S1E2 Sam Caster Interview, Part 2

Social Business

Social Business: The Heart of the Matter
Season 1, Episode 2
Interview with Sam Caster, Social Entrepreneur, Part 2

Tony: [00:00:00] Social business the heart of the matter.

Tony: [00:00:02] Episode number two an interview with Sam Caster, social entrepreneur, part 2.

Gail: [00:00:11] This is Social Business: The Heart of the Matter where we expose the genius and the goodness of social business. You will discover how this cutting-edge business paradigm taps the power of the marketplace to address global problems in significant ways. Sponsored by [00:00:30] HopeQuestGlobal.com using a for-profit team building model, where building a business feels more like building a legacy. And here’s your host Tony McWilliams.

Tony: [00:00:45] This is Tony McWilliams and I’m here today with my beautiful wife and co-host Gail McWilliams.

Gail: [00:00:51] It is an honor to be your co-host for a very exciting podcast called Social Business: The Heart of the Matter and that’s really what I want to ask you about today. What is the heart of social business? Social business in terms of us digging deep and finding the heart of it is the goal of this podcast.

Tony: [00:01:10] We don’t want to just get people to make some kind of contribution to clear their conscience or to even tack social business on as an afterthought just because it’s kind of a popular cultural thing. We want them to realize that they can actually be business owners, entrepreneurs, who are using their business to make a difference in people who need it most.

Gail: [00:01:30] How do you do that when your lives are already overbooked and your calendars are off the charts busy?

Tony: [00:01:36] OK so we are busy we’re all very busy. But you know what I think you can find new energy when you think beyond yourself when you have a vision that doesn’t include your own survival but perhaps the survival of somebody else. In that context, you find the energy to get refocused on what you know why you’re really here.

Gail: [00:01:54] You know we were talking the other day about vision and I love the subject matter I speak around the nation about vision because most people are living life based only on what they see. And that’s limited usually disappointing. But when you live life with vision the sky’s the limit. And you’re exactly right, when people find a cause bigger than themselves there’s something that ignites a bigger vision and more energy in your life because why. It’s not just about you. Your four and no more.

Tony: [00:02:24] Right. It gets us out of the selfishness mode the self-centered mode the survival mode the maintenance mode and it takes us to a place where we can then go to sleep at night knowing that we made a difference in the world in which we live.

Gail: [00:02:46] And all the more reason we’ve been given one time in history and one life. The question is What are we going to do with it? And so, to make a difference in our life. Wow that’s an honor. That’s not just a duty. That’s an honor.

Tony: [00:02:56] Yes indeed. And you know more and more people are becoming socially conscious. Maybe I should put it this way more and more entrepreneurs more and more business owners are becoming more socially conscious realizing that the reason they exist the reason they have a business is for a bigger purpose.

Gail: [00:03:13] Now have you always thought this way. Or has someone recently mentored you to open your eyes.

Tony: [00:03:20] Well that’s a great introduction to the second part of an interview that we’re going to have with Sam Caster because he’s one man who has indeed helped me see what it is that we need to truly be thinking about as we go forward in this modern world. There’s a lot of people out there who are needy and social business might be an answer for many.

Gail: [00:03:40] Well let’s get started I can’t wait to hear what you and Sam have to discuss today about social business and the marketplace.

Tony: [00:03:49] We’re back again today with Sam Kaster talking about social business, social enterprise. I’m trying to think of all the Sam, I’m trying to think of all the synonyms that I’ve picked up along the way as I’ve been studying this. There was one person calling himself a philanthropreneur. Wow. And I wrote that down and I’m going to hopefully interview them for this show one day soon to see what they mean by that. But we’re talking about social business in general social enterprise and people becoming social entrepreneurs to move forward this incredible model called social business to create for the sake of good causes sustainability. And I guess that’s where we want to start.

Sam Caster: [00:04:31] Yeah I think you know what. When I discovered social entrepreneurship and saw the power for sustainable funding I was hooked. It was like it made so much sense. I mean we talk about six million kids dying every year of acute malnutrition. There’s no charity even gets close to that. So can the marketplace actually provide a solution of that magnitude. So that’s what I started researching, what does it take to get to that level of magnitude. So I was looking for a template. How did social business work? How does that work best? What are the components that have to be there in order to be successful particularly at a level that no one else has ever been successful at in the charity business. I found a great article in Inc. magazine in 2011 and the cover of the magazine, the cover article, was social entrepreneurship how to change the world or something like, a practical guide to social business. So I read the article. It did lay out a template it said the model works best when one of these three things occur. And if you get two of them you’ve got a very dynamic if you get all three of them connected you can drive your mission to the ends of the earth. OK so number one is it said you have to connect your consumer directly to your cause because then they get a sense of what their contribution is. For instance, if I’m selling tires and one percent of my quote profit goes to United Way What does that mean to the consumer?

