Joyful Impact Accelerator for Social Entrepreneurs
The Joyful Impact Accelerator exists to help leaders of high potential social enterprises discover their next level of impact, personal renewal, and joy. It is an opportunity to join with fellow social entrepreneurs in a year-long journey of personal and professional growth. Our cohorts are diverse by design, created specifically for mission-driven change agents with a big vision for making the world a better place.
Our participants are going after deep impact in a complex world. As leaders (and in many cases founders) of entrepreneurial social ventures in which they are both key visionaries and operational strategists, our participants find that the joyful integration of their personal, professional, and family selves makes all the difference in their total success.
The Joyful Impact experience is offered free of charge to participants, thanks to sponsorship by some of Building Impact's philanthropic clients. This year-long experience provides an opportunity for social entrepreneurs to connect with a diverse set of peers; engage with curated content focused on making social change more impactful, sustainable, and joyful; and access individualized coaching to apply the learning in their unique context. The only cost participants are asked to cover is that of traveling to and from the two in-person convenings.
Why You, and Why Now?
This program is sponsored by forward thinking foundations and individuals who are committed to backing the leadership journey of social entrepreneurs who are tackling the biggest issues of our time. They know that as a visionary leader dedicated to making change on the issues that matter most to our shared future, how you show up in all areas of your life makes a huge difference on the impact that you and your organization ultimately achieve. So they want to help, but as donors they’ve got a pretty limited set of tools for directly helping you on your own journey as a leader: they can join your board, they can call you up and offer sage advice…and you know how that goes much of the time.
What if they could support an opportunity for you to develop a customized program of personal development and peer-based learning that was tailored to fit your unique circumstances and journey – no strings attached? What if they did so inspired by the belief that there’s not enough joy in the world and that one of the most powerful ways for you to have more impact in your work as a change agent is to bring even more of your full, joyful self to the table?
This vision is at the heart of what we’re here for at Building Impact. We help forward thinking leaders with big visions for making change in the world develop the knowledge, skills, and mindsets necessary to make the most of their own potential as change agents. This accelerator opportunity is about getting even bigger things done in service of your vision—and doing so with real personal joy and fulfillment—it’s about joyful impact!
You might be wondering whether you’ll be able to make a significant, year-long commitment to your own growth and development in the face of such unprecedented challenges facing the world and each of us individually. For all of us with a strong calling to change-making work out in the world, it might seem hard to imagine taking on any kind of additional commitment, let alone one that is significantly focused on caring for yourself. That said, this program is about creating pathways to renewed energy, joy, and impact that will ultimately support both you and your organization. Members of our first, second, and third cohorts have said this experience was absolutely worth the investment of time in an already busy schedule. At the end of the program, participants reported making significant progress on their highest priority areas for growth, and agreed resoundingly that they would recommend the program to another leader. Our fourth cohort is well underway, and their feedback thus far has been overwhelmingly positive as well.
Is This a Fit For You?
For this cohort, we are looking for folks who:
- Feel a strong calling towards social impact
- Are a full-time Founder/ED/CEO of a US-based social impact organization (i.e. a social entrepreneur)
- Are at some type of inflection point in their life and/or leadership
- Are willing to reflect deeply about their professional and personal well-being and to make changes in their lives accordingly
- Are looking to build relationships with a unique community of peers
- Are eager to learn from the lived experiences of a diverse cohort of peers AND willing to share their own experiences in service of collective learning
- Are willing to commit the time to engage fully in this learning experience (roughly 1-2 hours per week plus two 2-day retreats in person and one virtual retreat spanning two afternoons) – see below for more details
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Program Component All virtual unless otherwise specified |
Time Commitment Including key dates |
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Coaching |
12 hours total over calendar year |
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Mastermind Groups |
2 hours monthly |
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In-Person Kickoff Retreat |
2 days: February 1-2, 2024 |
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Virtual Mid-Year Retreat |
2 days: May 30-31, 2024 |
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In-Person End of Year Retreat |
2 days: November 7-8, 2024 |
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Virtual Learning Challenges |
Optional - TBD |
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Fireside Chats with Alumni |
Optional - 1 hour monthly |
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Fundraising Livecasts |
Optional - 1 hour monthly |
To discern whether this experience is a fit for you, consider the following questions:
- Even though you’ve already achieved some great results and mastery in certain areas as an entrepreneurial leader, have you ever felt a compelling call to take your leadership and your contribution to the next level?
- Do you ever feel like you don’t have enough clarity around the concrete action steps it will take to realize your vision and purpose or that you are not prioritizing the steps effectively?
- Do you ever find yourself procrastinating or delaying certain actions or decisions? Have you ever struggled to identify and overcome your own psychological “immunity to change” when it comes to taking some of the key actions that will really launch you and your vision forward?
- Have your energy levels ever run like a battery: by the end of the day, you feel depleted? Have you ever felt like you need to identify and implement some new systems and structures to support your personal powerplant?
- Have you ever struggled with being joyful and present with your family, friends, colleagues, and others in your life while also pursuing your mission out in the world?
- Have you ever felt the need to develop better routines and structures to support your next level of planning and productivity?
- Do you ever lose sight of the larger systems at play in the world and feel disconnected from the bigger picture?
- Have you ever felt like you have big consequential decisions to make as a leader and you just don't have a community of peers who can serve as a trusted sounding board in a totally confidential setting?
- Have you ever felt like there must be a better way for putting all the pieces together to maximize your impact as a leader and your joy as a human being, that it just can’t be true that you have to figure this out on your own and patch it all together one piece at a time?
