From an Idea to Impact: Causling’s First Vote Cycle

Causling was not born overnight. It took several years of planning, a lot of hard work, and even more dedication. What is incredible is that almost all of the work that went into developing Causling was done primarily by two people: Co-Founders Ryan Christopher and Christopher Simmons.

What is even more incredible is the first winning Cause from our Vote Cycle is where these two first met.

How it started

I wanted to use my mind for something meaningful.

I knew I wanted to give myself completely to something that could leave the world a little better than I found it. I wanted to create something unique and powerful.

Several years ago, I had been reading Eastern philosophy and became deeply influenced by a simple idea: everything we think, say, and do has an effect on the world around us. If I could intentionally put something positive into the world, maybe that action could continue producing positive results long after it left my hands.

I started imagining it almost like a machine.

What if you could build something, place it into society, and help that system work a little better?

That thought became an obsession.

What Could We Do Together?

There was another idea I couldn't stop thinking about.

Most people don't have enough money or resources individually to make the changes they would like to see in the world. Someone may genuinely care about a family struggling in their community, an animal that needs help, a nonprofit doing important work, or a problem they see every day, but what can one person realistically do by themselves?

Individually, our resources are limited.

Collectively, they are exponential.

What if there were a way for people to put a little into one big pot and then decide together what to do with it?

I began wondering what humanity might be capable of if we could make working together simple. If we could make it common.

And I started to believe that one of the biggest things that is holding people back from doing more good isn't at all that they don't care.

It's that they don't believe they can make a difference.

I wanted to help change that. I wanted to change the culture.

I wanted people to see what becomes possible when we work together, and maybe over time, begin to realize a collective humanity’s potential.

There was just one problem.

I had absolutely no idea how to do it.

Four Years of Trying to Figure It Out

So I started brainstorming.

For the next four years, I dreamed, wrote, studied, talked to anyone who would listen, and tried to make the idea clearer.

I told people about it constantly. I listened when they challenged me. I listened when they didn't understand, which especially in the beginning, happened a lot.

Every question forced me to think harder, and to dig deeper. Every objection exposed something else that needed work.

Slowly, something that existed only in my head started becoming a system I could actually explain.

Eventually, I came to the conclusion that technology could provide the connection I had been looking for. A network could bring people together, and an app could give them a way to participate.

Great… Now I just had to build an app.

I knew nothing about building an app and very little about technology.

I looked into software engineering and quickly realized that spending years becoming a programmer proficient enough to make a quality product wasn't the role I was supposed to play. My job wasn't necessarily to build every piece myself. My job was to find the people who could, and give them a reason to believe in what we could build together.

I was the Visionary.

Ironically, that realization eventually brought me to the place where I found my business partner.

Where Everything Connected

At the time, I believed a nonprofit was the best structure for what I wanted to accomplish, so I began studying nonprofits. My wife suggested that if I really wanted to understand them, I should volunteer with one. She encouraged me to become a mentor at The 411 House.

So I did.

During my interview, I was upfront about why I was there. I wanted to serve, but I also wanted to learn. I explained my idea and my hope of eventually creating an organization of my own.

Mentoring at The 411 House became much more meaningful to me than I ever expected. I'm incredibly grateful for the relationships I've built there and for the young people I've had the opportunity to know. It will forever be a special place in my heart.

And while I was there, I met another mentor named Ryan.

Naturally, I told him about my idea. I asked him to tear it apart, give me feedback and point me in whatever direction he thought might help. I fumbled my way through explaining this strange concept I'd been carrying around for years.

And then something incredible happened.

It landed.

Ryan got it.

More importantly, he wanted in.

We started meeting, talking and developing the idea together. Neither of us knew exactly where it would lead, but we created a working environment where we could figure it out one problem at a time.

Ryan went to work on the engineering. I went to work developing the organization and business around it.

And the idea finally started becoming something tangible.

From Give Love Charity to Causling

Our first attempt was starting a nonprofit called Give Love Charity. But as we learned more about the nonprofit structure, we realized some of its requirements wouldn't allow us to move resources with the flexibility and speed we envisioned for the program.

So we adapted.

We explored how to build a business whose purpose was centered around creating public benefit. We redesigned it. We changed names. We challenged assumptions. We hit obstacles, solved them and found new ones waiting behind them.

Try. Test. Evaluate. Rebuild.

Then keep going.

Eventually, this thing we'd been working on for over a year, wasn't theoretical anymore. It was something we could actually hold in our hands.

Causling was real.

And it was time to launch.

Our First Cycle

We selected three organizations as administrative Causes for our first voting cycle.

Feed My Sheep, which serves people experiencing homelessness and connects them with food and resources.

Pearl's Place, an animal rescue that takes in some of the most difficult cases and gives animals another chance.

And, naturally, The 411 House.

Then we opened the doors.

Our first month went quickly.

All in all, we received 16 votes in our first month. Sixteen may not sound like a giant number, but to us, it meant everything. Those were 16 real people participating in something that, for years, had existed only as an idea.

And when the first Causling voting cycle ended, the winner was The 411 House.

The place where Ryan and I met. The place where two mentors happened to cross paths and discover that together they might be able to create something neither could have dreamed alone.

You couldn't have written it better.

Time to make a Difference

The 411 House has a very practical need right now.

They need a new couch.

If you've ever seen the enormous sectional in their community room filled with more than 20 boys at once, you'll understand why that couch may need an upgrade.

Our goal is to help them replace it.

Causling will allocate the resources from our first cycle toward a new sectional for The 411 House. But we don't want our involvement to end with writing a check.

We're going to use every resource available to us.

We'll contribute financially and work to connect The 411 House with furniture companies and potential partners who may be willing to help sponsor the remaining cost of a sectional couch large enough to serve the House.

We're also incredibly grateful that our first cycle has been sponsored by Homes By SallyJo, my wife's business. Her sponsorship represents the majority of the funds available for this first allocation and has helped us discover another powerful piece of what Causling can become: bringing businesses into the work of community care.

Now we get to put it all to work.

This Is Only the Beginning

We're going to document what happens next.

We'll show where the support goes, what we're able to accomplish, who steps forward to help and, ultimately, the impact created by everyone who participated. We will put it in video form for all to enjoy on our platform and on our social media.

That's important to us.

If you vote on Causling, we want you to see what your vote helped set in motion. We want you to feel proud of it. We want you to understand where your contributions go.

Because none of this works without our Community.

Causling isn't built around the idea that one person is going to save the world. It's built around the opposite idea.

None of us has to do it alone.

Years ago, I wondered what might happen if there were a way for people to combine their resources and decide together where they could make a difference.

Today, 16 people have already started answering that question. It's a small beginning, but every big idea has to start somewhere.

Ours started with a thought.

Then two mentors met at The 411 House.

Then an idea became an app.

People voted, and now those votes are about to have a real impact.

This is Causling's first cycle.

Become a part of the movement!

Join us on our adventure to create a community that works together to make the world a better place, one story at a time. Download the Causling app. Create a Cause that’s meaningful to you. Vote on what you believe is most important. Share it with your community to help ours grow.

Let's see the impact we can make together.

Let’s make more dreams a reality.