Sam Caster: [00:06:05] Number one they don’t know if I’m profitable. Number two they don’t have any idea what that means so there’s no connection at all it’s just that’s cause marketing that’s a company that’s just saying we’re going to do something good in the world today with some of our profit. That does not connect the consumer to the problem. So what does? They said the one for one model. Buy one give one. And the best example of that they used is Tom shoes. I mean here’s a guy that saw a need for kids to have shoes in developing nations of the world and he couldn’t get anybody to donate shoes. So he started a business called Tom s. Every time he sells a pair he donates a pair. My kids love that. You know they’re not expert in the marketplace but here’s what they get if I buy a pair of shoes a kid gets a pair of shoes that’s pretty easy to figure out. So they said number one by one give one connects your consumer directly to your cause. OK so the second thing they said is and this is where a lot of social businesses missed the mark. The product being sold should be a trigger for social change. In other words, go back to the Tom’s example. I buy a pair of TOMS shoes so that a child in a developing nation can have a pair of shoes. Why is that important? A lot of reasons sometimes it’s contributor to disease in their country.

Sam Caster: [00:07:20] Sometimes it denies them the ability to get an education for the simple reason they don’t own a pair of shoes. So a pair of shoes in that respect is life changing. Is it here in this country. No. I mean if I don’t get a pair of Tom s shoes today my wife is not going to be impacted at all. So the product being sold according to Inc. magazine for the model to work best should bring as much value into the life of the consumer as it does the recipient of the donation. So that’s important. And then the third thing they said is find a mass market that is being grossly underserved and find an innovative new solution to the problem. And if that product brings value to the consumer and to the recipient of the donation and you do it on a one for one you’ve got the makings you got the formula for magic formula to not only create sustainability but to generate revenues that have never been seen in the not for profit industry. So I’m sitting here feeding children so nutrition and whole food nutrition is the component that we will donate. So what I got to find is where is there and need the most need for nutritional intervention in the marketplace. So here’s what we know. Poor nutrition basically is impacted the quality of life of people all over the world. When I first started looking at malnutrition, Tony, I went to the World Health Organization. This is shocking. They said there’s two major classes of malnourished people in the world. There it’s 2.6 billion people approximately are malnourished. The smaller group is the malnourished starving.

Sam Caster: [00:09:06] That’s the group that you and I were talking about the starving kids in Africa and Southeast Asians South Central America that don’t have enough access to quality food. But when you think about malnutrition that’s exactly who you think of starving children around the world. But the World Health Organization said the bigger group is the malnourished obese. And you don’t even think of it because it’s such a paradox. How can somebody that apparently is overeating be malnourished because food and nourishment don’t necessarily go together in the developed nations of the world. Ninety cents out of every dollar spent on food in America buys a processed food. 90 cents out of every dollar. Staggering. What’s processed food? It’s food commodities that have been stripped of their nutritional value; flavored, sweetened so that they become addictive to us and fills an immediate need and becomes addictive in the form of sugar or whatever else that our bodies start craving. And it’s the number one cause of disability disease and death in America is malnutrition related issues as well as every other industrialized nation. OK so bottom line to poor nutrition is it makes a sick, fat, and tired. Those are the three big issues that we deal with. We’re sick we’re fat and we’re tired. That’s why the energy drink business is booming out there because physiologically we don’t generate enough energy. So what do we do we stimulate ourselves. Is so is that a mass market? It’s a multibillion dollar market. is it being under-served? It is being underserved because what is being provided are stimulants, either too much caffeine too much sugar or an overdose of B-vitamins and none of those are a healthy way of generating natural energy.

