One in 800 babies are born with clubfoot, a treatable birth impairment that left untreated prevents a child from walking, and becomes the root cause for illiteracy, abuse, malnutrition, and poverty in many parts of the world. Clubfoot is routinely treated at birth in high income countries, but historically children born in low and middle income countries have not had access to quality treatment. Today, co-hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro sit down with Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld, co-founder of MiracleFeet to hear about how she and her team have dedicated themselves to making a simple, cost-effective treatment for clubfoot available to every baby born with the condition. They are on track to serve 100,000 children later this year with a goal to treat 70% of clubfoot cases in the countries they operate in. We discuss:
Chesca’s journey from the moment she realized she wanted to get out of the corporate world and discovered a fixable problem she could focus on, including her recent decision to step down as CEO to ensure long-term sustainability of the organization
How Chesca’s business background helped her take a different approach to building the organization and investing in technology to support its mission
The art of storytelling for a little known cause focused on dignity and possibility
How to fundraise from cost-effectiveness focused investors
How the thoughtful implementation of a mobile data collection system (CommCare) allowed MiracleFeet’s providers to measure quality, deliver better services, and gather data to support continual fundraising
How to ensure quality while scaling an intervention
Pivotal moments in Chesca’s journey including breaking down in tears on a redeye to secure a $1 million grant from Google
Listening to your intuition and backing it up with rigorous data and analysis
Chapters:
01:26 Welcoming Chesca: The Journey Begins
01:57 Chesca's Backstory: From Global Childhood to Business World
03:55 Discovering a Treatment for Clubfoot: A Life-Changing Moment
05:16 The Birth of MiracleFeet: From Vision to Reality
05:34 Taking the Leap: Transitioning from Corporate to Social Impact
08:59 Building MiracleFeet: Challenges, Fundraising, and Growth
21:08 Reflections on Storytelling, Fundraising, and Instinct
27:19 Expanding Reach and Impact: The Future of MiracleFeet
39:11 Harnessing Technology for Global Health Impact
40:22 Innovative Solutions to Healthcare Challenges
42:57 Empowering Local Teams with Data
46:27 Navigating Founder Transition and Organizational Growth
56:53 Mentoring the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs
01:12:37 Reflections on Business Acumen in Nonprofit Success
MiracleFeet: https://www.miraclefeet.org/
MiracleFeet's use of CommCare: https://www.miraclefeet.org/stories/the-tool-that-saved-us-in-2020
Impact Delivery: https://sites.dimagi.com/impact-delivery
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Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro