How it Started
Pay It Phorward was started, first and foremost, as another way to give back to a community of people and businesses that have been badly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
This particular format was inspired by my prior participation in the Awesome Foundation, a micro funding organization with dozens of chapters around the world. I co-founded its Philadelphia chapter 6 years ago, and what I loved most about its donation model was the grassroots, no-strings-attached, no-red-tape method of getting money into people’s hands as quickly as possible. During my tenure, we limited participation to 10 donors, each giving $100 per month, for a total donation of $1000 to each month's recipient
We hope to expand on this model to generate more donations from a greater pool of participants, and under more relaxed giving conditions. Someone can give as little as $5, or a company can decide to give $1000. With help from our steering committee, and your votes, we’ll ensure the donations have maximum impact.
Let’s all do what we can to give back to those in even greater need than us.
Keith
Steering Committee
Keith Scandone
Keith Scandone is Co-Founder and CEO of O3 World, a digital product agency based in Philadelphia. He focuses primarily on O3's strategic goals, as well as fostering the agency's unique culture of innovation, leadership, and teamwork. Along with Co-Founder Mike Gadsby, Keith also leads the company's Ventures initiative, which aims to accelerate small business growth through investment partnerships. Currently, O3 World has Venture projects with Urvin, an artificial intelligence agency, as well as Rec Philly, a studio designed to support creative entrepreneurship in the arts.
From spearheading the Forge Conference, Innovation Day, and the 1682 Conference, to co-founding the Philadelphia chapter of the Awesome Foundation, Keith continuously looks for ways to bring industry leaders together, and strives to create community around O3's shared interest in innovation and emerging technology. His efforts to consistently craft and refine O3 World’s culture have led to the agency being recognized as Entrepreneur’s “Top Company Cultures” and “Best Entrepreneurial Companies.”
Keith has also sat on several boards, including the Philadelphia Global Identity Partnership and Venture Connect, a mentorship group helping aspiring small business owners.
David M. Davis
David M. Davis is the Managing Director for Accenture’s Public Sector practice in Pennsylvania, and leads Human Potential for North America Public Sector. As a change agent, David is responsible for leading large-scale, complex change management projects for various public service institutions, helping them transform into high-performing organizations
As a trusted advisor, David helps public agencies advance service delivery through innovative change strategies, including process improvement identification, design-thinking, agility, training and strategic communications. His experience includes work with the U.S. Postal Service, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) for the Department of Defense, the State of California and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
David holds a B.A. from the Pennsylvania State University College of Communications and now serves on select boards, including the Annual Giving Campaign, to help advance university priorities. He lives in south Philadelphia and serves on various local nonprofit boards that focus on health and public service. David also oversees diversity and inclusion recruiting initiatives for Accenture Philadelphia.