Sam Caster: [00:11:01] So if you can find a way to provide an energy drink that stimulated your body’s own production of energy you’d be miles down the road, you’d be addressing a huge issue with an innovative new technology. If you look at the market of unhealthy people in this country. Statistics from the government say that 50 percent of the people in this country walk around with one or more diet related diseases that there’s no good treatment for. So again we medicate ourselves to death. You know with all kinds of stuff that address the symptoms of chronic disease but the root cause is just poor nutrition. So that’s a hugely underserved market. It’s a tough one to get to because people don’t buy out of a requirement for health. They buy out of convenience. They buy out of taste and they buy out of economy; what is convenient, what tastes good, and what is cheap. You know so I saw a new major store I’m not going to mention the name that just opened up it’s sort of a mini version of their big store but it’s a grocery store that has no produce in it. And when they were confronted with that they said people don’t buy produce anymore. OK. So that’s a big market that needs to be addressed. The last one of sick fat and tired is obesity again the malnourished obese outnumber the malnourished starving in the world and it’s getting worse every year. So there’s a huge market out there and a demand to solve that problem. Here’s why it’s under-served. Ninety five percent of all the people that lose weight on diets in America gain it back plus more. I mean that’s staggering to consider.

Sam Caster: [00:12:41] How does a market grow in double digit growth every year and have that level of failure. It’s because they’ve been very effective of turning the failure back around on the consumer. You know we helped you lose weight. However, because you are undisciplined because you’re a sloth you’re a glutton whatever they accuse you. You know you could keep the weight off. So, what happens is all these millions of people walk around with the shame of it’s all about me. And here’s what we’ve learned Tony science recently broke the code on obesity and we’ve learned that burning fat has more to do with hormones than it does calories or exercise. So, the entire diet industry for 40 years has been preaching a false doctrine. You know it has been given as products and services that don’t address the root cause of why your body accumulates fat and why it won’t burn it. Now the good news about that. That’s the perfect environment for social business. You couldn’t set up anything better. It’s a $60 billion industry that 90 percent of the people are failing. Ninety five percent of the people. So, what if you had a solution that hit the core issue of obesity not just the symptom and what if you can show people how to go on the last diet instead of just their next diet. How big of an opportunity would that be? And what if that was a food product that people would eat the rest of their lives why. Because if you lose weight you don’t want to gain it back.

Sam Caster: [00:14:07] That’s what you call sustainability and what if you own that technology that’s called the proprietary nature of that. So what if you really did have a food a whole foods solution to the core issue of obesity. How big of an opportunity would that present. Well, according to the World Health Organization there’s 1.4 billion people in the world that are fall into the category of malnourished obese. I suspect that most of them are looking for a solution. So, if you could can if you could connect those consumers to your cause. The math is really really interesting. 1.4 billion would have one half of one percent decided that they would do something about this on a permanent basis and eat your product? What if it gave them sustainable results and they ate it the rest of their life. Hey that’s seven million consumers six million kids a year die of acute malnutrition. There you go. You’re like seven million consumers to the needs of seven million children. So the math works. That’s the power of the marketplace. The world’s biggest charity is getting 1.9 million with one half a percent of an under-served market. We could get to all of those kids. That’s the power of social business.

Tony: [00:15:17] The big picture you’re painting here. The average person is probably going to have to hit rewind. Now I’ve been hearing you talk about this for a couple of years almost a couple of years like I’m on board. I am learning; all that you just now said you’re connected to a way to actually create a distribution model that keeps this thing engaged and moving forward in a big way relative to social cause.

Sam Caster: [00:15:45] Yeah exactly. You know the first thing that we had to do is find a product and I linked up with an organization called EvolvHealth in Dallas Texas. I’ve known the owners I’ve known the CEO of the company for a long time. I knew they had a heart and a passion for doing something good. In fact they founded their own foundation called the Hope Foundation. You know I just I had to prove out the model I had to find the right product that addressed the right situation before I could link with a company that had the infrastructure to support massive growth. And so I started looking at that issue of obesity that we were talking about. Again, the new science shows that becoming fat and sustaining fat is more about hormones than calories. So there’s a hormone in your body that is produced by fat cells. I mean that’s interesting. Not produced in the liver. Encocrine glands or pancreas that’s produced by fat cells. And when you understand what it does it makes perfect sense. So the more fat cells the more of this hormone you make it’s called leptin. Leptin goes to the brain, the brain sees it and the more leptin that is there it knows that you’ve got a lot of fat. Now the good thing about fat is the body prefers to burn it as fuel over sugar. It’s the cleanest most sustainable burning fuel. So our calls either burn fat or sugar. So the body wants to burn fat loves to burn fat. Why doesn’t it burn fat? Is the question.

