Community Spotlight: Collaborating to Impact School Children Globally
More...
WOW! WOW! WOW!
I get goosebumps every time I visit their website. Their work inspires me to stretch further and think bigger.
Like many entrepreneur projects and dreams being raised, it was a tough and often slow start, but their mission and passion fueled the vision.
Kori and Matt met in 2005 when they were both working at Skiers Sportshop in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Through extensive travel, their eyes were opened to the dire circumstances in which a large percentage of the world lives. This awareness inspired a sense of responsibility to do what they could to create positive change and make an impact in the lives of people who need it most.
At the time of writing this article, The Earth Group’s website showed that their work and collaboration had provided 4,684,562 school meals – more than 4 million meals to students! How Incredible! They also have 1,500 locations selling their products. Such a beautiful example of going from two friends working in a ski shop to providing millions of meals to schools. It’s a powerful reminder of the power of persistence, a big dream, and the willingness to collaborate and engage partners who have the ability to help raise the dream more easily and faster.
Collaborating with The Earth Group
There have been numerous ways that I have collaborated with The Earth Group over the years. Earth Group has been a sponsor for several of my projects, being our water sponsor for some live in-person events that we hosted. They also became a sponsor for two of my client projects providing water and gifts for their events. Matt and Kori introduced me to brands such as IKEA that later partnered with us on premiering our film, Back Home Again, which led to showing the film on IKEA’s community wall and in their Indigenous Family Show Room in a local community. This led to another IKEA in another province showing the film as a special screening to their IKEA community (customers and community at large). I frequently have calls with Matt and Kori to brainstorm ideas and make connections for each other.
As a professional speaker, I have also happily used The Earth Group as a case study in my presentations. For example, at one community annual Chamber of Commerce business conference, I had given Matt a heads up that I was going to use The Earth Group as one example of businesses doing good in the world. When Matt learned where the conference was being held, he told me that the restaurant within the airport sold their water products. Matt connected me with the restaurant owner. The restaurant owner and I met when I arrived in the community, and the restaurant owner provided some of the new Earth Group water in aluminum recyclable cans as a prop for my presentation. He also agreed to join me on stage for the case study component of my presentation. This took my presentation up to a new level as we celebrated and featured this community local business, and that restaurant’s sales of The Earth Group water helped to provide meals to more schools.
Earth Water (photo courtesy of The Earth Group)
The Path to Greater Impact Through Collaboration
As you get committed to the dreams you are making and the impact you want to create, here are a few tips:
Find people that you love to “good gossip” about and be champions for one another.
Create your own circle of big dream raisers and champions to bounce off ideas, support one another, and fuel each other’s dreams.
Research NGOs, businesses, and brands that could be a great fit for your projects as a collaboration partner, sponsor, or champion. Build the relationships. For Matt and Kori, the World Food Programme partnership started with them building a relationship.
Learn the collaboration and sponsorship roadmap so you save yourself from mistakes, wasted time and energy, and too many pivots. When you understand how collaborations and sponsorships work, you can jump in with both feet and find the right champions, partners, and sponsors who share your vision and want to collaborate with you to make a bigger impact!
Download a copy of our FREE ebook to learn our Raise a Dream 7-Step Sponsorship and Collaboration model. Think of it like a roadmap to take you from where you are with your project now to making a big impact through raising your dream. You can download your copy HERE.
Remember to check out The Earth Group, their mission and the goodness they bring to the world.