How to Do Lots of Good

Last week, I wrote about how being nice and generous to the people around you might be the best thing you can do in the face of depressing headlines. It keeps you positive.

“Okay, that’s all well and good Yang. But I want to solve BIG problems and help tons of people! That’s why I follow you in the first place.”

I get it! That’s the way I’m wired too. How do we go bigger than our own circles?

There are in my mind 3 main ways to do good at scale: businesses, non-profits and politics/government.

I came up as a small business owner and am a huge believer in how much good enterprises can do. Take the average restaurant in your neighborhood; it probably employs 20 – 30 people. It feeds people food they enjoy each day and gives folks a place to gather. It provides life and light to a street. It likely reflects the hopes and dreams of a family that has spent years trying to make it welcoming and successful.

When I ran Manhattan Prep, we not only helped thousands of students achieve their goals, but we also paid teachers a premium and provided half-time employees health insurance. I had staffers who got promoted several times and wound up being able to buy a house for their family. Creating opportunities for my team was the best part of our growth.

If you’re able to start a successful business that employs people, in my view that does a lot of good.

In 2011 I started Venture for America, an entrepreneurship non-profit that I ran for six years. Non-profits have the virtue that they can take on wholesome work that the marketplace ignores. After six years, my frustration came in the scope of resources – Venture for America had a budget of about $5 million in 2017, which is a drop in the bucket given the size of the problems I saw coming down the pike. The biggest non-profits might have a budget of $100 million or even $1 billion, which is substantial but a pittance if you’re trying to reformat a $29 trillion economy that is about to turn on people as AI arrives.

Non-profits are good, but tough to grow beyond a certain point.

That’s what brought me to politics. I figured, “How can I try to alleviate poverty at scale in a reasonable time frame?” Most all of the big moves required an activated federal government, which left very few options aside from . . . run for President! Odds are you got behind me for that run – thanks!

So those are the 3 big spaces to try and take swings: Businesses, Non-Profits and Government/Policy/Politics.

On the policy side, I started Humanity Forward - HFs biggest accomplishment to date has been the passage of a permanent child tax credit, and they are now working on things like forest fire management and energy permitting. I also started Forward Party to make a case for multi-party politics and structural reform, which I see as vital to get our government responding to real problems.

More recently, I started Noble Mobile, which is providing unlimited wireless data at $50/month with a $20 cashback payment based on how much data you use. This would save the average American about $500 a year and also provide an incentive for us all to look up more and use our screens a bit less. My goal is to get a billion dollars back into Americans’ pockets and reward us for being more mindful. The digital world shouldn’t replace the real one. I also want to put pricing pressure on the big carriers, as Americans are paying twice as much for data as people in other countries, as I said on CNBC this week.

As one example, when I travel outside the country I used to get a text message for a Travelpass that charged me $10 a day. “Okay,” I thought, “I guess that’s how much it costs to get service abroad.” It turns out that it costs Verizon only $2 - $2.50 to put me on the foreign carrier’s network! Why do they charge $10? They like money. Noble Global made the same deal with the foreign carrier and is charging $5 a day. If you travel and are on Verizon or AT & T ($12/day) you would save a ton with Noble.

The truth is, it took me a while to find a business that I could get excited about because it could help enough people. Noble would help 90% of Americans, as most of us use Verizon, AT & T or TMobile.

Okay, so if you want to do good at scale, my advice would be:

1. Help a business grow. Maybe spread the word about some company or restaurant you find awesome! That helps the world go ‘round.

2. Help a non-profit succeed. Donate or volunteer for a great org! I like Fairvote as one example but you might have your own. I actually think most people should have a favorite charity.

3. Get involved politically with a candidate or officeholder you like! For some ideas check out Forward. Your local official would love some love.

At the extreme end, you might start a business/non-profit/political org yourself but . . . I generally don’t recommend it unless you are super fired up and ready to spend the next 5 years on it. In that case, go for it!

Number 4 might be to spread some piece of writing or media that you thought was uplifting. But you can do more than just that. I’m sure of it.

On the podcast this week, I answer listener questions with Zach! More than 800 people came to our Offline Party last week – we are heading to Chicago, Boston, Philly, Brooklyn, and Miami. Noble Mobile is changing wireless and we have special benefits for our first 10,000 customers. Our second ad can be found here.