Motivated Millenial Makes the Case for Charity

NextFab member Kurt van Mol was frustrated at his job as an electrical engineer. The company that he worked for left little room for the growth that he was seeking. Financially, the company was on shaky ground and as payroll fell further and further behind, van Mol decided to do some soul searching. The result: a charitable start-up called Donor Dotz.

Van Mol had been hired prior to graduating from his undergrad studies at West Chester University, where he majored in Physics. His initial excitement about entering the work force was diminished by the limiting corporate environment that he found himself in. After a six paycheck deficit, he decided to move on. A cross country trip, rock climbing and high-lining allowed him to clear his mind and focus on his next endeavor.

“I wanted to start a company that gives back. I stumbled across the idea of Benefit Corporations (B Corp) and how a business could make money, make a social impact and an environmental impact and all three of those things are what hold the companies success accountable,” states van Mol.

Noticing the ubiquity of smart phones, van Mol saw an opportunity to use them as a physical format for communication, not just an electronic one. “My sisters kept buying smart phone cases and they were spending ten to fifty dollars for a piece of plastic, and I thought, ‘what if I can capitalize on that as a force for good?’,” continues van Mol. Further inspired by the plastic “gems” applied to Crocs sandals, he conceived of a phone case that could be accessorized with badges representing noble causes.

Using the Trotec laser, van Mol etched and cut his smart phone case to accept button sized badges. The magnetic badges were also cut on the laser with logos printed and cut on the Roland vinyl printer.  Donor Dotz will act as a donation conduit for various partnering charities and donors will receive badges (Dotz) to both show what charities they support and provide further exposure for those charities. Being able to create a prototype in this fashion has enabled van Mol to fashion a very nice sample piece very quickly and gives him a strong proof-of-concept to show to potential investors.

If you have a project like Kurt van Mol’s Donor Dotz and need a physical prototype or just need advice on how to take your project or product to the next stage, NextFab can help.

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