I just read Noland Hoshino’s tale of Carrying a Cow for a Cause on the Heifer Portland website. He and Bryan Dainty were at BlogWorld as part of our Name Your Cause campaign. Haley the Cow was a big hit with everyone who visited the eBay/PayPal #Superbooth. (Full disclosure, I LOVE Heifer International. Every Christmas [...]
Good
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What Gives!?
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Heifer International & Haley the Cow
11 Nov 2009 | 11:00 am -
Incubus Gets Their Charity On with eBay Auction
10 Nov 2009 | 5:21 pmIncubus is rocking our world. Now that WhatGives!? is a part of Cause Media Group, we get the inside scoop on charity auctions created by our sister company, Kompolt. The Incubus Make Yourself Foundation has raised well over a million dollars for worthwhile causes, and the band continues to amaze us with their philanthropic ways. [...] -
Take the First Step…
8 Nov 2009 | 9:18 pmWell, even though [re]think: Hawaii has ended (pause for deep sigh), I can’t stop thinking about the fact that so many of the online success stories I heard throughout the week started with, “I didn’t really know what I was doing, but…” Jill Buck just wanted to teach her children about environmentalism and ended up [...] -
Guy Kawasaki
6 Nov 2009 | 12:20 amYou can’t spend a week at a conference like [re]think: Hawaii without hearing the name Guy Kawasaki. As a co-founder of RSS aggregator site Alltop and partner in venture capital investment group Garage Technologies Ventures he’s a force in his home state and across the worldwide web. We had a chance to chat with him a [...] -
From Local to Global: Tweeting for Hunger Relief
3 Nov 2009 | 5:02 pmFrom Hunger To Hope is a World Hunger Relief effort intended to raise awareness, volunteerism, and funds online –with Christina Aguilera as the campaign’s Global Spokesperson. World Hunger Relief is the largest private sector hunger relief effort in the world, spanning over 110 countries, thousands of participating restaurants, and over a million employees. They’re doing [...]
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Have Fun • Do Good
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Midlife Food Crisis: What Is Your Food Story?
8 Nov 2009 | 8:56 amI've been having a little bit of a midlife food crisis. Ever since I saw Alicia Silverstone on The Joy Behar Show talking about her new book The Kind Diet, there has been this little voice in my head bugging me each time I'm choosing what to eat that says, "Eat less animal products."You have to understand, I was a vegetarian, and then a vegan for most of my twenties, and then a full on meat eater in my 30s (Thought: maybe my body likes different diets for different decades?). We don't cook a lot of meat at home, but I do love milk and eggs, and once in a while, a good hamburger.You can see… -
Come On, U.S., Give the Kids Their Rights
6 Nov 2009 | 2:53 pmNovember 20, 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). According to UNICEF, "The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rightscivil, cultural, economic, political and social rights."Only two United Nations member states have not ratified it: Somalia and the United States.Did you just say, "What?" Yeah, me too.I'm not entirely sure why the U.S. hasn't ratified the Convention. It seems like a no-brainer. According to The Huffington Post article, Obama… -
People Powered Movement Photo Contest
4 Nov 2009 | 2:09 pmI'm a big walker. Because of where we live, I can walk to the grocery store, drug store, post office, gym, library, doctor's office, and the BART, which will take me into San Francisco, where I can walk some more.Consequently, I was pretty excited when the Alliance for Biking and Walking asked me to spread the word about their People Powered Movement Photo Contest.The Alliance for Biking and Walking creates, strengthens, and unites state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations. One resource its member organizations have requested is high quality images of biking and walking to… -
Turn Your Book Club Into a Social Action Club with Kristof and WuDunn's Half the Sky
30 Oct 2009 | 3:31 pmNicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, "lays out an agenda for the world's women and three major abuses: sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence including honor killings and mass rape; maternal mortality, which needlessly claims one woman a minute."Even though Kristof and WuDunn focus on solutions as well as problems around these issues, reading about them might feel overwhelming. Why not transform that overwhelm into action by registering your book club with the Mercy Corps Half the Sky Book… -
Have Fun Do Good Link Love: Echoing Green, Jobs for Change, Julia Cameron and 29 Gifts
30 Oct 2009 | 12:15 pmNEWSThis week, Echoing Green partnered with Jobs for Change on a new Be Bold Podcast. In the first edition of this partnership, I interviewed Erin O'Connor Jones, the Director of Candidate Services and Managing Associate at Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group.I talked with Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way, this month for the Arts and Healing Network's podcast: The Artist's Way Every Day: A Chat with author, Julia CameronI have 3 new posts up on the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship blog:Social Media Resources and Inspiration for Independent FilmmakersKickstarter: Funding…
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Riches For Good
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2009 Riches For Good Award Winners
10 Nov 2009 | 8:55 pmAs we go into the 2009 holiday giving season, I am highlighting and funding four organizations that I believe are well aligned with my career mission to “Improve the lives of underserved populations through sustainable distribution of products and services related to 1) health, 2) education and training, 3) financial services, 4) food, clothing, and shelter.” Health: Living Goods Education and Training: Room to Read Financial Services: Unitus Food, Clothing, and Shelter: One Acre Fund I have funded Room to Read and Unitus in the past, and I continue to be impressed with both… -
Where Does Idealism Fit Into My Busy Life?
3 Nov 2009 | 10:42 pmEver since my wife completed her medical training in mid-2009, I have been able to spend significantly more time with her, and consequently, I have had much less time to devote to Riches For Good (both the blog and the concept).This time shortage has been compounded since the birth of my first son, Grant, in August.During the last couple months, I have spent considerable time contemplating how to incorporate my idealism into my increasingly busy life, an issue I’m guessing that many readers of this blog also face...To direct me in my efforts, and to ensure that I’m spending time on the… -
International Social Business Program Rankings
23 Aug 2009 | 8:28 amBelow is my ranking of international social business programs. I started with the US News MBA rankings for top International, Marketing, Nonprofit, and Entrepreneurship programs. The top rated program in each field got 10 points, the 2nd ranked got 9 points, etc. Additionally, programs got 10 bonus points for each discipline in which they received a top 10 ranking. The results are below: School Int'l Rank Mktg Rank Non-profit Rank Ent Rank Int'lSoc Ent Rank University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 3 2 7 4 1 Stanford University - 4 2 2 2 University of California--Berkeley (Haas) 10 9 3 7 3 Duke… -
Adoption - Introducing Grant Gunderson
22 Aug 2009 | 3:49 pmGrant Gunderson - pictured at 6 days oldGrant Gunderson was placed for adoption with me and my wife on Friday, August 14, 2009. The adoption process has been one of many reasons why I have not been able to devote a great deal of time to Riches For Good in recent months. Although this is a diversion from topics related to global poverty, I thought I'd take a moment to share my joy with everyone.I certainly view adopting Grant as a way of spending my riches for good. And indeed, it cost a small fortune to adopt him, though the price was more reasonable through LDS Family Services than through… -
English as an Official Language
4 Jul 2009 | 7:36 amWhen I went to Zambia last October, I was surprised that almost everyone there speaks English, including most of the poor rural farmers I met. It was obvious to me that although I lived in Thailand for two years as a missionary during the 1990s and gained a proficiency in the Thai language, I was able to communicate more easily in Zambia from day one since English is my native language. It opened up the idea that it may be easier for me to do business in an African country (or start a social enterprise there) than I had previously anticipated.To open others' eyes, I'm listing all countries or…
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Good Guide
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Nano Health Effects at a Distance
9 Nov 2009 | 10:08 pmNanotechnology is increasingly in the news, both for the benefits that it could bring – and for the very uncertain risks it could pose to our health. Last week, British university researchers reported a startling result from a toxicology experiment. They exposed human cells to nano-scale cobalt-chromium and used a human cell barrier of 4 cells thick to protect the cells. To their surprise, the metal seemed to interfere with the DNA inside the cells, by sending chemical signals through the barrier. A medical law expert, Professor Thomas Faunce said, What [this latest research is] saying is… -
A Food Fight between Kids, Parents...and Regulators
5 Nov 2009 | 6:39 pmThe fight over food labels, health claims, and industry marketing is heating up. Last week, the food industry voluntarily suspended the Smart Choices program after the FDA announced they would be looking into the program. And today, Kellogg’s announced that they are discontinuing labeling cereals such as Cocoa Crispies and Rice Crispies as helping to “support your child’s immunity”, after the San Francisco city attorney sent a letter to the company asking them to back up these immunity claims. As Marion Nestle explains, these types of food claims fall into a loosely regulated, grey… -
Denmark Exposes the Risks of Two-Year Olds
29 Oct 2009 | 9:02 pmWith two young nephews, I’m very concerned about their exposures to chemicals in consumer products and food, since we don’t know how all the chemicals may add up or how they may interact. Based on what science we do have, it’s possible that multiple chemical exposures may lead to much higher risks. With strong government support, scientists working in Europe continue to shed more light on these risks. Last week, Denmark’s Environmental Protection Agency released a stunning report by three researchers on the total exposure of two-year olds to selected endocrine disrupting chemicals in… -
Are Froot Loops a "Smart Choice"?
23 Oct 2009 | 11:58 pmSmart Choices, an industry-supported initiative to certify foods for nutritional benefits, is under fire in the press and the halls of government. At issue is the fact that products such as Froot Loops, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Crispies, Ritz Bitz Peanut Butter Chocolately Blast crackers, Mayonnaise, and Fudgesicles receive the Smart Choices “green check” of approval. Critics lament that while products such as Froot Loops do contain fiber, vitamins, and minerals, they also contain 12 grams of sugar per serving - which is 41% of the product by weight. The media has had no problem finding… -
Healthy and Sustainable Seafood
20 Oct 2009 | 9:04 amFinding safe, healthy, and sustainable seafood may have just gotten a lot easier. The Monterey Bay Aquarium released a new report today on the State of Seafood, along with what they call “The Super Green List” of seafood that is both healthy and sustainably harvested. This list responds to a concern of many consumers over the last few years. While it was possible to find out which species of fish were most over-fished from one set of websites and lists, it required looking to other websites and lists to find out which fish were likely to contain the most mercury, PCBs, and other…
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The Greater Good Blog
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Thinking Way Outside the Box
6 Nov 2009 | 7:00 amThose of you considering a stint in the Peace Corps, or just a big move overseas, take note: A recent study has documented a link between living abroad and creativity. In the study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers William Maddux and Adam Galinsky had people participate in a variety of tasks meant to measure their creativity, including a word association task, a drawing exercise, a test of their “insight creativity”—their ability to see problems from different perspectives and find hidden solutions—and a measure of their “interpersonal… -
Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught?
30 Oct 2009 | 6:00 amSince Daniel Goleman popularized the term “emotional intelligence” (EI), studies have found that high EI is associated with lots of good things, including academic and occupational success, resistance to stress, and better relationships. But is EI something we can learn, or is it something we’ve got to be born with? © Mido Photography Cognitive scientist Delphine Nelis and colleagues recently tried to figure this out. In their study, published in Personality and Individual Differences, they divided roughly 40 college students into two groups. One attended four two-and-a-half hour… -
The Happiness of Pursuit: A Review of Curious?
28 Oct 2009 | 3:40 pmIn Curious?, George Mason University psychologist Todd Kashdan provides self-help backed by science, toting curiosity as the means to a fulfilling life. Kashdan asks his readers: Is life really all about achieving happiness, or is it actually the pursuit of happiness that gives our lives purpose and meaning? Assisted by experimental data, stories from his therapy practice, and his own life experiences, Kashdan argues that it is the drive for knowledge, fulfillment, and happiness, motivated by one’s curiosity, that allows for meaningful personal growth. “Two simple processes—triggering… -
The Horse Boy
27 Oct 2009 | 6:00 amPlease give your heart and soul a treat and see the documentary film The Horse Boy, now opening in theaters nationwide. (See http://www.horseboymovie.com for a list of upcoming screenings.) I recently saw the film at the Mill Valley Film Festival and can’t recommend it highly enough. The film documents a family’s journey to Mongolia in search of a way to heal their son, Rowan, who has been diagnosed with autism. They travel to Mongolia to ride horses–because even sitting on a horse calms Rowan’s tantrums, which can last up to four hours–and to visit remote shamans, whose…
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How to Save the World
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REPOST: Do We Really Want to Know? (with first 50 reader comments appended)
10 Nov 2009 | 10:27 pmBLOG Comments on November 4, 2009 post "Do We Really Want to Know?" not yet posted Because Radio Userland is capping comments at 50 per article, and because I wanted to capture these comments for posterity anyway, and because some people wanted to post more comments, I'm reposting my article from November 4, 2009, with the first 50 comments embedded at the end of the article, so there should be room for lots more now! -- Dave _______________________________________________________________________ BLOG Do We Really Want to Know the Truth? There's an interesting article by Elizabeth… -
Hacking the Tar Sands: Some Early Thoughts
10 Nov 2009 | 6:32 pmBLOG Hacking the Tar Sands One of the projects I'm proposing to undertake over the next few months is facilitating the organization of opponents to the Alberta Tar Sands and holding Open Space brainstorming sessions to identify creative, clever ways to disrupt and ultimately close down the Tar Sands without anyone getting hurt or arrested. This will take a lot of ingenuity, and I think I can contribute to that, but I also thought it might be useful to use a combination of Donella Meadows' "ways to intervene in a system", and business process analysis and risk assessment methodologies, to list… -
Links and Tweets of the Week -- November 7, 2009
7 Nov 2009 | 7:51 pmBLOG Links and Tweets of the Week -- November 7, 2009 What's wrong with this picture? The Standard & Poor's 500 Public US Companies' P/E ratio has historically traded at around 17, which assumes healthy growth in profits for big corporations indefinitely into the future. What, then, does a P/E ratio of 150 mean? It means that trillions of dollars of taxpayer money (which future generations will have to repay), given to financial institutions to bail them out, is being dumped into the stock market because it has nowhere else to go (bonds paying 0.5% interest, nope, real estate, nope nope… -
Do We Really Want to Know?
3 Nov 2009 | 10:42 pmBLOG Do We Really Want to Know the Truth? There's an interesting article by Elizabeth Kolbert in this week's New Yorker on vegetarianism, and specifically on the disconnect between our adoration of pets and our tolerance for the horrific, lifelong suffering of the animals we eat. It's really about human nature, Kolbert argues, and specifically that we just don't want to know about atrocities and suffering we don't feel we have any control over. This was the subject of JM Coetzee's book Elizabeth Costello, that I reviewed six years ago. Here's an excerpt from the book: Seven o'clock, the sun… -
Words to the Wise
2 Nov 2009 | 7:17 pmBLOG Words to the Wise The grid above is not connected to the clues below. If you want to try one of my complete puzzles, you'll find this grid, and the clues to it, and a link to the answers, here. For many years I've been a fan of crossword puzzles, and occasionally I'll stumble across a clue that is devilishly clever. I keep scribbling them down, and today, for a change of pace, I'm going to inflict them on you. They aren't the notorious British-style 'cryptic' crossworld clues, but they're deliberately ambiguous, and witty. So here they are. An underscore indicates a letter, and to make…
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What's a BOPreneur?
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Conflicted on Conferences
24 Oct 2009 | 1:20 pmThere are a lot of conferences. And more and more are in the fields of social entrepreneurship, clean technology and green business. Just this weekend, one could attend Poptech in Maine, Social Venture Network in La Jolla or the Energy Justice Program in Boulder. Is this a good thing? What is all this conferring doing to make the world a better place? Here are a few issues that concern me. 1. It's hard to keep up. In the room in Boulder are people who would also be good participants in Maine. Some of the conversations seem to be similar. And we could sure use Esther Duflo in our conversations… -
A BIG Deal
11 Oct 2009 | 1:05 pmIn 2003, two guys (with whom I used to work) started a company. No big deal. Happens all the time.At first, the company looked at using some new vaccine delivery technology. Both guys had other jobs. But they wanted to build a company together. They had a start on the WHO, but not really the WHAT yet.But they were fortunate. One of them lived in a town where the Centers for Disease Control has laboratories. And where the land grant university has a number of scientists working on infectious diseases in the developing world. And a few non-profits that were working on products and services to… -
3 Billion Served?
22 Sep 2009 | 1:21 pmWhen I was a kid, the McDonald's signs kept me updated on how many billions had been served. The year I was born (1958), in it's 10th year of business, it hit 100 million. When I turned 5, McDonalds hit 1 billion. About the time I reached 6 feet, it reached 10 billion burgers. By 1984, when I graduated from law school, McD's reached 50 billion. A few years later it stopped counting.What does this have to do with BOPreneurs? Well, this simple metric illustrates a great example of scaling up an international business. Jim Collin's writes about the flywheel effect of gradual, increasing momentum… -
Definitions and Metrics (yawn)
8 Sep 2009 | 7:08 amSoCap09 had many sessions, blogs and tweets on metrics and ratings. And the "social entrepreneurship" field seems to have a fascination with definitions. Dare I say it is a morbid one? (I do.)Today, Ashoka x-posted Adrienne Villani's blog on the question: "can you be a social entrepreneur if you aren't the head honcho?" Why do we care so much who gets to wear this coveted badge? Does it actually make a difference where it counts- solving the issues of poverty, environment and health in the BOP? I'm skeptical.So, why do I think this fascination with definitions and metrics is "morbid"? Because… -
IDDS-y Bitsy
28 Jul 2009 | 12:18 pmA few random quotes and descriptions from the last few days in Kumasi.Bob Nanes (IDE Ghana): "You don't sell people a product, you sell them a dream. You may be making a chlorine water purifier, but you are selling them the vision of healthy children." At the KNUST university books store, there was a pile of World Bank books on African development for sale for 200 cedis. That is about $142. I guess they want to sell a lot of them. The store also had one copy of Good to Great, for 25 cedis. That title seemed to be harder to keep in stock. Hmmm.Bob Nanes: "Don't reinvent channels. There are…
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Gail Goodwin's Blog
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Unlimited Possibility
11 Nov 2009 | 4:59 amWe live the majority of our lives trying to fit into boxes that our society has created. We base our education, our friendships, our careers and the vast majority of our decisions on what is “expected”. What we believe may be possible gets pushed aside by what we believe is probable. But what if you didn’t know any better? What if you believed in unlimited possibility? What if you were an alien that just beamed onto Earth and you didn’t know the rules? What if you didn’t know the way things were done and you were free to create a solution to any problem or…
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The Road to the Horizon
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The Wild West of Pakistan
11 Nov 2009 | 1:56 pmThere are plenty of things I have seen in my travels around the world, I can unfortunately not write about. However, when I come across a video or an article that reminds me of some experiences, I surely can post them.Here is an intriguing video from the tribal areas in Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan.Video courtesy VBS TV -
Picture of the Day: Shot and Charred
10 Nov 2009 | 8:24 pmA charred bulletproof vest lays in the burnt-out UN Kabul guesthouse, which was attacked last week. (Full)More Pictures of the Day on The Road.Picture courtesy Peter Nicholls/The Times -
My angels
10 Nov 2009 | 3:51 pmI was home, in Belgium, for the weekend. It is at those moments I realize how deep a father's love runs. Lana and Hannah are 15 and 12 now. -
"Honey, look what I bought you for Xmas!" or "There are digital pictures... and then there are digital pictures..."
