Sharing ideas that do good

I was one of the first to enroll in Pledge 1% to support your idea in 2017. At that time I was developing IdeaSpies after having been on a trip in Canada where a guide said ” promote what you love rather than bash what you hate”. This saying resonated with me as I had been travelling a lot, seeing many positive ideas, and I did not believe were getting the attention they should, as a result of the media focus on negative news.

Over the next 8 years IdeaSpies shared over 7,000 ideas explained simply, with the help of many volunteers who posted and shared the ideas in 19 topics ranging from AgTech to Wellbeing. The platform achieved over 225 million views. The Pledge 1% idea achieved 790 clicks (39,500) views.

IdeaSpies had been following AI ideas as a topic however, when generative AI launched, the platform needed more support to be updated and become sustainable (see attached position paper). I did not receive the support we needed so I suspended IdeaSpies. However the tech has continued to be used in Australian schools as I gave a Design and Technology Teacher access to it.

I am now studying at UTS for an Entrepreneurial PhD based on my IdeaSpies experience. My thesis topic is “Does Alertness to Positive Ideas Enhance Wellbeing?”( see attached summary). I’m hoping to show that it does so more people can become aware of positive ideas like yours. The first phase has already been successfully completed with UTS Psychology students.

Here’s the Pledge 1% idea I shared on IdeaSpies in 2017:

Pledge 1 percent is dedicated to making the community a key stakeholder in every business. It encourages individuals and companies to pledge 1% of equity, product, and employee time for their communities based on the premise that companies and employees today want to have a positive impact on the world. The Pledge 1 percent website enables visitors to pledge equity, employee time and/or product directly on the site. Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquahar wants every start-up business to commit to giving employee time, equity and funds to charity. He and a program backed by salesforce.com have signed up more than 600 businesses in the past 18 months. The easiest time to pledge is when companies are startups and their value is unknown. IdeaSpies has committed.