Brass Media: philanthropy before you’re wealthy

How’s this for brass? Bryan Sims has committed the majority of his future earnings to philanthropy—and he’s just 27. Ambitiously joining an A-list of multi-billionaires in their highly publicized Giving Pledge, the founder and CEO of brass|MEDIA says it’s all in keeping with his fast company’s philosophy: “Young today, rich tomorrow.”

Brass|MEDIA is dedicated to helping young people—those 15- to 25-year olds known as “millennials”—understand money and learn to handle it responsibly. That effort builds around brass|MAGAZINE, a lifestyle money magazine written by young people for young people, and cleverly distributed to nearly half a million readers in partnership with a nationwide network of credit unions that has everything to gain from a fiscally savvy generation of up-and-comers.

Sims defines himself as a “regular guy doing something worth doing.” After watching his own family struggle through adversity, he founded brass|MEDIA in his Oregon State University dorm room at age 19. He partnered with Brent Sumner, an undergraduate friend at the University of Washington, to enter the UW Business Plan Competition, and the team sailed through to the Final Round. After college, Sims quickly led brass|MEDIA to Inc. magazine’s list of the 500 fastest growing private companies. In 2007 BusinessWeek named him one of its “25 Best Entrepreneurs Under 25.”

Sims may be a bit older now, but he still wants what his own audience wants: to make money, invest wisely, give back. But he’s also a willing role model.

“I’ve always known I was going to make a major contribution to charity when got older,” Sims says of his attention-getting pledge. “But I thought that if I started to tell people about it early on, it might have a compounding effect on long-term philanthropy.”

Check it out: www.brassmedia.com