10 Nov 2009 | 2:16 amI love to take pictures. It feels as if I can experience the things around me much more intensively when I take pictures of it. It is only then I discover details I would have overlooked otherwise. Even when I review a picture, months or years later, I can revive the feeling I had when I took it. And I love a good picture.Since my 15 year old analog (that's right: using film!) Minolta reflex camera died ("Sorry sir, we don't repair cameras older than five years"), I have not had a decent camera. Most of the pictures on my blog are shot using a nine year old Fujipix digital camera, Tine's… -
Picture of the Day: Malaysia floods
10 Nov 2009 | 2:15 amCows and abandoned vehicles stranded on a tiny strip of land surrounded by flood water in Jeram Perdas northeast of the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. (Full)Have a close look at that picture. Surreal...More Pictures of the Day on The Road.Picture courtesy Reuters/The New Straits Times Press/Fathil Asri
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Tactical Philanthropy
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Philanthropy Daily Digest
11 Nov 2009 | 5:07 pmVPP | Chairman's Corner: Here Comes the Sun, Part 2 Mario Marino writes a follow up to his last piece on transparency in philanthropy. This essay looks, in part, at the "dark side to the Transparency Revolution." (tags: philanthropy) The Attack from Within | Philanthropy Central Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, one day after criticizing "outsiders" for attacking philanthropy turns inward and questions recent essays by David Hunter and Mark Kramer. (tags: philanthropy) Social Networking and Mid-Size Nonprofits: What’s the Use? :… -
The Art of Giving: Participation & Collaboration
11 Nov 2009 | 8:52 amI led a discussion last night with a group of major donors and a handful of social entrepreneurs about the impact of the web on philanthropy. One of the big take aways for me was that to the extent the web makes philanthropy more transactional (which was the point of Web 1.0) it is not particularly helpful. But to the extent the web can bring people together to participate and collaborate (the concept of Web 2.0), it offers unique potential for the future of philanthropy. For me, the value of the web to stimulate participation and collaboration was on display last week during the debate… -
Philanthropy Daily Digest
10 Nov 2009 | 5:03 pmPhilanthropy – WSJ.com The Wall Street Journal has published its annual special Philanthropy section. (tags: philanthropy) Why Give? Because Your (College Nonprofit Entrepreneur) Friends Asked | Social Entrepreneurship | Change.org Nathaniel Whittemore thinks the "wonky" Tactical Philanthropy community has missed the point on why people give. (tags: philanthropy) The Intrepid Philanthropist Blog | Philanthropy Central A new group blog from Duke University features an all star cast of contributers including Ed Skloot, Joel Fleishman, Paul Light, Phil Buchanan, Vince Stehle and… -
Twitter, Philanthropy & Influence
10 Nov 2009 | 6:29 amThis is my newest column in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. You can find an archive of past columns here. Twitter Presents a Chance for Savvy Charities to Reach More People November 12, 2009 | Link of Chronicle of Philanthropy Late one Friday afternoon this fall, Matt Flannery, the co-founder of Kiva.org, posted a message on Twitter: “It seems like my Twitter account is getting attacked by spam. 500 new followers a minute. Anyone else experiencing this?” In fact, a small group of people who use Twitter to talk about philanthropy had also been inundated with followers. But the… -
Philanthropy Daily Digest
9 Nov 2009 | 5:06 pmMore Than Money, Part II « The Philanthropic Family Sharon Schneider looks at the five "buckets" (beyond your money) that can be drawn on to have an impact. (tags: philanthropy) Joanne's Nonprofits Blog: 5 Suggestions for High Leverage Charitable Giving Joanne Fritz of the About.com Nonprofit blog looks at the recommendations for effective philanthropy in the book The Art of Giving. (tags: philanthropy) The GiveWell Blog: Too much attention on the giver’s experience; not enough on the recipient’s Holden Karnofsky of GiveWell weighs in on the discussion about donor…
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Timbuktu Chronicles
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Gahaya Links
11 Nov 2009 | 6:02 amIn Bacher's Blog:Joy Ndungutse and Janet Nkubana are Rwandan women who were born in a refugee camp in Uganda. In 2003 they started a business assisting women to manufacture their own goods and sell them internationally. They began with six women working under a tree. Their task was to weave baskets of a quality that would stand the scrutiny of the international market...From that small group, the cooperative called Gahaya Links (after Janet and Joy’s grandfather), has grown to over 3,000 women! In one week, an average woman can make a set of three bowls, or two small friendship baskets.More… -
Chembe Ventures
10 Nov 2009 | 5:53 amChembe Ventures:...provides seed capital to mobile application developers, social media start-ups and web ventures in East and Southern Africa...its focus is on pre-revenue mobile value added services, digital payment solutions and emerging local social media web ventures. -
'Kilonshele' - “what’s going on”?
9 Nov 2009 | 5:07 amLoyOkezie reports: Kilonshele is a new e-commerce site that provides ticket sales, marketing and distribution services as well as connects the world to live entertainment events in Nigeria by providing up-to-date information on live events and giving fans opportunity to buy tickets conveniently.The word “Kilonshele” (pronounced – kee-lone-sheh-leh) is a Yoruba word meaning “what’s happening?” or “what’s going on”?More here -
I.B.Bayo
8 Nov 2009 | 3:05 amFrom their website:Featuring one of a kind handmade wearable art and home decor designed by I.B.Bayo. He uses appliqué and quilting techniques with African fabrics hand woven, dyed, and embroidered by his family in Osogbo, Nigeria. -
Quick Hits
7 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amNPR reports on Jekaben a board game that posits a United States Of Africa.IBM opens an innovation centre in Lagos. Foglamp provides "...research service for overseas investors focused on governance, transparency and regulatory dynamics..."African banks spread their wings-Africa report.
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Echoing Green Blog
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Ensaaf In The News
4 Nov 2009 | 4:32 pmLast Saturday marked the 25th anniversary of India's anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Over 3,000 Sikhs were killed and many families were torn apart during four days following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. According to an Ensaaf press release, "survivors are still waiting for justice." Founded in 2006 by Fellows Sukhman Dhami and Jaskaran Kaur, Ensaaf continuously works to end impunity and achieve justice for mass state crimes in Punjab--a predominately Sikh state. In the October 28th Time Magazine article entitled "India's 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots: Waiting for… -
Guest Post: Disasters in the Philippines, Natural and Manmade
4 Nov 2009 | 3:11 pmThe following post was written by 2007 Echoing Green Fellows Kevin Lee and Gemma Bulos in response to the recent typhoons in the Philippines. September 26th 2009, Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) made landfall in Luzon dumping over 12” of rain in 6 hrs on Manila and other parts of the National Capital Region. This caused massive urban flooding, 280+ deaths, destroyed homes and shelters of millions of people. Five days later, typhoon Pepeng (Parma) made landfall in northern Luzon, devastating agriculture in the Cagayan Valley. It then hung around the north west coast making landfall two more… -
Thirty Days to Apply: Our Tweet Challenge Is On!
2 Nov 2009 | 12:53 pmEven though it's only Monday, today is an exciting milestone for two reasons: a) We just zoomed past 100,000 followers on Twitter. Wow! b) There are only thirty days left to apply for the 2010 Echoing Green Fellowship! Last week, we were approached by a terrific supporter and member of Echoing Green's Social Investment Council, Kathryn Corro, with a terrific challenge idea. For every Tweet about the Echoing Green Fellowship deadline that includes the tag #EG2010, Kathryn will donate $1 to our operating fund (up to $1000)! We’re looking high and low for this year’s BEST ideas for… -
Echoing Green Partners with Jobs for Change on new Be Bold Podcast
29 Oct 2009 | 1:46 pmWe’re excited today to take the wraps off an exciting partnership to grow and expand our career-focused Be Bold Podcast. Last October, when we launched the Be Bold Podcast, we never imagined that it would touch so many people interested in developing careers with meaningful impact. The first sixteen episodes have been downloaded thousands of times in over thirty countries, and we have been thrilled with the steady stream of terrific listener questions. To accelerate the growth and impact on the sector, we’ve partnered with the fine people at Jobs for Change. Over the next several… -
Anne Tamar-Mattis Featured in The Economist
28 Oct 2009 | 2:51 pmAfter winning a gold medal, 18 year-old South African runner Caster Semenya received a great deal of media attention. Not because of Caster's victory, but because Caster's sex was called into question. This event spawned a number of discussions around intersexuality, including The Economist article "Intersexuality: A question of sex." 2008 Fellow Anne Tamar-Mattis and founder of Advocates for Informed Choice, was featured in the article, and she gives her expert advice on the topic of intersexuality in American society. Check out the full article in The Economist.
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Razoo
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Fresh Start Gives Free Surgeries to Children with Physical Deformities
2 Nov 2009 | 10:42 amOne month after Callie Ann Daugherty was born, her mother noticed a lump behind her ear. As Callie Ann grew, the lump kept growing, eventually covering the entire lower part of her face. It turned out be a hemangioma, a vascular tumor caused by weak blood vessels that left her face and lower lips deformed. Her mother sought help through many avenues, but was turned away because they had no health insurance and did not qualify for state help, since her income was above the stipulated limit.But when Callie Ann was about four years old, her luck turned for the better: Her mother found out about… -
Human Rights Watch Uncovers Brutality in Zimbabwean Diamond Mining
2 Nov 2009 | 10:42 amDiamonds may be beautiful, but many of the jewels have sordid stories behind them. In Zimbabwe, in particular, the US-based lobby group Human Rights Watch alleges that the country’s official army has forced thousands of villagers, including children, to work in dangerous conditions in the diamond mines. Those who are unwilling to do so have been brutally assaulted.Even more disturbingly, HRW’s report alleges that when the military regime illegally took over the Marange diamond fields last year, they murdered more than 200 people in their struggle to gain control of the… -
One Is Greater Than None: Teens Fight for Child Slaves' Freedom
2 Nov 2009 | 10:42 amFor most fifteen year olds, a new iPod or a Nintendo Wii would be an ideal birthday gift. But for Long Island teen Anjelica Mantikas, a simple phone call was the greatest present she could ever hope to receive.It wasn't just any call, of course: Anjelica's well-wishers were a group of African boys who’d spent most of their young lives in slavery, forced to work on fishing boats in Ghana’s Lake Volta under extremely dangerous conditions. Now, they were safe at the International Organization for Migration’s rehabilitation center, receiving medical treatment, counseling, and… -
ShelterBox Provides Portable Homes to People in Need
2 Nov 2009 | 10:42 amWhen a natural disaster strikes or a war breaks out, thousands of people are often left homeless. Shelters quickly become dangerously overcrowded, and it takes time to bring in temporary housing or build new construction. Emergency supplies, food, and basic medical equipment can also be tough to track down when so many people are injured and in need of aid. So how can we help people who’ve been displaced and have nowhere to turn?Tom Henderson, a British Rotary Club member and former search-and-rescue diver for the Royal Navy, came up with a solution in 2001: the ShelterBox. This simple,… -
11-Year-Old Zach Bonner Walks to the White House to Help Homeless Kids
2 Nov 2009 | 10:42 amAfter Hurricane Charlie devastated Florida in 2004, many homes in the state were blown apart, leaving entire families without shelter. Zach Bonner, of Tampa, was only six years old at the time—but he was touched by the suffering he saw around him, and decided he needed to step in to help. He began doing volunteer work in the community that year by collecting tarps, water, and other supplies for families in need, and, in the years since, his desire to give and help others has only grown.In 2005, Zach founded his own nonprofit organization, The Little Red Wagon Foundation. Zach uses the…
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World Economic Forum
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India Economic Summit 2009 Ends
10 Nov 2009 | 10:51 pmIndia’s security challenges are no different from those faced by other countries, Palaniappan Chidambaram, Minister of Home Affairs of India, told participants in the closing session of the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit 2009. “We are no more vulnerable than other countries,” he said. “We believe that we have the capacity to thwart any attack. Should there be an attack, we believe we have the capacity to contain it and respond in a swift and decisive manner.” Disruptions of law and order and the threat of terrorism “do not affect our capacity to promote investment… -
India Economic Summit - Baba N. Kalyani
6 Nov 2009 | 12:27 amBaba N. Kalyani, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Forge, India, discusses the upcoming India Economic Summit 2009, which takes place in New Delhi from 8-10 November 2009. -
Schwab Foundation announces India's Social Entrepreneurs of the Year
5 Nov 2009 | 11:39 pmThe Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has selected three social enterprises with significant impact in India as winners of the India Social Entrepreneurs Award for 2009: Rajendra Joshi, Managing Trustee, Saath; Brij Kothari, Director, PlanetRead; and Padmanabha and Rama Rao, Co-Directors, RIVER. These social entrepreneurs will be honoured at the India Economic Summit 2009 on Monday 9 November at 13:00 GMT in the presence of Anand Sharma, India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Venu Srinivasan,… -
India's Key Economic Strengths and Weaknesses in the Spotlight
5 Nov 2009 | 1:36 amThe Forum's The India Competitiveness Review 2009 was presented in the lead-up to the India Economic Summit in New Delhi on 8-10 November. The study analyses India’s performance in an international context. It makes comparisons with a number of countries, including the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brazil, revealing significant differences in performance. The review draws on the findings of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index 2009-2010. It provides an overview of the country’s current competitiveness landscape, highlighting… -
India Economic Summit - Carlos Ghosn
4 Nov 2009 | 11:31 pmCarlos Ghosn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Renault-Nissan, reflects about the challenges for India ahead of the India Economic Summit, which takes place in New Delhi, India from 8-10 November 2009.
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Green Parent Chicago
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Peanut Butter and Jelly Pie: Warning - Not for the Faint of Heart
6 Nov 2009 | 7:38 pmAs I've mentioned before, our street has to be one of the friendliest in Chicago. From progressive dinners to impromptu cocktails and playgroups on the street, there always seems to be something going on and Halloween is no exception. After the trick-or-treaters have gone home to admire their loot, the adult treats come out in a meal contributed by multiple households, including ours.With a benefit for Healthy Schools Campaign on Thursday night, a tour of school lunch programs on Friday, and the Evanston farmers' market Saturday morning, I needed a relatively simple dish to make (or… -
What If You Could Only See Good Ads Online?
