Tom Dawkins

At the age of 16, Tom Dawkins picked up a flyer that would change his life forever. The flyer was advertising an opportunity for a few ambitious students to go on exchange in the USA, which Tom took up in a heartbeat. He was asked to act as a representative for millions of his peers at the UN world leaders summit, where he realised that only a small population of the world’s ‘privileged’ youth were able to contribute to social change forums.

Since his powerful revelation, Tom has spent the past two decades levelling the playing field, with the aim of ensuring 100% of society can engage in and benefit from social entrepreneurship. He went on to become a social entrepreneur, with a strong passion for using technology and business in a way possible of creating and fostering a better world, and supporting like-minded people to do the same.

Tom has founded numerous non-profits such as Vibewire, and was the first social media director at the global change making organisation ‘Ashoka’. He’s now the co-founder and CEO of the only crowdfunding site dedicated to social change makers, ‘StartSomeGood’, which has been supporting emerging social entrepreneurs worldwide to design, test, launch, and grow social impact projects, for over a decade. They also design and deliver innovation, capacity-building, and funding programs for partners across businesses, foundations, and governments. Tom has worked alongside social enterprise and corporate organisations as a social-change consultant, and is always looking for ways to stay ahead of the wave, and create measurable profit from humanity in business.

Tom also co-founded a platform that connects like-minded social enterprises with impact investors, called LendForGood. He also works as the non-executive director for Australia's leading social impact research and teaching organisation, at the Centre for Social Impact.

Tom has been the recipient of countless accolades, including the Innovator of the Year Award by the Nexus Summit, as well as the Innovation Award at the Australia and New Zealand Internet awards. He also frequently features in the media in publications such as the Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and can be seen regularly commenting on shows on the ABC network, The Feed and Triple J.

Having been invited as a motivational speaker at global events including SXSW, Vivid, SOCAP and the UN's World Summit on the Information Society, Tom now uses his expertise to help corporates unlock their own changemaking potential. He provides his audience’s with the tools to create an engaged and aligned workforce that meet the expectations and demands of the modern, conscionable consumer. Through his presentation, Tom’s mission is to inspire communities and companies to become more innovative, purposeful, and impactful.