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Care2 has got lots of ways to help you prepare for the best and greenest holiday weekend ever. Plan your festivities with the planet in mind and put some green in that red, white and blue. Protect yourself and your family with a plastic-free picnic. Try some great meatless grill recipes, including Grilled Eggplant Teriyaki and Chickpea Patties with Apricot Mayo. Finally, don't forget to share some of your favorite Fourth of July traditions here. Be safe and be green!

Is Your Company or Business GREEN and Eco-friendly? Join US Today Become a part of one of the largest "green" directories today. By subscribing to our directory or purchasing an ad, our readers will be able to access your information and get connected to YOU, the largest directory of "green" vendors, suppliers and realtors/brokers in the industry! We are the only Green directory on the Net today. "Going 'green' really makes sense and should have happened a long time ago. Do you realize that the whole point of going green is to save the environment? Maybe you don't like being trendy? But, the…

Global warming is the result of mankind?s greed and selfishness. We have known it was going to catch up with us since I was in college in the early 1950's. We were aware fluorocarbons were destroying the ozone layers, yet we were continuing to dump refrigerants into the atmosphere without regard of how they would destroy the beautiful world God created for us. The Corporations that produced the gases used in the refrigeration and spray can industries, and the engineers that designed equipment and other things, were aware of the damage they were doing. They and we looked the other way thinking…

Hei, Gro! I dag kom jeg over denne blogg-spoten, som jeg synes må passe bra for deg, hvis du ikke har startet en blogg et annet sted allerede! Den heter World-of-Good og ser ut til å være mest for folk som er litt opptatt av fairtrade og u-hjelp! Du kan jo prøve den selv nå, ved å klikke på "Leave a comment" nedenfor! Hvis du vil lage din egen blogg her, må du først registrere deg på eBay. Dét er nokså krøkkete (hvis du ikke bor i USA), så hvis du vil, kan jeg gjøre det for deg. Ulf

Many people today understand the dangers associated with non-organic products. Isn?t it strange then most people will go to the local organic food store to purchase food but then purchase non-organic cleaning products from the local mart. I have two ideas why this may be true. The first is people do not believe All Natural cleaning products actually work. My second theory is people really aren?t aware that their cleaning products have the potential to cause more harm then good. Now five years ago the first reason may have carried some water. All Natural cleaners really did not work very well.

At the end of December 2007, I posted about creating activist resolutions for the New Year based on Latoya Peterson's activist resolutions post on Racialicious.We're half way through 2008, so I thought I'd share how mine are going, and check in on yours. My resolutions were to:1. Continue reading and learning about why genocide happens, and what I can do to encourage the United States to be a part of the solution.What I've done: Read What is the What by Dave Eggers.Read Darfur Diaries by Aisha Bain, Jen Marlowe and Adam Shapiro.Watched Darfur Now.Interviewed Janessa Goldbeck of the Genocide…

Just a quick post to say that today at 6 PM Pacific Time is the last day to register for the BlogHer Conference. They are selling out. If you've been waiting to sign up, don't delay.I'll be facilitating a Birds of a Feather session for Green, Social Change & NPO/NGO bloggers on Friday, July 18th from 10:30-11:45 AM.Let me know if you'll be there in the comments of this post, by email (britt AT brittbravo.com), or Twitter (@bbravo).blogherwomenblognonprofitgreensocial change

Which do you think is a better idea?a. Children's book depicting breastfeeding babies and toddlersb. Elmidae: An eco-friendly intellectual clothing linec. Girl Talk: Read to Achieved. Go Localing.com: Help support local business by listing user-generated local favorite things to do, see and eat e. Meaningful Education in Africa for the Average Child: Lead Now Fellowsf. organic fairtrade troglodyte dollsg. PatronOfTheArts: Save the Arts (Sponsor a Filmmaker or Artist Program)h. Project Epiphany: Transformative Astronomy Education Inspiring Science AchievementThey are 8 finalists (all women) in…

I originally wrote this post for the NetSquared Blog.Earlier in the month I taught a Nonprofit Blogging 101 workshop at the 2008 Making Media Connections Conference. At the beginning of the session, I asked folks what their burning questions were. Below are their questions, and my quick answers. What questions and answers would you add? 1. How do we decide if our organization should have a blog? Answer these questions: 1. What is the goal you want to achieve?2. Who is your target audience?3. What are the communication tools you could use to achieve that goal? If a blog is one of the tools you…

The New York Times recently published an article, Big Paycheck or Service? Students are Put to Test, about graduates who go into school with high ideals for changing the world, but come out working for big business. (Hat tip to Echoing Green for the link).According to the article, Harvard professor, Howard Gardner, is teaching “reflection” seminars at Harvard, Amherst and Colby, "which he hopes will push undergraduates to think more deeply about the connection between their educations and aspirations."Aimée Baker of The Refutation Process writes in her post, Public Service and the…

"When many development workers are flying into capital cities, staying at five-star international hotels, and driving through villages without ever stopping to talk to a farmer, this approach may actually seem novel." (IDEO's Jocelyn Wyatt at NextBillion.net)Gates Foundation required to give away $3.5 billion in 2008 (MSNBC)"When a book is recommended by both The Economist (more conservative) AND George Soros (quite liberal), it is bound to be interesting ... and [Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion] did not disappoint." (Dave Richards at Defeating Global Poverty)Parents in Indonesia giving up…

Alltop is a new site from Guy Kawasaki, author, entrepreneur, and managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm. According to Alltop, the site is intended to "help you explore your passions by collecting stories from 'all the top' sites on the web."Riches For Good was featured as one of the best sites dealing with the topic of "Good," which is described as "mostly blogs written by people who are trying to make the world a better place for the rest of us." It was just dumb luck that I had the word "Good" in my blog's title. I'm pretty sure that's what…

As a continuation of my first post about Zambia, which borrowed heavily from information available in the CIA World Factbook, I'm adding additional information I found through the US Department of State (State Department). I won't rehash information in the State Department's "Background Notes" that is also found in the CIA World Factbook.According to the State Department, "The United States and Zambia enjoy warm relations." Travel in Zambia is generally safe during daytime hours in major game parks and in most large cities, including many sections of Lusaka (the capitol) and Livingstone (hub…

Zambia Map (Source: CIA World Factbook)Other than my two years in Thailand during the 1990s, I have spent limited time abroad. Given my goal to help 1 million people out of $1-a-day poverty, I will need to start spending considerably more time abroad, especially in developing countries. After inquiring with International Development Enterprises (IDE) about how I can get out into the field, they invited me to travel to Zambia with them in October.I have plenty to learn about Zambia in preparation for the trip. Below is my "book report" based on the CIA World Factbook:Zambia has existed as an…

