Although Compass Fellows James Li and Yeo Zuo Yi founded REaction Strategy Group in January 2010,
the team’s boldest move came recently, when the duo decided to devote the summer of 2011 to working full time on their venture in Los Angeles, California. While many college students will spend their summers toiling away in unpaid internships, James and Yeo are creating their own experience and building a social business.
“During the year, homework is always weighing on our minds, and it’s hard to get momentum going. We wanted to see if our consulting model is viable, and we really felt like we could develop our business much faster with a team together and dedicated time to work,” says Michael Hauser, a team member. Hauser, along with fellow team members Sheena Yoon and Luke Iott, have all forgone traditional internships for this startup company experience.
James Li, the young company’s CEO, explains the group’s philosophy and aims this way: “In the non-profit world, charitable donations have traditionally been handled on a person-to-person basis. For non-profit directors, the tried and true methods of raising money have been limited to going door-to-door explaining your cause or having the occasional dinner with a wealthy donor, skirting around the issue of that annual check. It sounds tedious, but there was a reason for it. It was all about the relationships and the trust, [but] the industry has been moving away from that.”
The company aims to help non-profits reinvent the giving experience with new tech tools that make it easier for charities to demonstrate to donors how each dollar making a difference. REaction’s recipe for non-profits is simple: the more time spent cultivating relationships with donors by showing them the direct impact of their donation dollars, the more enthusiastic and willing to give those donors will become. By the end of the summer, REaction hopes to have worked with a couple of clients in Los Angeles to continue gaining practical consulting experience and develop models for future clients. In addition, the team is thinking of ways other than consulting to spread this impact-based giving experience, based on the needs and frustrations of the non-profit directors they have visited.
“There’s no reason that just because technology has developed, the giving experience suddenly has to become so dry, so one-way,” Yeo said. “We’re using things like photos, events, videos and social media to get back to telling that powerful, compelling story for causes.”
Follow the adventures and experiences of REaction Strategy Group at www.reactionis.tumblr.com.
- James Li and Yeo Zuo Yi, Compass Fellows, Georgetown U. Class of 2013