5 Nov 2009 | 1:23 pmAs regular readers of Green Parent Chicago know, we support a less commercialized childhood, favor a return to the outdoors and often feature discussion on pervasive marketing tactics invading our everyday life and destroying our connection to the natural world. At Green Parent Chicago,we made the decision to only feature businesses that offer ethical alternatives to the multitude of products filling our homes and the earth's landfills with waste, products that support efforts to help level the playing field for workers and the environment. Recently, DoGood Headquarters contacted us about… -
It's You vs Winter: Keeping the Cold Outside
3 Nov 2009 | 6:15 pmAre you Interested in saving money on heating costs this winter while reducing greenhouse gas emissions?Attend a FREE home weatherization workshop sponsored by the City of Chicago Department of Environment and the Chicago Conservation Corps.All attendees will receive a FREE weatherization kit (with pledge to return installation confirmation card), and training on the installation of the kit contents. This workshop is open to all City of Chicago residents. All attendees are eligible to enter a raffle to win an American Express gift card. RSVP to youvswinter@gmail.com to reserve your… -
Book Review: HappyBaby--The Organic Guide to Baby's First 24 Months
1 Nov 2009 | 8:28 pmIronically, when my first child was born in 2000 at the dawn of a new millennium, there was little progress in the way of acceptance toward natural parenting. Finding baby slings, cloth diapers or nursing apparel in stores was an impossible task. The majority of states had yet to sign laws to protect a mother's right to breastfeed in public.Still my husband and I were committed to raising our children in the most natural way we could. We made the bulk of their baby food from scratch, cloth diapered, avoided disposable wipes, relied on thrifted or hand-me-down clothing and wore both… -
A Plateful of Politics: The Ghosts in the Garden
28 Oct 2009 | 10:13 amHalloween may not be until next week, but I've already seen a ghost. A garden full of ghosts to be exact. But before I tell my ghost story, allow me to provide a little background. It wasn’t until mid-summer this year that I made it down to the 61st Street Farmers’ Market for the first time. In July, Purple Asparagus took part in the Market’s education program, the Market School. Since it was a little slow to start and we had some extra volunteers, I took the Market's manager, Dennis Ryan, up on his offer of a tour.The Market is located on 61st Street in Woodlawn on…
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Social Enterprise Reporter -
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Reports from the 2009 Social Capital Markets Conference
14 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmThe 2009 Social Capital Markets conference (SoCap09) was a watershed event. There was a clear sense that social enterprise has become a viable business strategy and investment option. The event brought together many of the familiar faces from social enterprise summits past, but also a new group of leaders from traditional industries such as investment banking, government, real estate and forest products. read more -
SER Podcasts Online: Majora Carter and Eric Weinheimer, NY and Chicago Green Job Leaders
29 Aug 2009 | 4:29 pmTwo podcasts from the SEReporter archive, featuring two leaders in green jobs, Majora Carter from Sustainable South Bronx, and Eric Weinheimer from the Cara Program in Chicago, are now online! To listen to Eric Weinheimer, click here. http://thecaraprogram.org To listen to Majora Carter, click here. http://ssbx.org -
Social Enterprise Reporter Back Issue PDF's Online: Volume III
28 Aug 2009 | 9:57 pmAccess Volume 3 of the Social Enterprise Reporter PDF back issue archive here. SER 301 features a cover story on "Building Social Enterprise on the California Coast" by Tom White, and a Q&A with Michael Shuman: "Integrating Social Enterprise with Local Economic Development". read more -
Social Enterprise Reporter Back Issue PDF's Online: Volume II
28 Aug 2009 | 9:17 pmAccess Volume 2 of the Social Enterprise Reporter PDF back issue archive here: SER 201 SER goes to British Columbia for the cover story "Vancity Credit Union: Taking a Risk on Entrepreneurs Who Make a Difference" by Tom White, and Part 2 of Jerr Boschee's Strategic Marketing Matrix for Social Entrepreneurs®--Segmentation Strategies. SER 202 features a cover story on "Raising Capital: Regulatory Issues", by Allen Bromberger, Esq., and Part 3 of Jerr Boschee's Strategic Marketing Matrix for Social Entrepreneurs®--Expand, Nurture, Harvest or Kill?. read more -
Social Enterprise Reporter Back Issue PDF's Online Volume I
28 Aug 2009 | 8:38 pmAccess Volume 1 of the Social Enterprise Reporter PDF back issue archive here: SER 101 including the first of a three part series by Cheryl Dahle on REDF portfolio ventures, "Balancing Act: The Right Size Scoop of Ice Cream". SER 102 including the second of a three part series by Cheryl Dahle on REDF portfolio ventures. Community Vocational Enterprises (CVE) and Community Gatepath, are highlighted in "Integrating Cultures: When Business and Social Outcomes Are Valued." SER 103 including the third of a three part series by Cheryl Dahle on REDF portfolio ventures, "Making Tough Choices: When to…
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Acumen Fund Blog
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Things Fall Apart and the African Leadership Academy
11 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amIn the mid 1950s, Chinua Achebe, then a mid level employee of the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS), began work on an epic and in many ways unprecedented novel, the story of several generations of Nigerian men. The idea for the work, which would later be condensed into the single, sharply propulsive narrative of the noble though hubristic Okonkwo, came to Achebe while still enrolled at the University of Ibadan. Then pursuing a degree in English literature as part of that school’s first class of students, Achebe had been chosen for admission to the new institution based on the exceptional… -
Cohort Experiment (9 of 9): Alumni Development
6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amAnd so the cohort experiment continues, though with this blog post reaches its online conclusion. In the penultimate post in the series, Nicole discussed the critical variables involved in designing leadership programs, in a discussion that we hope was helpful in considering the development of your own leadership programs. As we reach the end of this series, on the nature and the role of cohorts in leadership programs, we find ourselves confronting the after or extended life of our programs. In other words, what do you do once the program finishes? Needless to say, this question demands a… -
PVRI and UHEAL: Announcing New Eye Care Investments in Kenya and India
5 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amAcumen Fund is excited to announce two new investments, both in the field of eye care. PVRI (Pushpagiri Vitreo Retina Institute) based outside Hyderabad, India, and UHEAL (Upper Hill Eye and Laster Centre), in Kenya, both focus on specific forms of preventable ocular damage. With similar business models and parallel aims, through our investment in these complementary enterprises, Acumen Fund seeks to identify and and share best practices across continents, while building an effective model for delivering eye care to the poor. Loss of eye sight has a tremendous economic and social impact on… -
News Round-up: Investee awards and interviews, business schools and social enterprise, patient capital
3 Nov 2009 | 5:11 amAward-winning investees: Acumen Fund entrepreneurs continue to be recognized for their work. The founders of D.Light Design were among Social Venture Network’s 2009 Innovation Award winners. And the entrepreneurs behind Books of Hope were recently named as Purpose Prize Fellows. Congratulations! Investee interview: Listen to Sam Goldman of D. Light in his recent podcast for the Social Innovation Conversations series. MBAs and social enterprise: This article in the Financial Times discusses how business school coursework is responding to the rise of social enterprise. Acumen Fund… -
AF Fellows: Everyday Barriers (Part 3 of 3)
2 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amEach year as part of their training in New York, the new class of Acumen Fund fellows is sent out into the city armed only with a $6 metro card, a $5 bill, and their IDs. Their mission is to experience the challenges of obtaining basic services with these meager, minimal resources; in the course of the day, they stand in soup kitchens, visit shelters, and attempt access to medical care. Over the next week, we will be sharing their experiences on our blog. The last entry in this series comes from Meghan Simkins. After training, Meghan will work with LifeSpring, a growing network of affordable…
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PSD Blog - The World Bank Group
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World Bank public data now available directly in Google
11 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pmThe World Bank and Google have taken their relationship to the next level! Starting today, seventeen of the World Bank's Development Indicators are now available via a nifty Google search. Google's in-house blog explains: With today's update, you can quickly access more data with a broad range of queries. Search should be intuitive, so we've done the work to think through queries where public data will be most relevant to you. To see the new data, try queries like [gdp of indonesia], [life expectancy brazil], [rwanda's population growth], [energy use of iceland], [co2… -
Business as usual
11 Nov 2009 | 12:50 pmFelix Salmon links to Andrew Ross Sorkin, who analyzes the dearth of remorse on Wall Street: One of the frustrating parts of researching my book came when I finally got to ask the question of Wall Street chief executives and board members that you just raised: Do you have any remorse? Are you sorry? The answer, almost unequivocally, was no. (Or they just didn’t answer.) They see themselves as just one part of a larger problem, with many constituencies to blame. Salmon adds: If bank executives (with the notable exception of John Reed) see no need to apologize for destroying the global… -
The BRIC Temptation
11 Nov 2009 | 8:57 amMy final posts on Crisis Talk addressed issues concerning capital flows and emerging markets (see here and here). As most of the world emerges from the crisis, the demand for 'safe' investments, such as American and European government bonds, has diminished. This has been exacerbated by negligible interest rates in mature economies, which generate low investment yields and inexpensive lending. As Nouriel Roubini observed, this is the perfect recipe for borrowing cheaply in dollars, and investing outside the United States, primarily in emerging… -
Got Behavioral Economics?
10 Nov 2009 | 11:15 amDespite economists’ frequent assumption that humans are rational economic agents, let’s admit it, we have limitations; we may be weak, altruistic, easily manipulated or scatter-brained among many other things. Thus, results based on, say field experiments relying on one-off interviews may tend to miss a lot of that important human behavior. Last month’s Annual FinNet Conference aimed to bring some of this real-world understanding of human behavior to a World Bank Group audience. The underlying theme of the conference was the use and importance of including behavioral economics in our… -
China stat of the day; plus, a turnaround in Zimbabwe?
9 Nov 2009 | 2:37 pmWhile IFC is strengthening its involvement in India, China is deepening its economic ties in Africa. In his opening speech at this week's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Egypt, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao announced Beijing's latest commitment to its African trading partners, which includes $10bn in fresh loans (on top of $5bn already pledged in 2006): We will help Africa build up its financing capabilities...we will provide 10 billion US dollars for Africa in concessional loans... China is ready to deepen practical cooperation in Africa. China will…
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Wokai News
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Wokai Featured on Phoenix TV!
11 Nov 2009 | 6:45 pmWokai was recently featured on Phoenix TV - a Hong Kong based Mandarin Chinese broadcast network that airs in over 53 countries across the world. Check out the feature! There's an interview with Casey Wilson, Co-Founder/CEO of Wokai, and a good overview of the history of microfinance in China. -
Response to the recent NY Times Article about Kiva
11 Nov 2009 | 4:58 amDear Friends and Supporters, You might have read Stephanie Strom's article "Confusion Where Money Lent via Kiva Goes" in the New York Times a few days ago. This issue has been making the rounds since David Roodman's post a month ago. As a fellow "peer-to-peer" microfinance organization, we thought it was important for us [...] -
Unlocking Opportunities through Microfinance – Wokai Hong Kong Launch Gala, November 20
10 Nov 2009 | 1:24 amWokai is formally launching its Hong Kong Chapter. We would like to invite you to be a part of the festivities - to learn more about Wokai and microfinance in China through our panel speakers, to meet the Wokai Hong Kong team, and to enjoy an evening of delicious food, good company and music / [...] -
The Fungus Business: Microfinanced Mushrooms
7 Nov 2009 | 6:50 amFu Ya Jun is using her microfinance loan to start a mushroom growing business. In fact, as she happily announced, it has given her a career, something she has always wanted. The loan was used to buy the supplies to raise mushrooms-- both the seeds and the special plastic, cylindrical containers in which they are [...] -
Hong Kong Chapter Kicks off Inaugural Happy Hour Event
5 Nov 2009 | 1:57 amOn Friday October 9, 2009 from 7PM to 9PM, around 100 people filtered through the Foreign Correspondents Club’s (FCC) Verandah lounge. About 70-90 people sipped drinks and learned about Wokai inside the 60-person maximum capacity wood paneled walls, while a line formed at the entrance. Wokai Hong Kong is a new chapter, [...]
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So what can I do?
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Change the world.
6 Oct 2014 | 3:52 pmHow will you make our world a better place?* Health and education* Economics, social entrepreneurship, and microfinance* Food and water* Energy and technology* Women, children, and family* Environment, land, and sustainability* FaithAnd don’t forget to visit the So What Can I Do Bookstore. Your efforts can change the world.”Be the change you want to see in the world.” - Mohandas GandhiPlease visit http://sowhatcanido.blogspot.com to offer your comments and suggestions, forward this post, and peruse the archives. Thanks for reading "So what can I do", the public service weblog promoting… -
Join the So What Can I Do blood donation team.
20 Jun 2009 | 8:40 pmI went to the Red Cross blood center today and gave a pint. Regular readers and regular donors know that blood donation is a fast and easy way to save up to three lives. You never know when you or someone you know will need blood. So please consider donating blood, platelets, or red cells. And if you do, you’re invited to join the So What Can I Do Red Cross Racing Team. Here’s how:• Visit redcrossracing.com .• After you register scroll to the bottom and click “Team Competition.”• Enter the So What Can I Do team code: O?67SO .• Remember to log your donations to win points and… -
Celebrate World Free Your Mind Day – June 19th.
18 Jun 2009 | 9:07 pmI spent this Juneteenth thinking about what my family would have been like if my great-great-granddaddy Griffin Henry Belk hadn’t walked off that plantation when he did. I expect it would have made a huge difference, because when Griffin Henry Belk left, he was able to travel (searching for his parents), purchase land (160 acres for $11 in Ozan, Arkansas), and generally prepare to provide for his wife and five children to come. So I woke up Juneteenth morning and told my daughter about her great-great-great-granddaddy. Even though she’s only two, I expect it resonated with her, or will… -
Make Kiva microloans in the US.
11 Jun 2009 | 9:04 pmI’ve written frequently about microloans - how the concept spread as a tool for economic development, how to lend and get your money back – sometimes with with interest, making a loan a no cost to you, etc. But my most popular post on the topic discusses microloans in the US. I’m pleased to report that there is now another option for those interested in making microloans in the US. Kiva now offers the opportunity to make microloans in the US. If you’re in the US, this is a great way to help your neighbors move ahead through entrepreneurship. And if you need a microloan, this means… -
Be the match: Join the Marrow Registry for free June 8-22.
25 May 2009 | 7:58 pmEarlier today when I wanted to forward my post on cord blood donation, I realized that most of the links had gone dead. While updating them, I was pleased to learn about the upcoming Marrowthon from the National Marrow Donor Program. NMDP has set a goal of adding 46,000 new members to the marrow registry during this drive. Each new member increases the odds that someone with a life threatening blood disease will live, and live well – disease free.Joining is easy: just take the eligibility quiz, fill out a form, and swab your cheeks for a cell sample. (I had to give a bit of blood for…
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Worldchanging: Bright Green
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Editing the Shadow Volume
10 Nov 2009 | 12:13 pmSpotted via New Scientist is an amazing new computer model that allows designers to create objects based on the multiple and highly specific shadows that those objects will cast when lit from different angles. Seen above is one, relatively mundane example of the technology, by Niloy Mitra and Mark Pauly: three paintings by Andy Warhol are being cast from the same object. "Their computer model can calculate the object shape needed to cast up to three distinct shadows simultaneously," New Scientist explains. The designers call it "editing the shadow volume." Niloy's and Pauly's accompanying… -
Alex Steffen at Town Hall Seattle Nov 11 & 12
10 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pmGreeting Worldchangers, Our two night event at Town Hall Seattle starts tomorrow! We are thrilled to invite you to Town Hall’s Center for Civic Life for an evening with Alex Steffen, Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin, Seattle Mayor-Elect Mike McGinn and the Worldchanging Team. Each night, the doors will open at 6:30 pm. Come early and come hungry as Seattle's street food perfectionists from Skillet will be serving up delicious pre-talk snacks outside Town Hall. After a bite to eat, head inside to visit with other worldchangers and our fantastic sponsors: The American Institute… -
East of Nowhere - Contemporary Art From Post-Soviet Central Asia
10 Nov 2009 | 11:56 amNo matter how hard i try to keep in touch with what is going on in Turin, i always seem to do an awful job. Latest openings in London, Berlin, Eindhoven, San Diego or Venice? Easy peasy. But Turin does its best to keep me bored and uninformed. I discovered only a few days ago, as i was taking the plane to Graz (did you know Arnold Schwarzenegger comes from there?), that here was a fantastic exhibition in town. It had opened in May and i managed to visit it yesterday morning, a few hours after being back from Austria. Georgy Tryakin Burharov, Mole Antonelliana (Turin Tower), 2009 East of… -
Brazil Pledges Deep Emission Cuts in 'Political Gesture' to Rich Nations
10 Nov 2009 | 11:43 amby Tom Phillips Brazil will take proposals for voluntary reductions of 38-42% by 2020 to the Copenhagen climate change conference next month, chief of staff says The Brazilian government is preparing to pledge a big curb in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 as a "political gesture" aimed at pressing rich nations into agreeing to large cuts in carbon. The country's chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff, said Brazil would take proposals for voluntary reductions of 38-42% by 2020 to the Copenhagen climate change summit next month. The reductions are from projected 2020 emissions levels if no action… -
Yangtze Delta Warned to Prepare for Effects of Climate Change
10 Nov 2009 | 11:25 amby Jonathan Watts Delta has been warming faster than global average for a decade, and the impact is already being felt, according to WWF China. China's most populous river needs massive investment and careful planning to ease the impact of climate change, which is causing floods, droughts and storms to intensify, a new report (pdf) said today. The Yangtze delta, which is home to about 400 million people, has been warming far faster than the global average for more than a decade and the implications for food security and biodiversity will worsen without remedial action, according to the study…
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Social Business Blog
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The Simple Yet Effective Approach of NEIW, UKSIF and Timms
10 Nov 2009 | 3:43 pmEarlier tonight I attended the official reception at the House of Commons to celebrate National Ethical Investment Week (NEIW). Hosted by Hugh Bayley MP, organised by the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) and sponsored by four financial institutions (Aviva, Coop, CCLA and Henderson), the evening called attention to this second, now annual, NEIW and the impact it has had begun to have on public consciousness. Listening to the speakers I began to consider how marvellously effective simple events such as these are–and how much better value-for-money they are… -
The ClearlySo Marketplace Surpasses Several Milestones
9 Nov 2009 | 9:56 amLast week I had lunch with a friend who told me, essentially, that “no man lives by pontification alone”. Rather, according to him, the tangible things we were doing at ClearlySo would reinforce the issues-oriented posts commonly published in this blog. In this spirit, I would like to tell you about four important milestones we have surpassed; in web traffic, in social businesses & enterprises (SBEs) on the site, at our upcoming conference and by virtue of our upcoming announcement to expand ClearlySo into North America. For those of you not familiar with ClearlySo, it is the… -
The Banks: State Aid versus Public Support (or RBS/Lloyds vs. Triodos)
5 Nov 2009 | 1:52 pmEarlier this week it was announced that RBS and Lloyds were due to receive another £30+ billion in support from the UK Government. We have become so inured to such injections, that many commentators hailed this as a positive restructuring and applauded the fact that RBS and Lloyds were being dealt with severely; bonuses to be restricted or deferred and certain businesses to be sold. The unexpectedly harsh treatment from Brussels prompted RBS’s CEO Stephen Hester to say he felt “bruised”, regarding the measures imposed. I may be alone, but this saga and the muted reaction to… -
The Bankers are Coming! Will they Destroy Social Enterprise and Investment?
