Ethan Shapiro is a University of Colorado graduate who has spent his career looking for ways to change the world. In 2020, he decided it was time to give back to a cause that would impact the most people, the environment.
Shapiro studied business management and entrepreneurship at CU. After graduation, he traveled around Europe where he learned about real estate investment. After returning to the U.S. he combined his love for interacting with people with his knowledge of real estate and entrepreneurship to become a real estate broker in the Longmont/Boulder area.
As a young entrepreneur, Shapiro said he was arrogant and thought the road to success was measured by the amount of money a person made. As he built his business in 2020, he began to realize that life is about loving what you do and sharing it with others, he said.
Climate Change Realty was formed with the mission to give 50% of the company’s profits to a cause. Shapiro said he debated which cause to contribute to for a long time until he thought about the thing that impacts everything, the environment. Not wanting to single out one nonprofit, Shapiro asks his clients to choose a nonprofit organization that works on environmental issues. Once the sale of the home is final, Shapiro divides his portion between himself and the homeowner’s nonprofit choice, he said.
“It occurred to me that I really wanted to not just use it (money) to have money, I wanted to use it to help as many people as possible,” Shapiro said. “I didn’t want to cherry-pick a specific cause that I was passionate about, I wanted my impact to be felt equally by everyone.”
Since the start of his business Shapiro has donated around $58,0000 to nonprofit organizations working on sustainability issues, he said.
In the future, Shapiro hopes to continue making a difference by creating a foundation that will support startup businesses that work on environmental issues.
“I really believe the market is the way to get something moving very quickly,” Shapiro said.
While Shapiro does not expect that his donations will drastically change the world, he feel good about doing something to move it in a better direction.
