Steven Clift
Connector | Digital Outreach | Tech for Good with AI/Communities/Brands with Purpose/Minnesota | Ashoka Fellow | White House Champion of Change
What can we do together - that none of us can do on our own - that we absolutely want to see happen? My superpower is leading digitally powered collaborative efforts that build good things or forge new opportunities. The model started with connecting volunteers to build the world’s first nonpartisan election information website in 1994 in Minnesota and then gathering national media partners in 1998 (from CNN and PBS to Fox News and ABC News) to introduce the Internet as a powerful and positive tool for informed voting to Americans for the Markle Foundation’s Web White & Blue initiative. Over the years via my global digital democracy speaking, consulting, Democracies Online Newswire email news list and @democracy on Twitter, I convened and connected thousands across 35+ countries interested in building community, civic engagement, and improving representative democracy. Most recently, my “tech for good” passion shifted from informed voting to empowering people to discover the purpose-driven consumer brands that help them vote with their dollars. For five years, I led the radical ecommerce cross-promotional GoodCarts app (on Shopify). This founder funded startup gave me the exciting opportunity to engage and connect fair trade, ethical fashion, organic food, and more recently “regen brands” supporting farmers producing ingredients with regenerative agriculture. The entrepreneurs behind each brand had to embrace our “grow together” model and promote each other post-checkout. Again, it’s all about what we can do together that we want to see happen - in this case, it’s growing our “for good” sales. While GoodCarts was sold by its founder to someone with his own team, I remain bullish on the model. Having worked for campaigns, universities, a state legislature, shifting to non-partisan efforts including founding E-Democracy.org and leading the launch of MN.Gov with my state government job, and then funding E-Democracy for decade with speaking and consulting (for foundations, governments, companies, NGOs, IGOs, etc.) and then working for it with grants for another decade, I’ve worked in or with every kind of organization. As I have shifted from leading my OWN digital collaborative and outreach efforts to helping others with YOUR efforts, I am excited to guide, power, lead, etc. efforts that inspire me. Purpose, passion, and resources to build networks for change be they nonprofit, commercial, and public sector or all those combined interest me. Get in touch. P.S. I am an Ashoka Fellow and White House Champion of Change (Obama).
fao.org
lwv.org
un.org
house.gov
aspeninstitute.org
mn.gov
ashoka.org
Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area