2 Nov 2009 | 5:51 amLast week I attended the Good Deals Conference, to talk about ClearlySo, and met an old friend. She said something like, “oh I don’t know, a few too many ex-bankers here for my taste!” When I pointed out that this was also a perfectly apt description of me (I too am a recovering banker), she politely added, “oh you don’t count, you’ve been at this (social investment) for years!” Hmmmmm….I guess the stench washes away after some period, thankfully. Her comment did give me a a great deal to think about. First, why are so many bankers in, or coming… -
Announcing Our Next Social Business Conference: Good Deals 2010, in Collaboration with Social Enterprise Magazine
29 Oct 2009 | 3:45 pmIn a few weeks we will be hosting our 4th annual ClearlySo Social Business Conference, on 12 November. Just today I came from the 2nd annual Good Deals Conference, operated exquisitely by Social Enterprise Magazine and Society Media, two sister companies. I suppose it says something about London and the social business and enterprise sector that you can hold two conferences on very similar subjects within two weeks of each other and both will have record attendances. But is this optimal? No, I don’t think so. So we put our heads together and said let’s do one bigger/better one…
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Gimundo.com
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Four House Plants That Can Help You Live Longer
10 Nov 2009 | 3:23 pmThink houseplants are boring? Not these four: according to a new study, they could save your life. -
cicLAvia May Bring Car-Free Sundays to Los Angeles
9 Nov 2009 | 5:22 pmA non-profit group of LA cyclists are trying to shut down the streets to cars once a week, allowing people to reclaim the streets. -
Jilted Bride Turns Reception into Halloween Party for Senior Citizens
8 Nov 2009 | 11:09 amAfter getting dumped just before her wedding, a would-be bride turned her reception into a celebration for seniors at an assisted living facility, -
New Tele Scouter Glasses Could Provide Instant Translations
5 Nov 2009 | 6:09 pmThe new Tele Scouter glasses could make overseas trips easier by instantly translating words and broadcasting them into your retinas. -
A Cowboy Ranch for At-Risk Kids in New York City
4 Nov 2009 | 6:35 pmThrough the Federation of Black Cowboys, black teens have the opportunity to ride horses and learn about black heroes of the Wild West on a ranch in the middle of New York City.
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How I changed the world today.
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kiva
9 Nov 2009 | 9:02 pmI made a quick loan to theLas Margaritas Group in Boliva. -
Conferences and loans
7 Nov 2009 | 8:19 pmI was off at another science conference this week. Too many scheduled in the fall...Made loans to Julia's today. -
Loans to Julia's
2 Nov 2009 | 10:26 pmI made two kiva loans today - one to Juliana Dorende in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria for her clothing business.The other loan was to Julia Nenith Pina Vd De Sicch from San Martin, Peru for her small business. -
Kiva loans
31 Oct 2009 | 9:01 pmI made a few more loans through kiva.org. Loan Purchase of $25 to Alex Mauricio Castellanos Chavez (business id=148224)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Edvin Antonio Acuña Arias (business id=142215)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Mirismayil Mammadov (business id=141949)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Ilqar Ibrahimov (business id=141951)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Sabuhi Zakirov (business id=142097)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Enrique Garcia… -
Kiva loans
30 Oct 2009 | 10:30 pmI made a lot of Kiva.org loans today. Loan Purchase of $25 to El Quior Group (business id=137892)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Las Inseparables Group (business id=137894)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Senac Group (business id=138214)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Rose Kimani (business id=149084)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Misbah (business id=148431)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Aracelly Monestel Mejias (business id=149166)Counted towards…
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NextBillion
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India Portfolio Manager
11 Nov 2009 | 1:46 pmOrganization: Acumen FundLocation: Hyderabad, IN Acumen Fund is a global non-profit venture capital fund, focused on supporting the delivery of critical goods and services at affordable prices to the four billion people earning less than four dollars a day in India, Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Acumen Fund seeks to prove that targeted investments, combined with large doses of business acumen, can build thriving enterprises that serve vast numbers of the poor. Its country offices in India, Pakistan and Kenya work closely with the New York team to identify and support local… -
Not a Formality: The Productivity of Capital
11 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amAuthored by: Oscar AbelloIn a previous post, I described why the BoP can't yet mobilize the $10 trillion of assets they already own. If they ever get the chance to do so, alongside other fresh and creative channels for mobilizing capital, the productivity of capital comes to mind as the next challenge for growing BoP businesses. Here's a thought experiment to illustrate what I mean by productivity of capital. Imagine a woman selling home-baked bread to support her family in any slum or rural village. Her business is not formally registered, which reinforces her business's isolation, already… -
Manager, Portfolio Performance
10 Nov 2009 | 10:01 amOrganization: Acumen FundLocation: Nairobi, Karachi, Hyderabad, or Dubai, AEAcumen Fund is a global non-profit venture capital fund, focused on supporting the delivery of critical services - water, health, housing, energy, agriculture - at affordable prices to the four billion people who lack access in India, Pakistan, and East Africa. Acumen Fund exists to help end poverty by changing how the world addresses it.It does this in two ways: (1) by investing patient capital to identify, strengthen and scale business models that effectively serve the poor and (2) by championing this approach as an… -
Agriculture Portfolio Manager
10 Nov 2009 | 9:48 amOrganization: Acumen FundLocation: Nairobi, Hyderabad, or Karachi, PKAcumen Fund is a global non-profit venture capital fund, focused on supporting the delivery of critical services – water, health, housing, energy, agriculture – at affordable prices to the four billion people who lack access in India, Pakistan, and East Africa. Acumen Fund exists to help end poverty by changing how the world addresses it. It does this in two ways: (1) by investing patient capital to identify, strengthen and scale business models that effectively serve the poor and (2) by championing this approach… -
NYU: Measuring Impact, Valuing Investment
9 Nov 2009 | 4:10 pmAuthored by: Rob KatzLast week, I had the pleasure of attending the Sixth Annual NYU Conference of Social Entrepreneurs here in New York. The day-long conference brought practitioners together with academics for a day-long discourse on measuring impact and valuing (social) investment. (Before I get much further, some needed disclosure: I sit on the conference's Practitioner Advisory Board.) The day kicked off with Jed Emerson, arguably the most well-known expert in the field of strategic philanthropy and impact investing. Of course, Jed began his talk by demurring - he claims he's…
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Spare Change
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The Tip Jar - 10/15/09
14 Oct 2009 | 11:59 pmHere are some assorted bits and pieces I've collected for your reading pleasure:Starting next week I'll be offering a new webinar series on Social Media for Social Marketers. The four 60-minute webinars (at 11 am Pacific time) are:October 22 - Designing a Social Media Strategy for ChangeOctober 29 - Blogging and Beyond: Tools to Build Your MovementNovember 12 - Twitteracy for Social MarketersNovember 19 - Monitoring and Evaluating Social MediaIf you are interested, but can't make a particular event live, you can always view the archived events and ask me any questions afterward. For more… -
We Can't Afford to Lose the National Center for Health Marketing
31 Aug 2009 | 3:09 amWhen the new director of the CDC, Dr. Thomas Frieden, took his position in early June, it was inevitable that he would make some changes -- perhaps even some big changes. I believe I speak for many social marketers in saying we were very hopeful that health marketing (the CDC's name for social marketing) would fare well in the new administration.Unfortunately, I have just found out that the National Center for Health Marketing (NCHM) is slated to be eliminated. What this means exactly for the practice of health marketing within the CDC is unclear, but it bodes poorly for the field of social… -
The Path to Health Marketing Collaboration
16 Jul 2009 | 10:26 pmWhen's the last time someone wrote a superhero comic about people in your profession? Sure, if you're a reporter, nuclear scientist or even a reclusive millionaire, you're used to this type of thing. But we health marketing types are usually the ones on the development side of the media, not the target audience. So I'm sure you'll be as excited as I was to discover that my longtime blog friend Fard Johnmar of Envision Solutions and the HealthCareVox blog has created both a fun set of different types of media to draw people like us in, and a more serious project that underlies it.His mission… -
I Get Around
8 Jul 2009 | 8:23 amJohn Haydon invited me to share with his readers how I "rock the web" on his excellent blog on social media. In my guest post, I talk about some of the tools I use to take control of my time online. Take a look at the other posts on his blog for insights on how nonprofits can use social media effectively - John is a great resource (and an awesome musician). My other favorite nonprofit social media blogger, Beth Kanter, also put up a guest post from me while she's getting settled from her cross-country move. This one is an oldie but goodie from me on how to select your target audience: should… -
Marketing Games for Health
29 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amThe Robert Wood Johnson Foundation invited me to write a guest post on its Pioneering Ideas blog, along with several other people who are investigating how games can be used to promote health. This guest blogger series is tied into the 2009 Games for Health Conference, which happened a couple of weeks ago, as well as a recent report from the Sesame Workshop’s Joan Ganz Cooney Center, which looks at how video games can be a positive force for children's health.The question they posed for us to answer was:"There is a growing consensus that digital games can be deployed to support learning and…
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TakePart Social Action Network™
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TakePart Honors American Veterans
11 Nov 2009 | 5:10 pm"So on this Veterans Day and every day, the best way to honor our veterans is to connect with them. So please remember and honor our fellow humans, our veterans...We have honored you by defending your rights, and all we ask is to welcome us home. -
Veterans Call For Clean Energy And Climate Legislation (Video)
11 Nov 2009 | 4:32 pmA few months ago I wrote about Operation Free, a growing group of U.S. veterans advocating for a clean energy future and climate legislation, so in honor of Veteran’s Day I wanted to share with you a video of some of the organization’s members touring the country by bus to raise awareness of the threat that these issues pose to national security. As we reflect upon the sacrifices made by those who have served in the United States armed services this Veteran’s Day, we should also consider how we can help those who are currently serving. By telling Congress to support… -
Send Holiday Mail To Our Countries Heroes
11 Nov 2009 | 4:31 pmThe American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes, Inc. areonce again inviting Americans to “send a touch of home” to United States service members and veterans across the country and abroad through their Holiday Mail for Heroes program. Over 1.4 million men and women serve in the U.S. armed forces and over 24 million veterans have served in the past. Show these service members that you are grateful for the work they’ve done by giving one of them a holiday greeting card. Check out this video: So celebrate Veterans Day today by sending your holiday cards to: Holiday Mail for Heroes P.O. Box… -
Mexican Drug War Gets Its Own Vocabulary
11 Nov 2009 | 4:28 pmIt seems Mexico’s drug war has become so outrageously violent that the Mexican media has created words to describe the scene. These new words are used to describe drug-related acts ranging from “being dumped in the trunk of a car” to “the hand-scrawled notes hit men leave with the bodies of their victims.” Here are few of terms, as collected by Ken Ellingwood for the Los Angeles Times: Encajuelado: Based on the word for “trunk,” a body dumped in the trunk of a car. This is a common method for disposing of victims of a drug hit. Often, the bodies are… -
TakePart With A Paper Towel
11 Nov 2009 | 3:16 pmI’m still not that down with Twitter. Too many tweets and not enough twours in the tway to twead them. Am I right? But I do like that I can follow some of my favorite actors, writers, and noteworthy folks who actually update their accounts with interesting stuff like today a Tweet from Rainn Wilson (my hero Dwight from The Office) caught my eye about doing a random act of kindness using a papertowel. The idea is a project of SoulPancake, a site he is spearheading that offers an irreverent, fun, and profound take on God, Art, the Soul, Faith, and Beauty. Here’s the description of…
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Social ROI: A Social Entrepreneurship Blog
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Robin Hood: Targeting Poverty In New York City
9 Nov 2009 | 10:06 pmFour million New York City residents — half of the city — experience difficulty affording food. That’s twice the level in 2003. And that’s why Robin Hood is partnering with FreshDirect to deliver Food for Good: 15,000 meals to feed 120,000 New Yorkers who might otherwise go hungry this holiday season. Continued… -
MIT Legatum Center Accepting Applications for 2010-2011 Fellowship
7 Nov 2009 | 9:29 amThe Legatum Center is now accepting applications for the 2010-2011 Fellowship, with a deadline of February 10, 2010. Led by Professor Iqbal Quadir, the Center administers a competitive fellowship program for incoming and current MIT graduate students, across all academic and professional disciplines, who demonstrate the potential to create innovative, sustainable, for-profit enterprises that promote prosperity in low-income countries. The Fellowship provides financial assistance, business plan coaching, specialized seminars, and opportunities to engage with some of the world’s… -
Feed the Needy From the Comfort of Your Phone (via grubstreet)
2 Nov 2009 | 3:08 pmA couple of nonprofits are using technology to make foodie philanthropy easier this holiday season. First, for every $50 you donate via Fresh Direct’s website, Robin Hood will deliver a turkey and fixings to a food organization such as the Food Bank For New York City (Robin Hood is the bank’s largest supplier). Second, City Harvest has released its annual Great Food, Good Hearts guide of restaurants that support the organization. This year, you can search the 160 venues via your cell phone, by texting “city harvest” and any address to 69866 (you’ll then get a text back listing the… -
Can the world’s richest man feed the planet?
17 Oct 2009 | 6:21 pmInteresting article on Bill Gates: “Three-quarters of the world’s poorest people get their food and income by farming small plots of land,” Gates said. “So if we can make smallholder farming more productive and more profitable, we can have a massive impact on hunger and nutrition and poverty.” That’s exactly what the first Green Revolution accomplished in the Latin America and Asia. “But it didn’t go far enough,” Gates said. “It didn’t go to Africa.” Continue reading… -
GOOD, an integrated media platform for people who “want to live well and do good”
14 Oct 2009 | 3:54 pmGOOD makes some waves by raising a round of venture capital. Here’s the details from TechCrunch: GOOD, an integrated media platform for people who “want to live well and do good”, has announced that it has recently closed a Series A round of funding led by its co-founder and CEO Ben Goldhirsh and a number of angel investors including Nicholas Negroponte. While the amount remains undisclosed, newly appointed President Craig Shapiro says it was in the “single digit millions”. In addition to the funding, GOOD is living up to its promise to help ‘push the world forward’ by…
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JUST CAUSE - make some good news™
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Nest Seattle
27 Oct 2009 | 12:39 pmNest is a nonprofit organization that empowers female artists and artisans around the world. read more -
Rebecca Constantino
6 Oct 2009 | 6:23 pmRebecca Constantino is kind of like Santa Claus, if you happen to be an inner-city school library in need of books, and can picture the trunk of her car as a giant sleigh. read more -
Randy Barth
6 Oct 2009 | 6:18 pmThough we've been assured that Randy Barth sleeps, we're not at all sure when he finds time for that. read more -
JUST 10 Questions for Kathryn Joosten
6 Oct 2009 | 6:05 pmI have a personal "thing," for Kathryn Joosten. read more -
EEEEK-O Halloween: Greening The Most Gouhlish Holiday
6 Oct 2009 | 5:47 pmread more
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Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy - Institute for Food and Development Policy
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DEVELOPMENT: For-Profit Seeds Hurting Farmers, Biodiversity
10 Nov 2009 | 11:37 amBy Haider Rizvi UNITED NATIONS, Oct 23 (IPS) - Large biotechnology firms are not only depriving poor farmers of inputs essential for their livelihoods, but are also pushing up food prices, according to a new U.N. report. "Excessive protection of intellectual property rights in agriculture is an obstacle rather than an incentive for innovation," says Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, who authored the report released Tuesday. read more -
Sign an Open Letter to Eradicate Hunger
9 Nov 2009 | 5:07 pmPolicies and actions to eradicate hunger and malnutrition A billion people are hungry and the number increases. Women are especially hard hit. There is an urgent need for shift in policies and actions. read more -
Join in Urging the U.S. Administration to Provide Leadership at the Nov. World Food Summit in Rome
9 Nov 2009 | 4:14 pm**Urge organizations you are involved in to sign on to this letter by contacting eleonorew@iatp.org by Wednesday, November 11th. **Personally send a letter to President Obama. **forward this message to others who might take action. Contact President Barak Obama at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact Contact Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack's office at 202-720-3631. Dear President Obama and Secretary Vilsack, read more -
Groups Call for Change to Failed Free Trade Agenda That Has Deepened Global Food, Environmental and Health Crises
3 Nov 2009 | 11:09 amFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE read more -
Food First News & Views Fall 2009
30 Oct 2009 | 4:24 pm
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Chris Blattman
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What to read about Ethiopia?
11 Nov 2009 | 3:30 amI’m starting a new project in Ethiopia with Oxford economist Stefan Dercon. (More on that project later, but the two word summary is “randomize Marx”.) I asked Stefan what I should read. Here’s a sample of his suggestions. For fiction, an excellent new read is The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. A classic is Evelyn Waugh’s news satire, Scoop, not to mention his less-known Abyssinian travelogue. (Injecting my own recommendation, I recall liking Abyssinian Chronicles) For non-fiction, regular readers know I love Ryszard Kapuscinski above all other writers,… -
Jean Paul Sartre… has crabs
10 Nov 2009 | 7:15 amSartre: . . . when we decided to experiment with drugs, I ended up having a nervous breakdown. Gerassi: You mean the crabs? Sartre: Yeah, after I took the mescaline, I started seeing crabs around me all the time. They followed me in the streets, into class. I got used to them. I would wake up in the morning and say, “Good morning, my little ones, how did you sleep?” I would talk to them all the time. I would say, “Okay, guys, we’re going into class now, so we have to be still and quiet,” and they would be there, around my desk, absolutely still, until the bell rang. . . . The crabs… -
How to spice up your dissertation for this year’s job market
10 Nov 2009 | 5:21 am‘My god,’ said Geoff, ‘so it’s true. We hold in our very hands the original draft of the hitherto unknown third treaty of the 1648 Peace of Westphalia signed by the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III himself.’ ‘Yes,’ confirmed Sally. ‘Who would have thought when we set off this morning for this remote Swiss village that we would end the day in possession of the very document which marked the birth of modern European statehood?’ ‘Certainly not me!’ laughed Geoff. ’Nor me!’ guffawed Sally. ‘And to think,’ Geoff extemporised, ‘the Ratification of the Treaty of… -
Unexpected consequences of blogging
10 Nov 2009 | 12:06 amLast month, David Roodman, a research fellow at the Center for Global Development, pressed a button on his laptop as his bus left the Lincoln Tunnel in Manhattan and started a debate that has people re-examining the country’s latest celebrated charity, Kiva.org. See the saga in the NY Times. And check out David’s excellent blog. -
Did affirmative action work for Indian women?