Sam Caster: [00:17:11] And that’s what sort of the science broke the code on so leptin goes to the brain and says Got plenty of fat. So here’s what the brain does this is called natural human physiology the brain increases your metabolic rate. In other words gives you a lot of energy because you got a lot of fuel to burn. So all of a sudden you feel more energetic. The second thing it does is it lowers your appetite because you’ve got plenty of fuel stored so you don’t need to eat. So got lots of energy and you’re not hungry. The third thing it does is it tells the body to burn fat over sugar as it’s preferable fuel source. And so that’s called normal physiology the fatter you get the more leptin the more leptin you get the more energetic you become the less hungry you are and the more effective you become at burning fat. So then why do people gain weight if that’s normal human physiology? Because of bad diets we cause the thing to occur in our body called chronic inflammation starts in the gut. Poor gut health stimulates chronic inflammation. And one of the problems with chronic inflammation is that it coats the receptor sites in the brain that read leptin. OK so now all of a sudden you’re getting fatter you’ve got lots of leptin. Brain doesn’t see it. So when the brain doesn’t see it what it assumes is that you’re starving to death that you got no fuel storage. So, what does it do? Does the body to reduce energy slow down the metabolic rate so now all of a sudden you’re tired all the time.

Sam Caster: [00:18:39] The second thing it says is you’re hungry. You need to eat because you don’t have any fuel storage because it’s not seeing leptin. So now you’re tired and you’re hungry and then the third thing it does it tells the body do not burn fat. Whatever fat is there, we need to keep it because it’s the only way to store energy. Become a sugar burner and so all of a sudden you become addicted to sugar. So you’re looking for carbs you’re looking for sugar you’re looking for grains processed grains anything that converts to sugar you become addicted to. So people that are on the standard diet what what they typically say I’m hungry all the time. I’m tired. I’m out of energy. You’re being told to go exercise you don’t feel like it. Well it’s not because you’re a sloth or because you don’t have disciplines because physiologically it’s just not going to happen for you. And so the question is how do you reverse that. You don’t reverse that through calories you don’t reverse it through high protein low carb diet you don’t reverse it through you know hours of exercise. The good news is there is a way to reverse leptin resistance. It is through eating a healthy diet. The bad news is there’s no single bullet that will do that. You can’t take a drug there’s no medication you can’t take a dietary supplement. There’s nothing you can do to overcome leptin resistance if you’ve got it and everybody that is obese does have that by the way is the number one cause of obesity. So, what you have to do is eat right.

Sam Caster: [00:20:03] So you tell people how to eat right. You got to eliminate the sugar get eliminate the grains. This is in order to reboot your body’s leptin response. So, the hormone works appropriately. You’ve got to get rid of trans fat you’ve got to get rid of processed foods. You got to eat healthy fats and the right ratio of omega 3s to omega 6s. You got to eat a lot of fiber because fiber is the best way to feed friendly bacteria to overcome chronic inflammation. You’ve got to have moderate amounts of protein not high protein. So, in other words it’s a pretty specific diet. It’s not hard to do. It’s just not convenient, Tony. And here’s what we found. If it’s not convenient, it s not going to happen.

Gail: [00:20:48] We’re only halfway through with this exciting interview. Don t go away.

Tony: [00:20:51] There are two things in life that almost everyone holds dear. Defined by two words purpose and profit. And it’s our opinion that the genius of social business turns purpose and profit into synergistic ingredients. When you mix the two they work together for each other’s success. However, nothing really happens until you’ve got a social entrepreneur in the mix. You know someone, anyone, who initiates an idea where purpose and profit can make their highest impact. For our community at Hope Quest global it’s the results of measurable life changing solutions to childhood malnutrition where those who are part of our community of social entrepreneurs are compensated for any results they help produce. I’ve come to the conclusion that we live in a world where purpose and profit often struggle to actually meet. But our social business mobilizes to deliver a solution and provide for our community free resources to move purpose and profit into all of the life changing possibilities. And our design and hope is that the very first life to enjoy such purpose and profit is yours.

Tony: [00:22:12] So let’s continue this conversation at HopeQuestGlobal.com/social.

Gail: Let’s get ready to hear more from Tony McWilliams and Sam Caster as they discuss social business.

