Impact Actualization Management (IAM™) Platform

Given the chance, would you volunteer to spend an hour per week offering your “Presence” to help others learn a new skill or develop a solution to a pressing social problem?

In a world fraught with disparities, haves and have nots, resource gaps and outright poverty, we are grateful to find that many people, given the opportunity, will gladly volunteer their time to help others in need. The problem (or opportunity as we see it) is the challenge of marshalling the resources of regular, everyday people who are willing to contribute time, but lack readily accessible tools to deliver their presence where it is most needed.

The IAmImpactUnited solution is a proprietary Impact Actualization Management (IAM™) Platform -- a session-based, intelligent hub that enables and manages remote exchanges of energy, information and time from catalyst to learner in a manner that amplifies Catalyst presence (i.e., impact) through the training of learners (with the added option of advancement into catalysts committed to uplifting others).

The Problem is Lost Opportunity – the availability of people willing to help yet lacking a convenient, user friendly, flexible, intelligent resource management portal to deliver valuable information and energy from willing volunteers in a structured, scheduled, safe and uplifting format.

Our solution is a proprietary, session-based, interactive Impact Actualization Management (IAM™) Platform, an Empowerment Portal through which to harness the resources of changemakers (Catalysts) willing to invest their presence and expertise for the benefit of Learners everywhere, optionally with the support of a Facilitator.  The IAM™ Platform serves community members who play different roles in the upliftment process:
   “Catalysts” are those screened and selected for their interest and ability to serve by donating their presence and proficiency.
   “Learners” are those who seek to benefit from the expertise and presence of Catalysts.
   “Facilitators” are those engaged as liaisons in some applications to coordinate the activities of Catalysts and Learners.

We find it important to emphasize that we do not distinguish among Catalysts, Learners and Facilitators in terms of proficiency or performance level, per se. These terms simply describe the role of the participant as an uplifter. The Learner mode revolves around uplifting self, while Catalysts are committed to uplifting others. A Learner in one area can be a Catalyst in another and vice versa. In other words, community members can be Learners, Catalysts, Facilitators or serve in different roles for different initiatives or sessions. 

While our community is founded on the principle of mutual empowerment and the spirit of volunteering one's presence for the benefit of others, results of our pilot initiatives suggest that personal transformation and gratification are important benefits experienced by Learners, Catalysts and Facilitators, alike. What is particularly noteworthy from our experience to date is that the sense of contribution and associated gratification is contagious, resulting in an amplification of the underlying spirit of personal growth, transformation and contribution to a new and better world, a world enriched in self-awareness, aspiration, collaboration and mutual support.

©2024 Danaam LLC. “IAM” is a trademark of Danaam. All rights reserved.

Our solution aims to unite human intelligence and compassion, leveraging the collective strength of individuals who are willing to offer their time and presence towards actualizing the positive change in the world collectively, with individually managed parallel actions creating collective ripples across the globe and turning the vision of impact-making into a more accessible, achievable reality.

We achieve this through our uniquely developed Impact Actualization Management (IAM™) Platform and with our carefully curated processes and engagement strategies. [Product Demo]

Impact Actualization Management (IAM™) Platform

Our unique platform serves as a central hub for collective action, providing tools and resources for connecting individuals who are willing to contribute their expertise and presence with those seeking upliftment. 

Our platform boasts a user-friendly interface as one of its key features. Built on the belief that everyone has something valuable to share and learn, our platform is structured around topics, allowing users to catalyze action or acquire new knowledge. This setup promotes flexibility, enabling engagement at various times and facilitating global participation. Moreover, it enables current learners to catalyze after learning and approval. Its simplicity extends to grassroots communities, empowering them to request sessions on topics relevant to their needs.

It operates on a session-based model, and all transformative engagement experiences occur in live interactive formats, where users participate in real-time discussions. Session management tools cater to both catalysts and learners, ensuring effective organization and scheduling. Additionally, facilitates seamless communication through integrated discussion forum and file sharing.

Deployed on the cloud and integrated with Zoom and Big Blue Button, our platform supports global impact initiatives. Uplifters can track their impact in real-time with certificate generation and gain insights into their learning journey and progress.

The IAM™ Platform is undergoing iterations, and our upcoming release will include new features along with controlled, structured access criteria and facilitating team formation. 

Processes and engagement strategies.

At the heart of our solution is the principle of fostering upliftment, ensuring that it permeates every interaction within our platform. Our approach to engaging with both catalysts and learners is rooted in the essence of upliftment. Recognizing the importance of personal growth, we prioritize supporting individuals on their journey towards self-awareness and transformation. To empower our catalysts and learners, we meticulously craft our engagement and strategies, encompassing various elements, including support, self-reflection, and self-awareness. We actively encourage our catalysts to participate in sessions aimed at their individual growth. Our overarching goal is to transcend limitations and cultivate personal and collective development. 

