Eco-intelligence, creativity, and innovative philanthropy unite at Goods that Matter, a design for good company based in New Orleans. We are committed to creating eco friendly products in the U.S. that also give back to our world’s most pressing social and environmental needs. Matter is a product design & consulting studio, uniquely focused on raising awareness and funding initiatives that advance social change. A portion of all proceeds flow to causes that impact the health, happiness, and sustainability of our communities both locally and for our neighbors around the world. Matter makes the world a better place by creating products and collaborations that matter. Tippy Tippens is the Founder and Chief Eternal Optimist of Goods that Matter. She is a social entrepreneur, designer, and educator who is passionate about building sustainable and equitable growth; making the objects that we live with, work for us instead of against us; and fighting climate change. She is honored to be in the GOOD 100, 2013, named as one of 100 people pushing the world forward. In September of 2010, she moved from Brooklyn to New Orleans after the BP Oil Spill in order to create BirdProject Soap. Matter got its start on Kickstarter & Tippy is a 2011 alumni of Propeller’s Fellowship & New Ventures Accelerator program. She was inspired to form the company upon developing BirdProject, where she saw the need for socially inspired eco-products that poetically fulfill our basic needs. Her additional professional experiences have included: designing faucets for Kohler, freelancing for lighting, furniture, graphic, architectural, and wayfinding firms as well as designing and making home furnishings for over ten years. She holds a Masters Degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and a B.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dryades Public Market (formerly Jack & Jake’s) aims to solve limited community access to safe and healthy food in New Orleans. By developing a food distribution network, contained locally within 65 miles of New Orleans, Jack and Jake’s is able to provide affordable and fresh food to retail and wholesale markets. John Burns* was born and raised in New Orleans and remembers when fresh foods were abundant and economically available to everyone. Unwilling to accept that 80% of New Orleans residents live in a “food desert,“ John launched Jack & Jake’s Local Market in 2009. John is uniquely qualified to rebuild a local food system. His work over the last 25 years includes serving as a professional restoration ecologist, acting Principal with a top 10 engineering firm (Mactec Engineering), Directing both a for-profit and nonprofit, and owning a cafe and catering company sourcing local, organic food. John’s family owns and operates an organic farm in Washington Parish, Louisiana. John helped establish and manage Hollygrove Market & Farm in New Orleans and is currently publisher of Edible New Orleans Magazine. *Since graduating Propeller’s Accelerator program, the Dryades Public Market has re-branded and assumed new leadership.

Good Citizen provides support in developing structures and executing strategies to identify and engage key stakeholder groups in support of public education. Our mission is to create a value added relationship between the school and the community in order to achieve accountability, programmatic support and resource development. Nolan Marshall III founded Good Citizen in 2010, as a way to “galvanize support for Charter Schools.” Prior to launching Good Citizen, Nolan served three years as the associate director of nonprofit civic group Common Good, where he started Court Watch TV, an initiative to monitor the “behavior, performance and consistency” of judges, district attorneys and prosecuting attorneys, the results of which were publicly released. Nolan also served as President of The Young Leadership Council and was named one of Gambit’s “40 Under 40.”

Green Light New Orleans invests energy in people by assisting New Orleans residents in-person, one household at a time. Our volunteers install free energy efficient light bulbs to demonstrate that a mass movement of individual actions creates a significant impact on our environment and community. Andreas Hoffmann founded Green Light New Orleans in 2006 to assist in the sustainable rebuilding of New Orleans and at the same time offset the pollution of his touring band. What began as one man’s “light bulb moment,“ Green Light New Orleans now operates one of the largest energy efficiency programs in New Orleans. Green Light’s free CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) and installation program is arguably the most successful large-scale energy efficient light bulb distribution program in the country. The effectiveness of Green Light’s program lies in the organization’s innovative direct installation approach, which guarantees, to a larger extent than any other method, the resultant energy, emissions, and utility cost reductions.

Resurrection After Exoneration’s (RAE) mission is to promote and sustain a network of support among the formerly incarcerated, reconnect them to the community, and help provide access to educational opportunities and counseling. RAE focuses on exonerated prisoners but will also reach out and help formerly incarcerated men who wish to make a positive change in their lives and who tackle some of the same problems as exonerees once they are released. John Thompson spent eighteen years on Louisiana’s Death Row for a crime he did not commit. He walked out of prison with ten dollars and a bus fare, and he vowed to never go back. His intimate familiarity with what people experience behind prison walls as well as the great obstacles they must overcome after being released led him to launch Resurrection After Exoneration.

YRNO purchases blighted homes, employs opportunity youth to supervise youth in the homes’ renovation, and sells the constructed homes to teachers at a significant discount in exchange for their continued service to the educational system. Youth outcomes include high quality job training, career readiness, and economic self sufficiency. William Stoudt, former Executive Director of Youth Rebuilding New Orleans, is a New Orleans native and graduate of Tulane University. Before joining the staff, William worked as the Director of the Board and helped found the organization immediately after Hurricane Katrina. He believes that engaging local youth and providing real educational opportunities are necessary to facilitate New Orleans’ continued growth.