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):
Aspen 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
Minneapolis Foundation
Keynote speech: The Potential and Promise of Impact Investing
August 2016
Chivas, The Venture
Keynote Speech: Creating Large-Scale Social Impact
July 2016
Social Impact Exchange
Plenary Presentation, Scaling in Action: +Acumen, the World’s School for Social Change
June 2016
Co.Lab Fellows, UJA Federation of New York
Keynote Speech: Leadership for Social Change
June 2016
Global Impact Investing Network Investors’ Council
Panel: Uncovering Customer Insights at Scale
April 2016
With Sam Duncan, Leapfrog Investments
Acumen Partner Gathering
Plenary Presentation: Lean Innovation for an Exponentially Changing World
November 2015
DO Lectures
Talk: Why Does Fundraising Always Start With an Apology?
April 2012
Global 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
TED Talk: Generosity Experiment
November 2010
Selected Publications
Rebranding Valentine’s Day Into a Day of Generosity
Innovation Agents – Sasha Dichter, Chief Innovation Officer, Acumen Fund
August 2011
The Power of Lean Data (link)
Feature article co-authored with Alnoor Ebrahim (HBS) and Tom Adams (Acumen)
January 2016
Give 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
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
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.)
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!
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
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!
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
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.