*Note: 

• We have bootstrapped our initiative, and our MVP is currently undergoing user testing.  
• Regarding the software, as our primary focus to date has been on functionality, the IAM™ Platform currently utilizes publicly available data, which we intend as a placeholder during the user testing phase. Once we have analyzed feedback from the user testing phase, we plan to swap out content with high-quality, customized material designed to serve our target audience.

Our Impact Actualization Management (IAM™) Platform serves:

Learners who wish to uplift themselves through personal growth and transformation.

Catalysts who wish to uplift others through their commitment to positive social change. 

Our Learners and Catalysts come from diverse communities including changemakers, aspiring changemakers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), grassroots organizations, and underserved communities.

NGOs and Grassroots Organizations: 

The IAM™ Platform provides direct support and collaboration. We have demonstrated tangible impact through partnerships with organizations such as AJSS Children’s Home in Bihar, India, and Heavenly Valley Mission, serving tribal areas in Assam, India.

Community members (e.g., Learners) submit specific educational and developmental needs to us, which we then identify and transform into topics and add to our platform. Catalysts then select the topics to catalyze and address the learner's needs. A variety of sessions, including academic, growth-inspiring, and creative expression, have been conducted successfully.

Our platform serves as a vital resource hub, enabling organizations to access a broad spectrum of support from catalysts across the globe. This helps them strengthen their programs, expand their reach and facilitates amplification of their on-ground impact, driving meaningful change and development in underserved communities.

Changemakers and Aspiring Changemakers:

The IAM™ Platform empowers facilitators and catalysts, enabling impactful collaborations like the one between a teacher in rural Ghana and a Cambodian student pursuing master's in 'Renewable Energy' from Scotland. This student, specializing in renewable energy, is using our platform to teach the teacher and facilitators how to build, maintain, and repair solar lamps. This instruction goes beyond basic training, ensuring that the community develops the skills needed for long-term self-sufficiency. This cross-continental collaboration showcases the IAM™ Platform’s ability to bridge significant gaps and foster innovative solutions to real-world challenges by connecting the right people with the right skills. 

Moreover, the platform enables learners to access previous catalysts who catalyzed the sessions on a topic and directly request sessions, thereby sustaining and expanding their learning experience.

From a young age, the value of education was deeply instilled in me by my mother, a dedicated science teacher. I grew up in Gurdaspur, a small district in Punjab, India. I became acutely aware of the disparities in educational opportunities for girls, who were often relegated to household roles or taught just enough to secure a marriage. Social fabric was marred by corruption, patriarchy, and information suppression, fostering dependency.

Inspired by my mother's relentless pursuit of education and equality, the education I received empowered me, opening opportunities that were out of reach for many in my community.

Initiative:

Our journey began with a simple act of gratitude and a wish for equality in education. As a parent who experienced the seamless transition of my twins to online schooling during the pandemic, I was moved by the support they received—everything from Chromebooks to crayons. It sparked a desire within me: what if every child and parent have this opportunity?

This question led me back to my roots. My mom connected me with Palak, an eighth grader from my ancestral village in India. The disparity was stark; she had difficulty grasping basic concepts like subtraction. After talking to her, I realized I could easily offer her 1-2hrs a week. With my mom's help, we created subgoals for her, such as 'noun,' 'subtraction,' and 'volume.' I then invited my friends to help by picking a subgoal and offering their time. Many came forward, not only for academic but also offering lessons in dance, baking, and sketching. Catalysts from six countries were eager to contribute their time, presence, and knowledge to uplift her.

Later, we connected with an orphanage and adopted the same strategy, aligning our catalysts’ availability with the children’s needs to achieve the subgoals. We realized that we were making an impact on their lives and enriching ours. 

Conception:

Coordinating global catalysts became challenging with extensive meetings and calls creating barriers and communication gaps. Recognizing this urgent need, we leveraged our IT expertise to develop a simpler, more efficient approach.

The IAM™ Platform was conceived specifically to address the logistical challenges involved in synchronizing global efforts to connect catalysts and learners worldwide. The design of the IAM™ Platform is driven by the direct needs and feedback from our Uplifters. Features such as audio options for learners with literacy challenges, flexible scheduling for participants across different time zones, and a topic-centered design that enhances flexibility and encourages global participation illustrate this. Operating on a session-based model, every aspect of the IAM™ Platform is shaped by community input.  We are continually evolving to ensure that our solutions remain responsive, adaptable, and relevant.

