Encourage the Tampa Bay region's young professionals to be more philanthropic. Hire the homeless to plant fruit trees on vacant lots while feeding the needy. Host a musical festival in downtown Tampa every Sunday to feature local bands. These three winning ideas were pitched by young entrepreneurs July 31 during an Impact Forum hosted by the Florida NEXT Foundation. More than 100 young professionals, business leaders and entrepreneurs gathered at the First WaVE Venture Center to listen to 90-second pitches on ways to make the Tampa Bay are a more desirable place to live, work, and play. The quick-fire pitches took on a Shark Tank feel, but with a friendly audience serving as judges. Fourteen people made pitches and the audience was asked to vote on their top three favorites. These three crowd-favorite ideas will receive organizational support from Florida NEXT:
"The people who attended the event and the pace of the forum made this a tremendous success," said Florida NEXT President Ned Pope. "We had a great number of people from diverse professional background and disciplines who came with great ideas. We can't wait to watch these ideas come to fruition." After the top pitches were announced, the audience chose a pitch to back and met broke up into groups to hone the ideas. They organized steering committees to develop a project plan that includes a fundraising model in order to implement services. The Culture of Philanthropy circle discussed ways to meet their goal of making Tampa Bay among the Top 10 most philanthropic communities in America.
"We want to do this by creating a culture that more deeply connects residents to the community," said committee leader Jess Johnson. "We will lead this change by challenging the community to be in the Top 10, highlighting the philanthropic efforts of those already making a positive difference locally, and leading a conversation about giving that draws more people, and draws people more deeply, into philanthropy. This is a big, hairy, audacious goal, and it’s relevant and urgent today and for years to come.” Florida NEXT will offer organization support to the three committees as they work toward implementing the ideas. "That was the best event I have ever attended aimed at young professionals," said Florida NEXT board member Sean Shaw. Maggie Philbin, account executive for Brock Communications, said the participants galvanized each other.
"It was inspiring to connect with other young professionals who are demanding results in policies, innovation, philanthropy and leadership in Tampa Bay," Philbin said. "Through our collaboration, I feel confident that as 'YoPros' we can make Tampa a more desirable place to live, work, volunteer and play."
Florida NEXT plans to hold similar Impact Forums in other cities across the state, including Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Miami, and Sarasota.