Sam Caster: [00:22:30] So in other words it’s a pretty specific diet. It’s not hard to do. It’s just not convenient, Tony. And here’s what we found. If it’s not convenient it’s not going to happen. You know people live a lifestyle that convenience is the name of the game.

Tony: So that creates a market.

Sam Caster: That creates a market. So, you get up in the morning you’re in a hurry you’re rushing off you’re not going to make a breakfast that is that meets that criteria. Does it have the right balance a healthy? fast does have moderate protein? Does it have enough fiber in it? Does it have any sugar? How about any processed ingredients? How about any additives you know how about any chemicals? No! You’re going to grab the quickest best tasting thing that you can and you’re out the door. Same thing with your kids you know and then at lunch it’s basically the same thing if you’ve got any time at all it’s usually in the evening; OK I’ll dedicate myself to one meal a day and see what happens. So, here’s the opportunity: make a whole food product that meets that criteria. One hundred percent. There’s not a product on the market that does that. OK. That addresses the issue of convenience would you put it in a food bar. What if you made a whole food bar that actually met that entire criteria. Had the right amount of vitamins and minerals from whole food sources had immune activating ingredients had no grains no sugar no trans fats no processed ingredients moderate amounts of protein right amount of healthy fats. Right amount of fiber.

Sam Caster: [00:23:56] I mean that’s a lot that’s a formula. And then what if you made it taste good. I mean what if it was like people said I can’t wait to get the next one of those food bars. You know so you make it convenient make it taste good you make it economical. And I’m telling you Tony that will change the world because that’s what 1.4 billion people are desperately looking for.

Sam Caster: [00:24:17] So we have the science we have the message. And now we have the product. So, you ask a question that led me down that trail to get to this trail. How do you distribute it? Well in social business it’s kind of gone through an evolution. There was a book called social entrepreneurship what everybody needs to know by the author David Bornstein and what he said in the preface of the book is that social business is going through its own evolution its own transformation. Started off social business 1.0. That was the recognition that social entrepreneurs were willing to dedicate all of their business skills and talents to building new types of businesses that would create sustainable solutions for global causes for major problems in the world but by themselves they’re not capable of getting to the world that brought about social entrepreneurship 2.0 and that’s linking social entrepreneurs with major distribution partners.

Sam Caster: [00:25:17] You know a great example of 1.0 to 2.0 is Toms Shoes Tom shoes started on the Internet sold shoes and donated shoes. That was fine. He built a culture around that sort of a subculture. You have young people in America but the minute he tapped into the major retail distributors that have the infrastructure to take his shoe company you know all over the nation sales exploded. So that’s 2.0. You put it into a retail environment. You put it into a franchise environment like the eyeglass company Warby Parker. Every time they sell eyeglasses they donate eyeglasses and they have a franchise model. So, it’s a retail environment whether it’s just massive retailers or a large chain of franchisees. But that’s a passive approach because you’ve got to wait for people to come into your store and do it. David Bornstein said that social business will hit its real stride under social entrepreneurship 3.0 and that’s where entrepreneurs build platforms that allow all people. Each one of us to participate and profit from world changing ideas. So, what he’s saying is what if you could arm your consumer base with the power to go out and change the world and earn a living doing it. And then they would be aggressive in their approach of telling everybody they knew the solution to the problem that everybody is looking for. And then you compensate them for doing that. So that’s social business 3.0. What attracted me to EvolvHealth is not only were they dedicated to the science of finding solutions to people that are sick fat and tired and bringing those into the marketplace.

Sam Caster: [00:27:03] They actually had a 3.0 platform that had a platform that would actually compensate consumers for giving and sharing the ideas of social business and our solution to these problems with other people. That’s why I linked up with them and they have the infrastructure to actually take this 3.0 platform all over the world. And that’s where you’ll make millions and millions of consumers to the needs of millions and millions of children.