Most of what I've heard and read lately about markets serving the base of the pyramid (BoP) deals with people living on more than $2-a-day. I sense an increasingly common sentiment that helping the "poorest of the poor" is great and all, but the market has a harder time reaching those people than anticipated. As a result, organizations and companies that originally targeted the poorest of the poor are pleased when they help someone who makes $3- or $4-a-day. Their argument is that such people are still very poor when compared with Americans. Others say that those living on greater than…

I’m fascinated by cross-national comparisons of happiness. On one hand, I’m incredulous that the measurements could mean anything, especially when I consider the cultural subjectivity of happiness and the methodological difficulties involved with gathering this kind of data on a worldwide scale. On the other, I find there is a surprising amount of consistency in observer perceptions as well as different surveys. And, I admit it, I have the same geeky, goofy interest in lists of this type that many people do. Each suggests questions: Why should this place be happy? Why should that…

My esteemed colleague at the Greater Good Science Center, executive director Christine Carter, posted two very nice summaries of research into fatherhood over at her “happy kids” parenting blog, Half-Full. The first asks that perennial question: Are Dads as Essential as Moms? Shockingly, the answer is yes: * Research shows that the love and care of fathers is equally important for the health and well-being of children as mother-love. Really. * Children are WAY better off when their relationship with their father is sensitive, secure, and supportive as well as close, nurturing, and…

Longtime Greater Good subscriber Molleen Matsumura has alerted us to an upcoming documentary screening that may interest many of you in the SF Bay Area. The film is Anyone and Everyone, and it tells the stories of parents who have learned that their son or daughter is gay. Parents in the film “also talk about struggling with the pain of their sons and daughters dealing with not being accepted by relatives or friends, and being ostracized by religious congregations.” The *free* screening will be this Tuesday, June 10, at the San Francisco LGBT Center at 1800 Market Street. Doors…

Led by Dr. Philip Zimbardo, a new study is examining how people view ideas such as altruism, heroism, and other helping behaviors. Greater Good is helping to recruit participants for this study. More information is below and at http://www.socialpsychresearch.org. Researchers from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology and Stanford University are seeking participants for a new study on pro-social behavior.  The goal of this research is to examine how people views ideas such as altruism, heroism, and other helping behaviors.  While much research in psychology is done in laboratory…

Every year at this time we get to read/hear/see some of the best commencement speeches to graduating classes. Some of them are quite inspiring, but what interests me is that, after years of supposed 'education', graduates get to hear advice, rather than information or knowledge.If I had 30 minutes to address a graduating class I would resolve to actually try to impart some knowledge, rather than advice. Personally, I only take advice from people who know me, and who I trust, so I don't think giving it to a bunch of restless strangers is, in the long run, very useful.When I mentioned this to a…

Most people know Peter Block as the consultant's consultant -- he wrote the book that many consultants use as their methodology. Since then he is best known for his book Stewardship, that I reviewed two years ago, and his more recent spin-off The Answer to How is Yes. Stewardship was about how to convert hierarchical organizations into flat, responsible, sustainable, entrepreneurial organizations, something like what I have come to call Natural Enterprises. His new book, Community, proposes, analogously to convert isolated, hopeless neighbourhoods into dynamic, self-directed communities. I…

When I finish mowing the lawn down by the pond I invariably come back inside covered with burrs. These are nature's clever seed carriers, and the way many plants hitch a ride with passing animals (like me) to new fertile soil. Janene Benyus tells us that many human innovations arise from learning from and copying (Biomimicry) nature (and we would be wise to pay more attention, since nature has many more secrets to tell us). Burrs were the inspiration for Velcro, the commercial product now used instead of buttons, zippers and laces to allow fabrics to adhere to each other, and in place of glue…

Say yes, Be generous, Speak up, Love more, Slow down, and Trust yourself.: These are the six lessons in Patti Digh's new book, Life is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally, taught through some of the most stunning stories you will ever read. It's now available. Go buy copies for yourself, for your children (Patti wrote it for her daughters) and for anyone you love. This is going to be an incredibly important and successful book. Here's her newest story about the importance of trusting yourself."You cannot productively help people by sitting them in rows of chairs and…

Two years ago, suffering from the onset of severe ulcerative colitis, and suffering even more from the steroids prescribed to treat it, I began writing a mystery novel. I wrote four chapters and then, having at last recovered, abandoned the writing in the midst of the fifth chapter. I was in a near-hallucinatory state when I wrote much of it. I'm thinking of picking it up where I left off. Here is the last completed chapter:This is the fourth chapter of what is evolving of its own accord into a strange sort of mystery novel. The first chapter, Miro, is published here. The second chapter,…

Somehow, in my review of Paul Polak's book, a paragraph disappeared from what I thought was the final version, and what ended up in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. I still think it is important, and will share it with my bleeps:"Though Polak addresses 'designing for the other 90 percent' in the book, he focuses on those living in extreme poverty (on less than $1 per day), 'the bottom 10 percent.' Entrepreneurs interested in developing products for those earning $2-5 per day may need to modify some of his design concepts. Trading off durability for affordability, or avoiding…

One of my favorite Gifford-isms is "It's all good work" which is intended to remind us that whether our work is protecting biodiversity in Cambodia or working on reducing the waste stream at Wal-mart, we should respect each other's work and not get competitive about who's work is better-more important-more meaningful.My father had another one, from his school days: "Hands to work and hearts to God" which he usually used to inspire us to keep at it when the task was well beyond its originally announced timeline. (His sons were not always sure what the divine inspiration was for many of our…

Allen Hammond recently hosted a blog series on scaling BOP businesses on NextBillion. In it, he proposed that extra effort is needed to scale social enterprises. It is worth reading. Hammond admits that the “numbers haunt” him when it comes to scaling BOP enterprises. Participation by a few well-intentioned, experimental MNC’s, social entrepreneurs and investors is not going to be enough to change the world. Pace is a problem. What is needed, Hammond says, is strategies to transform entire sectors (health care, telecom, etc.).Derek Newberry had asked me to join the other bloggers in…

There is an excellent and disturbing special report in the June 2008 Fast Company on China in Africa. Analogizing to the attack of an intestinal parasite on its host, Richard Behar looks at the impact of the globalized web of commerce between the U.S., China and Africa.Behar examines China's acquisition of natural resources in Africa, timber in Mozambique, mining in Zambia and the Congo, and oil in Equitorial Guinea. In all, the pattern of exploitation is similar- massive low cost extraction, infrastructure rich deals with the (often corrupt) governments, and little regard for the workers or…

