Our Mission
We exist to “End Poverty in One Generation.” Over seven years we have laid the groundwork and built a workable plan.
We can and will succeed in this quest because:
society has been quietly advancing along this path for hundreds of years,
and together we have, the:
- motivation,
- understanding,
- technology,
- support,
- and window of opportunity.
Who we Are
The idea that would become Level UP began in 2016, when a team of longtime friends, across varied disciplines, but who shared similar aspirations for the world, came together to form a social benefit tech company.
We believe that “people and planet first” technology, socially responsible business, and people coming together — can solve big problems — and change everything.
What we Bring
- A leadership team that is no stranger to poverty – having worked through the “System that Profits from Poverty” from level zero up. This team also has the added experience of being majority female and majority minority giving us a strong connection to what our target communities experience daily.
- A founding team that’s diverse and experienced. 50% of us are immigrants, 50% are minorities, 100% of us are entrepreneurs and together we are ready, willing and prepared to put poverty in everyone’s rearview mirror.
- A 25-year history of enterprise development centered on “infinite business principles” where the goals are holistic, evolving, and built on an ethos of care for all stakeholders.
- A non-conflictual, “blame-free”, include-everyone philosophy, because poverty is an embedded system and not caused by any person, group, or class. This allows us to attract allies from all sectors.
- Seven years of focused work completing and implementing a robust, fast, and green tech infrastructure that enables our Level UP Apps and platforms to provide a new class of benefits.
- In-depth research into “the system that creates poverty”, historically and today, culminating in three landmark books that you can access on the Resources page.
- In this work, we “reverse engineered” poverty to identify the 5 tactics that keep people poor.
- A family of well researched and mapped out Level-UP Apps that poor people can use to bypass these tactics.
- An exciting business model where these same Apps and platforms make the companies that subscribe to them smarter, friendlier, more profitable, and sustainable, while helping people escape poverty.
- Needed and timely solutions for the 250,000 plus U.S. companies explicitly committed to social responsibility. These companies are actively seeking solutions like our products. They require no convincing.
- A business model that generates sufficient revenue and valuation to meet our targets and become a leader in the poverty reversal movement.
- A commitment to distribute ownership and benefits broadly.
- A leading crowd-funding partner, WeFunder, that’s also a Benefit Corp, gives just about everyone the opportunity to join companies like ours as an owner with as little as $100 investment.
“Not only can you do well by doing good, but soon, there won’t be any other way to do it.” — Daniel Schreiber, CEO, Lemonade
Economic systems exist because they provide benefits. These benefits may accrue more to one group than another. When the beneficiaries reap rewards at the cost of other groups, such as the poorer members of society, that’s when the system crosses the line into unsustainability and social degeneration.
With Level UP, you can reap rewards without diminishing others. This is an example of an infinite business strategy and a true win-win. You can continue to learn about our story, philosophy, and Level UP strategies under “The Poverty Story”.
From tension to alignment
Science and experience tells us that motivation is driven by factors such as personal benefit, survival and power. But it’s also true that these factors live in a larger context that includes the survival of the entire ecosystem. Once any system recognizes that its personal benefit is limited by the health of its ecosystem then its motivation can make a subtle but essential change towards sustainability. We call this new motivation enlightened self-interest. Also explored in Part 1(A) of the Poverty Story.
Enlightened self-interest makes it possible to accelerate change for the good of all. It can also bring the stakeholders in society to aligned motivation as we describe in our “Double Hybrid Model” illustration. This is essentially what Level UP has achieved inside our organization – where our people, our tech, our philosophy all work together for the benefit of all. This model is emerging across our world and will play a key role in “Ending Poverty in One Generation”.
Our Team
Board, officers, and the Level UP Tech Panel. Select a name to read their bio.
Irish immigrant, farmer and civil engineer who transitioned to launching & leading (with Level UP Tech co-founder Declan Owens) a range of successful social benefit companies spanning from education to real estate to blockchain technology.
Visionary, in partnership with Herman Van Heerden, Level UP’s Tech Architect, and David Orr, Chief Scientist, behind the Green Digital Drivetrain and the technology infrastructure that makes the Level UP Apps possible.
Oversees Product Development, App Operations, Marketing, Business Development and Fundraising.
African American social activist/advocate (MBA, Th.D) who grew up in poverty in post-Civil Rights era Alabama. Social ecologist, researcher, minister, change strategist, LGBTQ+ rights advocate, and creator of the Level UP apps.
Oversees Anti-Poverty Strategy, App Envisioning and Design, Corporate Finance, Business Administration, Advocacy, Engagement, and Movement-building.
Author of Me and Mary, which describes the humanitarian ethos at the heart of our company, and This Land Is Your Land, which outlines the unprecedented societal shifts that make this work so necessary.
Irish immigrant, pro-level athlete, expert in Web3 and related technologies, co-founder and co-builder of a range of innovative companies spanning from an International Soccer School to NFT marketplaces. Experienced administrator of global online communities.
Mathematician, musician, Army Airborne Ranger, Certified Public Accountant, financial auditor and tax strategist.
Former CFO and board member. Founding Partner of a successful accounting firm. Exited through company sale. Of Native Hawaiian, European and Chinese ancestry.
Tech pioneer whose contributions to the field span from computing’s nascent days to Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing today.
AI pioneer. Creator of Rules/Case-based Reasoning Software Systems and a pocket-sized AI initiative that uses less than one millionth of the energy of today’s large language models. Ph.D, MS, MBA.
Native South African residing with his family in Vancouver, BC.
Scientist and strategist, encryption specialist, tech explorer and innovator. Creator of breakthrough technology that makes Level UP Apps possible; including a high-capacity, low-friction, self-healing, hyper-efficient blockchain platform, smart data infrastructure, and novel privacy tech.
Veteran app developer. Author of 2013’s A First Course In Ethical Hacking.
South Korea immigrant, social architect, operations expert, and designer of societally integrated, tech-enabled online communities and exchanges.
Inventor of a network of intersecting online economic ecosystems and micro-economies – ones capable of facilitating sustainable commerce, fostering mutual benefit, and promoting economic inclusion.
Lakota Elder and veteran Native Rights, indigenous health & environmental activist.
Organized native communities and prevented nuclear waste dumping on her reservation in 1985, and in 2016, participated in the Standing Rock protest which inspired global solidarity.
MS, Public Health. Linda is expert in factors that drive poverty, diminished quality of life & life expectancy among indigenous populations.
African American womanist, social worker, racial justice and anti-poverty activist.
Crystal is expert in the factors that drive entrenched intergenerational poverty, and the adverse impact public policy has on working-class households, and particularly on working mothers.
Founding Principal of HomeWorks, a social benefit real estate firm committed to helping people move from homelessness to homeownership.