Tony: [00:27:29] This podcast probably more than any other I’ve done featuring your life and all you’ve learned about social business, social outreach, charities, nonprofit organizations reflects kind of the epitome of social business through the person of Sam Caster your incredible knowledge about nutrition on that level. Of course, you’ve been at it since. How many. 1993 So you’ve been gathering lots of information you were involved in business related to that for that many years 22 23 years. Then of course your involvement with understanding social business wanting to add some sustainability to feeding kids which is what your theme and the mission of your nonprofit was all about. And you’ve mixed them incredibly well. I find a personal excitement in just connecting with you and with the picture you paint on a regular basis because it’s the big picture. It’s an effective picture. You know everybody’s getting paid that’s that’s participating. And that’s basically what you just said. People who join this program which is called The Hope Movement through EvolvHealth with MannaRelief doing their thing of reaching out to kids creates an impactful incredibly impactful outreach that gives what I call a double incentive. The people are involved can make some money. They can be compensated for their efforts while at the same time knowing that your efforts in that regard will feed even more kids. And that number is growing.

Sam Caster: [00:29:10] Absolutely. You know I think I think one of the attractive things about a social business that allows individuals to participate is in standard business whether it’s the direct sale market or whatever you’re doing from a home-based business. Typically, success comes from your experience maybe from your education maybe from your particular skill set in social business it’s just the opposite it comes from your passion comes from your ability to communicate why you are so intrigued and overwhelmed with not only solution that it’s brought you in your life but what it’s doing for kids around the world. And as a result of that if the social business is really really tied in to the overall cause you don’t compensate people necessarily based off of what is sold. You compensate people based off the impact of your social business so like one of the things I like about Evolv is they’re linking your compensation to number of kids impacted. How cool is that? That’s incredible. So, my goal is to impact 600 kids this year. Why? Because that’s the level of income that I want to make for full time income for my family. What if all I’m interested in is a couple hundred dollars a month? Well that’s you know 200 kids or something or whatever it is a hundred kids whatever turns out to be. I mean so I can look at the number of kids that I can impact through my effort of not only what I do myself but the teams that I build.

Sam Caster: [00:30:38] In the book Social Entrepreneurship: What Everybody Needs to Know it said 3.0 is allowing all people to participate and profit by building teams of teams that can drive your initiative around the world you know create sustainable change.

Tony: [00:30:55] So no given person or given institution or given organization can really take this to where it needs to go you’re going to have to build teams or teams of teams like you just said.

Sam Caster: [00:31:06] Yeah because real change in the world has never facilitated or caused by institutions it’s always done by people movements. And so if you really are going to change the world if you’re really going to get to millions you have to link people within a people movement because people make things change. Not institutions so people movements are what drive sustainable change into the world. And linking that up to social business gives the best of both worlds.

Tony: [00:31:30] And for the sake of transparency on my part I’m been following what you had and had going since June of 2014 and things were developing at points it seems slowly but I paid attention to what you were doing because the idea of it all was just incredible to me it was fascinating. It was downright exciting. And I remember you making the decision that you wanted to connect with Evolv. One of your assistants called me because you had informed them please call Tony and tell them what’s going on. I was in another state to call me on the phone and said well we’re going to go this direction. And I said well let me say this and I said it clearly to her and I don’t mind saying it even now. Now if all I’m doing is joining some business I’m not interested. What I’m really interested in is the social cause moving forward now it’s social if the business connected to that helps us get there more effectively then I’m all in but if all we’re doing is just connecting to something that’s that’s got social business as an afterthought or feeding kids just to make them look good. I’m not going to play that game but I think that’s why people can feel good about the picture you’re painting here is because we’re not doing anything that’s an add on. It’s not a second thought. It’s actually doing something intentionally using some clever ingenious ideas.

Sam Caster: [00:32:53] And that’s what attracted me to these guys again. I’ve known him and knew what their heart was but everybody’s got a different skill set. My skill set is not building an infrastructure to drive a social business around the world. These guys expertise that’s what they know how to do. You know my expertise is finding the market finding the solution within that market and building a nutritional product that does something that no other nutritional product… that’s my skill set and then taking the revenue stream in the product technology from that and providing it to the world’s most vulnerable children. I’ve spent 16 years developing an infrastructure to do that. So, I know how to feed kids. I know how to nourish children around the world. I know how to get it to them. I know how to account for it and I know the most effective distribution systems to get it to the world’s most vulnerable. So, I needed an organization that provided me with a platform you know to take my idea what I have been gifted with what I have learned through years of my experience and plug it into an infrastructure that could actually just support a global initiative. And when my wife and I talked with the guys at Evolv in this and we talked to people from a lot of different companies because we were interested in linking up with the right people it wasn’t just the first choice that was the final choice. Here’s what we were looking for. Is social business a commitment or a campaign?