So the TED folks have been posting a lot more of their talks recently, which is cool for those of us who aren't cool enough to actually go to TED. I was thinking of posting my top ten favorite TED talks, but then I thought that I would try to do some intersectional combinations. Where the whole is greater than the parts... synergistic neurological stimulation... pairing red wine with fish. Whatever. Watch them together and it will be better.So here goes:Design 2.0: Bill McDonough, Amy Smith and Janine Benyus Some BIG questions, two BIG brains, one BIG ego and almost a small synthetic life…

Did you ever watch a child put a jigsaw puzzle together? What’s the first thing that they do after dumping the pieces from the box? Come on, you remember don’t you? They’ll look at the picture on the front of the box so they know what the finished product will look like, right? We’ve all heard about the importance of focus and keeping our eye on the end goal in order to get there. But how many times do we focus on just the piece that we happened to pick up that day rather than focusing on the photo on the front of the box? I believe that life is just like that jigsaw puzzle. There are…

Have you ever noticed that everything in life is a matter of perspective and eventually judgment? Imagine you arrive late to your office, complaining because your car broke down, only to find the person in the next cubicle had their car repossessed the previous day. It kind of makes your repair look minor because of perspective. You no longer judge your luck to be “bad”. Recently I was talking with a girlfriend who shared that she’d been raised on a farm in Ohio. Her parents were poor so her mother made homemade bread each day. Not wanting to be different, she’d trade her whole wheat…

I’m sure you’ve heard how our thoughts become things? We’re taught we should not only think happy thoughts, but also FEEL the joy from our thoughts, and that’s how they manifest in our life. Since thoughts, in an untrained mind, can often appear random, sometimes it seems we don’t have any control over them. I’ve often thought how cool it would be to wear a “thought monitor” that would buzz when I’m thinking thoughts that are less than optimal, to gently remind me to change that thought and return to the greatness that I am. Why not? If we can have things like radar…

What do you do when your mind is so full of stuff that you find it just zipping from one “to do” to another? Occasionally, I do something mindless, like play the game Bejeweled. In flying to my son’s college graduation on Friday, I had some time on the airplane and thought I’d get lost into a game. For those of you that don’t know the game, there are a series of 8 columns of colored gems, with about 8 gems in each column. You exchange the position of two different colored gems to make sets of 3 matching gems, then they disappear and other gems move down to fill the empty space of…

Why do we resist change so very much? I just spent the last hour coaching my good friend, Bob, on how to handle a difficult situation. He founded a company about ten years ago and is now ready to take it to the next level. His entire identity has been based around this company- he IS the company. For the last several years Bob has been trying to figure out how to get out of the company and follow his dream, which is very different from the “job” he found himself in while running the company. He got his board to approve funds to bring on a consultant to tell them what to do next. You…

Altruism Meets a Weak Job Market The Wall Street Journal discusses how the weak economy is spuring more interest from college grads in nonprofit work. But the article also cites an authentic interest from Millenials in “making a difference.” (tags: philanthropy) Creative Capitalism: Let’s have more confidence in capitalism Mathew Bishop (of The Economist) blogs about the lack of real conflict between capitalism and the ideas of “philanthrocapitalism” or “creative capitalism”. He makes an important point that might bring together the different sides on…

My recent column in the Financial Times has sparked the biggest response of my year old career as a newspaper columnist. I’ve gotten a ton of email, comments and the Chronicle of Philanthropy featured the column in Philanthropy Today. The response (of people who have contacted me directly) has been overwhelmingly positive. But I hear through the grapevine of at least a couple prominent people who don’t like the column. I’d love to hear any negative feedback that’s floating around our there. I would like to clarify something in the column that I think deserves further…

Product (RED): Inspi(RED) or Ti(RED)? « The Philanthropic Family Sharon Schneider on whether it matters if philanthropic dollars are “tainted” or not. What do you think? Is philanthropy only good if it is pure? Or is the only problem with “tainted” money that there “taint enough of it”? (tags: philanthropy) Venture Capital Journal: Wholesome Investing Venture Capital Journal writes about social venture funds and says they are “ramping up at an unprecedented scale”. (hat tip: Nathaniel Whittemore) (tags: philanthropy) Opinion: Donors Should Help…

In February I wrote about Tactical Philanthropy reader Teri Behrens (director of evaluation at W.K. Kellogg Foundation), new project The Foundation Review. Said Teri at the time: I am very excited about this new venture because I believe the time is ripe for a peer-reviewed publication that will provide practical information about what works — and doesn’t work — in foundation-funded programs. Articles submitted for the first issue (Comprehensive Community Change), planned for December 2008 publication, are out for peer review now. Teri has issued a call for papers for issue 2 & 3.

The Privatization of Public Service « A. Fine Blog Allison Fine points to how Millennials (those age 15-29) are volunteering like crazy but think government “sucks”. Is there a government crisis brewing? When we blur the lines between nonprofits and for-profits is the public sector getting cut out? (tags: philanthropy) Creative Capitalism A new blog conversation about “Creative Capitalism” and the potential (or lack thereof) for capitalism to be more socially responsible. Some real heavy hitters (Wall Street Journal Columnists for instance) are posting. (tags:…

China equity fund to invest $300 mln in Africa. Transcorp expands its hospitality footprint. Food prices to spur agriculture investment. Electric cycle rickshaws as a sustainable transport system via Inhabitat Crustamer-Specialist processor of seafood.

AltAssets reports on IFC's IfraVentures investment in Djibouti's geothermal energy capacity: Rashad Kaldany, director for infrastructure, IFC, said, 'This first transaction for IFC InfraVentures is important to moving this innovative approach forward. A successful feasibility study for REI Djibouti, one of the first large-scale geothermal projects in the region, would have a significant impact by

Founded by Moriba Ouendeno, Moriba a specialty food company "has progressively diversified its product offerings to include new flavours like litchi, manguo, baobab but also carbonated drinks, ginger liqueur and African herbal teas “Saveurs d’Afrique ®/African Flavours” based with lemongrass, kinkeliba, hibiscus, ginger, and a mix of ginger, ginseng, guarana"-Moriba Website Watch Mr Ouendeno

Ft gives an overview on the"rapid growth of private equity" in Africa. via Africaincorp Ladybrille covers Nollywood and more in their latest issue. Nubian Cheetah takes a look at ExZeed a BPO provider African Architecture & Design highlights the bamboo construction revolution.

