What We Are Riffing About!

When thinking about social change, people often say, “think globally, act locally.”

To tackle today’s seemingly insurmountable challenges – from darkened skies over our cities fueled by climate change, to systems that perpetuate cycles of poverty, to a distrust of our institutions – we must and can do both.

Our latest partnership with Sam Altman’s Worldcoin is the perfect testament. Over 50% of the world lacks a verifiable legal ID, preventing billions of people from accessing critical services and the global economy.

In the age of AI, decentralized, privacy-preserving tech can unlock economic access and opportunities. Worldcoin is working to ensure everyone – regardless of race, geography, background, or income – benefits in the growing digital global economy.

Whether our partners are bringing dignity to the social safety net, shifting philanthropy toward racial justice, or creating the all-electric AV fleet of the future, they are all acting locally while making a global impact.

Donors of Color Network

Only 1.3% of U.S. climate philanthropy goes to BIPOC-led groups. The Donors of Color Network Climate Funder’s Justice Pledge (CFJP) has mobilized $120 million from funders in just two years to build a more effective, winning movement. Big kudos to Riff partners, The Kresge and Pisces Foundations, who both exceeded the CFJP’s commitment to allocate a minimum of 30% of their U.S. based climate philanthropy to BIPOC-led groups.

Mosaic

With historic federal climate policies and investments, we have an unprecedented opportunity to keep warming to 1.5°C – but it requires field-wide collaboration at a scale never yet attempted. Mosaic is doing just that. Check out Mosaic Founder and Pisces Foundation President David Beckman on Volts to learn more on how we can build a movement to hit the goals of the Inflation Reduction Act and meet this once-in-a-generation moment!

Seurat Technologies

Manufacturing is a leading, yet often overlooked, contributor to climate change. We’re at a pivotal moment to decarbonize the industry. 3D metal printing leader Seurat recently announced a huge milestone in this quest, unveiling a new partnership with Siemens Energy.

Siemens Energy will migrate the production of 59 tons of components from traditional manufacturing methods to Seurat’s 3D metal printing technology that runs on 100% green energy, effectively decarbonizing this process. GreenBiz has the scoop on this innovative partnership!

Cruise

Cruise’s all-electric AVs are now a common sight in San Francisco. The fleet is also a vehicle for change, delivering over 2.4 million meals and expanding its future-forward transportation to new cities across the U.S. If you haven’t experienced Cruise yet, sign up for a ride!

Now its AV fleet is tackling food waste, food insecurity, and climate change nationally. Cruise for Good launched a first-of-its-kind driverless, all-electric food rescue initiative with nonprofit Replate to tackle these competing issues head-on. The partnership was just announced in Fast Company and on stage at the Social Innovation Summit!

Beam

Administrative barriers such as complex forms, excessive paperwork, and more block millions of Americans from accessing the social safety net. At the same time, COVID-era benefits for basic needs, like SNAP, have come to a halt. It has never been more essential to quickly and equitably deliver aid to our most vulnerable communities.

Financial emergencies of $500 or less are a leading cause for low-income college students to drop out. That’s why Beam is helping distribute cash aid to students at 49 historically Black colleges and universities and tribal colleges through a partnership with Ascendium, helping close equity gaps and allowing students of color to better pursue their educational goals.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken also named Beam as one of the top tech companies to watch at this year’s City Summit of the Americas!

Accela

Trust in government is at a historic low, and IT staffing shortages are impacting communities’ ability to provide critical services. Accela is bridging this gap by accelerating government agencies’ modernizations with cutting-edge digital services.

A new expansion of its cloud-based solution will now help communities respond to and prepare for the growing threat of natural disasters as hurricane, fire, and tornado seasons begin.

Effective School Solutions

We are approaching a funding cliff for in-school mental health services, and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said declining rates of youth well-being are “the crisis of our time.” Effective School Solutions works with hundreds of schools across the country to give kids quality mental healthcare.

We’re proud to partner with a leader working to improve youth mental health – CEO Duncan Young recently spoke at the National Governors Association and was quoted in USA Today’s front-page story on school avoidance!

Urban Alchemy

During national calls for reform, cities are looking for new ways to improve public safety and support residents in need. Urban Alchemy’s team of Practitioners are pioneering a new model for community-based safety for cities, while creating career pathways for and changing the perception of the formerly-incarcerated and unhoused.

