Sheepless.org
Location
Sheepless.org is a community-supported magazine site, provoking, celebrating, and providing critical exposure for a new breed of entrepreneurs forging vocations that serve the common good, whether environmental, social, educational, cultural, or community-driven.
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Scott
Last Name
Ballum
Website
Organization
Sheepless.org
Country
United States
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
Sheepless.org
Organization Website
Organization Phone
917-287-4795
Organization Address
33 Flatbush Ave, 5th Fl, Brooklyn, NY
Organization Country
United States
Your idea
Name Your Project
Sheepless.org
What is your idea? What makes it innovative? Why is it important?
Sheepless.org is a community-supported magazine site, provoking, celebrating, and providing critical exposure for a new breed of entrepreneurs forging vocations that serve the common good, whether environmental, social, educational, cultural, or community-driven.
Will you launch your idea as a business or non-profit?
Business
Country your work focuses on
United States
What will be the impact of your idea?
Pioneering activists and entrepreneurs are proving we can replace profit-driven corporate models with startups founded on convictions, without ignoring a very real bottom line. Self-sustaining businesses that create secure employment while having a positive social impact, and a small environmental one, are being encouraged and offered to young people or those seeking new opportunities as viable and celebrated career possibilities.
Sheepless.org fills a unique void in the social entrepreneurship conversation by supporting community entrepreneurs, and providing a safe space for them to air their fears and challenges, and learn from one-another. Our readership consists of successful, established companies, start-ups dealing directly with environmental and social issues, and individuals who work for or with these small businesses, as well as aspiring entrepreneurs and those that are inspired by their work.
Who will help you develop your idea? Why are you the one to make this happen?
Sheepless.org’s contributors are entrepreneurs and sustainable business advocates. We work for small community-focused businesses, have founded etsy stores, and are working artists. Some of us are writing for the first time, while others are seasoned freelance journalists. Professional photographers and award-winning illustrators, a certified public accountant, and a marketing outreach coordinator for a green tech business have all contributed to Sheepless.org.
The project was founded by Scott Ballum, also the founder the graphic design studio Sheepless Co.
Previously, Scott created ConsumeRevolution, a self-published magazine exposing a growing complacency with globalization and consumerism and offering viable alternatives to a “mass-produced” lifestyle—which later prompted the ConsumeReconnection Project, an online journal about his efforts to meet the laborers and craftsmen who made everything he bought for an entire year, with a focus on traceability, buying local, and conscious consumption. These endeavors have been featured in GOOD Magazine, Adbusters, Resurgence (UK), Step Inside Design, and NPR.
How much will it cost to launch your idea? (This can be an estimate)
In order to maintain and expand the current quality of writing, artwork, and interactivity, introduce a new series of video profiles, grow our skillshare section into an invaluable resource for small businesses, and expand our outreach, we estimate our forthcoming financial needs at a modest $5,000 per month.
We are currently seeking additional partnerships and sponsorships to reach this goal. A ChangeMakers grant of $25,000 will allow us to give the project momentum and attract future partnerships.
This Entry is about (Issues)
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 | Maggie Feuchter said: I've been fortunate enough to see this initiative grow from its very beginnings: first as an idea, then tested for a year personally by ... about this Competition Entry. - 746 days ago read more > |
| rdeleon99 said: Support this awesome project. Really thoughtful features and a wonderful resource for anyone who cares to be conscientious in a ... about this Competition Entry. - 747 days ago read more > |
| fileunderk said: With the culmination of recent events leading to the recession and general dissatisfaction with business as is, thoughtful individuals ... about this Competition Entry. - 747 days ago read more > |
| hellojackie said: I met Scott while he was in the preliminary stages of founding Sheepless.org. Watching him build the idea through to execution was ... about this Competition Entry. - 748 days ago read more > |
| patrykbot said: Scott's Sheepless.org makes it obvious that the community in which we belong to and participate in on a daily basis is important to our ... about this Competition Entry. - 748 days ago read more > |
| emilyhonora said: Watching Scott develop Sheepless.org has been inspirational and motivational not just to me, but to the community. Sheepless is ... about this Competition Entry. - 748 days ago read more > |
| Nate Burgos said: The ConsumeReconnection Project is one of many proactive initiatives that Scott Ballum has started and seen through in order to mine and ... about this Competition Entry. - 748 days ago read more > |
| sballum updated this Competition Entry. - 750 days ago |
| leo_hphp@yahoo.ca said: Please explain why your idea/project, is suited/perfect to using... 'media' ...to bring about A BETTER "WORLD"...the entire planet...? ... about this Competition Entry. - 750 days ago read more > |
| sballum updated this Competition Entry. - 750 days ago |
Comments
Please explain why your idea/project, is suited/perfect to using... 'media' ...to bring about A BETTER "WORLD"...the entire planet...? Thank you~! a.