Anansi Chronicles profiles the launch of AfriMonitor: Throughout my years as an entrepreneur, I have had to conduct endless market research and have found a serious lack of information about the African market. Drawing on my experience as a marketer myself, I am developing a new website called AfriMonitor to aggregate important research and information about the growing African market. While I

“Before we talk about all that you have done, and Teach For America, and what its importance is, look at education, Kindergarten through twelve, and tell me, why isn’t it better?” Charlie Rose posed this and many similarly challenging questions to 1991 Echoing Green Fellow and Teach For America (TFA) founder Wendy Kopp in an interview that aired Wednesday night on his show. When probed for step-by-step explanations for her organization’s success, Wendy’s answer, which seemed incomprehensible to her host in its unconventionality, was that there is no simple plan for solving our…

In partnership with Green Chimneys, a housing program for homeless LGBT youth, the Reciprocity Foundation hosted a “Design Your Future” career workshop series that began in May and has helped twenty young New Yorkers sharpen their networking and soft skills.  2007 Echoing Green Fellows Taz Tagore and Adam Bucko began the Reciprocity Foundation to help youth at risk of homelessness develop into creative professionals. Their four-week workshop series featured industry advice from top executives at ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), Atlantic Records, Calvin…

The 2008 Echoing Green summer interns have hit the ground running here at our offices on Manhattan's west side. They've quickly grown accustomed to Echoing Green's unique culture, where City Year's Michael Brown or One Acre Fund's Andrew Youn might stop by at some unexpected moment. They bring a fresh vibe to the office space, and have told me that it means a lot to be supporting so many amazing social entrepreneurs. The program department is thrilled by the arrival of Ellen, Shavata, and Eileen. Ellen Eng graduated from Wesleyan University in May 2008 with a BA in Government. Ellen is a…

Recently, the I Do Foundation, started by 2002 Echoing Green Fellows Bethany Robertson and Lawrence Miller, caught the attention of Modern Bride magazine.  Modern Bride has asked them to partner with the magazine on an exciting campaign, “I’m a Modern Bride,” which features celebrity brides. The magazine is donating $5,000 in honor of each of five bridal celebrities profiled in their latest issue. The money raised from this campaign will go towards actualizing the I Do Foundation’s mission to develop new avenues of support for charitable organizations. A public foundation based in…

Echoing Green was honored to host a presentation for our staff by Leisure Education Specialist, Alison Link this week.  Alison is an adjunct professor, international presenter, consultant and specialist in leisure education. Her organization “The Leisure Link” helps individuals and organizations plan their leisure lives as they plan other aspects of their lives in order to get the most out of both leisure and life. In her presentation, Alison covered many of the theories and models that are used to evaluate leisure in the academic world, and then translated these ideas into relevant…

Once, at a restaurant, I ordered “Crispy potato wedges with sweet and sour dipping sauce” as an appetizer. What I got was French fries and ketchup. The description on the menu was true, but not honest. I didn’t feel like I could complain to the manager, but it left me feeling disappointed and vaguely deceived.Too much of our communication about international development is true but not honest. We boil complicated situations down into simple ideas. We pretend there are easy answers to problems so difficult there may be no answers at all. We use emotional impact and compelling photographs…

I wanted to point out this great blog - Mostly Maurice. It's a caustic and realistic perspective on development in Africa. One of my favorite posts is this one on Donor Dumping.

I’ve been to an awful lot of meetings that involve international participants. I’ve seen some go well, and some turn into complete disasters. I spent my last international meeting thinking about what makes some go well, and some go badly, and this is what I came up with:1. Hire the best translator you can afford. I can’t stress this enough. Do not, under any circumstances, hire language students as translators or expert participants to also translate for others. Your meeting will fail completely if no one is able to understand each other, and I mean that literally. To help the…

I heard a speech the other day on post-conflict reconstruction and state building by an analyst from a prominent NGO, and it made me do a lot of thinking about the best ways to provide assistance during a crisis and afterward. I'm not sure it was on the record, so I can't give you details, but I'll pull out some of the salient points:1. Contemporary conflicts cross borders. It's almost their defining characteristic. We cannot afford to ignore small, obscure conflicts because they do not stay small or obscure for long.2. The development of a competent, professional police force is key to…

Give money. Don’t send food, bottled water, clothing or useful-seeming stuff. Give money.Your old stuff costs money to ship. It is almost always cheaper to just buy it in country, and doing it that way benefits the local economy. It’s also more respectful to survivors of humanitarian emergencies, and allows relief agencies to procure exactly what is needed instead of struggling to find a use for randomly selected used junk. Disaster News Network talks about the used clothes problem in “The Trouble with Trousers.” which features a really depressing anecdote about Hurricane Hugo. Your…

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, NY has put together an exciting project called "Celebrate Urban Birds" that blends scientific research, education and urban conservation. The proect is similar to The Great Sunflower Project featured on Green Parent Chicago earlier this month. It's a free project that consists of citizen research and university research blended in an effort to benefit both parties and urban wildlife conservation.Click below to get started and request or download your research packet.

Established in 2002, the Experimental Station in the city's Woodlawn neighborhood is thriving as an innovative center offering programs and projects benefiting local residents while blending art, education, social activism and environmental initiatives.Directors of the organization describe it as "a not-for-profit (501-c-3) incubator of innovative cultural, educational, and environmental projects and small-scale enterprises." This past week, the Experimental Station opened their new Backstory Cafe, which will serve as both a bookshop and a community coffeehouse. The cafe is in addition to a…

A rise in preterm births nationwide has led area hospitals to build new neonatal care departments, such as Rush-Copley Medical Center's new 18 bed intermediate-level neonatal intensive care unit.According to to a recent story in the Aurora Beacon News, this new space will help Rush-Copley Medical Center care for the increasing number of local premature babies born at the hospital or transported there.Nationwide, preterm births are on the rise. An analysis by The March of Dimes from May 28 pinpoints unnecessary c-sections as "a critical factor" in the rise: "Between 1996 and…

Today, in locations across the Chicagoland area, volunteers will be on hand to help families learn more about and enroll in the Illinois state children's health insurance program All Kids. On this page, you can view a list of locations where volunteers will be available. All Kids provides health care for children whose parents either can't afford private health insurance or don't qualify for Medicaid and other assistance programs. According to a recent report by the Sun Times, a sponsor of today's enrollment drive, studies estimate between 200,000 AND 376,000 children in…

Not only do inexpensive, non-toxic and highly effective cleaners like vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice make the earth's air and water safer for our families, they also make getting kids involved in cleaning tasks a whole lot easier. Children are always eager to assist parents in grown-up tasks around the house, especially if they can truly be helpful in a hands-on way. Giving kids the opportunity to help take care of the home not only results in less work for parents, but more importantly gives children a sense of responsibility and accomplishment that will grow as they do. A simple…

