Matt Kepple has consistently used research, trends and insight throughout his career to drive innovation and positive outcomes for society. He has worked in advertising agencies, government, charities and social enterprises. Matt is firm in his belief that once properly unlocked, insight has the power to accelerate performance, revenue and impact. Matt has spoken at TEDx Cambridge University and won several awards from organisations such as Channel4, Deloitte and The RSA.

Prior to joining the world of work Matt studied an undergraduate Masters in Chemistry with French, Maths and Physics. While studying he launched an award-winning student-focused fundraising campaign for World Vision and created a series of events to promote the Fair-trade Foundation which resulted in increases of sales of fair-trade products.

In 2007 Matt was appointed by The Cabinet Office to become one of the United Kingdom’s Social Enterprise Ambassadors serving a 3-year term alongside the founders of national social enterprises such as The Big Issue, Cafe Direct and Divine Chocolate. In this role Matt spoke on the topic of social entrepreneurship, particularly among young people and those of BAME backgrounds.

Matt also chaired The Commission for Youth Social Enterprise which he cofounded with 21 of the country’s top young social entrepreneurs as identified by UnLtd The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs. With the backing of the then Department for Children, Schools and Families and The Cabinet Office, the Commission conducted research into the barriers preventing young people from becoming successful social entrepreneurs.

In 2008 Matt became a cofounder of The Youth Funding Network - a spin-off of the successful Funding Network model of philanthropy circles. The Youth Funding Network runs regular events where small charities pitch to an audience of donors in their 20s and 30s who make donations on the night averaging £25. The event series raised over £100,000 for small charities in its first few years and went on to win a Third Sector Award for Fundraising.

Prior to founding Makerble, Matt worked at several charities including Vital Regeneration and World Animal Protection. At Vital Protection he inherited an ECF-funded youth programme which was struggling with retention. Matt ran a small research project and used those insights to redesign the programme. This included rebranding as well as changing the curriculum and providing new training for its tutors. The resulting changes led to the programme becoming significantly oversubscribed, retention remaining steady and the young people in attendance achieving record-breaking progression outcomes for the charity.

At World Animal Protection, Matt spearheaded the creation of the charity’s first ever global marketing campaign, Pawprint. Matt took the initiative to create the campaign when he heard during a water-cooler conversation that the charity was struggling to communicate its message of animal welfare which was positioned between animal rights and animal conservation. Drawing on the successful Carbon Footprint initiative, Matt pitched the idea of a Pawprint; a calculation of the impact a person’s lifestyle has on the welfare of animals, based on eating habits and fashion choices. World Animal Protection decided to use the campaign as the consumer-facing side of what became a successful policy campaign focused on Rio+20, the UN conference that led to the development of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Matt is convinced that people are inherently good and has the mantra: “if it’s imaginable, it's possible." When he isn’t at Makerble Matt can be found pursuing his interests in photography and music.

Email: matt@makerble.com