9 Nov 2009 | 7:33 amIndia’s electoral affirmative action program, which assigns a random subset of districts to elect only female or low caste candidates, has been fodder for empirical researchers. The randomness, while rooted in principles of fairness, it also provides social experiments on a grand scale. Raghabendra Chattopadhyay and Esther Duflo used it to show that female leaders invest in different types of public goods, like drinking water, that reduce work for women. They link up with Lori Beaman, Rohini Pande and Petia Topalova to show that exposure to women leaders doesn’t affect most…
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...My heart's in Accra
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Criticism corrected, and corrections criticized
11 Nov 2009 | 11:59 amDan Gillmor offered an observation a few days back about the challenges of being both fast and being correct in the world of journalism, suggesting a need for “slow news“. I got an email earlier today that reminded me that it’s not just news reporting where speed can trip you up – it gets those of us in the world of journalism criticism as well. I subscribe to Columbia Journalism Review’s excellent cjr-press list, which distributes highlights from the CJR.org site every day. Today’s dispatch included this provocative-looking story: “The Fort Hood… -
links for 2009-11-11
11 Nov 2009 | 8:03 amThe Malagasy dwarf Hippo: " When Humans Don't Seem to Count" Dallaire on Rwanda and Darfur Notes on Romeo Dallaire's lecture on Rwanda, Darfur, genocide and intervention at Princeton, from Lova Rakatomalala (tags: dallaire rwanda darfur africa genocide conflict peacekeeping UN) How Skype Can Quickly and Easily Become a Social Network (and Clean Facebook’s Clock) Interesting insight from Brian McConnell – skype could easily become Twitter or Facebook if it wished, and might have fiscal motivations to do so (tags: skype facebook twitter businessmodel ideas… -
David Weinberger: what information was
10 Nov 2009 | 11:02 amThere are many things I admire about my friend and colleague, David Weinberger: his intellectual curiosity, his generosity with his time and guidance, his sense of humor… One facet of David I most admire is his willingness to think in public. Most people who speak for a living (as David does, and as I aspire to do) use well-worn and carefully roadtested material. David is brave enough to put new ideas in front of audiences and work through new ideas, live and in public. And we’re lucky enough at the Berkman Center lunch today to hear his new talk, “What Information Was:… -
Why we fall for fast news
9 Nov 2009 | 3:25 pmFriend and colleague Dan Gillmor came up with a powerful idea at a Berkman retreat this past week – the need for a “slow news movement” in journalism, a focus on reporting that’s about careful, reasoned analysis, not about speed. (Dan credits the term to me – that’s too kind. I’m merely the wiseass who took the complex idea he was putting forward and reduced it to a soundbite.) Dan offers two reasons why news outlets publish news as quickly as possible, forcing themselves to correct and retract when following a story like the tragic Ft. Hood… -
CFCM: Crossing Borders
5 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pmThis post covers presentations at MIT’s Center for Future Civic Media at MIT’s communications forum. Josh Levinger leads off the final session at CFCM’s show and tell, titled “Crossing Borders”. His project, Virtual Gaza, aggregates the stories of civilians who were present in Gaza as bombs fell earlier this year during the Israeli incursion. The project centers on a map of Gaza that shows bombed houses. The impetus for the project was the lack of media coverage of Gaza, a fact complicated by the fact that there were only 6 international journalists in Gaza…
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Tworque
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Question from a reader: Fixing water filtration in India
20 Oct 2009 | 3:19 pmA simple sand and activated charcoal filter ($10-15) can filter hundreds of gallons of water simply and cheaply. But will this solve India's (bottled) water issues?? Read on... (photosource: bethechangeinc)I got the following question in my inbox recently. Its becoming a question of increasing frequency, and I want to address it properly. Here's the "question" the reader wrote:Last year, after a research expedition [on the effect of plastics on the environment]...we were giving talks and meeting with legislators along the way [in North America].At one of our talks, a woman who had just… -
Truth, shame, and education
8 Oct 2009 | 5:51 pmIf the truth sets you free, then why do people hide behind the shame of it all?? (photo: Osvaldo Zoom)A couple of days ago, I blogged about I Am Because We Are. It very interestingly juxtaposed with something else I saw a while ago...a critically acclaimed film called The Education of Shelby Knox on PBS.One might wonder how I Am Because We Are, a film about orphans in Malawi, relates to a film about a kid growing up in Lubbock, TX...but its quite clear. It doesn't matter where you are, the truth seems to scare people. And further, shame is a powerful motivator.The increasing rate of orphans… -
Change.org is looking for bloggers
7 Oct 2009 | 2:44 pmphoto source: http://www.bpdesign.ca/images/logo_change_1.gifI'm an avid reader of Change.org; they have an interesting working model and blog on a variety of topics. Most of their bloggers are extremely knowledgeable about their fields of work (I tend to read the Global Health ones). So if you want to blog, get paid, and reach a huge audience, APPLY...Details below...Change.org Launches Blog Action Day 2009; Expanding Team of BloggersHey Changemakers,We have two exciting announcements to make this week. First, Change.org has been asked to take the reins of Blog Action Day, the annual event… -
Get some $$$ for your jingle!!
7 Oct 2009 | 9:35 amGot this in my email this morning. Write in...you never know if you might win! (wait that's a great jingle already!!) :-)________________________Global handwashing day contestAs a contribution to Global Handwashing Day on October 15, 2009, the IRC/USAID Sanitation Updates news feed is having a Handwashing Slogan Contest. Participants may enter as many slogans as he or she wishes Each slogan must be 8 words or less October 13 is the contest deadline Contest winners will be announced on October 15th and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place slogans and authors will be featured on Sanitation Updates Please… -
Ubuntu: I am Because WE are
5 Oct 2009 | 10:28 pmI Am Because We Are. Watch it!! (photo credit: http://blog.photoshelter.comI saw a beautiful documentary film today called I Am Because We Are (entire film is available below).I had heard about it in the Spring, even gone to the official launch party in NYC. But it was made and backed by Madonna, and in the age of haute celebrity endorsements, I have become skeptical of their attention to something. How much do they really know? How much do they really care?? How long will their attention last?? Long after the cool is gone, will they still be around??Today, in search of inspiration, I picked…
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globalhealthideas.org
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5th MIM Pan-African Malaria Conference sets high expectations
5 Nov 2009 | 1:15 pmIn spite of heavy rains that slowed traffic to a crawl in Nairobi Monday morning, the 5th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Pan-African Malaria Conference got off to a strong start. Wide ranging topics – everything from genetic mapping to eradication strategies to socioeconomic inequities of private insurance coverage for malaria treatment – have been discussed. The MIM website has a wealth of information on the conference proceedings. Detailed summaries and presentation links are available under “Session Reports“. My particular interest was on healthcare policy and… -
Remixing Public Health: Tools for Public Health Innovation
3 Nov 2009 | 7:27 pmFantastic presentation, cross posted from Nomadologies: “I’ve put together a rather long presentation that has an introduction to social media for public health and then moves to a series of examples of different types of platforms used for collaboration and innovation in the social sector, government 2.0, public health. The presentation highlights the growing challenges that we face in public health with complex, multi-sectoral problems and the changing way(s) we’re seeing organizations think about the problems. I’ve decided to include everything from mapping tools and data… -
New Global Health Blogger
3 Nov 2009 | 7:15 pmI want to welcome a new blogger and a very welcome addition to the team. I have included Rohan’s bio on the “About Us” page. It is also great to have a clinician perspective which is a major gap on other sites and blogs: Rohan completed an MPH and MS from the University of California Berkeley/San Francisco Joint Medical Program and is on a gap year from his final year of medical school before continuing residency training in Family and Community Medicine. He is currently in India for a year as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar conducting public health research and working on… -
The Global Health Initiative Coalition Makes Policy Recommendations for the President
31 Oct 2009 | 5:50 amAn impressive coalition of 25 US based global health organizations has promulgated their policy recommendations for Obama last week. Learn more and read the full report at http://www.theglobalhealthinitiative.org/policyforum.html Here is their executive summary: The United States, through a Global Health Initiative, should: • Double U.S. aid for global health to approximately $16 billion per year in 2011 and challenge other donors to similarly scale up their investments; • Establish bold U.S. targets for improved health outcomes in each of the six GHI areas and contribute our fair share… -
Innovation Everywhere – Human pulse to charge cellphone
20 Oct 2009 | 8:02 pmPrizes, innovation, creativity, south to north information exchange, and web 2.0 where almost anyone can participate, perhaps a budding social entrepreneur, cool story. Is this an example of Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody? NEW DELHI: Think out of the box. It pays. This is what 15-year-old Sarojini Mahajan is happy to realise after her idea of using human pulse to charge a cellphone was picked up by Stanford University on Wednesday. Sarojini had sent her idea as an entry to IGNITE 2009 — a nationwide contest of innovative ideas. Though she won a consolation prize in the contest ,…
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All Day Buffet
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Reinventing the Conference Model
5 Nov 2009 | 10:04 amI’m a conference junkie. I actually like going to (some) conferences. In the past month, I’ve attended Pop!Tech, Tribecon, and will be attending the Idea Conference next week. But, unlike most people. I like conferences for a specific reason. You won’t find me in the hallways networking and collecting business cards. And I find listening to the speakers as an added bonus. I like “inspiration” conferences because it allows me to sit back and think about life, business, relationships, etc. It’s a time for me to reflect and make huge decisions that… -
Human Brands Webinar
3 Nov 2009 | 9:30 amWe believe that corporations need to focus on “innovation” (not responsibility) and think about doing well by doing good. Why do we think that’s possible? Because business is run by people and, you may call us optimistic, but we believe people are inherently good. Join Lovely Day as we present a free webinar on insights, strategies, and examples of global brands and corporations creating world-shaking change! Lovely Day develops “corporate social innovation” strategies for global brands to do well by doing good. Because business is run by people and people are inherently… -
November 2009 Newsletter
2 Nov 2009 | 7:33 pmLOVELY DAY In partnership with Crush+Lovely, we’re excited to announce Lovely Day – the agency for (human) brands! Lovely Day will develop strategies for global brands to do well by doing good. We consist of thinkers and doers, strategists and creatives, change-makers and movers that will create and shape brands for the future. Join us as we present a webinar on insights, strategies, and examples of global brands and corporations creating world-shaking change! Webinar: Human Brands Wednesday, November 11, 2009 3 PM – 4 PM EST FREE, FREE, FREE! Register for webinar>>… -
Lovely Day
21 Oct 2009 | 7:00 amIn partnership with Crush+Lovely, we’re excited to announce Lovely Day – the agency for (human) brands! Lovely Day will develop strategies for global brands to do well by doing good. We consist of thinkers and doers, strategists and creatives & change-makers and movers that will create and shape brands for the future. Corporations need to rethink both where they focus their philanthropy and how they go about their giving. And we believe the most effective method of addressing many of the world’s pressing problems is to mobilize the corporate sector in ways that… -
Corporate Social Innovation (Not Responsibility)
13 Oct 2009 | 8:26 amMichael Moore is coming out with a new documentary titled Capitalism: A Love Story which explores the root causes of the global economic meltdown and takes a look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what Moore has described as “the biggest robbery in the history of this country” – the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions. While Capitalism: A Love Story looks at the financial collapse, other documentaries such as The Corporation “looks at the rise of the corporate body as having the legal status of a…
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GOOD Main
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Why Save a Community Garden?
11 Nov 2009 | 5:07 pmA friend of GOOD, Gordon Douglas, has been part of an effort to save a community garden in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood. It’s been difficult. The University of Chicago owns the land, and is determined to take it over as a staging area for some nearby construction projects. He recently wrote us a letter explaining why the garden is so important. It’s a little long but it’s a great read: I first encountered the 61st Street Community Garden shortly after moving to Chicago in 2006. I had been put in contact with a local writer and activist who keeps an office in the… -
Heartmelting Footage of Dogs Welcoming Soldiers Home
11 Nov 2009 | 4:09 pmNo one knows how to honor a soldier as well as his dog. Watch, tear up, and get all overwhelmed with equal parts reverence and emotional fragility. Click here to view the embedded video. Many more videos at Mental Floss. The dachshunds are especially remarkable. -
Veterans Stump for Clean Energy
11 Nov 2009 | 2:54 pmWe’ve mentioned before that climate change and our dependence on foreign oil represent a couple of the gravest fundamental threats to our national security. So—in honor of Veterans Day—here’s a video of some of our men and women in uniform touring the country in support of clean energy: Click here to view the embedded video. These vets of Operation Free took to two buses (yes, they were biodiesel), and rolled across the country talking to the public, political leaders, and fellow veterans about the national security implications of climate change and the need for Congress to… -
Happy 40th Sesame Street
11 Nov 2009 | 2:03 pmSesame Street turned 40 yesterday. Here’s a clip from the show of Grover and a kid exploring the essence of marriage. Click here to view the embedded video. I think they hit all the most important points. Keep up the good work, guys. Via Boing Boing. -
Rock (and U.S. Oil Production) Is Dead
11 Nov 2009 | 12:29 pmOverthinking It has a thought-provoking chart (view at full size here) that pits the declining quality of rock music against the declining amount of oil production in the lower 48 states. The remarkable similarity between the arcs of U.S. oil production and songs in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” by year is staggering. Some of their analysis: Notice that after the birth of rock & roll in the 1950’s, the production of “great songs” peaked in the 60’s, remained strong in the 70’s, but drastically fell in the subsequent decades. It would seem that,…
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CRIN News Feed - Home - English
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TANZANIA: Children's Act passed
9 Nov 2009 | 6:23 pmOn 4 November, the new Act of the Child 2009 was unanimously passed by the Tanzanian Parliament. A delegation from the Caucus for Children's Rights (CCR), a member for CRIN, was there to witness this important event and to share the delight with other CSO actors who have been lobbying for t -
ZIMBABWE: Child sexual abuse alert
9 Nov 2009 | 1:17 amStatistics at a clinic giving free treatment for sexually-abused children in Zimbabwe have revealed an alarming level of sexual abuse.The Family Support Trust says nearly 30,000 children have been treated at the Harare clinic after being sexually abused during the past four years. -
IRAN: Revoke Death Sentences for Juvenile Offenders
8 Nov 2009 | 6:22 pm[4 November 2009] - Iran should immediately halt the planned executions of three men under charges of male homosexual conduct allegedly committed when they were children, Human Rights Watch said today. Mehdi P., from Tabriz; Moshen G., from Shiraz; and Nemat Safavi, from Ardebil, were accus -
EGYPT-NIGERIA: African Committee issues first concluding observations
8 Nov 2009 | 6:04 pmThe African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child has issued its first recommendations to Egypt and Nigeria. Read the recommendations here: Egypt - -
ARGENTINA: Child benefits expanded to unemployed and informal workers
5 Nov 2009 | 10:29 pm[BUENOS AIRES, 5 November 2009] - A new monthly family allowance of nearly 50 dollars per child that will be paid out as of December to parents who are unemployed or work in the informal economy in Argentina was heralded by experts as an extraordinary step forward in terms of social policy.
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Angel Covers
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Thank you!!
10 Nov 2009 | 12:33 pmAs you know, the America's Giving Challenge ended Friday, Nov. 6. We were so glad to be a part of such a huge challenge. Our little grass roots organization raised just over $7,700 for the children of Angel Cottage and came in 22nd out of more than 7,100 organizations entered. Amazing! Sales of holiday card and donations received directly by us during the month of the challenge raised another $600. The children of Angel Cottage now have more than $8,300 of the $10,000 needed for the matching funds. I can't thank you all enough.In an effort to raise the remaining $1,700 needed for the matching… -
Let's Finish Strong!
5 Nov 2009 | 8:08 pmTomorrow at 1:00 MST ends the America's Giving Challenge. At the start of this challenge, we set a goal to raise $10,000. So far we have raised almost $7,600 through this challenge directly. We have also raised another $600+ through the sale of our holiday cards and other donations. Because of all of you, we have less than $2,000 needed before we reach our goal!Because of the more than $8,200 we have raised and the $4,100 matching donation, the children of Angel Cottage have new beds, a concrete wall is being built to create a safe play area, and tables are being built. Your generosity is… -
Before and After
2 Nov 2009 | 8:05 pmI just love before and after pictures! They tell a story better than any words ever can. You may remember the pictures of of the kids crammed in their bedrooms at Angel Cottage. The beds are end to end, side to side, in small rooms with 2 and 3 children sleeping in each. Today, I got the best "after" picture of the girls' room at the new Angel Cottage!I know that walking between beds seems completely normal. It is to most of us. But these girls have been living in very tight, very unhealthy rooms for the past 2 years because they have no where else to go. As soon as the kids move into the new… -
Moving forward
1 Nov 2009 | 1:52 pmThe America's Giving Challenge is moving forward and so is Angel Cottage. Beds and mattresses are being moved in and the paint smell is on the way out. Beatrice and I decided to wait a week for the home to warm up and the paint smell to leave. It got quite cold in there after lots and lots of cold water was poured on the new concrete to help it cure. The walls have been painted a bright, cheerful yellow, and the dining room floor is red.As the children prepare to move, we continue to work towards raising $10,000 for their needs. In the past 48 we have raised more than $250 and now only need… -
Please help us finish strong!