Editor’s note: New blogger Ajay Nair is a Portfolio Associate based in New York City. He holds degrees in medicine and public health. What role can markets play in providing health services to the poor in developing countries? This was the theme of Acumen Fund’s Health Breakfast last week, which was presented by Omer Imtiazuddin, Acumen’s Health Portfolio Manager. Omer started out by discussing how 40 to 60 percent of the population in our geographies (India, Pakistan and East Africa) currently use the private sector for health services (For example, see How Private Health Care Can…

NextBillion.net and its sponsors - World Resources Institute and Acumen Fund - have released a request for proposal to overhaul the site. Since its founding in 2005, NextBillion.net has grown to become one of the more prominent websites and blogs discussing base of the pyramid (BoP) approaches to poverty and environmental degradation. As part of NextBillion.net’s recently-signed partnership between WRI and Acumen Fund, we are funding a round of upgrades to the site that are aimed at improving user experience and making the information on-site easier to find, use and share. As we noted…

Please ignore this post - it’s just an administrative necessity so that we can properly (and finally!) claim our blog on Technorati, the web’s leading blog search engine. Stay tuned for more Acumen Fund content… Technorati Profile

Position: VP of Sales and Operations Location: New York - with 30% international travel Organization: VisionSpring (formerly Scojo Foundation) is a global social enterprise, currently operating in 13 countries, which creates jobs and sustains livelihoods through the sale of affordable reading glasses to the 700 million people who require clear, up-close vision to read and work. VisionSpring trains low-income men and women as “Vision Entrepreneurs” to start microfranchises that conduct vision screenings within local communities, sell affordable reading glasses, and refer those who…

Last night, Ernst & Young announced its 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year awards for the Metro New York region, and Acumen Fund’s own Jacqueline Novogratz took home the award for social enterprises. Given our mission to support amazing entrepreneurs who are building thriving businesses in India, Pakistan and East Africa, it is humbling to be recognized as entrepreneurs ourselves. We’re honored to be included among such impressive company.

Yesterday in a post on the UNDP's growing inclusive markets initiative, I mentioned a debate taking place on Creative Capitalism. Here's what the debate is all about:Creative Capitalism: A Conversation is a web experiment designed to produce a book -- a collection of essays and commentary on capitalism, philanthropy and global development -- to be edited by us and published by Simon and Schuster in the fall of 2008. The book takes as its starting point a speech Bill Gates delivered this January at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In it, he said that many of the world's problems are too big…

Kazakhstan: Nazarbayev celebrates “Starry Decade of Astana,” politely declines to rename city in his honor. A Difficult Road: India faces a struggle to upgrade its roads, railways, and ports. Emerging Markets: Not the haven investors hoped they’d be. Hot Money: Who isn’t putting their money into China? Private Equity: It’s taking off in Africa.A Global Union: United Steelworkers and Unite take the first step toward a global workers union. Privatization Czar: Chubais says “don’t privatize everything.” $2,300 Car: India’s Tata Motors plans on beginning production of the Nano…

An increasing number of commentators have pointed worryingly at growing inflation in many emerging markets. Inflation is around 8 percent in China and 11 percent in India. Part of the problem is the rising cost of energy resources, but that's not the whole story since inflation is afflicting both net energy importers and exporters. Russia, for example, is facing an inflation rate of around 15 percent. According to an article today in the Financial Times:A weighted average of consumer price inflation in the 20 largest emerging markets rose from 4.5 per cent in March 2007 to 6.9 per cent in…

Collins Mbalo, resident blogger at A Nairobian's Perspective, complains about the lack of access to PayPal services in Kenya and Africa generally. While anyone can set up a PayPal account, Africans have no way to transfer this money into a bank account. PayPal has a list of the services it provides in countries around the world here. It looks like there's not a single country in Africa under the "Send. Receive. Withdraw" heading. At best, residents in Africa only have access to the 'send' function. Africans don't even have access to a functionality that allows users in some…

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) just launched its growing inclusive markets initiative, part of its work to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (Hat tip: NextBillion.net). I have to say that this is a welcome, although perhaps overdue, development. The UNDP has released a report called Creating Value for All along with a series of case studies and (although not yet up on their website) heat maps that provide data on basic infrastructure and services among the poor. (One of the heat maps from the report is pictured below. It shows the share of poor households in South…

Lucy Bernholz over at Philanthropy 2173 beat me to the punch in posting about one of the latest Ashoka Fellows who has a microfranchising connection. But there's always room for repeated coverage of good models.When the Ashoka newsletter came out the other day I was excited to see a familiar name, Greg Van Kirk, as one of their new Fellows. I am not involved on the venture side to have seem it coming but I'll probably be involved in deciding what funder provides his living stipend :)I first learned about Van Kirk's Micro-Consignment model at the last ESR Conference at BYU. I remember being…

Scojo, one of my favorite microfranchises, recently announced that they were changing their name from the Scojo Foundation to VisionSpring. I also see that they started a blog. I'm curious to know if the change represents a change in legal structure as well. The press release describes VisionSpring as a nonprofit social enterprise.I like the name change. "Scojo Foundation" rings heavy of the nonprofit, traditional foundation side of things. "VisionSpring" comes across as a legitimate business even to the point that people would not necessarily suspect they are a nonprofit. It also is a better…

I was introduced to another communication center microfranchise called EasySeva in Sri Lanka similar to the n-Logue or ONE Roof models I have covered previously.  I was informed they have 23 outlets and expect to have 55 outlets by the end of the summer.  It is a private, for-profit Sri Lankan company with a holding company in the U.S. but the seed funding was awarded in a contract with USAID.  The model of EasySeva relies on corporate partnerships to actually provide the services, including Dialog Telekom, Qualcomm, National Development Bank, Lanka Orix, and Microsoft.  They are also…

The post below was authored by Julia Tran and ran a couple weeks ago on NextBillion. It is about a franchise called CareShops in Ghana that converts existing small businesses into franchised shops. I did my graduate work in Ghana and had some interaction with one of the individuals who launched CareShops (who has since been recruited by Freedom from Hunger to launch their HealthKeepers social enterprise). The extent of the network of "chemical sellers" in Ghana was really quite remarkable; in nearly every village I visited I was able to find a chemical seller. The problem of course is that…

It looks like microfranchising has found a place in the U.S. in the form of mini-franchises for kids, as recently reported by Springwise.Franchild takes the childhood lemonade stand up a notch with packaged franchises for beeswax candles, organic soap, and jewelry/apparel businesses. The $25 USD price tag is what caught my eye in terms of being a microfranchise. These exact businesses might not be viable in other countries but the model certainly shows that the idea of franchising can be packaged into smaller operating units with a non-traditional franchisee.This also brings up the issue of…

Welcome to the Carnival for Change where we explore the web for interesting items relating to social justice, health, education, and opportunity. Happy Juneteenth!* The World Resources Institute recently released The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid. The publication, which is available for print purchase or free download, is useful for those developing for-profit businesses that focus on the 4 billion poorest people. Those folks may not have a lot of money, but they make up the majority of the world's population and they need goods and services too.