See their magic firsthand in this broadcast piece from CBS San Francisco, and a San Francisco Chronicle feature about the organization’s impact over the last year to help those in crisis and make people feel safer in the Tenderloin and Mid-Market neighborhoods.

TogetherSF Action

San Francisco and cities across the U.S. are in the midst of a fentanyl and overdose crisis. To build support for evidence-based approaches to end open-air drug markets and connect those suffering from addiction to quality treatment and recovery services, TogetherSF Action launched a new citywide advertising and advocacy campaign. Check out San Francisco Chronicle’s front-page coverage on the initiative!

Protect Our Defenders

Univision’s groundbreaking documentary, #IAmVanessaGuillen, featuring our long-time partner Protect Our Defender’s fight for justice won big at the 2023 Webby Awards.

The film captures survivor Karina Lopez’s journey going public with her sexual assault, a courageous move that inspired hundreds of servicemembers to share their stories and speak up, creating a movement that helped spur the most transformative military justice reform in our nation’s history.

The Kresge Foundation

Philanthropy has the power to drive social change, but asset management is typically white-male-dominated. Diverse-owned firms control only 1.4% of the U.S.’s $82 trillion investments. The Kresge Foundation is combating that disparity head on with a pledge to invest 25% of its U.S. assets in women and BIPOC-led firms by 2025. Learn more about the 25×25 pledge in Forbes!

New Partner Spotlight

Worldcoin

The age of AI is upon us, and we must ensure its benefits are distributed equitably. Decentralized, privacy-preserving tech is needed to differentiate humans from AI to ensure everyone can benefit from and participate in the global economy.

Sam Altman’s Worldcoin is building the world’s largest identity and financial network as a public utility. The protocol is proving humanness and uniqueness in the age of AI and creating universal access to the global economy to accelerate the transition to an economic future that welcomes and benefits everyone.

Blueprint

There are more mental health clinicians per capita than almost every other healthcare specialty, but suicide is still a leading cause of death in the U.S. The mental healthcare system needs help from tech to provide higher-quality care.

Blueprint’s platform helps mental health clinicians run more effective therapy sessions and automates administrative and documentation tasks so they have more time to focus on improving patient outcomes. The Riff team looks forward to continuing this partnership to tackle our growing mental health crisis.

Other Stories We Are Riffing About:

• Forbes: Investing In Diverse-Owned Funds Reaps Returns For Kresge Foundation
• USA Today: Students are increasingly refusing to go to school. It’s becoming a mental health crisis.
• Axios: Climate pledge mobilizes $120M to focus on environmental justice
• Fortune Crypto: OpenAI’s Sam Altman raises $115 million for Worldcoin, the eyeball-scanning crypto project to combat A.I. bots
• Axios: This company is 3D printing turbine parts
• Bloomberg: A Solution to Twitter’s Bot Problem is Staring at Us Right in the Eyes
• CoinDesk: Sam Altman’s Crypto Project, Worldcoin, Releases First Major Consumer Product
• The 19th: Biden’s reelection could hinge on how much women voters trust him on the economy
• ABC7 News: San Francisco pilot program diverts 911 calls about homeless from police to new street crisis team
• Axios Detroit: Kresge Foundation CEO Rip Rapson on pairing philanthropy with ARPA
• GovTech: How a Busy Florida Building Department Embraced the Cloud
• Fierce Education: Emergency Aid Helps Boost Student Retention at HBCUs
• NBC Bay Area: ‘No Yelling While Selling Drugs’: Nonprofit’s Unique Ad Campaign in San Francisco

We also want to share a couple of other exciting updates!

Join us in welcoming the newest member of our award-winning team, Georgina Beven! Georgina joins us from Denver, Colorado, and previously served as U.S. Senator Michael Bennet’s press secretary during his reelection campaign in ’22. She has hit the ground running, and we can’t wait to see the good trouble we get into together!

Riff had the chance to get all dressed up for the “Oscars of PR” at the PRWeek Awards in New York City, where our firm was named one of the nation’s top boutique PR firms.

Are you looking for a mission-driven public affairs or strategic communications partner? We want to hear from you!

Wishing you all a safe, healthy, and fun start to your summer. Let’s keep pushing missions that matter!