30 Oct 2009 | 7:38 pmOn October 7 Angel Covers entered the America's Giving Challenge and the support was overwhelming. In the past 3 weeks more than $7,300 has been raised. With a goal of $10,000 we are on track to meet this goal for sure.In the next 6 days until this challenge is over, we need the support of everyone possible. A donation of just $10 will completely change a child's life. The $7,300 raised already has been done primarily because hundreds of people were willing to donate $10 and ask others to do the same. The children of Angel Cottage will soon be moving into their new home. Because of so many…
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PopTech Blog
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Noted: Articles, Awards, and News for PopTech Speakers, Fellows
11 Nov 2009 | 6:40 amHere are just a few updates we are excited about in the PopTech community in the last few weeks--follow our Twitter account (@poptech), Facebook page, and Delicious bookmarking account for more. ---- For PopTechers in the New York area, there's a PopTech NYC meetup organized by Alex Ivey next Thursday, November 19th at 7pm: details and RSVP. Please join us if you're in town. ---- Nick Bilton, who spoke at PopTech 2009 about multitasking and media, is joining the NYT "Bits" blog as a lead writer: "Nick, who has worked for years on various technology projects at The Times, has been on leave to… -
The Slow Movement and Flat Film
7 Nov 2009 | 10:01 amEditor's note: Carl Honoré spoke about the Slow Movement at PopTech 2007--watch his talk for more background on how slow creates meaning and happiness. I first knew Douglas Gayeton as the creator of Molotov Alva, the digital avatar who explored the meaning of life in Second Life. Now, some three years later, Gayeton is pushing the boundaries of multimedia and interactivity once more, but this time in a distinctly un-digital context. With SLOW: Life in a Tuscan Town, his first book, Gayeton introduces the people of Pistoia and their progressively rare, digitally unfettered way of life in… -
Distributing White on White
4 Nov 2009 | 5:57 am“A country Road. A Tree. Evening. [wow.episode.01]” is the first installment of Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation’s new video project called White on White. It is six minutes long and is the fifth multiple published by Compound Editions in New York. White on White promises to be a protean experiment in the distribution of digital and video art. Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation, “A country Road. A Tree. Evening.” Original music by Lumendog. If you have ever seen an exhibition of digital or video art, you may have asked yourself how the artist is able to make a living. -
First PopTech 2009 Videos Released: Social Innovation Fellows
2 Nov 2009 | 3:43 pmIn our first batch of video releases from PopTech 2009: America Reimagined, we are excited to share the fine presentations of the 2009 Social Innovation Fellows from October 22nd and 23, 2009, when they captivated a packed Camden Opera House and global live stream audience. During the days leading up to the PopTech 2009 conference, this extraordinary group of Fellows and their faculty met at a retreat center in Maine. For more on their week, see previous blog entries on their introductions to each other and what they learned. The Fellows and faculty will continue to be in touch as they begin… -
Follow Friday: PopTech Fellows and 2009 Speakers + Vote Vittana!
30 Oct 2009 | 10:38 amCongrats to PopTech Social Innovation Fellow Kushal Chakrabarti of Vittana (facilitating education microloans throughout the world) who is in the Huffington Post's Top Ten for Ultimate Game Changers in Philanthropy. You can vote for Kushal here. CC image of Kushal Chakrabarti at PopTech 200 by Kris Krüg. You can lend money to students right now on the Vittana.org home page. We also have a few Twitter lists we are developing for our community: * You can follow all the PopTech Social Innovation Fellows on Twitter in the PopTech Fellows Twitter list. * Follow the 2009 PopTech speakers,…
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quoteflections
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Internet Serendipity
11 Nov 2009 | 11:53 amOccasionally one runs across a site which opens horizons in perspective and style. Lucille from the United Kingdom at Useful and Beautiful engages and enthralls.'Poppies' is a moving post for Remembrance Day. Follow it through to the link. -
High Tech Conservation Measures
11 Nov 2009 | 5:12 amIn one of the most remote areas of the world the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society exposes the bloody whaling industry off Antarctica by Japanese whalers. Its flagship the Steve Irwin will now be joined by the high tech Ady Gil."It looks like the kind of boat Batman would drive," quips Paul Watson, the Canadian environmental activist who founded the society.It stretches 24 metres with a space age, carbon fiber tri-hull design. It's lightning quick, holding the world powerboat record for circumnavigating the globe. This new ship is a game changer and will be able to chase down and harass the… -
Toys are 'Transforming' Movies
10 Nov 2009 | 5:25 amThe buzz in movie circles these days is the rise of the toy. Film successes such as Toy Story, Transformers, and GI Joe, are now paving the way for possible movie plots around Risk, Battleship, and Etch A Sketch.This past summer action figures such as G.I. Joe and Transformers ruled the box office while films with Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler failed to draw crowds.The craze for toy driven feature films has given rise to a new term 'toyetic', meaning whether a movie's concept can lend itself to a toy.Will Smith, who currently commands one of the biggest pay cheques in the industry, has signed… -
Berlin Wall Anniversary 2009: Pertinent Quotes
9 Nov 2009 | 5:54 amThe Berlin Wall separated East and West Berlin for 28 years from 1961-1989. Today marks the twentieth anniversary of its collapse and the reunification of Germany. The wall vividly symbolized the Cold War between Communist Russia and the eastern Bloc countries and western democracies.Some pertinent quotes:- "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, June 12, 1987- "The Soviet Union has no moral or political right to interfere in the affairs of its East European neighbour. They have the right to decide their own fate." Soviet President… -
Soccer Game in the Leaves
8 Nov 2009 | 10:02 amMy regular followers know that I have been involved with a newly arrived refugee family from the Middle East. Over the last few weeks I have been piecing together their story. Generally a young Jordanian woman marries an Iraqi citizen. After the wedding they begin their home in Baghdad where they raise four children until the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003.With the unrest there they decide to move back to Jordan. However, the father cannot work in Jordan as an Iraqi citizen and he decides to go back to Iraq to sell his electrical business and coffee shop to support his family. Moreover,…
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News at Tonic.com
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3Com Joins HP
Big news on the technology front, as Hewlett-Packard has said it will acquire networking solutions company 3Com for the sum of $2.7 billion. According to this HP release about the acquisition, both companies' boards of directors have approved the terms of the transaction. According to TechCrunch, it's possible this acquisition is a reaction to money recently being thrown around by Cisco, a rival of HP. Two of Cisco's bigger recent purchases included a $2.9 billion acquisition in mid-October of Starent Networks, a networking infrastructure provider for mobile operators, and a $3 billion… -
Coming Soon!
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Robsten Hold Hands! Hear That Sound? That's Fan Satisfaction
Life finally imitated art last night, when Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, the dewy young stars of the Twilight Sagasomewhat confirmed they are in some type of relationship with one another by holding hands posted here on Usmagazine.com. Thank goodness.The photos look like the cover of a teen romance novel: Rob and Kristen embraced each other, she nervous but confidently clutching his hand as they crossed the tarmac to their private jet. The destination? Paris. The City of Love. As camera flashes popped, they beamed at one another, their secret romance no longer quiet. So satisfied being… -
Rick Astley Strikes Again
For those of who remember the late '80s fondly (come on, people — hands up), it's probably a safe bet that, at the time, very few of us would consider the possibility that 20 years later, the name "Rick Astley" would still be discussed in any way, shape or form. The man who rocketed to brief singing fame made a surprise return to social relevance a couple of years ago with the infamous Internet phenomenon "Rickrolling," where someone would send a Web link that's supposed to be relevant to a certain topic, but the link would instead lead to a video of Astley's number one single, "Never Gonna… -
10 People Who Should Replace Steven Tyler In Aerosmith
Okay, fine. We know Steven Tyler says he's not leaving Aerosmith. Big misunderstanding, right? But contingency plans are a virtue, my friends. So, I present this Tonic List...The Top 10 People Who Should Replace Steven Tyler In Aerosmith.10. Larry BirdIt's takes a Boston icon to replace a Boston Icon.9. David Lee Roth or Sammy HagarWhichever one Van Halen's not using.8. MC HammerHe could use the work ... and something to tweet about.7. Liv TylerBecause Liv and her daddy look freakishly alike and no one would notice the difference. 6. Stephen BaldwinHe's just as mouthy as Steven Tyler. 5.
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Gift Hub
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Swine Flu Irregularities and their Politics Probed by a Benedictine Nun
11 Nov 2009 | 1:58 pmTERESA FORCADES, doctor in Public Health, reflects on the history, and gives scientific data, of A type flu and lists all the irregularities related to this subject.She explains the consequences of the declaration of a PANDEMIC, the political consequences from this declaration and makes a proposal to keep calm. She calls for an urgent activation of all legal mechanism and the participation of all citizens in this matter. A state of emergency, she argues, is particularly congenial to repressive forces. Whether or not this is an example of same, it does seem that the world has learned from 9/11… -
Take Action Against Wage Theft
11 Nov 2009 | 1:14 pmI am a Board member for Interfaith Worker Justice. The organization works with the most vulnerable, lowest paid workers to protect their rights. IWJ is organizing a national day to fight wage theft (employers not paying workers what they are owed): On November 19th, Agencies, organizations, and individuals will join together in taking action to fight Wage Theft. Some will join in delegations to unethical employers, while others will participate in demonstrations and other actions to raise awareness and support for those who have had wages stolen. If interested in joining in the National Day… -
Mission Related Investing: A Policy and Implementation Guide for the Trustees of Wealth Bondage Foundation
11 Nov 2009 | 10:48 am"Mission-Related Investing: A Policy and Implementation Guide for Foundation Trustees," by Steven Godeke and Doug Bauer, published by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. More leading edge work on this topic by Mark Kramer, venture capitalist and Havard prof, at FSG Social Impact Advisors. See also F.B. Heron Foundation. Foundations invest billions in Wealth Bondage, that is, in corporations managed solely to a bottom line that externalizes some costs while aggrandizing wealth for owners and managers. Then Foundations make grants to palliate social ills, many of which are undergirded… -
Insurance Agents: How to Succeed in Philanthropic Planning for the Affluent
11 Nov 2009 | 7:44 amLife insurance agents learn day one, "You can't sell someone life insurance unless they love someone other than themselves." Philanthropy comes from philia, for brotherly love. Charity comes from caritas, for love of neighbor. Philanthropy is a motive, like love of family. Charity or love starts at home but does not end there. To find the giver in the prospect find the giver in yourself. As rookie insurance agents are taught, "You can't sell it if you don't own it. So, to succeed in charitable planning find the giver in yourself. Identify what you love beyond self,… -
Overcriminalized is a Product of The Heritage Foundation
11 Nov 2009 | 7:12 amOvercriminalized.com “Overcriminalization” describes the trend in America – and particularly in Congress – to use the criminal law to “solve” every problem, punish every mistake (instead of making proper use of civil penalties), and coerce Americans into conforming their behavior to satisfy social engineering objectives. Criminal law is supposed to be used to redress only that conduct which society thinks deserving of the greatest punishment and moral sanction. But as a result of rampant overcriminalization, trivial conduct is now often punished as a crime. Many criminal…
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TheGiveWell Blog
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The Carter Center
11 Nov 2009 | 3:06 pmEarly in 2009, we were extremely excited about The Carter Center. It seemed so strong that we devoted weeks to understanding it in depth. As discussed in a blog post we made at the time, several of its programs work on extremely promising “neglected tropical disease control” activities, and there’s a truly unusual amount of disclosure from these programs. It appeared that the Carter Center is near the top of the heap both for what it’s doing and for how it’s sharing information. To boot, it was directly involved in one of the most cited global health success… -
Medicine and philanthropy
10 Nov 2009 | 9:47 amDavid Leonhardt’s excellent piece on health care reminded me of the debates within philanthropy. For most of human history … [doctors’] treatments consisted of inducing vomiting or diarrhea and, most common of all, bleeding their patients … Yet patients continued to go to doctors, and many continued to put great in faith in medicine … There was a strong intuitive logic behind those old treatments; they seemed to be ridding the body of its ills. They made a lot more sense on their face than the abstract theories about germs and viruses that began to appear in the late 19th… -
Evaluating microsavings
10 Nov 2009 | 9:46 amWe’re excited about the idea of microsavings as opposed to microlending. But it isn’t enough to see that an organization offers microsavings. We need to know: Are savings services being provided relatively efficiently? How many clients are served per dollar of operating expenses? Are clients able to access their funds when they need them? We have heard anecdotal concerns about client dissatisfaction with the difficulty or bureaucracy involved in accessing savings. In addition to the proxies for satisfaction discussed in our earlier post, we’d like to see the… -
If microsavings is more needed, why does microcredit get more attention?
9 Nov 2009 | 7:24 amPortfolios of the Poor tells a story you won’t hear from a typical microfinance charity: Sankar was a landless, illiterate rickshaw driver, whose wife had Grameen membership. They had borrowed from Grameen Bank a few times - in fact one loan had helped him buy his rickshaw. Suddenly his wife told him they would have to open a GPS [savings account] in order to get the next loan. He was suspicious, he told us. “And now?” we asked. He chuckled. “Now, we try to avoid loans and just use the GPS.” Pressed to explain, he said that his income was small but sufficient for… -
Too much attention on the giver’s experience; not enough on the recipient’s
6 Nov 2009 | 9:46 amFrom the recent discussion on Tactical Philanthropy: As philanthropists/donors/funders, we spend so much time thinking about how to maximize social benefit through our activities, that often we lose sight of the personal benefits that we experience from these endeavors. We disagree. Consider the current state of the nonprofit sector. We have practically no information about charities’ effects on the people they serve. Donor misinformation is rampant. Failure to disclose basic facts sets off no one’s alarm bells even coming from the world’s biggest charities. Charities…
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The Hero Workshop
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Socrates the Hero
9 Nov 2009 | 3:55 amThis is a guest post from Ari Kohen, assistant professor at University of Nebraska – Lincoln. I met him through Twitter a long time ago after he was discussing heroism. He is currently working on a book-length project, The Moral Hero and the Mortal Hero, as well as articles on both restorative justice and the death penalty. You can read his bio here and his blog here. In my new book project, I make the argument that the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is meant to stand as an example of heroism on par with more traditional heroes like Achilles and Odysseus from… -
Cameras and Heroes
8 Nov 2009 | 6:52 amWe need heroes-in-waiting around us more than ever. When a hero is needed are you going to do good, do bad, or do nothing? Or whip out your phone and post photos to Twitter? -
The “Little Good Thing” Project, Week 5
2 Nov 2009 | 3:05 pmAfter five weeks of working on this project, I continue to get stories from people about the good things that they have started doing. I have started to notice that there are some basic skills required to do good deeds for people every day. It is still an easy thing to do, but I feel like having a basic knowledge of some common things will help all the Heroes in Waiting out there. I have complied the following list of the top ten things that would be helpful to you if you wanted to do a little good thing every day as well. If you have something that you would like to add to the list,… -
The “Little Good Thing” Project, Week 4
23 Oct 2009 | 8:09 amHello Little Good Things Readers. I am happy to say that this project is continuing to catch on. I have gotten a lot of stories about people doing their own little good things in order to improve the lives of the people around them. The following story comes from Katie in Minnesota: This summer I fractured a bone in my foot and have been pretty inactive since. But about 2 weeks ago, I decided that it was time for me to start running again. Its been pretty cold here in Minnesota, so I thought it would be a good idea to run inside on a treadmill at the school’s rec center. When… -
William Kamkwamba – Real Action Hero
22 Oct 2009 | 9:33 amThe call to adventure arrives in many different ways. For William Kamkwamba that call to adventure came when his family could not afford the yearly tuition of about $80 at his secondary school in Malawi, Africa. William, who was fourteen at the time as therefore unable to attend school for that year. Noticing that his village of Masitala was suffering greatly from the droughts that have affected Africa for years, William decided to take action. He traveled to a library where he found two text books with information on building a windmill. Using the pictures from the books as a guide,…
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Article 13 Ltd.
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Siemens AG: integrating transparency & anti-corruption throughout the business
18 Oct 2009 | 3:30 pmTransparency in business case study 3: Our third transparency and anti-corruption case study looks at the new anti-corruption programme implemented by Siemens in the wake of a serious corruption scandal. The programme is contributing to significant changes in leadership culture, structure and communications. -
Mental health campaign - Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
11 Oct 2009 | 3:30 pmCSR case study: A CSR award winning campaign to stamp out mental health stigma. -
Sustainable procurement in the NHS - The Medical Fair & Ethical Trade Group
4 Oct 2009 | 3:30 pmCSR case study: Exploring efforts to improve sustainable and ethical procurement practices in the NHS. -
Sustainability education - 3M
27 Sep 2009 | 3:30 pmCSR case study: Futurewise, a new web-based sustainability education tool and its role in helping school students make sustainable decisions. -
Bagging a green job
20 Sep 2009 | 3:30 pmOur press: Featured on Timesonline, this article looks at Gen Ys and the importance they place on the sustainability practices of their employers and the need for businesses to demonstrate transparency.
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News at Tonic.com
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3Com Joins HP
Big news on the technology front, as Hewlett-Packard has said it will acquire networking solutions company 3Com for the sum of $2.7 billion. According to this HP release about the acquisition, both companies' boards of directors have approved the terms of the transaction. According to TechCrunch, it's possible this acquisition is a reaction to money recently being thrown around by Cisco, a rival of HP. Two of Cisco's bigger recent purchases included a $2.9 billion acquisition in mid-October of Starent Networks, a networking infrastructure provider for mobile operators, and a $3 billion… -
Coming Soon!
