About Sasha

I’m the Co-Founder and CEO of 60 Decibels, a company that helps anyone, anywhere, listen to their customers to create more social impact. We want to reboot impact measurement to make it useful to entrepreneurs and the customers they serve, and to help investors and fund managers better allocate capital to companies that create transformative change.

From 2007 to 2019 I worked at Acumen, most recently as Chief Innovation Officer. My job was to create and grow new verticals, and in my time as CIO I helped create Lean Data (the predecessor to 60 Decibels) and +Acumen, the world’s school for social change, while also growing the Acumen Fellows Program. In my prior role as Acumen’s Director of Business Development, I led global capital raising, and executed a successful $100M capital raise.

I’ve also been blogging and speaking about philanthropy, generosity and social change since 2008. It all started with my Manifesto for Nonprofit CEOs, and my realization that if the nonprofit sector is ever going to realize its potential, we have to stop apologizing about the value of the work that we do.

In 2011, with a small group of friends, I created Generosity Day, a reboot of Valentine’s Day.  The idea sprung from my generosity experiment and what I learned from it – see my TED talk for all the details.

If you’d like to contact me for a speaking event you can email me here. If you’d like to access my official biography, you can find it here.

Some of my recent speaking events and writing (last updated December 2016):

AIF-01Aspen Ideas Festival 2016

Panel: What Happens When Brilliant Entrepreneurs Turn Their Minds to Social Challenges

With Jonathan Greenblatt (Anti-Defamation League), Tina Seelig (Stanford GSB), and Xavier de Sousa Briggs (Ford Foundation)

July 2016

 

MLPSMinneapolis Foundation

Keynote speech: The Potential and Promise of Impact Investing

August 2016

 

Chivas_TheVenture_VerticalChivas, The Venture

Keynote Speech: Creating Large-Scale Social Impact

July 2016

 

Social impact exchangeSocial Impact Exchange

Plenary Presentation, Scaling in Action: +Acumen, the World’s School for Social Change

June 2016

 

Co.LabCo.Lab Fellows, UJA Federation of New York

Keynote Speech: Leadership for Social Change

June 2016

 

GIINGlobal Impact Investing Network Investors’ Council

Panel: Uncovering Customer Insights at Scale

April 2016

With Sam Duncan, Leapfrog Investments

 

Acumen logoAcumen Partner Gathering

Plenary Presentation: Lean Innovation for an Exponentially Changing World

November 2015

 

 

Do LecturesDO Lectures

Talk: Why Does Fundraising Always Start With an Apology?

April 2012

 

max_600_400_global-philanthropy-forumGlobal Philanthropy Forum

Plenary Panel: The Facts and Fictions of Impact Investing

April 2013

With Matt Bannick (Omidyar), Maya Chorengel (Elevar Equity), and David Bank (ImpactIQ)

TED_logoTED

TED Talk: Generosity Experiment

November 2010

 

 

 

Selected Publications

fast-company-logoRebranding Valentine’s Day Into a Day of Generosity

 

 

 

fast-company-logoInnovation Agents – Sasha Dichter, Chief Innovation Officer, Acumen Fund

August 2011

 

 

 

PrintThe Power of Lean Data (link)

Feature article co-authored with Alnoor Ebrahim (HBS) and Tom Adams (Acumen)

January 2016

 

Harvard-Business-ReviewGive Impact Investing Time and Space to Develop (link)

March 2014

 

Board and Advisory Roles

  • 2015 – present: Executive Committee, Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs
  • 2014 – present: Case i3 Advisory Council
  • 2014 G8 Social Investment Taskforce, International Development Working Group
  • 2014 Amplify! Advisory Board member
  • 2010 Jury, Buckminster Fuller Challenge

Want to drop me a line? Use this form to email me.

38 thoughts on “About Sasha

  1. Sasha,
    This is great. Thank you for sharing it and for this great and inspiring work. My best regards to your family. Looking forward to seeing you soon!
    Ari

  2. Sasha,
    small suggestion — unless you have a reason not to, could I suggest that you have links in your blog entries open in a new tab — I clicked on a link and followed that trail to learn more about Acumen and then had a tough time getting back to your blog….many people just give up.
    Wordpress makes it easy — when you add the link, click on ‘target’ and then click on ‘open in a new window’ — that way you won’t lose people who want to read more about a linked topic, but then want to come back to your blog….

    Rita
    (I tried to send this to you in your email form and it failed…seems to be something wrong with that funcion.)

  3. Rita, this is a great idea. Absolutely I’ll do this – I didn’t know it was an option. Also I’ll check out the email form…thanks for the heads up!

  4. Sasha,
    It’s hard to judge a person’s personality based on their success but without knowing you and not reading (I just started) much of your blog posts it is refreshing to read about an individual (successful at that) who still believes in the conviction of providing prosperity to the worlds needy and hope. I left a good paying job in Phoenix, AZ to begin something I am also passionate about; I created a company to pioneer affordable housing in Ghana. While this has been tough to get off the ground reading your Nonprofit CEO Manifesto reenergized me. Thanks

  5. Sasha,
    I spent the last 5.5 years as a VP at Teach For America responsible for 75% of the organization’s annual fundraising and grew the funding 40% annually. Reading your manifesto was inspiring — this is exactly how I feel about the importance of fundraising and exactly how we approached development. It’s not just about money. It’s about investing — financially and otherwise — as many people as possible in the change you’re making, and building an energized movement of individuals who, collectively, can accelerate that change much faster and better than you could do on your own. Thanks for writing this!

  6. Sasha,
    I was just today made aware of you and your causes and about your The Generosity Experiment!! Do you have a facebook link?? I just signed up to get updates from your site. Keep up the work your doing.. where can we make a donation to help the 30 Day Generosity Experiment ??
    Catherine “Kitty” Green

  7. Hmm it seems like your blog ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.
    I as well am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to everything. Do you have any tips for beginner blog writers? I’d definitely appreciate it.

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