With the culmination of recent events leading to the recession and general dissatisfaction with business as is, thoughtful individuals are already spreading the gospel of ownership and self-reliance. This is just the beginning of a new business landscape: scaled-down, meaningful, and aware.
Sheepless.org provides a space for this web of entrepreneurs to share information and gain inspiration. It catalogs their stories and allows for individuals to connect and share resources. Once these separate entities connect, it becomes a trend, the trend becomes a movement; the movement is what will effect real change.
This is me, an entrepreneur, hoping to ride that wave.
The ConsumeReconnection Project is one of many proactive initiatives that Scott Ballum has started and seen through in order to mine and understand the complex and profound relationship between consumers and makers. To him, the “value chain” is not all opaque. It’s a visible story for those who want to see it unfold. Scott’s cunning curiosity in nurturing and advancing creativity with social responsibility demonstrates Design Activism. His latest effort in Sheepless.org highlights the positive energy and effects that empathic collaboration, community and imagination naturally produce.
Watching Scott develop Sheepless.org has been inspirational and motivational not just to me, but to the community. Sheepless is unwavering in it's dedication to community-minded entrepreneurs, to discussing, critiquing, and praising what individuals across the nation and the world are doing to make their industries better and promote sustainability and the sharing of information.
Putting emphasis on the one-on-one connections of small businesses gives any visitor to his site the feeling of "I can do this too" -- this kind of positive energy and support is needed everywhere. Sheepless.org provides a unique learn-by-example model and a place where like-minded entrepreneurs and activists can connect, inspire, and innovate.
Scott's Sheepless.org makes it obvious that the community in which we belong to and participate in on a daily basis is important to our survival. And more importantly there are millions of people who share similar views across the world. However, our physical limitations sometimes inhibit us from coming together and making the changes and contributions that are necessary. Having a space like sheepless.org makes it possible for those who share these interests to learn, collaborate, and distribute these ideas into their own physical realms. It doesn't stop there, though.
Within sheepless.org there's also a Skillshare section. This section allows people to trade their services between each other to help these big ideas and dreams to become realities. The constraints of our current capitalistic construct may have prevented real changes from happening in the past but Skillshare offers the potential to eliminate these financial hurdles as a result. Thank you, Scott!
I met Scott while he was in the preliminary stages of founding Sheepless.org. Watching him build the idea through to execution was overwhelmingly inspirational. By working in a green community and practicing the ideals represented by sheepless.org he is actively influencing the way people around him do business. People who work with him and around him are more aware of what they are contributing to the community, and how they directly interact with those communities. Sheepless is contributing so much to the future of small businesses, helping them become aware of their effect on their surroundings, as well as creating skillshares to foster a more innovative and educated community. With a bit of funding, I have full faith that Scott can take Sheepless.org to an entirely new unprecedented level.
Support this awesome project. Really thoughtful features and a wonderful resource for anyone who cares to be conscientious in a consumer-driven society. I'd love to see it grow further and continue to provide great articles and insight for consumers as well as entrepreneurs. The world needs more inspiration like this to keep doing the right thing. Bravo!
I've been fortunate enough to see this initiative grow from its very beginnings: first as an idea, then tested for a year personally by its creator, and now as an organization trying to reach out and take part in a global community of entrepreneurs. I myself have been inspired by this undertaking, enough so that it has effected my own thoughts on consumerism, and made me realize that my actions in this economy have resonance, and I can use that ability to help support and pave the way for entrepreneurs with Sheepless' ideals.
It simultaneously validates and supports people that I know who have started their own businesses with this element of the common good incorporated in their operations, and continues to be a resource and a place of inspiration for them as they forge their business ventures.
With this initiative's empowering impact - on me personally and my entrepreneurial friends and their goals - just as a fledgling operation, I can only imagine what it can do with support for further development as an organization.