist, a hunting lobbyist and 97 other leaders in their fields gathered to design solutions around the future of climate protection in the Trump era. With only two weeks of planning following the election and a sense of deep urgency to circle the wagons, enso united this group of unlikely bedfellows to share learnings, prototype new ways of working together, and commit to a collective $30M in funding to support pro-climate ideas. This came after six years of building strong relationships through our work in social impact, and a shared unity around our company’s north star: creating impact at scale by building mission-driven brands and shared missions through fearless creativity and collaborative action.
Six months after our Climate Change Summit, we partnered up with top pro-bono law firm Public Counsel to convene a similarly diverse group at MOCA Los Angeles. Our mission? Develop a game plan for the culture-change campaign needed to help pass a constitutional amendment around literacy and the right to read.
Right down the road in the heart of Downtown LA, enso and OfferUp (a platform for the exchange of used goods with a $1.2B valuation) kicked off a series of dinners to discuss their Shared Mission to rebuild trust in communities with people from across lines of political and social difference. Advocates for people experiencing homelessness, Arts District developers, school principles, and trendy bar owners gathered to break bread, recognizing that the first step towards working together to resolve neighborhood tension is to get to know one another as humans. This was the first of many dinners and other opportunities for building bridges that OfferUp will lead as a part of their Shared Mission to rebuild trust, titled NeighborUp. More on that here.
For us at enso, this series of gatherings was an amalgamation of 6 years of our learnings building mission-driven brands across industries and issue areas.
No matter how big an idea is, or how mighty its core champion, mass-scale change doesn’t happen with one person, organization, or Fortune 100 company alone. Moving the needle on issues requires collaboration across different partners, coming from different sectors, applying creativity to find new ways of working together and mobilizing support.
In a time when we’re facing greater connectivity and yet graver isolation, where convenings too often feel like times to talk rather than act, and where the state of the climate is in deep threat — we were honored to design, convene, and serve as Mission Control for this nexus of incredible minds.
Building on our initial work around Climate, Literacy, NeighborUp, and other projects in the works, we’re thrilled to be formalizing our network of partners and launching the Shared Mission Network.
We’ve been at the intersection of so many inspiring and dedicated people, and building community quietly through our Shared Table dinner series, team retreats, hackathons, design sprints and more. We’re finally making it official, and inaugurating our first batch of Shared Mission Collaborators this month.
The Network is composed of a short list of incredible folks — current partners, or people we’re hoping to cook up partnerships with, all united in their commitment to work at the intersection of collaboration and creativity.
In our inaugural year, we’re focused on these things:
- Building Shared Missions: Launching Missions, and pulling Network Collaborators into design sprints and summits to bring new solutions to the world
- Building resources and tools: Sharing insights and learnings from working in the field with one another.
- Amplifying our collective impact: Sharing initiatives with the Shared Mission Network to find new collaborators, resources and partners
For now, the Network is by invitation only. But let us know if you’re interested or send any questions our way at mc@sharedmission.co.
Welcome to all of the founding collaborators who have joined the Shared Mission Network:
- Abri Holden, Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI)
- Adriel Luis, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
- Angie Jean Marie, Civic Nation
- Ashley Jacobs, Mayor’s Fund
- Banks Benitez, Uncharted
- Barb Groth, Nomadic School of Wonder
- Bisi Williams, Massive Change Network
- Brendan Doherty, Forbes Impact Investing
- Brett Willms, Google Fiber
- Brian Hardwick, Social Impact Strategist
- Bruce Mau, Massive Change Network
- Casper ter Kuile, On Being
- Christopher Keefe, Omidyar Network
- Damian Bradfield, WeTransfer
- Danielle Silber, ACLU
- David Johnson, Act4Entertainment
- Deborah Cullinan, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
- Dev Aujila, Juxtapose
- Diana Garcia, Artist
- Elliot Kotek, The Nation of Artists
- Eric Espinosa, City of LA
- Heather O’Reilly, Athlete
- Hillary Newman, Omaze
- Jama Adams, SidePorch
- Janine Gianfredi, X Lab
- Jasper Goggins, Mad Decent
- Jerri Chou, The Feast
- Jess Weiner, Jess Talks
- Jonah Berger, Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania
- Jonathan Harris, Artist
- Jonathan Schooler, UCSB Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential
- Juergen Grisebeck, Common Goal
- Karen Goldfeder, DoSomething.org
- Katie Hunt-Morr, Virgin Unite
- Laura Stein, Challenged Athletes Foundation
- Lennon Flowers, The Dinner Party
- Mara Abrams, US Census Bureau
- Mari Nakano, NYC Economic Development Corps
- Mark Gonzales, Department of the Future
- Mauricio Mota, Wise Entertainment
- Mike Spear, Classy
- Morgan Clendaniel, Fast Company
- Natalie Angelillo, OfferUp
- Nichol Bradford, Transformative Technology Lab
- Patti Williams, Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania
- Piers Bradford, Project Everyone
- Rachel Sumekh, Swipe Out Hunger
- Rodney Hines, Starbucks
- Rodney McKenzie, Demos
- Sam Polk, Everytable
- Scott Shigeoka, IDEO
- Sean Knierim, SidePorch
- Soraya Hosni, Anthropologist
- Susan Reeve, Lionfish Consulting
- Tyler Peterson, Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI)
- Will Weisman, Singularity
- Yumi Sakugawa, Artist + Illustrator
- Zach RichterWith.in
Shared Mission is a platform for bringing people together from across sectors to create impact at scale. Collaborate with us at sharedmission.co and medium.com/magnetized.
Started by enso, made by all.
