This past weekend I went on a trip to Detroit. As vast as the problems of Detroit are, there is a critical mass of people working to make Detroit a better place to live. Start ups, artisans, and writers have taken the city by storm. But how are most of these innovative projects funded?

Foundations bankrolled by billionaires

These foundations have incredible power in Detroit. Ford, Kresge, Dan Gilbert. For better or worse, its the model of how American capitalism works.

People get rich selling cars. Accumulate wealth. Then have the power to shape a city.

I don’t think its a bad system. But what about people who want to change the city who aren't billionaires?

Enter millennials

My generation gets tons of criticism. We’re lazy, self centered, sheltered, whatever. I don’t care what anyone has to say. Every generation says the same thing about the next generation. Its foolish.

What millennials have is an incredible passion to focus on changing the world and being apart of movements that do so.

We've grown up with the internet, which has made us the most open and accepting generation. Injustices can no longer be hidden. The internet spreads ideas at an incredible rate. So millenials feel if they aren’t working towards a larger goal, they’re wasting their time.

Social business models are the way of the future. Look at TOMS shoes, Mogl, Cape Commons Brewing Company. These are businesses that focus on selling a product. But selling a product with a mission behind it. All of these products have a giving component built in.

We no longer live in a world of accumulate, accumulate, accumulate, give.

Millennials are creating businesses that accumulate to give, accumulate to give.

So we no longer have to be billionaires to change the world. We can make money and give back while we do it.