Today is Father's Day in the US. Both boys and girls need a father or father figure in their lives, but not all children have one. On this Father's Day, you can choose to make a positive difference in a child's life. Here are just a few ways to get started:* Become a virtual mentor through the Orphan Foundation of America. Mentors are needed for current and former foster children. You can make a big difference even online.* Volunteer with Big Brothers, Big Sisters. "Volunteering just 4 hours a month can change a young person's life" and you can share many of your current activities with your…

Regular readers know I'm a big fan of microloans. But if you're at the base of the pyramid, living on $1-2 per day, a loan just won't cut it. That's where Trickle Up comes in. Trickle Up supports microenterprise through business training and seed capital grants in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Loans are usually about $100, and recipients must participate in classes on business planning and development, finance and more. "The typical Trickle Up entrepreneur is a woman under 40 years of age who is responsible for raising children and paying for their schooling." They helped launched 11,141…

I've written before about carbon offsets, but the services I described all cost money. Now, here's a fast way to offset a few pounds of carbon. If you are a blogger, you can join Brighter Planet's 350 Challenge. Just put their snazzy badge on your site (check out the sidebar for mine), let them know who you are and they will "offset 350 pounds of carbon in your name! 350 pounds! That's like flicking off 100 lightbulbs for a day. Or going two full weeks without your car!" They're goal is 350 bloggers and they already have over 300, so hurry!"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will…

The New York Times had a great story yesterday about Katherine Commale. She's the seven-year-old girl who with her mother and little brother's help raised $43,000 for the Nothing But Nets campaign against malaria. She's a great example of someone who saw a need and found a way to contribute to the solution.The nice thing is that most everyone can find a way to motivate their family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, classmates, and others to contribute to a good cause. Here are two more examples:* Eric's 25 for Angel's Place - Eric Gamble has pledged to lose 25 pounds in support of the New…

It's exciting to witness development of increasingly efficient wind power technologies (to see Popular Science's geek-worthy eye candy on that front, click here and here). But what can we do with our old wind power equipment as the early models become outdated? U.S. company Aeronautica Windpower has a solution. As Renewable Energy World reports, the Massachusetts-based firm plans to recycle wind turbines that have been rendered obsolete by newer models. According to the company's industry research, over 10,000 machines that were installed during the mid ‘80s and ‘90s may soon be replaced…

The largest part of the pharmaceuticals and chemicals we take go through our bodies and eventually end up in waste water. As water and waste treatment plants haven't been designed to filter them, the content of our medicine cabinets are eventually passed into the water supply. In London, tap water comes from surface water which implies that traces of our medicine can end up in our drinking water. This results in local differences in tap water, based on the food and drugs we ingest. Tuur van Balen, one of the graduates of Design Interactions at the RCA, decided to explore this issue in a…

By Britt Bravo "I think there are many different ways in which you define leadership. As a feminist, and as a feminine feminist, I truly believe that we don't do a very good job in the United States of believing that you can lead by serving, and I think the United States needs to think deeply about being in service of the rest of the world." -Kavita Ramdas, President and CEO, Global Fund for Women. Kavita Ramdas is the President and CEO of the nonprofit, the Global Fund for Women. She has been the recipient of many awards, including Fast Company's 2007 Social Capitalist Award, and the League…

I think pretty highly of John Robb. I don't always agree with him -- and sometimes I think he's way off base -- but I think he's really grappling with the new realities of violence, conflict and system instability in our times. In particular, I find his on-going series of posts on Resilient Community a source of both worry and insight. First, the insight. John's posts themselves tend to focus on work-arounds for brittle infrastructure, things like smart local networks (sort of the information equivalent of energy smart grids), community scrip and local fabrication. There are some really…

"So, what do you think about the IEG report?" I was g-chatting with my friend Smita the other night when she brought up the World Bank. "What IEG report? What's the IEG?" I replied, showing my ignorance of the latest Bank goings on (and of the acronym – it stands for Independent Evaluation Group). Smita sighed. "I'm surprised you haven't heard. I'll forward you an e-mail from this listserve I'm on. Take a look."That's how I found out about Doing Business: An Independent Evaluation. Released on June 12, the report criticizes Doing…

Recently our affiliated website socialinvestments.com commented on a report that the ECT Group has sold its recycling business to May Gurney (MG) in order to achieve scale (for the commentary click here). As over 80% of its turnover was in the recycling area one could effectively say that ECT has sold itself to MG—the remaining businesses will either be sold (like rail operations) or managed as a small remaining social enterprise (like the transport business). Readers of our blog will know that we normally applaud when successful social entrepreneurs sell out. For example, see our comments…

This blog has been reposted because the original version was somehow replaced by a pharmaceuticals advert- apologies for any confusion. One of the big challenges for companies operating in the Social Business sector is managing growth in the business without sacrificing social principles. There are many examples which would suggest that once a Social Business reaches a certain size its owners sell out to large corporates or private equity companies (The Body Shop, Ben and Jerry’s and Green and Black’s, to name but a few). Inevitably, this leads to loss of control and, in many cases, a…

In May I had the privilege of travelling to Paris to speak at a conference hosted by BNP Paribas. In the audience were 200 of its 300 wealthiest High Net Worth (HNW) clients—and the theme was “Philanthropy and Responsible Investment. By now you are probably thinking what I was thinking—it’s amazing that 2/3 of their richest clients showed up to hear about this topic. Or perhaps, “I wonder what happens when they have their real conference—you know the one on investments, tax planning and all that other stuff wealthy people REALLY care about.” It turns out however this WAS the…

As a social business blog it seemed appropriate to offer a tribute to Sarah Dodds, a great Social Business Champion and remarkable individual, who recently passed away–this can be read below. Friends and colleagues of Sarah’s, anxious to communicate with each other, should click on the link in the section below in order to participate in a dedicated blog to Sarah organised by Nick Temple and Jessica Shortall. At the end of this post we have also added, at the request of Ben Metz, a note from the Dodds family detailing how you can make a donation in her honour. Over 30,000 extra…

