Spark Category: Work

Meet Dan Weibenbenner

Motley Fool Recognizes Weibenbenner as Rule Breaker.

Dan Weibenbenner, Social Innovator, Founder and Executive Director of Mill Village Ministries, joins The Motley Fool Foundation’s inaugural cohort of Financial Freedom Rule Breakers. 

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 1, 2023 – The Motley Fool Foundation (TMFF), a public charity dedicated to Financial Freedom for all, has announced that Dan Weidenbenner, founder and executive director of Mill Village Ministries, will be joining its first cohort of Financial Freedom Rule Breakers.

“The Motley Fool Foundation’s signature program, Financial Freedom Rule Breakers, is aiming to bridge the gap between the five drivers of Financial Freedom – housing, work, money, health and education – and help fewer Americans live paycheck to paycheck,” said Jennifer Gennaro Oxley, executive director of The Motley Fool Foundation.

Mill Village Ministries is the parent organization of a collection of social entrepreneurs working together to elevate the Greenville, South Carolina, community. The organization currently operates Village Launch, a grassroots entrepreneur and small business incubator; Village Wrench, a community-based bike shop; Mill Village Farms, an urban farm, youth employment, and healthy food enterprise; and Village Engage, a faith-based community education and organizing platform that focuses on confronting the systemic problems of poverty, racism, and environmental inequity.

“Mill Village Ministries started when community members and I began teaching four teenagers to grow nutritious food for communities with limited access to fresh and locally sourced produce,” said Weidenbenner. “Thanks to The Motley Fool Foundation’s Rule Breakers program, Mill Village Ministries will continue to grow to meet the community’s needs.”

By investing in Rule Breakers like Weidenbenner, The Motley Fool Foundation is currently impacting more than 115,000 lives and is on track to grow its program to fund 25 Financial Freedom Rule Breakers by 2025.

“It takes a special kind of person to create breakthroughs, and The Motley Fool Foundation is finding them, connecting them, learning from them, and helping them go further, faster,” said Oxley. “Our Financial Freedom Rule Breakers are social innovators bringing fresh, solutions-oriented thinking and paving the way toward a better equilibrium for all.”

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Minutes with the Mindtrust

Minutes with the Mindtrust

The Motley Fool Foundation’s mission is to create pathways to Financial Freedom for those living paycheck to paycheck. Every day, we do this by finding, funding, and amplifying innovative solutions that enable strivers to become thrivers.

Entrepreneurism: A Pathway to Financial Freedom!

We are thankful for the Fools who have provided a hand up to support our Financial Freedom Rule Breakers!

We know that it takes a special kind of person to create breakthroughs. Our Financial Freedom Rule Breakers Program is finding these social entrepreneurs, investing in them, learning from them, and helping them go further – faster. The Motley Fool Foundation connects Rule Breakers with our Foolish members to help amplify their work.

As a part of the Financial Freedom Rule Breakers Program, we recently launched Minutes with the Mindtrust – real-time consulting sessions designed to help our Rule Breakers address the business challenges that slow their progress. In a recent session, Rule Breaker Tim Lampkin, CEO of Higher Purpose Co., a social impact organization focused on Black entrepreneurialism in the Mississippi Delta region, connected with Ollen Douglass, Managing Partner of The Motley Fool Venture Fund. Tim was able to get some key insights from Ollen’s many years of experience, and the two discussed their shared goal of helping communities of color launch successful businesses.

Here’s what Tim had to say:
“Ollen Douglass has helped me think about Higher Purpose funding streams in a more creative way. Higher Purpose Co. is currently supported mostly by grants and major donations. Ollen has encouraged me to explore revenue-generating initiatives to help sustain Higher Purpose, and we’re looking into those options now.”