Spotlight on Sovenco | A Social Venture Company

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“How personal should I get?” asked Danielle Norris when we inquired as to the start of her socially conscious enterprise – Sovenco.

Norris calls herself an at-risk youth. At 16, she was assigned a case worker who was a beacon of light. Her name was Mary. When life for Norris seemed its bleakest, Mary spent 18 months guiding her out of that world and out of poverty. “She was everything to me,” says Norris.danielle

Danielle, Norris, Founder, Sovenco

Things changed when Danielle turned 18. Her program was shut down due to lack of funding and Mary lost her job. It was at that moment that Norris realized the injustice of the situation. Fourteen years later, one of her core values is making a difference, so that is what she sought out to do.

“With nonprofits, the biggest thing that doesn’t work is that they are not allowed to spend money on building the business. Too much time is spent fundraising instead of making an impact. Also, it’s an “us and them” model (for-profit businesses vs. nonprofits). It divides the class systems and creates inequality. There are two myths in business: that nonprofits can’t invest in overhead and that for-profits can only focus on bottom-line.”  – Danielle Norris, Sovenco

Now, Danielle runs the socially conscious consulting business, Sovenco. Business owners tend to reach out to her when they are wanting more out of their life and want to have a direct impact in the community. “We like to connect them to their purpose,” she says. “We take them through an 8-step process, which is a combination of life coaching and basic business consulting. We look at business in an holistic way and add a social enterprise twist.”

Case studies show a very direct impact on the community. One client, a social media marketing company came to Norris wanting to do good and enter the socially conscious industry. When they came to Sovenco, they weren’t making any impact. Now, they are looking at hiring underserved populations.

“We are very new in the industry. Our overall goal and big vision is to bring the concept of do good businesses to regular everyday small businesses. That every small business owner can make a small impact in the world. And it creates a more fulfilling life. In general, people have an innate need to serve others directly and it’s missing in our society,” says Norris.

And that’s where Sovenco comes in.

At Conscious Real Estate we love supporting socially conscious businesses. If you have an idea for a story on a business that is doing great things for our community, just reply here and drop us a note.

And, remember that Conscious Real Estate donates 10% of every commission to a nonprofit of our clients’ choice. Make a difference today! Referrals are the sweetest thank yous.

 

Change the World with Conscious Real Estate

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How much do YOU want to change the world?

Here at Conscious Real Estate, we want to change the world a lot. Let’s talk about what we do… We help people buy and sell houses and we love that!  But we took it one step further and created a philanthropic real estate business model.

We are Colorado’s only real estate social enterprise.  Each time one of our clients buys or sells a home with us, we contribute 10% of our own commission to the nonprofit of our clients’ choice.

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Here is some sad news… On the day of this writing, August 21, 2015, Conscious Real Estate did NOT close on any homes.  Yet a quick look at the MLS states that 299 homes sold on this day in Colorado.  Our owner, Allison Parks, decided to tally up the total sales prices of 100 of these homes.  Taking the total of these 100 sales into consideration and considering that commission is negotiable, our estimate is that if those buyers and sellers would have used Conscious Real Estate on just one side of the deal, that would have generated around $75,000 to $100,000 for nonprofits.  That’s right… we could donate that in just one day of real estate sales.

Imagine what a DIFFERENCE that $75,000 to $100,000 could make in our local and global community from JUST… ONE… DAY of people buying and selling houses with Conscious Real Estate.  And that’s if we only represent 1/3 of Colorado’s home sales from that one day…

Now imagine if those buyers and sellers used Conscious Real Estate for those 100 home sales each day next week, just Monday through Friday.  That would create $375,000 to $500,000 for nonprofits in just one week.  What difference do you think that could make?

In one month, it would create $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 for nonprofits.  What difference would THAT make?

In a year, that would create $18,000,000 to $24,000,000. That is an enormous amount of money to give away and quite frankly, nothing would make us happier.

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Every day at Conscious Real Estate is Colorado Gives Day.

We’re here, folks.  We are willing to do the work.  We are willing to grow as big as we need to, we are willing to hire more people and create jobs, and we will always keep our commitment to customer service our top priority.  We know that, without our clients, we are nothing. We will keep our communities close to our heart every step of the way and implement innovative business practices that increase the greater social good.

If you would like to change the world with us and you have a friend who is planning to buy or sell a home, let them know that they can make a difference with their next real estate transaction if they work with Conscious Real Estate.  For more information, please contact Allison Parks at 303-908-9873 or [email protected].

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Denver Social Enterprise and “Do Good” Business Meetup

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A good friend of Conscious Real Estate has started a new meet up group for Denver Social Enterprises and “Do Good” businesses.  Changemaker Danielle Norris of Sovenco has started the “Denver Social Enterprise and Do Good Meetup” to bring together like-minded business owners or entrepreneurs who would like guidance and inspiration in starting a purpose-driven business.

 

“Social Enterprises are businesses whose primary purpose is the common good. They use the methods and disciplines of business and the power of the marketplace to advance their social, environmental and human justice agendas.” – SEA

We live in a world where profit has been the only bottom line and has been for many years, but things are changing. People realize the system is broken and inadequate to address the numerous problems facing this world.

Are you a business owner? How is your business making the world a better place? Does your business have a purpose besides just making money? Or maybe, you would like your business to have more than just a profit-driven motive. Come join our group and share your stories of IMPACT. How is your business making the world a better place? We believe the combination of money and purpose is the most powerful thing on the planet. So, what is the impact you want to leave on this world? If you’re looking to have your business leave a lasting impact on the world other than just profits and sales goals, we can help.

Our goal of this meetup group is to make this world a better place, all while increasing your profits and leaving the least negative impact on the planet. We help you build PURPOSE or support you in building a greater PURPOSE into your business model.

So, what is the impact you want to leave on this world? If you’re looking to have your business leave a positive lasting impact on the world, we can help. If you’re a little overwhelmed, no problem. If this all sounds a little froufrou, that’s fine too. Just join the group and have some great conversation, fun activities, and a strong support group, as you venture into the unknown of changing the world.

If this sounds like a group you would like to join, please join the Meetup group or the Facebook group to learn about upcoming events.  We would love to see you there!

You may already know that Conscious Real Estate is Colorado’s only philanthropic residential real estate company that contributes 10% of all commissions to the nonprofit of their clients’ choice.  If you would like to learn more about Sovenco, you may follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

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Conscious Real Estate Partners with Work Options for Women – WOW!

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Conscious Real Estate is proud to announce a partnership with Denver nonprofit, Work Options for Women.  WOW is an innovative nonprofit designed to help impoverished women gain the skills and confidence they need to work their way out of poverty and become gainfully and permanently employed in the food service industry.  Since 1997, this organization has been using food to change lives.

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There are a lot of great way you can support this organization:

-You can donate.

-You can dine at Cafe Options located at 1650 Curtis Street in downtown Denver.

-You can take cooking classes with acclaimed Denver chefs for which 100% of your ticket price goes to WOW

-You can attend their 10th annual Women Cook event on May 5th, 2014, featuring a dinner prepared by an amazing list of renowned Denver women chefs.

-You can follow WOW on Facebook or Twitter.

And of course, when you buy or sell your home with Conscious Real Estate, we donate 10% of all commissions to the nonprofit of our clients’ choice, and you can choose to donate to WOW!  Call Allison Parks at 303-908-9873 or email [email protected].