1One thing you want funders to understand about what it takes to run a nonprofit or social enterprise in 2022 and beyond.

Bringing about deep, systemic change—which is what Children’s Rights does to protect kids’ human rights—doesn’t happen when funders simply fund for sustainability. It happens when they collaborate in a nonrestrictive, flexible way that supports innovation and informed risk-taking and allows us to react to change quickly and effectively—to grow and thrive, not just to survive.

2A source of inspiration and/or pride for you/your organization.

We’re inspired by the young adults we work with whose lived experience and expertise in child welfare has become a powerful force for transforming broken systems that perpetuate poverty, racism, abuse, and discrimination.

3One bold decision your organization made that proved to be worthwhile.

We have called out racism at the front-end of child welfare and committed ourselves to disrupt it through legal action and relentless advocacy to prevent the unnecessary surveillance, investigation, and separation of Black families. This is a top strategic priority that informs all our work and by which we evaluate our organizational impact.

4One wish you have for Open Road’s next 10 years.

For 10 years, Open Road has been a pioneer and is now uniquely positioned to lead a philanthropic movement to permanently shift to the less restrictive, flexible, and collaborative funding model adopted by many funders during COVID. The ability to respond and move quickly is critical when the unexpected happens. We know the next challenge is just around the bend.

5Anything else you want to share?

Thanks to Open Road, in a year of unprecedented hardship and threats to children’s health and safety, we were not only able to quickly respond to COVID and its effects on children but expand and marshal the largest advocacy docket in our history.

1One thing you want funders to understand about what it takes to run a social venture in 2022 and beyond.

Running a start-up requires constant curiosity and resilience. Curiosity to continue to test new ways to grow, and build your team, ops and business, and resilience to withstand all the learnings, and challenges.

2A source of inspiration and/or pride for you/your organization.

We are inspired every day by the lives we impact - from the expectant mom who needs to get to the hospital to deliver her baby to the motorcycle driver who has been in a road accident, to the grandfather who's had a stroke. Each and every day, we save individuals from previously impossible situations and give them peace of mind & lifesaving services.

3One bold decision your organization made that proved to be worthwhile.

We decided early on to transition from a pure tech business to one that leverages tech & humans to deliver healthcare services. This was a bold decision as we were effectively plugging ourselves into the middle of a critical process. We took on the role of being the central dispatch like a 911 / 999, which allowed us to better manage and allocate ambulances during an emergency. This was a bold decision and deviation from the Uber-like model, but one we have never looked back on. We see the immense value that our medical dispatchers have in leveraging the tech to deliver healthcare services, but being a voice on the other end of the line for emergency patients, providing care, life-saving directions, and peace of mind.

4One wish you have for Open Road's next 10 years.

My wish for ORA is that it's 10x bigger in 10 years. It's such a tremendous organization that has stepped in twice for our business during critical moments and transitions. It allowed us to keep our impact and business on track while we shored up the required resources to scale. My wish is for ORA to expand - fund more businesses in an even bigger way to leave an even larger imprint on social impact businesses and ultimately lives.

5Anything else you want to share?

Thank you! Without ORA, we would have been derailed several times at Flare. ORA has allowed us to be able to have continuity in our business during difficult moments, and has been such a solid partner to growing our business.

1One thing you want funders to understand about what it takes to run a social venture in 2022 and beyond.

To scale, impact must fundamentally drive revenue, and revenue further impact. Only models with impact & money integrated can scale while holding true to their Northstar!

2A source of inspiration and/or pride for you/your organization.

At the center of Jibu's culture is a mantra we have adopted from Shirzad Chamine: "Every challenge is a gift and an opportunity."

3One bold decision your organization made that proved to be worthwhile.

Despite not having a clear line of sight of where to get the resources to do it, we decided to continue to invest in growing our impact rather than focusing on short-term profitability or cash flow. Open Road Alliance allowed us to keep that plan on track!

4One wish you have for Open Road’s next 10 years.

My wish is that Open Road will keep its narrow focus exactly how it is now, but be able to do it at a much larger scale globally!