Enjoying a taste of change with the Dukakis Center

A live crowdfunding event is such an exciting happening. Especially when there is dinner and wine afterwards for participants!

Last Wednesday, the Dukakis Center and FEAST Thessaloniki joined forces to host an innovative crowd-funding event at WE Thessaloniki. “A Taste of Change” was an unforgettable fun(d)raising event focusing on new social challenges.

To kick things off Dorie Clark, best selling author and CEO of Clark Strategic Communications, gave a Dukakis Lecture entitled “Marketing for Social Change,” in which she focused on a whole range of considerations in strategic marketing.

After a stirring finale in which Dorie Clark defined public service and citizenship in a most satisfying way ("If we want to be citizens, I think it is important for all of us to be thinking about ways to be of service"), representatives of three local non-profits stepped up to pitch their socially entrepreneurial projects to the sizable audience of 70 strong.

Those presenting were the following; CEPI – Citizen Engagement Policy Innovation, Citizens & Activists, and Give. Each team was given ten minutes to present their inventive and original ideas to the audience, with a view toward winning the gate to fund their projects. The audience was then invited to vote for their preferred project.

CEPI focused on the creation of a channel in which contemporary issues and policies could be discussed, rated and shared among users. Citizens & Activists introduced a platform in an attempt to bring together a community of activists. Meanwhile Give, the winning team, introduced a platform aiming at bringing together physically challenged people in need of clinical help with activists or professionals.

FEAST Thessaloniki have considerable experience hosting this sort of event at venues like WE, and came into the collaboration with the Dukakis Center highly recommended by the US Consulate General of Thessaloniki and the Municipality of Thessaloniki.

Feast members Argyro Barata and Niki Vouimta organized the soup event portion of the evening, including lining up sponsors for dinner and for extra prizes. The Dukakis Center hosted Ms Clark and organized follow up mentoring sessions at the Bissell Library with the individual teams.
 

This was the first such event co-hosted by the Dukakis Center since its transformation in 2011 from endowed chair to academic and outreach center. The current strategic plan of the Dukakis Center calls for the Center gradually to incubate and otherwise support efforts of local non-profit start-ups.