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Robsten Hold Hands! Hear That Sound? That's Fan Satisfaction
Life finally imitated art last night, when Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, the dewy young stars of the Twilight Sagasomewhat confirmed they are in some type of relationship with one another by holding hands posted here on Usmagazine.com. Thank goodness.The photos look like the cover of a teen romance novel: Rob and Kristen embraced each other, she nervous but confidently clutching his hand as they crossed the tarmac to their private jet. The destination? Paris. The City of Love. As camera flashes popped, they beamed at one another, their secret romance no longer quiet. So satisfied being… -
Rick Astley Strikes Again
For those of who remember the late '80s fondly (come on, people — hands up), it's probably a safe bet that, at the time, very few of us would consider the possibility that 20 years later, the name "Rick Astley" would still be discussed in any way, shape or form. The man who rocketed to brief singing fame made a surprise return to social relevance a couple of years ago with the infamous Internet phenomenon "Rickrolling," where someone would send a Web link that's supposed to be relevant to a certain topic, but the link would instead lead to a video of Astley's number one single, "Never Gonna… -
10 People Who Should Replace Steven Tyler In Aerosmith
Okay, fine. We know Steven Tyler says he's not leaving Aerosmith. Big misunderstanding, right? But contingency plans are a virtue, my friends. So, I present this Tonic List...The Top 10 People Who Should Replace Steven Tyler In Aerosmith.10. Larry BirdIt's takes a Boston icon to replace a Boston Icon.9. David Lee Roth or Sammy HagarWhichever one Van Halen's not using.8. MC HammerHe could use the work ... and something to tweet about.7. Liv TylerBecause Liv and her daddy look freakishly alike and no one would notice the difference. 6. Stephen BaldwinHe's just as mouthy as Steven Tyler. 5.
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Worldchanging: Bright Green
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Editing the Shadow Volume
10 Nov 2009 | 12:13 pmGeoff Manaugh: Spotted via New Scientist is an amazing new computer model that allows designers to create objects based on the multiple and highly specific shadows... -
Alex Steffen at Town Hall Seattle Nov 11 & 12
10 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pmWorldChanging Team: Greeting Worldchangers, Our two night event at Town Hall Seattle starts tomorrow! We are thrilled to invite you to Town Hall’s Center for Civic... -
East of Nowhere - Contemporary Art From Post-Soviet Central Asia
10 Nov 2009 | 11:56 amRegine Debatty: No matter how hard i try to keep in touch with what is going on in Turin, i always seem to do an awful job.... -
Brazil Pledges Deep Emission Cuts in 'Political Gesture' to Rich Nations
10 Nov 2009 | 11:43 amWorldChanging Team: by Tom Phillips Brazil will take proposals for voluntary reductions of 38-42% by 2020 to the Copenhagen climate change conference next month, chief of staff... -
Yangtze Delta Warned to Prepare for Effects of Climate Change
10 Nov 2009 | 11:25 amWorldChanging Team: by Jonathan Watts Delta has been warming faster than global average for a decade, and the impact is already being felt, according to WWF China....
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Social Citizens
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Veterans and Volunteers: Why One Millennial Vet Serves
10 Nov 2009 | 2:10 pmGuest blogger Laura A. Moore is a Policy Analyst at Civic Enterprises, a public policy firm that helps corporations, nonprofits, foundations, universities and governments develop and spearhead innovative public policies to strengthen our communities and country. Today, Civic Enterprises releases All Volunteer Force: From Military to Civilian Service, a report based on the first ever nationally representative survey of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and their civic lives. Over 1.8 million men and women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them on multiple… -
Is Offline Action So 2000 And Late?
3 Nov 2009 | 10:33 amFor better or for worse, globalization and innovations in technology continue to make the world smaller all the time. As we grow more connected, our issues and causes are less defined by our physical neighborhoods, cities and countries. Millennials are more globally aware and invested than were our parents' generation and we have already mobilized to fight genocide, malaria, human trafficking, climate change, water shortage and other global issues for people they have never met and may never meet. We are reading the Economist along with the Washington Post, moving around every couple of… -
Where Are the iParticipants?
29 Oct 2009 | 1:34 pmAbout a week ago, I shared some of my high level thoughts about the state of online volunteer matching platforms. I expressed that online platforms for “good” need to be great. Because if they’re not, and we don’t make the experience as easy as possible for prospective volunteers, we lose a very important slice of folks we’re trying to attract. Call them what you will -- the unaffiliated, the unconverted, the I-want-to-give-back-but-don’t–know-where-to-start-“ers” these are people who are compelled by something they hear, or read, or… -
Hashtag Advocacy: #Friend or #Foe?
22 Oct 2009 | 10:53 amGuest blogger Brannon Cullum is a graduate intern at the Case Foundation, working on a Masters in Communication, Culture and Technology at Georgetown University. If you regularly tweet or follow users on Twitter, you may have noticed a particular hashtag popping up frequently over the past week. No, not #balloonboy, but #BeatCancer. The #BeatCancer campaign was one of the first successful efforts using a hashtag in an effort to raise money for a worthy cause. As you may know, hashtags are keywords used to organize tweets around particular issues and makes searches easier. -
How Can We Help Others "Harness the Wind"?
21 Oct 2009 | 8:09 amLast week I had the opportunity to hear a talk which left me feeling simultaneously inspired and totally inadequate. William Kamkwamba spoke about his life, experiences and inventions, which are chronicled in his new book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Born in Malawi, William and his family survived off the corn from their small farm in Wimbe. In 2001, a drought drastically reduced the crop yield, and famine grew so severe that his family lived on just one or two mouthfuls of food per day. Because money was so tight and his family couldn't afford the fees,…
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Operation NICE
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EEP!
4 Nov 2009 | 9:01 amI owe you guys a RAOKA post today, but I'm going to have to keep you in suspense for a little while longer. I'm leaving for Phoenix this afternoon to visit two of my favorite girls and their families for a long weekend. But along with a few work emergencies that have kept me running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I haven't had time to do a write up. Forgive me!I promise to describe to you my month of kindness as well as introduce to you the theme for November next Monday! Have a spectacular week and weekend!!! -
NICE Assignment: Places I Love
2 Nov 2009 | 11:27 amHi guys! Did you all have wonderful Halloweens?? Mine was fun! I wish we would have had more trick or treaters though. We only got three. And I live in a perfect trick or treating neighborhood, so I was surprised. I remember when I was a kid, we went through at least 14 bags of candy every Halloween. It was awesome! I hope I never feel too old to dress up. I love it so much! Here I am on Friday night, as my favorite movie character of all time, Max Fischer from Rushmore. After trying to convince my husband to be him three years in a row, I decided to do it myself. :) Funny thing is that it's… -
I did my assignment!
30 Oct 2009 | 7:03 amOn my way into work, I stopped at the grocery store to buy treats for the day. Then I sat in my car in the parking garage putting together little goodie bags for my friends at Starbucks, who provide me with liquid sunshine every weekday morning. And I also made three bags for my fantastic coworkers, who I couldn't be more grateful for. For some bizarre reason, I'm always nervous doing things like this. Hey, if someone handed me a bag of candy, they'd be my new best friend. But I don't know, my social anxiety kicks in and I honestly almost chickened out. But when I was at the register, I… -
NICE Testimonial: Let's Not Judge
29 Oct 2009 | 10:00 amI received an email yesterday from NICE photographer Beth with a link to a blog post she wrote a few days ago. It is so lovely, beautiful, meaningful, introspective (and more!) that I had to share it. It's easy to dismiss people based upon their appearances. I still have inner issues from my nerdy childhood. People didn't take the time to get to know me. And even now, I sometimes worry that my blue hair gives off the wrong kind of vibe. I'm not "disturbed" or "alternative", I just like blue. And my husband, in his fitted thermals and baseball cap might seem like a jock. Okay, he sort of is. -
NICE Assignment: Trick or Treat!
27 Oct 2009 | 10:31 amHi everyone! Phew, it's been crazy in my world lately. I could use a break. Luckily I go to Arizona to visit some of my favorite people in the world next week! That'll be an absolute treat. It's been tough managing everything on my plate lately. I've taken a hiatus from drawing, though I'd like to get back to that soon. I've cut back on my posting here, which I'm sure you've noticed. And I've definitely cut back on chores, much to my husband's dismay. :) But as I've been saying for the last few years, I just need to get through the next couple days!So here's a belated assignment for you!
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Case Foundation - Investing in People and Ideas that Can Change the World
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All Volunteer Force: From military to civilian service
9 Nov 2009 | 4:11 pmJohn M. Bridgeland is President and CEO of Civic Enterprises, a public policy firm in Washington, D.C., and Mary McNaught Yonkman serves as Chief of Staff. Since the dawn of the 21st century, nearly two million Americans have served in our nation’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These servicemen and women have risked their lives on battlefields from Kabul to Baghdad, not as a result of government mandate, but as a voluntary act of courage, conscience, and commitment. They reflect the ethic of service that undergirds our nation’s founding and persists to our present day. As we found in our… -
Start your holiday giving with Halloween
6 Nov 2009 | 1:27 pmGuest blogger Elyse Berkowitz is an intern at The Case Foundation and a senior at the University of Maryland. It’s officially November and as our sugar-highs wane from this past weekend’s festivities, it’s time to start thinking about next year. Instead of pushing this year’s costume to the back of your closet, where it will likely collect dust for the next few years, donate it to someone in need. You can help out in several ways: Contact a school or hospital in your town, or in an underserved community, to donate kids’ costumes. Each fall, families, schools, and hospitals scramble… -
What happens once we all become writers?
4 Nov 2009 | 10:54 amNovember is National Novel Writing Month, in which people set out to write a novel in a month. The idea is just crazy enough that it works. Last year, more than 119,000 tried it, and 21,000 writers completed their goal of 50,000 words in the month. Which brings us to this graph, from a great article by Denis Pelli and Charles Bigelow in Seed Magazine. Historically, they wondered, how much authoring has there been? And how has the recent explosion of personal publishing, with blogs, Facebook, Twitter and the rest, impacted authoring? The results are quantified in this graph, which shows that,… -
Why is it so hard to make people give?
4 Nov 2009 | 9:52 amGuest blogger Greg Baldwin is President of VolunteerMatch. Well, the easy answer is that it’s hard to make people give because people don't really want to. The logic is simple and compelling. People don't give because we are by our nature self-interested creatures pursuing our own survival in a competitive world. Adam Smith and Charles Darwin saw us for what we are: a collection of individuals looking to get ahead, not give back. It has never been easy to argue with science but, of course, that hasn't kept people from trying. If you look closely you will see how many philanthropic messages… -
Kiva & the illusion of person-to-person giving
29 Oct 2009 | 3:35 pmThe past couple of weeks have seen drama for Kiva, the successful funder of international person-to-person loans—drama on the blogs, anyway. Bloggers criticized Kiva for misleading donors, of telling a persuasive story about its operations that wasn’t strictly true. Folks criticized Kiva for the very thing that made it a successful fundraiser—the storytelling that moved us to send them money and put photos on our refrigerators. There is a happy ending, though. In the end, Kiva responded to the criticism, changing its marketing copy and its website. Like all good tales, though, there are…
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Ode Magazine
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Impermanence
11 Nov 2009 | 11:05 amBy: KeriDouglas How does one begin to understand the notion of impermanence? Perhaps the fall leaves, the death of a loved one, the sun rise in the morning…or words of wise spiritual teachers? In the last weeks, the word "impermanence" has been used by three very different people. Rabbi Steinlauf used the word ‘impermanence’ when he welcomed everyone into the Sukkha tent built to represent the temporary nature of life and still being willing to live life fully. A week later in the very same spot stood the Dalai Lama who wished to learn how the Jewish community thrived in exile despite… -
East meets West: Before the fall of the Berlin wall
10 Nov 2009 | 9:35 amBy: Chintana It’s the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. I was eleven years old on November 9, 1989 and was living in an egg colored split-level home with burgundy trimmed windows out in rural Georgia. My only memory of the event was how my father smirked and said, “the communists are dying” as he sat in a ribbed tank and navy blue jogging pants watching the world change through the frame of a large wooden TV set. He was listening and watching the news so intensely that I couldn’t tell what was feeding the channel: him or the pair of wire rabbit ears resting on top of… -
Palm oil industry bans ad
9 Nov 2009 | 2:20 pmBy: Toast An advertisement for Malaysian palm oil has been banned in the UK, dealing a major blow to the credibility of Malaysia’s palm oil industry. Members of the hunter-gatherer Penan tribe in Borneo have welcomed the ban, saying, "Oil palm plantations have not benefited us at all; they have only robbed us of our resources and land." The Penan live in Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of Borneo, and are fighting to stop the forests they rely on being cut down to make way for oil palm plantations. Survival International is calling on the Malaysian government to halt plantations and logging… -
Peacing words
9 Nov 2009 | 9:31 amBy: PeaceCorso I saw this chant in a column by Queen Mama Donna Henes, urban shaman and dear friend to me. The words say it all. When you have time, give yourself a gift, and speak them aloud. Let their resonance soothe your soul. Chant for Peace. Chant for Peace. For Peace on Earth. For Peace on Earth. Chant for Peace. Chant for Earth. For Peace on Earth. For Peace of Mind. Chant for Peace. There’s a Chance for Peace. A Chance for a Change. For a Change for Peace. For a Change for Earth. Chant for Earth. Chant for Peace. Chant for Us. Chant for Peace. There’s a Chance for Peace. Still a… -
Give to America's schools - keep teachers and kids engaged
9 Nov 2009 | 8:03 amBy: bizwizkid Our national nonprofit organization iLoveSchools.com matches America’s donors of new, used and in-kind resources with school teachers sorely in need. In a nutshell teachers visit our site, go shopping in our store and create WishLists of anything they need. We then find donors including individuals, parents, alumni, local and national businesses to donate the resources. 97% of every dollar goes to the teacher of the donor’s choosing. That is, we keep 3% for payment processing fees and have a guilt-free ask for 10%. Donors decide if we get any contribution vs. our taxing them…
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Causecast - Latest News
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Join The 29-Day Giving Challenge
11 Nov 2009 | 3:48 pmby PHILIP ROSS, Causecast Editor The premise is simple: commit to giving something away, every day, for 29 days. Time, money, clothing, a kind gesture - anything to keep the mind geared towards serving others. Cami Walker did just that, and has a story to share. She says her life was forever changed after she took the advice of her spiritual guidance counselor of sorts. The advice: give something away, every day, for 29 days. A revolutionary for giving, Walker has experienced first-hand the power of selflessness, and the fact that even the smallest gestures of kindness can make a world of… -
The U.N. Secretary General Visits The Arctic To Witness Effects Of Climate Change
11 Nov 2009 | 2:49 pmby SARAH NELSON, Contributing Writer With the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference less than 30 days away, world leaders are gearing up for a week of historic dialogue, while the rest of us look on with hopes for a solution to global warming. Among the biggest advocates for finding an immediate solution is U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. This fall, Mr. Ban took a trip to the Arctic North to see for himself the irreversible damage climate change has done to the polar ice cap. Ban's arctic adventure took him to the Norwegian Island of Spitsbergen, where he spent two days visiting polar… -
How To Volunteer With The Elderly
11 Nov 2009 | 12:11 pmby SARAH NELSON, Contributing Writer Never underestimate the incredible insight the older generation has to share. Whether its with your own grandparents or your elderly next door neighbor, here are some ideas on how you can brighten the life of a senior citizen, as well as your own. Step One: Share Stories Senior citizens have vast amounts of knowledge and decades of experience under their belts. Some of them fought in a war before they were eligible to vote, witnessed the explosion of the Civil Rights movement or watched in awe as a man walked on the moon for the first time. You'll never… -
Random Thought: Education Is Key.
11 Nov 2009 | 11:53 amTammy's random thought: be smart! Be careful before you jump on the Bamboo bandwagon. There are far too many companies out there that like to highlight their eco-business practices just to earn a buck. Truth is, a lot of these "green" companies rarely have the green part down. I know I am quick to trust, and quick to believe in the best of others, but we all must remember that capitalism trumps environmentalism in our society. Do a little research on the products you keep running back to...they may not be telling the whole story. There are two sides to every story. This week I want to go past… -
"Wax On, Wax Off"- Time To Get Your Clean On!
11 Nov 2009 | 11:26 amTanaka's take on green cleaning. Let me start off today's blog by adding some sparkle to my laptop since my dog has now officially left her mark by licking my screen...ewwww Saki! Cooties! But there is nothing that distilled water with a dash of vinegar can't fix! Don't forget a proper rag to prevent your screen from being torn to shreds when wiping away. So when I was younger, my parents would always make me clean the inside of the house while my brothers had to mow the lawn and clean up the backyard (dog poop, haha!!!) Between having to slave over dirty toilets, sweeping up grass and dirt,…
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A Volunteer's Guide to Changing the World
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You Are Influential
11 Nov 2009 | 1:31 pmMy friend J.D. forwarded me a GREAT article called Leading a Life of Intentional Influence by John C. Maxwell. I highly recommend you read it, I have copied it below for your convenience:Leading a Life of Intentional InfluenceBy John C. MaxwellIn the classic Christmas film, It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey is given a tremendous gift: the opportunity to see what life would be like without him. As he wanders through a world that has no memory of his existence, George is dismayed by the plight of his friends and family. Devoid of his influence, their lives lack the warmth and richness he is… -
Are you really reaching THAT many people?!