Our Unique Position:

The iAmImpactUnited team is ideally positioned to deliver this solution due to our close connections and firsthand experiences with the challenges faced by uplifters. Our proactive approach to incorporating their feedback into the platform's development allows us to align our technological solutions with community-driven insights. This ensures that our impact is not only substantial but also sustainable.

Our IAM™ Platform solution has been launched in multiple communities spanning multiple continents, yet is still early stage in that the vast majority of attention to date has been placed on technology development and validation priorities as distinct from mission-critical attention to corporate structure, business model, corresponding revenue streams and sustainability goals.

We place a high priority on measurable impact and are very gratified at the degree of amplification we've experienced through a handful of pilot projects. We have built and tested the IAM™ Platform in the context of a variety of use occasions ranging from remote (grass roots) learning to tribal implementation of solutions to resource limitations such as lack of potable water and electricity. We are proud to report that the majority of pilot projects to date have been extremely successful as measured by user engagement, growth in participation rates, outcomes assessment and participant testimonials.

We consider our stage of development to be very close to prototype-worthy, yet have intentionally maintained focus on MVP evaluation with plans to update platform content from relatively generic to highly customized after completing our evaluation of feedback from pilot evaluations. While there is significant technology development work to be done in expanding the platform from current (pilot) features to a more ambitious set of design goals (targeted features and benefits), we consider it important to turn our attention to business model, intellectual property development, teambuilding and advanced customer discovery efforts in parallel with our transition from pilot assessment to prototype development.

In a word, the reason we are applying is connectivity –- connectivity to people, to information, to strategic partners and to networking, training and educational support.

We believe the most important resource for venture development is people and the information, experience, energy and relationships they reflect. MIT Solve has a truly exceptional track record in supporting social enterprises globally with very low attrition. We believe MIT Solve’s nurturing presence is precisely what we need to connect with key people to help us scale from prototype-to-high-impact product.    

We are applying to MIT Solve because we believe that the available mentoring, advisory, training and networking support aligns beautifully with the resource priorities we’ve identified as central to our next phase of growth, including business development and product/platform refinement. Our current mantra is that clarity leads to confidence, which, in turn, leads to connectivity. MIT Solve represents for us a culture of people-centered empowerment that fits with our philosophy of clarity, confidence and connectivity as the pathway to successful awareness, acceptance and adoption dynamics by a diverse array of community members.

The specific barriers that we anticipate MIT Solve can help us overcome include:

Technical: We’re not seeking execution-level involvement, but introductions to Supporters, Alumni and changemakers who can help with customer discovery/validation. Our philosophy is the more we can learn about customer needs and preferences as we finalize plans to ramp from pilot to product, the better we will be able to serve our stakeholders. We think MIT Solve can help.

Legal: We are grateful to have identified a first intellectual property firm willing to serve us on a pro bono basis. We envision MIT Solve as an important resource to help us refine our thinking about corporate structure. We recognize the need for corporate counsel who have a flair for creativity in structuring hybrid businesses to fulfill a social mission as a first priority with a for-profit affiliate as part of the revenue model. Here again, we think MIT Solve can help.

Market: As a startup venture, we are hungry for market research and competitive analysis on players offering platforms and tools to empower users with impact-making capabilities. Once again, we think MIT Solve can help.

Product: We are optimistic that MIT Solve can help us to identify points of alignment with Supporters and Alumni that will lead to exploratory discussions with private sector players, including for-profit enterprise.

Financial: We are not looking to MIT Solve to fund our development activities. Rather, we plan to invest the $10,000 cash prize in equipping changemakers as needed to facilitate, manage and validate the IAM™ platform. We do, however, need expert input as to the ideal business model and corporate structure for our impact-focused initiative. Historically, we have operated as Danaam LLC, a NJ-based for-profit company. We seek guidance from MIT Solve as to the ideal corporate structure from which to achieve our objectives.

Our Innovation:

Impact Actualization Management (IAM™) Platform

The IAM™ platform is a unique online application that empowers individuals to actualize their ideas into meaningful change and contribute to positive social transformation.

Inclusivity: Our platform is rooted in the belief that everyone has something valuable to share and learn. Unlike traditional models, we do not distinguish between catalysts and learners. Instead, our friendly and interactive space allows individuals to both inspire action (Catalyze) and acquire new knowledge (Learn), fostering a dynamic ecosystem where everyone can contribute and grow. Importantly, current learners are potential future catalysts, pending learning completion and approval.

Nurturing Capabilities: We go beyond traditional charity models by focusing on empowering and nurturing capabilities. Our vision is to teach individuals to fish rather than just giving them fish, fostering long-term sustainability and self-reliance.

