Temple alumnus David Gloss started a creative Philadelphia-based agency called Here’s My Chance to ensure that any organization or individual that wants to support good causes has the assets and resources to do so.
Gloss started the agency in Spring 2011 with co-founder, Kevin Colahan. Gloss and Colahan wanted to create an agency in the Philly area that could help others share their innovative ideas with the world.
“We build up brands with our designs, and we come up with big, bad-ass ideas to make people care more about important causes,” Gloss said. “Our goal is that those who care about their planet and community have the resources to share that with others.”
As CEO of Here’s My Chance, Gloss’ personal role in the company is a lot of creative strategy, business development and partnership development.
One of the most noted projects produced by Gloss and his team so far is the Philly DoGooder Awards. The project began in 2012 with the goal to connect local filmmakers with people or nonprofit organizations that are making a big impact and help effectively tell stories.
After the success of the Philly DoGooder Awards, the LA DoGooder Awards and Chicago DoGooder Awards were also started.
“I feel like we’re already getting bigger and taking what we’ve learned and using it in other parts of the world,” Gloss said. “We’re doing some pretty good stuff here locally that’s getting picked up around the country.”
Recently, Here’s My Chance was chosen as one of 32 winners of the Knight Foundation’s annual Knight Cities Challenge. The challenge was created to allow innovators around 26 U.S. cities to share new ideas to improve a city. The Knight Foundation chooses winners based on their proposed projects to “make their communities more vibrant places to live and work.”
The 32 winners from the United States were collectively awarded a total of $5 million to share to make their innovative ideas happen. Here’s My Chance was chosen for its project: “Next Stop: Democracy! The Voting Signage Project,” which aims to get more people in the community to vote in local elections by making signs and using creative ideas to make the voting experience better for them.
“We’re going to see if we can hack the voting experience,” Gloss said. “We thought, how do we create the opportunity to merge arts and civic engagement in a way that can make a difference in the process?”
“We’re never going to be able to convince people to vote, but the least we can do is make the voting experience something that people remember and wish to come back, too,” Gloss added.
Donna Frisby-Greenwood, the former Philadelphia program director of the Knight Foundation, said Gloss and his team are already making a positive difference in Philly.
“I met Gloss almost five years ago when he and [Colahan] were just getting Here’s My Chance off the ground,” said Frisby-Greenwood, who worked as the program director from July 2010 to March 2015. “They had a great idea to help promote nonprofit organizations by pairing them with filmmakers to effectively share the stories of the nonprofits.”
“Gloss has already made a difference and helped nonprofit orgs with the Philly DoGooder Awards. In addition, they offer inexpensive workshops for nonprofits on marketing, social media and other issues,” Frisby-Greenwood added.
Gloss, who graduated with a MBA from Fox School of Business in 2009, credits most of his networking opportunities in the city to his time at Temple.
“There’s so many people from Temple who have started or want to start a business in the city,” Gloss said. “If you want to stay in Philly, Temple’s a great community to be a part of.”
For the future, Gloss wants to see Here’s My Chance grow and have the opportunity to make even more positive change in the city.
“My vision for Here’s My Chance is to be able to walk down any city, road, or any place on this planet and be able to see even one degree of separation from an impact of one of our clients,” he said.
Chelsey Hamilton can be reached at chelsey.hamilton@temple.edu.
Be the first to comment