Earlier this week we attended the ‘Good Deals’, social investment conference hosted by Phil Hope in his capacity as Minister for the Third Sector and NESTA. Although I am normally cynical about such things in this case my concerns were mis-placed. The conference was successful, well-attended and interesting. One of the most fascinating examples was a brief presentation by Red Button Design, and the co-founders James Brown and Amanda Jones. Their product, a simple water-carrier and purefier was an intriguing solution for developing world consumers, but what made them really stand…

When doing the 29 Day Giving Challenge, I found out about Heart is Hot from a posting by Cami Walker.  Heart is Hot, is a goodwill movement designed to remind us all that we are connected. On this website you can purchase a 100% recycled glass heart. Each heart is individually numbered so you can log into the site and write a story about the person you're gifting it to. The recipient can then log in and write a story about receiving it. They are then encouraged to "re-gift" the heart and pass on the love to another person, who in turn writes a story. The hearts are tracked all…

Kristin Taliaferro's mission is help people actively create the life they dream of. I was referred to her by a friend who transformed his career, as a result of one-on-one coaching with Kristin. I took her online course, 12 Weeks to an Amazing Life, and it was an excellent program to help simply your life and create time and energy to enjoy what is important to you.  Kristin has a BA in Psychology, is an ICF Master Certified Coach, and is the resident Life & Career Coach for iVillage. She has been featured in numerous magazines such as Entrepreneur, Women's Day and Family…

Click the image to view a video featuring, Signh, a Chicago artist, who has taken on an amazing project. He decided to choose a mantra to be repeated 1,000,000 times using scrap wood from his artwork. Every single piece of wood is hand cut with a jigsaw, and he creates each one with care. When you purchase an It's Ok sign, you get a card that indicates which number in the edition you're receiving along with details of the project. If that isn't enough, for every sign sold, one tree will be planted by Signh through the Arbor Day Foundation. All of the reverse pieces of wood are being saved and…

Many people in our lives are in perpetual motion. Despite a full day of work, long commutes, and endless obligations – when free time is finally within reach, their only logical choice is more activity.  My husband and I are big fans of simplicity, and have the philosophy that “there’s no place like home.” When trying to explain this to a new acquaintance, she gave me a look of disbelief, then asked -- as if we were the most boring couple in the world, “What do you do?!” Last night I came across this essay, The Love I Choose, by Jessica of Grand Forks,…

Best Buddies was created in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver to end the social isolation for people with intellectual disabilities. Through their programs, one-on-one friendships are established between disabled and non-disabled peers to build confidence and self-esteem. The program has grown to include more than 350,000 people throughout the United States and six continents. "As with any successful social movement, the key to change is changing people’s minds and hearts. By introducing one person with a disability to a peer who does not have a disability, Best Buddies meets the immediate…

Today I helped out Julia Arlita Sánchez Salinas in Tarapoto - San Martin, Peru.With this loan for $350, which will be returned after 4 months, she will buy necessary ingredients to prepare her various typical dishes, such as rice, sacks of sugar, gallons of oil, condiments, and so on. She will also buy meats such as beef, chicken, and cubed pork daily so she can prepare a variety of meals to the delight of her customers and others who visit her. Julia is a happy and enthusiastic woman of 28 years. She is already a succesful woman, and has dreams of getting ahead to forge herself a better…

I searched Kiva on old loans, and found this one on the last page. Its to the Savey Chea Village Bank Group in Preak Thom Village, Cambodia for a variety of businesses.

I made a loan today to Julia Maria Vega in Managua, Nicaragua. She is using it to build a wall for her store front.

I got my first notice yesterday that one of the Kiva loans I was on was about to expire unless others help fund it. It was funded by the time I got my email, but it shows how Kiva is getting more loans than lenders.I chose this loan 'cause it was one of the oldest and had the fewest bids. Its to the NARIRURWE WEST C Group in Iganga, Uganda for various businesses.

I made a loan to the first one I saw - the Bugambilia Group from Guatemala. I just loved the clothes.

Although I will miss my first 4th of July weekend living in the United States, I’m thrilled to be able to join my country’s own national celebration this weekend. I’m sitting right now at a gate at Dulles waiting for my flight to Bogota to start boarding, and I cannot wait to get over there and talk to my taxi driver to feel the optimism that must be ramping up all over the country because of yesterday’s extraordinary news. I wanted to share this feeling with you before leaving and invite you to follow the coverage through your network of preference -- CNN, BBC, Economist, Globovision…

Two quick notes: First, the Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative at the UN Development Program formally launched their report called Creating Value for All.  In it, you'll find some policy prescriptions, case studies, a strategy matrix and - perhaps most interesting - heat maps.  Hat tip to PSD Blog's Ryan Hahn for finding and posting one of these heat maps (in this case, of cell phone penetration in South Africa.) Of course, the data on this particular heat map are from 2000, which means they are likely from surveys conducted in 1998 or 1999.  When looking at cell phone…

If there was ever a good summer to be in Spain, 2008 was it. Not only because of the great celebrations that surely followed Torres' match-winning goal last Sunday, but also because of the remarkable Expo Zaragoza 08. Titled "Water and Sustainable Development", the Expo will be a three-month long venue --already underway through mid-September-- full of movies, shows, live performances, talks, and discussions among experts from all over the globe to celebrate water and raise awareness about its role in our planet. The venue is timely in its purpose of "radically changing the…

NextBillion.net and its sponsors - World Resources Institute and Acumen Fund - have released a request for proposal to overhaul the site.Since its founding in 2005, NextBillion.net has grown to become one of the more prominent websites and blogs discussing base of the pyramid (BoP) approaches to poverty and environmental degradation. As part of NextBillion.net's recently-signed partnership between WRI and Acumen Fund, we are funding a round of upgrades to the site that are aimed at improving user experience and making the information on-site easier to find, use and share.As we noted on…

Position: Business Development Associate/AnalystLocation: New York CityOrganization: Acumen Fund is a global non-profit venture capital fund serving the four billion people living on less than $4 a day. Its objective is to create a blueprint for building financially sustainable and scalable organizations that deliver affordable, critical goods and services that elevate the lives of the poor. Acumen Fund invests debt and equity in enterprises delivering critical goods and services to the poor in South Asia and East Africa.Description: Acumen Fund's Business Development team is responsible…

I just learned from Dick Morris that political and social media pioneer Tony Schwartz died this weekend. While he is perhaps best known for a TV commercial that ran only once but changed the course of an election (the Daisy ad) and his media work for other political candidates, he is also owed a debt of gratitude for his influence on social marketing as well.Among the more than 20,000 spots Tony recorded in his lifetime were the first anti-smoking commercials. A 1961 ad featuring children dressing up in their parents' clothing in front of a mirror ("Children learn by imitating their parents.

