This is Democracy – Episode 86: Crowdsourcing for Good

Jeremi and Zachary have a chat on the web with Dr. Miha Vindis and Lance McNeill about crowdsourcing. What are the positives and negatives of the power to raise funds through social media at lightning speed?

Zachary sets the scene with his poem, “The Pockets of the People.”

Miha Vindis is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on leadership and entrepreneurship. When not teaching, Miha works as a consultant helping organizations create and implement strategic planning processes and train their next generation of leaders. He also serves as a board member for Habitat for Humanity Texas. Prior to moving to Texas, Miha worked for Shell Oil in The Netherlands and also worked with entrepreneurs in Europe, a passion which he has continued in Texas. He is originally from Slovenia and has lived in Thailand, Germany, Poland, and The Netherlands. Miha earned his master’s degree in Global Policy Studies and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

Lance McNeill is a Program Manager with the City of Austin’s Small Business Program. In this role, he coaches and teaches small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. He also oversees the City of Austin’s Challenge Studio Program, which incubates social entrepreneurs working toward solutions to local and regional challenges. Lance was born and raised in Austin, Texas. After graduating from Texas State with a MBA, he joined the Peace Corps and worked as a small business adviser in Namibia where he taught entrepreneurship at a rural secondary school and consulted small businesses in the community. After coming back to the U.S, he attended the LBJ School of Public Affairs.