Peter Thum to Speak on "Philanthropy With a Heart and Mind"
Dallas Social Venture Partners has announced that Peter Thum will be speaking on "Philanthropy With a Heart and Mind" at DSVP's September Social Innovation Luncheon. This event is Friday, September 7, 11:30am-1:00pm, at Royal Oaks Country Club, 7915 Greenville Ave., Dallas. Peter Thum is the founder of Ethos Water and the co-founder and CEO of Fonderie47. He served from 2005 to 2008 as Director of the Starbucks Foundation.
Ethos Water is a designer water label with a philanthropic base. Five cents from every bottle of Ethos Water goes towards making clean water a reality for people across the world, especially in developing nations in Africa and South America. Ethos Water began with the idea that people were willing to shell out more money for "designer" water labels - so why not create designer water set up to help others? Despite a rocky start, Peter's persistence paid off when he and his partner Jonathan Greenblatt pitched the idea to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who agreed to buy the company in 2005. Ethos Water is now sold in over 7,000 Starbucks stores nationwide plus other retailers and has helped fund the more than $6 million Starbucks has given to clean water efforts around the world. Forever the philanthropist, Peter Thum created Fonderie47 with John Zapolski in 2009. The social enterprise creates high-end jewelry out of AK- 47s, the semi-automatic assault rifles common in African conflict zones. Working with the Democratic Republic of the Congo to recover weapons, Fonderie47 has removed about 6,000 from the area. It is estimated, however, that more than 20,000 AK-47s remain in circulation. The purchase of one pendant from Fonderie47 funds the removal of 10 AK-47s from the warring regions of Africa. The sale of a pair of cuff links represents 75 more removed.
Thum graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a Bachelor of Arts in Government. Thum also hold an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. As well as being the founder of both Ethos and Fonderie 47, he also serves on the boards of The Global Fund for Human Rights; The Center for Human Rights Leadership at Claremont McKenna College; The Deans Council of the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service; and Impossible to Possible Ultra-Athletic Adventures.
You can purchase tickets for this event at http://www.dsvp.org/p/sils.
Recent grants received by our clients include:
$71,500 for an agency providing food for low-income families – for a refrigerator/freezer
$20,000 for an organization providing an array of services for low-income families -
$10,000 for transitional living services for troubled youth, and $10,000 for community health services
$15,000 for a clinic providing medical and dental for low-income, uninsured family – for dental equipment
$10,000 for an organization providing therapeutic learning experiences for physically disabled people – for adaptive equipment
$10,000 for a diabetic life skills program for children – for general operating expenses
$10,000 for a mental health advocacy organization – for general operating expenses
Murray Covens, Principal