LEADers Accelerate Social Change with Match4Action

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Are you tired of waiting around for the world to change? So were the Stanford LEAD online business program past participants who founded Match4Action. So, they used their LEAD network and training to make transforming the world faster and easier.

Match4Action is a nonprofit enterprise that accelerates social impact by connecting people looking to change the world with organizations looking for people to help. Founded by past LEAD participants, Match4Action’s mission is built on the idea that when people work together, incredible things are possible. And when co-founder and LEAD ‘16 participant Saskia Verraes wanted to find those people to make her dream a reality, she knew exactly where to look.

“I thought, if there is one community in this world that I’m connected to that can really help the world get into a better place, it’s the LEAD community,” says Verraes, who lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Like the entire Match4Action team, she has a full-time career, serving as Director of Impact for Proxima Consulting. Passionate working professionals across many different LEAD cohorts enthusiastically came together to be a part of something bigger than themselves and to live the Stanford GSB Executive Education programs’ mission of changing lives, changing organizations, and changing the world.

They used the skills they learned at LEAD to make Match4Action a reality. Applying design thinking sessions to make strategic decisions and a virtual-only approach to running their enterprise and building a global community, these LEADers are not only transforming the social impact marketplace — they’re revolutionizing the way people think about the overhead costs of making a difference. “We are trying to prove that a social enterprise can exist virtually, that you don’t need an asset as a property to operate. The LEAD program primes you for that,” says Verraes.

And with each new incoming LEAD cohort, Match4Action continues to recruit and welcome additional passionate, mission-driven innovators to join their mission.

“There are all these people willing to share their knowledge, to help out if you have a question and have a similar sort of mindset around change-making in the world,” Verraes says. “I would have never even thought [this possible] prior to joining the LEAD program.”

Watch this video to hear more about the Match4Action story, learn how you can get involved, and get inspired to start dreaming big.