For some reason, my blog has decided to stage a rebellion. It got used to slacking off and resented my putting up a new post. Until I figure out how to fix it, you can find all of the sidebar items usually found on the right side, sitting in a big pile on the bottom of the page, too lazy to lift themselves up to the top. A thousand pardons...Photo Credit: Robert Brook

The second National Conference on Health Communication, Media and Marketing, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is coming up in August. This year I'm on the planning committee, and it looks to be an even bigger and better affair this year than last. Early bird registration is open through June 13th. Here's all the details:National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media 2008 The second National Conference on Health Communication, Media and Marketing sponsored by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Marketing and…

It's been way too long since the last installment of the Tip Jar, my collection of recent odds and ends from the world of social marketing to pass along to you. So let's unscrew that jar and see what falls out...How much effect would you think a checkbox would have on someone's decision whether or not to become a potential organ donor? When the checkbox on the form at the DMV is "opt-out" versus "opt-in" to the organ donation program, consent rates are much higher. In both cases, people generally adopt the default option, but with opposite results, even among people with similar…

In recognition of the fact that lately I've been neglecting my blog in favor of Twitter, I am doing penance with a bit of humor.You know you spend too much time on Twitter when...... you start calling your family things like @Dad or @Rachky in conversations.... you only speak in short bursts of 140 characters and self-edit to use synonyms with fewer letters.... you make decisions about what you'll have for lunch based on how interesting it will sound on Twitter.... you find yourself thinking up new Alltop topics in the hopes of getting Kawasakied.... you make a new offline friend and announce…

The United States Bureau of Land Management has reversed itself on a freeze it implented on solar development on public lands. The moratorium had been announced just a month ago, but public pressure forced the agency to undo the decision.  Thus, the government will continue to accept applications for plants to be built across the West (official website for the project here). The freeze came on May 29, when, if you recall, the energy crisis wasn’t really doing any better. The Bureau had stated it would not accept applications for solar power plants until a study had been done on the…

“As GM goes, so goes the nation.” the old adage goes. So perhaps it’s not surprising that with the United States economy teetering on a precipice amidst record high oil prices, that Merrill Lynch analysts described a General Motors bankruptcy as “not impossible” yesterday. The Wall Street investment bank said that the American automaker could need to raise up $15 Billion in capital to stay solvent should the auto market continue to slump. In accompanying news GM’s share price slumped to a 54-year low on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday. Honestly,…

So I found this awesome new site called Wordle - where you can create fun word maps out of text! Just enter in the text you want (something you wrote, an excerpt you love etc… ) and you’ll get a fun visual representation. Above is a TakePart wordle that I made! takepart to make your own wordle today and spread the word on words you love! (more…)

The contradiction of American “Independent” cinema has always perplexed me. How can something be independent if at the end of the day somebody buys it and the creative folks behind the project (mostly the director) give up their ownership rights to a studio or distribution company? It’s a question I often ask myself as the popular model of independent cinema for the past 15+ years has been for the filmmakers to actively seek out dependence. When Miramax and Sundance hit the media, the model of independent filmmaking switched from one where directors maintained creative…

Social Action + Cinema Videos of the Day: Israel, Palestine and The Red Shoes 1) Israel & Palestine to co-host World Cup in 2018? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll-oEOPUeEE For the Cinema YouTube Video of the Day, Click here (more…)

So many goodies in this article about the rise of social venture funds: This year, socially conscious venture funds are ramping up at an unprecedented scale. At least seven new and follow-on funds billed as mission-driven investment vehicles are on track to raise about $750 million this year “It’s really peaked in the last six months,” says David Chen, founder of Equilibrium Capital, a planned $200 million fund focused on the cleantech and wellness sectors. Since he began raising the fund last fall, Chen has seen a marked increase in interest levels from investors of all stripes in the…

Check out Creative Capitalism blog: Creative Capitalism: A Conversation is a web experiment designed to produce a book — a collection of essays and commentary on capitalism, philanthropy and global development — to be edited by us and published by Simon and Schuster in the fall of 2008. The book takes as its starting point a speech Bill Gates delivered this January at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In it, he said that many of the world’s problems are too big for philanthropy–even on the scale of the Gates Foundation. And he said that the free-market capitalist…

BUILD’s mission is to provide real-world entrepreneurial experience that empowers youth from under-resourced communities to excel in education, lead in their communities, and succeed professionally. By supporting students in developing and actually running their own small businesses, BUILD puts entrepreneurial education far beyond the classroom into a tangible context. BUILD students come from neighborhoods where the high school drop-out rate ranges from 50% to 70%; yet, to date, 100% of BUILD graduates have graduated from high school and enrolled in college. Interested candidates can learn…

Social Venture Network (SVN), the country’s leading network of socially responsible entrepreneurs, announced today that it is now accepting applications for the 2nd Annual SVN Innovation Awards. The Innovation Awards program supports the “next generation” of socially responsible business and nonprofit leaders by providing them access to the people and resources to help develop their ideas into successful enterprises. “SVN is again inviting the next generation of socially responsible entrepreneurs to apply for the Innovation Awards,” said Deborah Nelson, Executive…

One of the most exciting developments we’ve had in the last year was the success of our inaugural Search and Give program where your queries helped to raise more than $250,000 for local schools and non-profits. By signing up at http://www.searchandgive.com/, consumers can start donating one cent per search to more than 100,000 schools and 900,000 non-profit organizations worldwide every time they use the Live Search to find whatever interests them. People can also convert tickets they’ve earned playing games on Microsoft’s Live Search Club, at http://www.club.live.com/, into…

While I visited my bubbe (that's Yiddish for grandmother) at a Catholic hospital where she was recovering from laproscopic surgery, the local news was airing on the TV in her room. It announced that Barack Obama promised to up the ante on George Bush's failed faith-based services initiative if he is elected president, pouring millions more dollars into religious organizations. read more

The nonprofit world has been abuzz lately with talk of the sheer number of nonprofit organizations. How many should we have? How many is too many? How do we get rid of some of them? read more

I have always had a dog.  I grew up with dogs and as an adult I now own a dog.  It is my  love of dogs that made me want to be a veterinarian.    read more

Working with the Volunteer Chore Program has proved to be very rewarding, not only for myself as the Program Director, but also for the 100+ volunteers that put in their time and talents each year to help seniors and adults with disabilities who are low-income in our community. Volunteer Chore Program read more

The Volunteer Chore Program serves seniors and adults wtih disabilities who are low-income. Volunteers assist with tasks such as housecleaning, laundry, yard work, essential transportation, and minor home repairs in order to help our clients remain living independently as long as possible.