This post was written by Joe Koufman, CEO of Setup.

When Jeff Hilimire first told me about his idea in 2014 to leverage our professional skills to do good in our community, I was immediately interested in getting involved.

The original idea was to build 48 websites in 48 hours for 48 non-profits in Atlanta to help them look good rather than just do good. Jeff partnered with Adam Walker to found the organization that would become 48in48. In April of 2015, at General Assembly in Ponce City Market in Atlanta, many of us (about 100) spent the bulk of our weekend executing on the original vision at the inaugural event. The event was a huge success for our community!

Fast forward to 2017, and Carole Williams has come aboard as the executive director of 48in48, and the long-term vision for the organization is to accomplish what we did for Atlanta in 2015 in 48 cities around the globe simultaneously! Last year, the event took place in Atlanta and New York. This year, it is slated to occur in Atlanta, New York, Minneapolis, and Boston. 

Setup played a key part in 48in48 every year since its inception by providing guidance, volunteers, and sponsorship.

I had an initial conversation with Greg Stoller in October 2016 about Setup and 48in48. Greg is an AMAZING person - he is an international business professor at Boston University; he reads, writes, and speaks SEVEN languages; he runs a commercial real estate company; is a fantastic husband and father to three amazing kids; and he hosts a business TV show appropriately named - The Language of Business.

As Greg and I discussed my company's involvement with the non-profit, we began to formulate a plan to produce an episode of The Language of Business about leveraging business skills for the good of our community. It just so happened that the 48in48 team had a scouting trip to Boston planned at the same time that Greg's production crew was available to film.

Upon arrival in Boston, we initially shot B-roll footage of the area around the United Way offices in the Fort Point Channel area of Boston Harbor. After that, shooting began at the United Way office with Greg and Karley Ausiello, SVP of Community Impact, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. Soon after, Greg and his production crew shot interviews with Adam Walker and Carole Williams.

The next morning, I met Greg and his crew at the TV studio for The Language of Business in Needham, MA to film my segment.

The entire experience was fantastic. As soon as it done with post-production, we will post a link to the show here.

Here are photos from the 48in48 and Setup trip to Boston: