Jacob Colker

Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist at Sparked.com

Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Industry: Civic & Social Organization

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Jacob Colker's Overview

Current

Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist at Sparked.com

Past

CEO and Co-Founder at Sparked.com
Nonprofit Advocacy Campaigns at Nonprofit Advocacy Campaigns
Political Campaigns at Political Campaigns

Education

The Johns Hopkins University
Columbia College Chicago

Recommendations

10 people have recommended Jacob

Connections

500+ connections

Websites

Company Website

Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist

Sparked.com

Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry

June 2011 – Present (8 months)

After three years as the founding CEO, I've stepped aside and shifted my role to focus full time on driving engagement with our customers.

CEO and Co-Founder

Sparked.com

Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry

July 2008 – June 2011 (3 years)

I've always had a deep passion for technology and it has played a huge role in nearly all of the campaigns that I've worked with. With the advent of crowdsourcing, I saw a huge opportunity to merge that new field with people's desire to share their professional skills online, and in 2008 I teamed up with Ben Rigby to found The Extraordinaries, Inc. (we've since changed our name to Sparked.com).

Each year, companies spend billions on social responsibility and cause marketing to drive sales and recruit/retain employees. Yet, quite often, *people* are significantly underutilized in the process. The company's best assets -- employees and customers -- could be tapped to help drive impact, but until now, there wasn't an easy way to facilitate this engagement. Sparked.com, is changing the game.

Sparked has developed unique technology that allows people to volunteer, online, in under an hour. And, we've launched two revolutionary new products built on this technology: Sparked for Enterprise (Online Employee Microvolunteering) and Sparked for Brands (Customer Engagement Through Online Microvolunteering).

Nonprofit Advocacy Campaigns

2007 – 2009 (2 years)

After many years on the road, I decided to transition from politics to the nonprofit sector. I was fortunate to be able to work with two great teams on two important issues -- climate change and human rights.

2008-2009, The 1Sky Campaign (Online Community Organizer)
2007-2008, The International Campaign for Tibet (Campaigns Manager)

Political Campaigns

2000 – 2007 (7 years)

Political campaigns are a lot like startups. Within a very short period of time (between 4-10 months), you open an office, setup infrastructure, hire staff, raise tons of money, place story after story in the press, and build influence in the community. I learned a lot about business on the campaign trail – creating jobs, managing the economy, introducing regulation, and more. And when it comes to learning how to be scrappy, campaigns will give you a PhD in scrappiology.

During the first seven years of my career I worked on political campaigns all over the country. I served in a variety of roles -- organizing thousands of people, managing budgets of all sizes, working with the press, and more.

2008, Jotham Stein for Congress (General Consultant)
2007, Jose Cerda for Chicago City Clerk (General Consultant)
2006, Maryland Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign (Franchot Liaison)
2006, Peter Franchot for Maryland Comptroller (State Field Director)
2006, Long Beach Redevelopment Campaign (Organizer)
2006, Los Angeles Unified School District Campaign (Organizer)
2006, Diana Peterson-More for California State Assembly (Volunteer Coordinator)
2005, Yorba Linda Redevelopment Campaign (Organizer)
2005, Bob Filner for Congress (Fundraising Call Time Manager)
2002, Wojcik for Illinois State Senate (Organizer)
2000, Bill Bradley for President (Organizer)

Good Enterprise
- self published blog on social entrepreneurship
- June 1, 2011
Authors: Jacob Colker

Since 2008, I've spent my days building a successful social enterprise. Along the way, I've learned a number of tip and tricks, hard lessons, and more. GoodEnterprise.com is my effort to share that knowledge with the social entrepreneurship community.

Fellowship for Social Entrepreneuship

Echoing Green (http://www.echoinggreen.org)
- June 2009
I have had the good fortune to work with an incredible team at Sparked (formerly called "The Extraordinaries"). In 2009, we won an Echoing Green Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship for our work to create the field of microvolunteering.
Young Laureates Award for Enterprise

Rolex Awards (http://young.rolexawards.com)
- November 2010
I have had the good fortune to work with an incredible team at Sparked (formerly called "The Extraordinaries"). In 2010, we won a Rolex Young Laureates Award for Enterprise for our work to create the field of microvolunteering.
World Summit Youth Award

The United Nations (http://youthaward.org)
- June 2009
I have had the good fortune to work with an incredible team at Sparked (formerly called "The Extraordinaries"). In 2010, we won a United Nations World Summit Youth Award for our work to create the field of microvolunteering.
Community Grant Award

Knight Foundation (http://www.knightfoundation.org)
- June 2009
I have had the good fortune to work with an incredible team at Sparked (formerly called "The Extraordinaries"). In 2009, we won a Knight Foundation Community Grant Award for our work to create the field of microvolunteering.
Changemakers Award

Ashoka (http://www.ashoka.org)
- February 2009
I have had the good fortune to work with an incredible team at Sparked (formerly called "The Extraordinaries"). In 2009, we won an Ashoka Changemakers Award for our work to create the field of microvolunteering.

English
(Native or bilingual proficiency)
Spanish
(Elementary proficiency)
Polish
(Limited working proficiency)

The Johns Hopkins University

Master of Arts, Communications

2008 – 2009

Spent a year researching how messaging and communication influences and drives decisions. Took a leave of absence to start Sparked.com. Haven't been back, but hope to finish one day.

Columbia College Chicago

Bachelor of Arts, Media Management

2001 – 2005

Went to film school (originally wanted to change the world through documentary film). Loved it. Taught me so much about our modern media-driven culture. I've used these skills quite a bit in my career since then.

Websites: