Company History

August 2001.  The idea that eventually became Together We Can Change The World was planted in the 100+ degree heat of Las Vegas, NV.  I was attending a conference there.  In the middle of a seminar (that had nothing to do with the Internet or with charitable giving) I suddenly had a vision of what could happen if just a % of everything spent on the Internet went to charitable organizations.  My head spun as I envisioned the potential to make a difference.

A little earlier history would probably be helpful here… I spent 18 years working with teenagers in different settings.  I did it because I adore teenagers, but way too much of my time was spent fundraising to create money for all the things I wanted to do with them.  I’m pretty sure I’ve sold everything known to mankind – Christmas trees, cookies, pizzas, pecan pies, donuts, etc.  I’ve run more yard sales and car washes than I want to think about.  I dreamed of a way to work hard, start the money flowing, and never have to raise funds again – just concentrate on being with the kids.  No one ever showed me a way to do that.  When I resigned from youth work, the only thing I knew I wouldn’t miss was the constant fundraising. 

Fast forward several years later to the Las Vegas conference.  I knew I was on to something, but there were a few problems.  I knew nothing about the Internet.  I barely knew how to send an email! I didn’t know anyone who knew anything about the Internet.  But I knew I had “seen” something huge so I just set out to make it happen. 

My first attempt was working with a company to create an online store.  It had a total of 25 products with shipping that was wildly expensive.  Needless to say, the charitable organizations, while appreciating my intent, were not eager to get involved.   I didn’t have the technical support to do what I envisioned, so I kept looking.  During that time, I trained almost 100 people who also wanted to make a difference through fundraising – teaching them the concepts I believed would work.  We were learning together…

6 months into the journey, I knew I was never going to create what I envisioned with the company I was with.   I left, originally planning on just doing something on my own.  A surprising thing happened.  The 100 people I had been training discovered I had left the company and my phone started ringing – with people demanding to know what I was going to do next, telling me they were ready to join me.  There was a problem – I didn’t have any plans, other than to leave where I currently was!  The phone just kept ringing.  I finally took it as a sign, took off for a week, and created the first version of Together We Can Change The World.  

We called it One-Time Fundraising.  I found an Internet Systems designer who created our very first systems.  We grew from 25 products to 250 stores on our One-Time Fundraising Mall, and we began to contact charitable organizations.  From the original 100 people (all working for zero pay), I still had about 70 of them – eager to make a difference, and hoping there would be long-term income from our efforts.  We were growing rapidly, but then I ran into some serious problems with my Systems Designer.  Can I just say it was obvious a change needed to be made?

It was both a horrible thing and a blessing that the problems came to light during the first ever retreat for what was then the FAB 5 – the 5 members of the management team that were guiding the ship.  And, yes, we were all still working for zero pay.  Our vision for making a difference drove us forward.  I had rented a beach house on the Washington Coast, loaded my truck with toys and food, told them to NOT bring their computers because we were just going to play and celebrate what we had accomplished, and then left my house to go pick up one of them from the airport.  On the way down I discovered what I had suspected for a few weeks was true…

The first thing I did when we all converged on the beach house in late January, 2005 was tell them there had been a change in plans.  Playing was out.  We were actually going to rebuild our entire company from scratch – learning from the painful lessons that had been learned.  To my great relief, I had just added a brand new person to the FAB 5.  Gordon had spent 20+ years as a Project Systems Manager for Microsoft.  His first job was to build an entirely new system for us.  In spite of being told by many people it couldn’t be done, we launched an entirely new company and very complex Internet systems in just 6 weeks.  My head still spins when I think about that time!  Everyone gave 1000%.

Shop For Charity Day was born.  Our online Mall grew to close to 1000 stores and we were working with hundreds of organizations.  But that was just the beginning… We knew we were in existence to do more than just make money for organizations.  Over the next several years we launched many new things…

Together We Can Change The World Day was created after I spent days watching the plight of people in New Orleans on the tail of Hurricane Katrina.  The first Saturday of every month is designated for people to get involved in their communities and make a difference.

Together We Can Change The World Publishing was developed so we could create and distribute the 101 Ways Series – ideas for people eager to make a difference.  It began with 1 book, and now has grown to 13 in the series.  We give them all away for Free – eager to empower people with more ideas than they can possibly use!

Someone Believes In You was born.

After 2 years of Shop For Charity Day, I believed we would have so much more of an impact if we could bring the power of our now amazing Online Mall to people all over the world, not just charitable organizations.  We dreamed of creating a company that would create money for everyone involved – financing Together We Can Change The World along the way.  My Power Mall went live in March of 2007 – rapidly growing to 160,000 members in 220 countries. 

My Power Mall was a wild ride that lasted for almost 3 years.  While this particular division of the company didn’t last, primarily because of a lack of shopping, I will never regret this part of our history.

We built relationships with amazing people all over the world.  Working together as a company, with people in 26 states, we brought over a choir of 20 Ugandan AIDS orphans for 6 months.  The SIFA Choir won the hearts of everyone they met, raised money to take back to Uganda, and changed people’s lives! 

The world renowned Together We Can Change The World Song was launched. We developed 5 Million For Change, 5 Million Students For Change, and created other songs and videos.

Somewhere in the midst of all the activity we realized Together We Can Change The World was not about making money – it was about making a difference.  It was about creating awareness.  It was about providing inspiration and motivation.  More than anything it was about GIVING people everything they need to make a difference.

When My Power Mall closed in January, 2010, we turned our entire focus back to doing the things we were truly created to do.  Every single division of our company is our gift to the world. 

We kept a much smaller, simpler version of our Online Mall because we still want to give people a chance to make a difference with their shopping, but we have scaled some things back so that our entire focus is on what we are really about. 

It has been a wild ride, but I know the years ahead will be even wilder as we fulfill our mission and empower millions around the world to make a difference.