Exploring Life & Business with Johnnie Turnage of EvenScore

Today we’d like to introduce you to Johnnie Turnage. He and his team shared their story with us below:
I was born in Detroit and raised in the Metro Detroit area. I became involved in MOSES (Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength) in late 2007 as a volunteer because of my mother, who worked there. Coincidentally, she started working for MOSES because of her old highschool mentor, who was now a family friend. My mother introduced all of us, my siblings and I, to the world of social justice and grassroots organizing through her work with MOSES. Out of the four of us, I got bit with the organizing bug and developed a passion for the work.
In 2008, I became more deeply engaged in the Get Out The Vote efforts and led other young people in canvassing neighborhoods and voter registration efforts. After graduating highschool in 2012, I joined the MOSES staff as a GOTV intern and stepped up to run the entire campaign, contacting over 25,000 voters in Michigan. I wore many hats while at MOSES and primarily organized on Detroit’s east side in City Council Districts 2 & 3. I also led civic engagement activities, organized clergy coalitions across the city to build stronger African American clergy leadership, and worked in partnership with the director of MOSES on staff development. Also, together with other young people from Detroit and its surrounding cities, I founded the MOSES youth organizing project, Crossing Boundaries, Building Bridges (CB3).
In 2014, I was a grantee for the “Campaign for Black Male Achievement” and used the proceeds to invest in additional training for myself and the youth I worked with. In 2015, I won the Mario Savio Youth activist of the year award and had the opportunity to connect with other youth activists from around the country.
After having spent my younger years growing up and maturing under the MOSES umbrella, I decided to spread my wings and gain more experience. In 2016, I accepted a position with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Local 876) and quickly worked my way from Organizer to Organizing Director to Political Director to Contract Director and ultimately running multiple departments and having a role in training and developing staff for the local. During my time as a labor organizer, there were many pieces of work that I am especially proud of; the most recent accomplishment is unionizing the first 2 marijuana dispensaries in Michigan.
From middle school to adulthood, I’ve grown up in the movement fighting for social justice. I’m thankful that my mother thought that it was important for me to get involved at such a young age. There are some things in life that you can only truly appreciate or understand when you witness it with your own eyes. Because of my experiences, my life’s commitment is to try to help level the playing field and provide more engagement points for people to get involved and work together to create a more just and equitable world.
EvenScore
As a young organizer, I always thought that if you get people, you win. As I got older, I learned it’s not just people you have to organize; you also have to organize money. I’ve been volunteering, working or managing campaigns since the 2008 election. The 2020 election was the first time I was a little less hands-on with a campaign and had time to reflect on what was happening worldwide. I was drawn to the surge in donations and digital organizing that was necessary in order to reach people. I believe if we tap into the power of people and build a tool to help people really focus the fight and even the score to level the playing field, we can start winning and making a more significant impact.
That’s when I started down the road of building EvenScore.
● We amplify the voice of small-dollar donors, through a direct-to-consumer product that combines: Digital organizing tools, movement-building, data analytics, video sharing, and fin-tech tools.
● We put donors in the driving seat to be more informed and have the ability to focus their impact.
● Everything we do is based on interest-based targeting, we show you more of what you’re interested in and expose you to opportunities to help both locally and nationally.
● We empower donors to fundraise alongside their favorite cause or organizations with quick guide videos mimicking some of the same things we saw with the ice bucket challenge.
● We recognize that Gen Z is changing the way we communicate, prioritizing video content.
● We are building a platform for donors to be more informed and direct the impact they can make.
Most recently, we won the $100,000 Venture Competition sponsored by Dug Song, at the First ever Michigan Tech week. The competition’s goal was to form a team with other companies and leverage our collective business to create an impact in Michigan.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As a first-time founder, I had to realize how transformative the process of building a start-up is. I needed to make many, many changes…first starting with myself. ● Moving to a daily early morning meditation and workout routine. ● Staying committed to time blocking for my schedule and blocking time for myself has increased my overall productivity and efficiency.
● Understanding how much of me goes into building EvenScore lets me get very intentional about my overall mental health.
● I set a more frequent check-in with an amazing therapist who has helped me be accountable for the commitments I make to myself. I told her I needed to do a better job asking for help and I wanted to be more intentional about getting closer to family. Well, she kept me to it! In the beginning, it was an adjustment. But once I committed to the process, I got focused, and started really building my village out.
This routine really helped me be happier and gave me seemingly limitless energy and inner peace.
The energy translated into connections, support, and some great advice! I’ve built a strong system of support through other founders, friends, family, mentors, and investors. The energy coming from my village has been one of the greatest feelings ever.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Our work is grounded in the belief that progressive change is accelerated by data-driven, customizable fundraising guidance and easy access to relevant data, such as campaign-level data. Every person deserves to be able to easily make an intentional

donation to their chosen cause and monitor the impact of their money. The right to choose who represents you and the policies that impact your life should be afforded to everyone. EvenScore, is on a mission to revolutionize voters’ experience by making a system that creates an “even score” when it comes to fundraising for political or non-profit candidates. 

Just recently we’ve expanded our team. The team consists of myself, Alexa Turnage, Eufayba Turnage, Eden McCallister, Paige Woods, Austin Clark and Andra Woods who all bring amazing skills and insights to the table and are committed to growing and creating something amazing. 

What Is EvenScore? 
The goal of EvenScore, is to add accountability and “bring more transparency to donations” but “also make it much easier for organizations that don’t have large marketing budgets, or don’t have huge staffs, to be able to raise funds.” Voters on the app will also be able to see donor profiles, a photo of the candidate, and more information about different campaigns. Although the platform presents a range of other topics to users, from gun safety to education, upon selection, participants can see a list of the candidates and campaigns that best align with their interests. 

We’re trying to provide donors an ability to easily support their causes, based on the things they’re interested in,” and give donors a bit of a menu option for what they can donate to.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.evenscore.us
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnnie.turnage
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/score_even
• Other: People of Color in tech https://bit.ly/EvenScoreUK Bridge Detroit Covered us right before Tech Week https://bit.ly/EvenScoreBD Podcast interview with Abdul El Sayed https://bit.ly/EvenScoreAbdul1 Campaign and Elections Newsletter https://bit.ly/EvenScoreCENewsletter