The Road to Philanthropy — Social Impact with Eric Ressler / Cosmic

Listen to the Podcast

This episode of The Road to Philanthropy features Eric Ressler, founder and CEO of social impact creative agency Cosmic. Eric has learned how to use his creative talents to impact social causes. His media and design firm is geared towards motivating organizations and individuals to care more about call-to-actions. Eric joins podcast host Gary S. Cohn of Painted Rock Advisors to discuss the power of a well-produced mission and what it takes to go beyond grabbing the attention of viewers.

“We need to categorize failure as success instead of failure. If we don’t try new things we aren’t going to meet the urgency and scale of the problems that we’re facing.”

Episode Highlights:

The value of Cosmic’s focus on social impact businesses. [1:22]
Inspiring examples of effective change that Cosmic has supported. [4:55]
Significant social impact market needs led to Cosmic’s current focus. [8:33]
Information pollution can be combated with the ‘ask before you give’ principle. [10:12]
The value of storytelling at every level of giving. [14:00]
Eric’s journey into the creative social impact space. [17:20]
A look at the future of nonprofit growth and impact. [22:45]
Increasing awareness and considering the long game. [26:20]

Quotes:

“By the time folks get to us, they are convinced [social impact] work is worth doing.”

“A lot of nonprofits are starting to get smarter about the kind of work that we do and investing in it.”

“Nonprofits are starting to see that content production needs to be core to the work that they’re doing as well.”

“For our work to fully pay off does take time and the willingness to be curious and experiment and iterate.”

“We need to categorize failure as success instead of failure. If we don’t try new things we aren’t going to meet the urgency and scale of the problems that we’re facing.”