Summit Impact: 2018 in Review

At the dawn of a new year, we would like to take a moment to reflect on the conversations we've been having about impact at Summit - the projects we began in 2018 and the initiatives we're excited to grow in 2019.

Thank you to everyone who made these initial steps possible! For starters, here’s some 2018 impact highlights:

Our inaugural Fellows program brought 44 remarkable, impact-driven entrepreneurs – from 6 countries, featuring 33 women – to LA18 and into the Summit community, made possible by our strategic partners and collaborators.

We learned a tremendous amount about how to build stronger pipelines of access and mentorship opportunities in 2018, and we're looking forward to scaling our program significantly.

If you would like to get involved, email fellowship@summit.co.

From November 2 - 5, Summit worked with Twice New and Copper Key Catering to deliver leftover Food & Beverage from Summit LA18 to The Midnight Rescue Mission in downtown LA, resulting in over 3,413 meals donated to the local homeless community.

We're excited to continue expanding our efforts to combat houselessness.

By incorporating an exclusively vegan breakfast for ~4,000 throughout LA18 (12,000 breakfasts), we saved 2,748 animals from being eaten, 76,672 pounds of carbon from being produced, 92,444 square feet of forest, and 2,222,963 gallons of water.

And by making a choice to eat one plant-based meal each day, your impact doesn’t stop at our event. In one year, you’ll save 194,667 gallons of water + 772 pounds of carbon emissions annually.

Email plantforward@summit.co with feedback or for more information on plant forward initiatives.

We joined forces with contemporary artist Jenny Holzer and student leaders from March for Our Lives to debut a moving public art piece at the Museum of Contemporary Art, days before the Midterm Election to spur voter turnout.

Prison Reform In partnership with Revolve Impact and the LA Chamber of Commerce, 40 Summiters visited Central Juvenile Hall for a round table conversation on the current state of mass incarceration in LA.

Green Dot Public Schools 20 Summiters visited 2 Green Dot Schools and participated in a round table with Green Dot's executive team, discussing the challenges facing US public education systems.

Cause Circles We piloted 5 Cause Circles during Summit’s Pre-Day, covering a range of Social Impact topics, including: Environment & Climate Change, Mental Health, Diversity + Inclusion, Mass Incarceration, and Civic Engagement.

For the first time at Summit, in partnership with South Pole and CHOOOSE, we offset 5,000 tons of CO2 through carbon-offsetting projects and sorted and recycled 2.81 tons of material and 11.33 tons of trash in partnership with Clean Vibes.

Additionally, in partnership with FloWater, we saved 10,620 plastic bottles from landfills and 995.6 gallons of water.

In 2019, we will continue to make progress on eliminating our dependence on plastics and unsustainable material.

We’re working on new initiatives to reduce economic barriers to attend Summit events.

To this end, we are asking you to share anonymized information through this simple survey so we can better understand how to make Summit more accessible to qualified community members.

Take anonymous survey.

We're excited to grow impact initiatives in 2019 using three approaches:

(1) Improve Our Operations: From building anti-harassment programs to carbon-neutral events, we will continue to improve the integrity of our operations and share what we're learning along the way.

(2) Community Projects: To leverage the abundance and diversity of resources in the Summit community, we will continue to choose impact-related projects to engage the community in.

(3) Connecting Community to Impact Organizations: With a focus on long-term engagement, we will connect community members to organizations poised for large impact projects that will be shared at flagship events.

Thank you for always pushing us to uphold our values and consider our responsibility as a community. We're excited for a big 2019!