At The Helm
Jessica Merrell
Founder
Jess Merrell is the Founder and CEO of One Degree Impact (ODI), bringing two decades of experience in innovation, systems-level change, fundraising, and business strategy and a deeply held belief that we can create a more equitable world.
Her work centers on finding aligned incentives to solve complex problems and designing systems where every stakeholder benefits from progress.
Through ODI, she’s building a smarter, more human-centered way for resources to move toward lasting change.
After a decade of running a grants business, Jess understands the sector’s core challenges:
Fundraising structures unfit for modern corporate practices
Low data granularity at issue-level
Impact data that is not up to standard for corporate use
And too little value placed on lived and learned expertise.
Jessica Merrell
"it’s absurd that we can get a package delivered to our door in under four hours, yet still face hunger, homelessness, and disease."