As faith-based practitioners grounded both in theology and in economic development, we want to leave a lasting impact in our communities, to make good in the world every single day. We live from the fundamental belief that a different — better — world is possible.
But in a post-Christian secular environment, the faith-based organizations that have always blazed a trail of good are struggling with their mission and message. They’re questioning their relevance when they’re surrounded by the changing landscape of Church in this new world.
RootedGood is on a mission to affirm leaders of influence in these organizations. We believe firmly that God created everyone to do good work, and the role of faith communities in the world today is still relevant. And more needed than ever.
We’re on a mission to equip leaders with the resources and processes they need to build their confidence and capacity as we collaborate to help the Church imagine and become something new for the good of the Other.
RootedGood was launched in 2019 by Matryoshka Haus, a collective of talented, entrepreneurial, passionate folk that start courses and create tools so that non-profits, faith centers, and social enterprises achieve more impact with their work.
We’re excited to see how over a decade’s worth of work, passion, and learning will live on and take new shape in the US through RootedGood as we partner with many faith-based organizations doing good in the world.
Shannon Hopkins is an extreme networker and social entrepreneur living in East London. Her passion for community and individual transformation has launched or influenced the formation of fifteen campaigns, projects, and organizations — and trained over 200 social entrepreneurs. In 2008, Shannon was awarded the Women of the UN and UK’s Annual Woman of Peace Award for The Truth isn’t Sexy, a campaign that addressed the demand side of human trafficking.
A Texas native, in 2004 Shannon moved to London and founded Matryoshka Haus. Part incubator, part community, part training organization, Matryoshka Haus was born of a fundamental belief that a different world is possible. Shannon is excited to see how over a decade’s worth of work, passion, and learning will live on and take new shape in the US through RootedGood. Shannon’s mission-centered focus on bridging the gap between partners, funders, and cause-related champions in a post-Christian secular world is rooted in one powerful concept: inspiration. In her words, “I think we undervalue what inspires us and moves us to act… but once someone is inspired it can really set a whole host of things in motion.”
Mark’s professional career spans the spectrum from profit to non-profit, from start-up to established, and his academic ‘side-hustle’ has focused on the intersection between theology and our contemporary socio-economic context. Mark has a Doctorate in Theology and Economics from King’s College London, with his thesis focusing on social enterprise as ‘faithful economic practice’. Prior to this Mark studied at Regent College, Vancouver, where Mark gained a MA in Theology and Culture and where Mark was also the Interim Director of the Marketplace Institute.
Mark is the former KLICE award holder for business ethics. Mark has a background in management consultancy and was the director of Cocreate Consulting, a co-operative social purpose consultancy. Prior to RootedGood, Mark was a director of Matryoshka Haus and the Transformational Index Group. Mark was the co-founder of The Paradise Cooperative, an urban farming and education charity in central London. Mark is also a non-executive director of The Curiosity Society. Mark’s dwelling place is outside Detroit, Michigan where he lives with his wife Katie and his three children Ember, Lucas and Elora. Prior to Michigan, the family lived in Mark’s native land, England.
Rev. Mark Elsdon lives and works at the intersection of money and meaning as an entrepreneur, nonprofit executive, author, and speaker. He is the author of We Aren't Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry (2021) and editor of Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition (2024). In addition to his role as a Director with RootedGood, Mark is also Executive Director at Pres House, where he led the transformation of a dormant non-profit into a growing, vibrant, multi-million dollar organization.
Tito Ponce is a tech-savvy, detail-oriented leader in project management who thrives in the place where insight and play meet. He is motivated by community building and positive social change and inspired by human-centered design and the divine mundane.
Before arriving at RootedGood, Tito worked as the Project Coordinator for the Social-Emotional Teaching & Learning lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he also received his BA in Applied Psychology. Coming from a background in academic research, Tito grew knowledge of and a fascination for ecological contexts of development and how changes at any level of a system can lead to new and exciting possibilities for good.
In addition to his role as the OPM at RootedGood, Tito is also the Director of Evangelism and Design for the Inclusive Collective, a young-adult campus ministry based in Chicago.
Tito is a tea enthusiast who enjoys morning jogs along the Chicago lakefront trail and dinner parties with close friends and family.
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