Sam Caster: [00:34:25] If it’s a campaign it’ll never work because the first time you run into economic issues the first thing to go will be your giving. If it’s a campaign well if it’s a commitment you’ll let the lights go off before you’ll stop feeding children. I mean you either you can’t halfway do social business you either there or you’re not. And so that’s what we were looking for. We weren’t looking for people that were clever marketers. You know people that have been very successful. Not that these guys haven’t been successful in their own rights but we were looking for commitment and that’s what we found with the guys at Evolv and that’s why we joined.

Gail: [00:35:01] Tony I love the interviews that you’re doing with same Castor and I want to hear about what you know and the research that you have done about products in the market.

Tony: [00:35:11] Well as a way to connect with something that Sam said in one of the interviews I think it was the first interview that we aired recently he talked about how 70 percent of the amount of money that comes in to charities and nonprofits Now you understand charities are nonprofits they dedicate themselves to certain social causes but of the total amount of money that comes in. seventy percent actually comes from the market for instance girl scouts sell Girl Scout cookies. Well how do they raise funds. They go into the market. So, what that means is 30 percent is coming from donors. And by the way this is a 2008 statistic. But in actuality I did some research and found that the 70 percent is probably now 80 percent. In other words those nonprofits out there are realizing they’ve got to go into the market to find a lot of their money to survive. And it’s not just the girl scouts. It’s sports teams and music bands that go door to door in their neighborhoods selling pizzas and subscriptions to magazines and that sort of thing. But what that means is 20 to 30 percent of all the money that’s raised by non-profits and charities who are doing great work comes from donors so a real limited amount of money comes from donors. Many times we look at nonprofits and think well the donors are making it happen. When in actuality they’re already tapping the market. So, this idea of social business has already been going on for quite some time.

Gail: [00:36:44] Let me ask you this you’ve talked about the life of a donation or the life of the charitable dollar.

Tony: [00:36:52] Right. The charitable dollar has one life. Once you receive a donation or once you give a donation after that is spent for the cause of any given charity or nonprofit it’s gone. And so they then depend on you to give you know more dollars the following month or the following year. Whereas the idea of social business is addressing social cause on the basis of an economy or based on consumerism. I am more likely to continue to consume something on a regular basis because it’s become a part of my life whereas my donations are a little unpredictable. In other words my financial status might change. There might be bad economic times. And so, what’s the first thing that’s going to stop. It’s going to be my donations and yet my consuming of products is not going to stop. So if you can tap the economy through what people consume so that part of what they purchase is given to a social cause then you’re more likely to create the sustainability that’s needed to keep moving forward.

Gail: [00:37:58] That’s what I like that you’ve put together with the HopeQuestGlobal.com you’ve put together some products that people need for health reasons and they’re really great products. And so it is a consumable that one the donor himself or herself can be healthy as they’re also making a profit so that they can give to others who are without.

Tony: [00:38:22] And it’s the very thing that Sam talked about in this interview. He realized that there needed to be a connection between what a company sells and what a consumer uses. So that then out of that relationship that interaction that trade relationship there could be money set aside there could be servings sent to malnourished children and that sort of thing. That would be automatically in the process so that you’re not just buying something and consuming it you are actually connecting to a child in need in relationship to that item that you’re consuming.

Gail: [00:38:59] Well I love the idea where you all have carried it a step further where it does become profitable where you have a multiplication so that you can do good instead of just having a little bit and trying to divide it 100 different ways. And people can learn more how to make a profit as they are also helping other people around the globe by going to HopeQuestGlobal.com/social. And you spent a lot of time really not only highlighting what you’ve learned with social business but showing people how they can have a multiplication to do even more. And that’s really what we must do. I really have enjoyed the interviews that you’ve done the Sam Caster but I think the greater concern is that we paint a vision for people that they can be part of something bigger than themselves beyond their own family beyond their own individual needs.

Gail: [00:39:52] This is Gail McWilliams and it’s my joy to be the co-host of this exciting new podcast Social Business: The Heart of the Matter.

Gail: [00:40:01] If you want to learn more about social entrepreneurship please go to HopeQuestGlobal.com/social. Get involved today.

Tony: [00:40:10] And we hope that you will always be careful to maintain good works to meet urgent needs and become heroes to your generation. This is Tony McWilliams. Honoring the greatness in you.

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