If you see yourself in any of these questions, you probably already know that you are not alone. Lots of us seeking to live out our vision for a better world wrestle with these challenges. Chances are you've been having some conversations with colleagues around these challenges, sharing frustrations and wins wherever you can find them.
What if you could help create an intentional community and a shared journey to go after the answers in a concerted and individually customized way? How much more powerful would that be for you?
What This Program Offers
This year-long experience includes content, community, and coaching. Through access to curated content, you'll learn about and reflect upon systemic issues in the work of social change and gain exposure to new tools, ideas, and strategies to make your leadership more impactful and sustainable. Through community gatherings like our retreats, you'll build deep relationships, forming a community of trust, support, and healing with your peers. Through a confidential “mastermind group,” you'll reflect in community and seek thought partnership from a diverse cohort of peers on an ongoing basis. Finally, in one-on-one coaching sessions, you'll reflect on your unique contributions to the world, reexamine existing challenges, and apply new tools, ideas, and strategies to your own context.
Coaching
All participants engage virtually in 12 individualized, 1-hour sessions with a coach over the course of the year where they tackle the most important challenges of their choosing and reflect on how to apply their learning.
Mastermind Groups
All participants join a monthly, virtual “mastermind” session where they share their greatest successes and challenges and serve as thought partners for one another. Participants have the option of joining a group that meets every second Tuesday of the month from 3-5pm ET or every third Thursday of the month from 12-2pm ET.
Retreats
The program kicks off with an in-person retreat on February 1-2, 2024 in New York City, continues with a virtual mid-year retreat on May 30-31, 2024, and concludes with an in-person retreat from November 7-8, 2024, which is open to alumni of the program as well.
Virtual Learning Series & Challenges (optional)
At various times throughout the year, we will host virtual learning series and challenges. These consist of group sessions via Zoom where participants engage with different Joyful Impact modules on everything from understanding human psychology to mastering the fundamentals of sustained energy (eating, moving, sleeping, etc.). Learning series and challenges will be announced throughout the year.
Fireside Chats with Alumni (optional)
In our optional fireside chats with alumni of the Joyful Impact program, participants get to hear from prior cohort members about what has helped catalyze their own joy and impact. These sessions take place on the first Thursday of every month from 12-1pm ET.
Livecasts on Fundraising (optional)
In our optional fundraising livecasts, Alex Johnston, philanthropy advisor and author of Money with Meaning, will facilitate discussions around the fundraising challenges many social entrepreneurs face. These sessions take place on the second Monday of every month from 12:30-1:30pm ET and are open to alumni of the program as well.
Curated Online Content
Through our online learning portal, participants engage with carefully selected content on the tools, ideas, and strategies to make social change more impactful and sustainable.
Program Team
Sara Krachman
Co-Facilitator
Sara serves as a coach for social impact leaders who seek more impact, joy, and sustainability in their work. Her coaching integrates approaches grounded in neuroscience, somatics, and Immunity to Change to help social impact leaders unlock their full potential. Prior to becoming a coach, Sara founded and served as Executive Director of Transforming Education, a non-profit that partners with school systems to support educators in fostering the development of the whole child so that all students can thrive. She is a graduate of Harvard and lives in Massachusetts.
TeRay Esquibel
Co-Facilitator
TeRay Esquibel is the founding Executive Director of Ednium, an action focused community development organization that partners with Denver Public School Alumni to change the way the city educates and reinvests in its homegrown talent. TeRay was awarded the Daniels Fund Scholarship that afforded him the opportunity to attend the University of Denver where he earned his degree in Business Management. He is also training in Strategic Intervention Coaching to serve as a coach for social impact leaders through the Joyful Impact Accelerator.
Alex Johnston
Founder & Faculty Member
Alex Johnston has been in the field of philanthropic advising for over a decade and was himself a social entrepreneur running an advocacy organization before that. Author of the book Money with Meaning: How to Create Joy and Impact Through Philanthropy, Alex is trained and certified in multiple coaching modalities, and has coached dozens of social entrepreneurs, philanthropy advisors and donors in their own personal journeys. Over the past seven years, he has had a transformational journey that inspires him to share tools and resources at the intersection of personal development, systems change and philanthropy. Alex is a graduate of Harvard and Oxford and lives in New York City with his wife and three boys.
The Next Step
If you’d like to learn more and explore whether this would be a fit for you, you can watch our recorded info session accessible below.
If you are sure this is a fit for you, you can click the button below to submit an application anytime before October 19th at midnight PST.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Sara Krachman (sara@sarakrachman.com).
Testimonials
Hear directly from our past participants about their experience:
“This is the best setting and routine I've found to connect with like-minded peers. The mastermind groups are unlike anything else I've been a part of professionally.” - Cohort 3 Participant
“Prior to participating in Joyful Impact, I had decided that I would not seek another large, high impact role but would rather focus on my personal life and wellness. I did not see a clear path to both contribute to broader K-12 education efforts or the ed-reform movement AND live a happy, balanced life. Participating in Joyful Impact helped me decide I had a few more "at bats" left in me.” - Cohort 3 Participant
“I am incredibly grateful for how I can now apply purpose-driven mission with joy to solve communal/national challenges through social and economic improvement for families experiencing homelessness. My experience with the Accelerator has helped me support the organization's further development and figure out how we can measure the overall "impact" joyfully.” - Cohort 3 Participant
“This program provided a forcing function for me to reflect - deeply and consistently - about how I'm impacting my community and my work, and how my community and my work are impacting me. Having a community of peers that listened to me with compassion gave me the space needed to reflect on where I am and where I want to go.” - Cohort 3 Participant
