Name: TED's nonprofit transition
Uploaded: 2008-01-30T01:57:00Z
Duration: 12 min 35 s
Description: Chris Anderson gave this talk in 2002, prior to taking over leadership of TED. Co-founder Richard Saul Wurman was leaving, and TED's future was in the balance. He seeks to persuade TEDsters that what was then a for-profit conference had a secure future as an idea-based nonprofit endeavor.

Chris Anderson: TED's nonprofit transition

TED's nonprofit transition

Chris Anderson gave this talk in 2002, prior to taking over leadership of TED. Co-founder Richard Saul Wurman was leaving, and TED's future was in the balance. He seeks to persuade TEDsters that what was then a for-profit conference had a secure future as an idea-based nonprofit endeavor.

Hard-won lessons from a spectacular business rise and fall led to a bold transformation: shifting TED from a for-profit to a mission-driven nonprofit. After losing millions and seeing companies crumble, the core insight emerged that happiness and meaning transcend financial status. TED thrives by connecting diverse disciplines and people, fostering curiosity and conversation that spark new ways of understanding the world. The conference's future as an idea-based nonprofit aims to amplify impact through shared values and collective purpose.