Impact-Centered Design: Our platform is designed with a purpose – to create a positive impact and address growing disparities on Earth. By providing intuitive features and user-friendly interfaces, we empower Uplifters to make a real difference while fostering personal and collective growth.

Uplifting Approach: At iAmImpactUnited, we prioritize the transmission of the essence of upliftment. Our Catalysts embody this essence during sessions, fostering unity and empowering individuals to uplift themselves and others. At the same time, our Learners have the ability to uplift themselves through personal awareness and growth. By nurturing positivity and empowerment, we ensure that the impact of upliftment resonates deeply within our community.

Power of Choice: Learners get to choose what they want to learn, and catalysts get to choose when and where they want to offer their presence.

Our platform offers 'Instant Impact-Making Opportunities.' While this feature may seem simple in principle, it actually distinguishes our platform from others, including e.g., resource-intensive initiatives by Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/company/stories/tag/volunteering/) and Points of Light (https://www.pointsoflight.org/). The ability to invest energy right now in uplifting others is an important draw for people who want to make a difference, yet may not have the patience or discipline to schedule future commitments for any number of valid reasons. Our platform allows community members to make a difference right now, in this very instant of opportunity that inspires action. We believe that many would-be contributors simply lack the bandwidth or attention span to invest time and energy in calendaring future commitments, preferring instead to jump in today, free from the inconvenience of waiting for a scheduled opportunity. "Instant Impact-Making" is a more contributor-centered approach than traditional mechanisms that require volunteers to adapt to platform or program requirements, schedules, constraints and limitations, including the need to aggregate volunteers in time and space.

1 Founder (Full-time)

1 Advisor

1 Technology lead (Part-time)

2 Facilitators (Part-time)

1 NJIT Computer Science Senior Capstone Team (currently being organized for the 2024 Summer session, beginning this May)

Over 30 Champions associated with different pilot initiatives

Our approach is informed by over three and a half years of extensive engagement with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds across borders. During this time, we have conducted various initiatives involving the general public, grassroots communities, and youth groups.

We place a high priority on diversity, which is embodied in our core value of inclusiveness. That said, we recognize that for certain types of interaction, there is an intrinsic trade-off between inclusiveness and safety. As in the fundamental importance of the Hippocratic Oath in medicine ("do no harm"), we believe that it is imperative that our platform provide a safe space that is uncompromised by even the remote possibility of bad actors. As such, we have adopted a tiered approach to platform access which is designed to protect community members from any risk of interlopers whose intentions do not align with our values of authenticity, compassion, empowerment, mutual respect, generosity of spirit and positivity, among others.

The need for careful attention to a purpose-informed business model is one of the key reasons we are seeking support from MIT Solve. The iAmImpactUnited.global initiative and IAM™ Platform were conceived, designed and piloted by Danaam LLC, a NJ-based for-profit corporation. The driving purpose of the iAmImpactUnited.global initiative is altruistic and humanitarian in nature, arguing for a nonprofit structure free from potential conflicts related to shareholder interests and intentions. At the same time, we believe the platform has unique benefits relevant to a broad array of private sector activities, including for-profit commercial endeavors. We therefore anticipate that a hybrid business model is most appropriate to our intentions, most likely a nonprofit parent with the potential to launch for-profit spinoffs and/or engage in licensing and co-development agreements with for-profit partners.

In the realm of hybrid business models, we simply do not know what we do not know. We are seeking the guidance of a trusted partner in MIT Solve as one avenue to define, refine and adopt business and revenue models appropriate to our aspirations. While we could venture some educated guesses as to the core elements of the business model, we prefer to plead ignorant and defer to the expertise of those with deep experience in tuning corporate structure and revenue streams to the intended function of the enterprise. 

One asset to keep in mind as we turn our attention to business model is that our parent, Danaam LLC, has deep expertise in information technology and software development, making it a potentially valuable resource as an outsourced technology development provider to the social enterprise, iAmImpactUnited.global.

As mentioned in the question related to business model, we are currently a for-profit company (Danaam LLC) pursuing a social enterprise initiative (iAmImpactUnited.global) that we believe will be best served by a nonprofit/for-profit hybrid business model. We have only begun to transition our priorities from strictly technology/platform development goals to customer discovery/validation, stakeholder mapping, intellectual property development and corporate structure and function (including business and revenue models).

A significant reason for this application is the opportunity to leverage MIT Solve expertise, resources and network in addressing questions related to the most appropriate, efficient and effective business model through which to deliver our IAM™ Platform to the global community of changemakers we intend to empower with instant impact-making capabilities.