5 Nov 2009 | 3:53 pmHoly cow: 8% of internet users account for 85% of all clicks! -
4 Great How-to Web sites
4 Nov 2009 | 4:19 pmNext time you need help with something, try finding the answers at one of these great sites:Instructables.comInstructables is a web-based documentation platform where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with othersHowcast.comHowcast engages consumers to watch and share free, useful how-to videos and guides produced in-house at Howcast Studios, as well as by innovative media partners, trusted brands, and individual contributorseHow.comeHow.com is an online community dedicated to providing visitors like you the ability to research, share, and… -
The Passion to Thrive
3 Nov 2009 | 3:25 pmA just read a great blog post by Jon Gordon, forwarded from my good friend Shelley Sprouffske. The blog post is titled The Passion to Thrive and I have copied it below for your convenience. The blog post discusses how passion will allow you, and your organization to thrive today, and into the future. The post will show you why you need to be passionate, and after reading, I quickly brainstormed all the different things I could try being passionate about:Your constituentsYour workYour causeYour projectYour readingYour learningYour volunteersYour co-workersYour managementetc...What if you… -
Are You Using People-like-them?
30 Oct 2009 | 3:07 pmWhen a significant event happens to a person, they want information immediately. Not just published information, but real, relevant information. Often times this information does NOT come from your nonprofit, the media, or other publishing organizations, instead, and just as easily, it can come from people just like you.Check out this video uploaded to the net with tips about how to apply makeup when you go through chemotherapy.It turns out that sometimes to most relevant resource from information that your constituents need, will NOT come from you or your organization. It will come from…
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Sublime Goodness
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5-Year-Old Daughter Climbs Ravine to Save Mother
10 Nov 2009 | 5:54 pmThis story gave me goosebumps:A 5-year-old Canadian girl saved her mother’s life after their truck drove off a cliff. Nikki Butler, 30, was driving through the Rocky Mountains with her daughter Mary when their truck skidded on black ice, flipped over the guardrail, and rolled four times before coming to rest at the foot of a steep embankment. Unable to wake her unconscious mother, Mary unbuckled her seat belt, crawled out the rear passenger window, and climbed 150 feet back to the road where she flagged down a passing truck. “I needed to save my mom,” said Mary, “because I love my… -
Piano Stairs - Video
5 Nov 2009 | 6:03 pmIn the spirit of the last post, here is another fun one I came across recently.How do you get more people to use the stairs instead of the escalator? Make them musical. Love it.Enjoy:It worked too - 66% more people used the stairs! -
Grocery Store Musical - Video
29 Oct 2009 | 6:13 pmThis video is genius - fun, creative, spontaneous in nature and smile-inducing. It was staged by Improv Everywhere, a New York City groups who "cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places" according to their website.Here are the details from the group on this "scene:"Six undercover actors burst into song in a grocery store in Queens. Three minutes and lots of silly choreography later, they returned to their roles as shoppers and stock boys. The mission was filmed with hidden robotic, lipstick, and wearable cameras.Enjoy :)> Watch a Behind-the-Scenes Video & Learn More About the Scene… -
"It Made My Day - Little Moments of Win" Blog
20 Oct 2009 | 6:28 pmI came across this site recently and had to blog about it. It's a blog of "little moments of win" - small nuggets of goodness. Some funny, some poignant, and almost all are smile-inducing. I admit there are a few juvenile ones in there, but still. It's mostly cool.> Check it out here.Some faves (IMMD=It Made My Day for the uninitiated):Before an exam, after whole-nighter of studying, me – exhausted screamed out loud “Somebody save me”. My boyfriend pushed me with two fingers and said “Ctrl+S”. IMMDWhen my mom saw the commercial for The Beatles Rockband, she thought John Lennon was… -
Four-Year-Old Drummer Jonah Rocks
9 Oct 2009 | 2:50 pmThis kid got me so excited about music. His name is the apt Jonah Rocks & the kid can jam. Enjoy a video of him jammin' here (won't allow me to embed the video).I love his facial expressions - you can tell he's really into it. Check out his other videos too afterwards right here & visit his website here.* Thanks to Tim for making me aware of this cool kid.
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Kiva Stories from the Field
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A Sierra Leonean Pick-Me-Up
11 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pmby Stephanie Meyer, KF9, Sierra Leone I eat at Kumba’s at least three times a week. I’ve always been the type that likes to have my “regular spots” – my coffee shop, my bar, my newsstand. I like to think of Kumba’s as my lunch spot. It doesn’t hurt that everything is so homey. There are only three tables, so people tend to share and chat. By the time I had made three visits, I was granted to privilege of walking through the door to “Eh! Step-nie!” followed by enquiries after the folks I usually eat with and their whereabouts. The food is tasty and it’s fast, and on very… -
Kiva, Transparency and P2P Microlending
11 Nov 2009 | 8:50 amby Zev Lowe, KF8 Indonesia There’s been a bit of an ongoing debate about whether or not Kiva is what it seems. *cue ominous music* First, a post by David Roodman, followed by a response from Kiva co-founder Matt Flannery. More recently, Stephanie Strom wrote an article in the New York Times, to which Matt Flannery has also penned a response. All my friends have been asking me what I think about this. My inbox is bursting with emails, my Twitter feed is … well, atwitter. Meanwhile, I never knew when I signed up to represent Kiva for 10 weeks in Indonesia that I was also signing… -
Kiva Lenders Have Character
11 Nov 2009 | 12:08 amBy Prem Thomas, KF9, Philippines Yesterday I took a trip to a CCT Kiva branch located in Caloocan, about 2 hours north of the head office in Manila. CCT offices often have inspirational posters and signs, but I thought this one was very relevant to Kiva. Kiva lenders have good character: “They lend money to those in need without interest.” Here are links to updates on some of the borrowers in Caloocan that have benefited from Kiva loans: Teresa Barola: video game arcade owner Genie Tabarangao: sari-sari (general) store owner Gloria Espayos: news and spice stand operator Prem… -
Why Me?: A Post about Bolivian Women
10 Nov 2009 | 10:49 amBy Suzy Marinkovich, KF8 Peru & KF9 Bolivia Twisted twining vining metal unrhythmic untamed unkempt and in comes the dust sweat and sticking to me tires thumping each rock unsettled plastic bag squeezed empty tossed out the window just a drop of papaya juice leaps back clings to the dirty car door parting from the white stretch of plastic mangling on wire scraps whose posture, never organized nor structured nor retreating but insistingly unfinished uncared for undone and meters behind she rests her worn hand with dirty fingernails on the back of her velvet skirt, flicks her foot backwards… -
So, what is a “community bank”?
10 Nov 2009 | 9:48 amBy Julia Kastner, KF9 Mexico When Kiva first started, all of its loans were to individuals. Borrower A asked for X dollars and voila! Person A got a Kiva loan. Over time, however, Kiva’s been working with more and more MFIs, and the number of different types of loans and lending models has been increasing. Watch a meeting of a community bank (a.k.a. UDE): As Kiva explains: “In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a group of individuals bound by a group guarantee. Under this arrangement, each member of the group supports one another…
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Changed by Design
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The Project H Redesign of Hippo water transport
28 Oct 2009 | 6:06 pmIn a recent interview with Hippo Water founder Cynthia Koenig, we learned a bit more about the recent re-design of the Hippo Roller. It was a dream experience for this blog. The challenge In third-world countries, women and children must haul water over long distances in order to supply their communities with clean, safe water. Alternative sources like wells are only functional 6-8 months of the year, and well pumps are unreliable or fuel to power them can be difficult to obtain The first version of the Hippo Roller multiplied the hauling capacity of a single person but the cost of… -
Hippo Water: Smarter and ready to go further
14 Oct 2009 | 1:14 pmWe’ve had the fortune of interviewing Cynthia Koenig, founder of Hippo Water International, to learn more about their recent re-design and their latest plans to spread Hippo technology to more communities outside South Africa. Before we dig in, Hippo most urgently needs your vote for a much-needed scouting trip in India to exchange ideas and advice with other social entrepreneurs and establish critical distribution partners. The contest is hosted by JustMeans, offering an India Social Entrepreneurship Journey with Journeys for Change, for which Hippo Water is currently in the Top 5… -
Chicken a la Carte
22 Jul 2009 | 1:33 amSometimes, a well-told story can do just as much good for a problem as a well-designed solution. This principle attracted me to switch careers from engineering to advertising years ago…I’m still so far from becoming like the storytellers I so admire. This short film makes Ferdinand Dimadura one such storyteller. I won’t spoil it by telling you what’s in it, but I will say that people have been inspired to share this video so much that it has been viewed nearly 10 million times. In fact, I found this from my aunt who forwarded it to my entire extended family! View this… -
Three mobile solutions to development challenges
30 Jun 2009 | 8:00 amTwo thirds of the world’s 3.3 billion mobile phones are owned in developing countries. Social changemakers recognize this opportunity to reach those in need with information, tips, and resources that would otherwise be inaccessible at large scale. Here, we profile three innovative uses of mobile technology to combat developing world challenges. A Twitter tip informed me of Project Masiluleke in South Africa. Due to the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, individuals avoid getting tested and 90% of those infected are not getting treatment. In the KwaZulu Natal province, >40%… -
The Great Darfur Smokeout
1 May 2009 | 1:52 amThe Acumen Fund blog this week posted a call for solutions to the energy challenges posed by wood-burning stoves responsible for much of the black carbon causing 18 percent of global warming, according to the New York Times. Much of the third world uses wood as fuel because it is widely available and free, but the stoves they use to burn the wood are inefficient and produce large amounts of smoke and soot, causing major health and pollution problems. Acumen Fund’s main criticisms of alternative stoves like rocket stoves and solar cookers are as follows: There are lots of stove…
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ItStartsWith.Us
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Why 20SB Partnered With ISWU
11 Nov 2009 | 4:08 pmToday’s guest post was written by Derek Shanahan, one of the smartest guys I know. The two of us have been working on a way to bring our teams together for a while now, and we’re proud to announce that 20 Something Bloggers has become the first official partner of ItStartsWith.Us. Please read on for Derek’s piece of the story, or visit the new partner page to learn more and sign up. Hi everyone, my name is Derek and I run a blogger community called 20 Something Bloggers. Our community was started just over two years ago by Lisa Farlow when she realized it was difficult to… -
Decreasing Worldsuck: Peg Kerr
5 Nov 2009 | 7:47 pmToday’s guest post was written by Peg Kerr, an active member of our A-Team. She’s on a very cool mission to “decrease worldsuck,” and has a lot of interesting and easy ideas on how we can all do our part. I always knew I wanted to Do Something Important when I grew up. Life, however, sometimes doesn’t turn out quite as one expects. I had the misfortune to graduate from college in the middle of the 1982 recession, and as a result I got slotted into a succession of dead-end jobs that didn’t match my temperament or talents very well. I went back to graduate… -
Seeding Relationships: Tom Krieglstein
25 Oct 2009 | 6:51 pmTom and MariDo you ever think you’re doing pretty well in your chosen field, and then have a conversation with someone who makes you realize just how much more you still have to learn about it? I kinda felt that way this weekend. On Saturday I drove down to Chicago to watch Tom Krieglstein (@tomkrieglstein) give the keynote at a national Student Government conference. Tom is the co-founder of Swift Kick, an education company whose mission is to increase student engagement on college campuses. (Or “campi”, as I like to say. Go ahead, just add an “i” to any word to… -
Skip It And Give It
22 Oct 2009 | 7:30 pmSince this seems to be the week of trying new things, I’m going to take a shot at a different approach to our weekly A-Team mission. Usually I assign the missions to team members via email, and occasionally I’ll share some of the results with the general public here on the site. But today I want to try something different. I’m going to share this mission on both the site and via email, thereby giving all my regular readers a chance to “test drive” a mission if they want to. If you’re not familiar with what our A-Team does, you can learn more here. We are a… -
Is There A Wrong Way To Do Good Things?
19 Oct 2009 | 8:14 pmLately an obnoxious girl named Mari a few of my readers have mentioned that my articles are too long, and they don’t have time to read them. So tonight I want to try something a little different. Here’s a short post on something I was thinking about this weekend — I’d like to get your opinion on the topic. Let’s see how it goes. There are two guys out there who are both passionate about making a difference in the lives of homeless people on the streets of America. One of these guys (Mark Horvath) has been traversing America, living and working among the homeless…
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The GiveWell Blog
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The Carter Center
11 Nov 2009 | 3:06 pmEarly in 2009, we were extremely excited about The Carter Center. It seemed so strong that we devoted weeks to understanding it in depth. As discussed in a blog post we made at the time, several of its programs work on extremely promising “neglected tropical disease control” activities, and there’s a truly unusual amount of disclosure from these programs. It appeared that the Carter Center is near the top of the heap both for what it’s doing and for how it’s sharing information. To boot, it was directly involved in one of the most cited global health success… -
Medicine and philanthropy
10 Nov 2009 | 9:47 amDavid Leonhardt’s excellent piece on health care reminded me of the debates within philanthropy. For most of human history … [doctors’] treatments consisted of inducing vomiting or diarrhea and, most common of all, bleeding their patients … Yet patients continued to go to doctors, and many continued to put great in faith in medicine … There was a strong intuitive logic behind those old treatments; they seemed to be ridding the body of its ills. They made a lot more sense on their face than the abstract theories about germs and viruses that began to appear in the late 19th… -
Evaluating microsavings
10 Nov 2009 | 9:46 amWe’re excited about the idea of microsavings as opposed to microlending. But it isn’t enough to see that an organization offers microsavings. We need to know: Are savings services being provided relatively efficiently? How many clients are served per dollar of operating expenses? Are clients able to access their funds when they need them? We have heard anecdotal concerns about client dissatisfaction with the difficulty or bureaucracy involved in accessing savings. In addition to the proxies for satisfaction discussed in our earlier post, we’d like to see the… -
If microsavings is more needed, why does microcredit get more attention?
9 Nov 2009 | 7:24 amPortfolios of the Poor tells a story you won’t hear from a typical microfinance charity: Sankar was a landless, illiterate rickshaw driver, whose wife had Grameen membership. They had borrowed from Grameen Bank a few times - in fact one loan had helped him buy his rickshaw. Suddenly his wife told him they would have to open a GPS [savings account] in order to get the next loan. He was suspicious, he told us. “And now?” we asked. He chuckled. “Now, we try to avoid loans and just use the GPS.” Pressed to explain, he said that his income was small but sufficient for… -
Too much attention on the giver’s experience; not enough on the recipient’s
6 Nov 2009 | 9:46 amFrom the recent discussion on Tactical Philanthropy: As philanthropists/donors/funders, we spend so much time thinking about how to maximize social benefit through our activities, that often we lose sight of the personal benefits that we experience from these endeavors. We disagree. Consider the current state of the nonprofit sector. We have practically no information about charities’ effects on the people they serve. Donor misinformation is rampant. Failure to disclose basic facts sets off no one’s alarm bells even coming from the world’s biggest charities. Charities…
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What Do You Stand For?
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Warming Up to Causes Online
5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmTemperatures are dropping and the holiday season is approaching, causing an outbreak of the warm and fuzzies. Yes, the giving season is upon us, and this year is already proving to be the most digitally driven to-date. Nearly every holiday cause campaign underway has an online component, thanks, in part, to growing consumer comfort interacting with brands via new media up 32 percent from 2008.Despite all the glittery online promotions, its important to recognize consumers are still hesitant to donate online. The 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study showed some American new media users are… -
The Power of Positivity
29 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is taking a results-driven approach to promoting American investments in global health efforts by releasing an advertisement centered on impact. The video, part of the Living Proof Project, will strike a chord with policy-makers, philanthropists and citizens alike not by centering on unmet need, but by highlighting true and measureable change: Polio cases reduced by 99%; Mother-to-child HIV prevention in 16 million pregnancies; Malaria cases down 50% in 29 countries. This approach instills confidence that funding saves lives. Aimed at… -
Nonprofit Taglines Enhance Brand Power
26 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmLast week, 13 winners of the 2009 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards were announced, giving due credit to this often-overlooked but powerful marketing element. Over 4,800 nonprofit professionals voted for taglines that best delivered the vision and mission of the organization, putting power in the hands of practitioners who live and breathe nonprofit branding. Winners spanned a range of issues and represented organizations that focus on local, national and international causes, indicating that any nonprofit can benefit from a clearly communicated brand. A theme among the… -
Money Where Their Mouse Is
22 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmCones latest research, the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study, shows consumers are actively engaging with companies and nonprofits through new media channels but are they putting their money where their mouse is? The answer is divided. When it comes to corporate responsibility practices, 62 percent of new media users polled believe they can influence business decisions by voicing opinions via new media channels. And although they report contributing their point-of-view on an issue (24%) or contacting a company directly to share feedback and grievances (23%), new media users are… -
2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study
19 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmDo consumers want to engage with companies and brands through new media? Do they think they can influence corporate responsibility practices online? Are they supporting social and environmental causes via new media? According to the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study, the answer is a resounding yes with a few caveats along the way. The new research released today explores American new media users interactions with brands, their engagement with corporate responsibility practices and their support of social and environmental issues. This survey builds on Cones 2008 Business in Social Media…
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A Volunteer's Guide to Changing the World
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You Are Influential
11 Nov 2009 | 1:31 pmMy friend J.D. forwarded me a GREAT article called Leading a Life of Intentional Influence by John C. Maxwell. I highly recommend you read it, I have copied it below for your convenience:Leading a Life of Intentional InfluenceBy John C. MaxwellIn the classic Christmas film, It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey is given a tremendous gift: the opportunity to see what life would be like without him. As he wanders through a world that has no memory of his existence, George is dismayed by the plight of his friends and family. Devoid of his influence, their lives lack the warmth and richness he is… -
Are you really reaching THAT many people?!
5 Nov 2009 | 3:53 pmHoly cow: 8% of internet users account for 85% of all clicks! -
4 Great How-to Web sites
4 Nov 2009 | 4:19 pmNext time you need help with something, try finding the answers at one of these great sites:Instructables.comInstructables is a web-based documentation platform where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with othersHowcast.comHowcast engages consumers to watch and share free, useful how-to videos and guides produced in-house at Howcast Studios, as well as by innovative media partners, trusted brands, and individual contributorseHow.comeHow.com is an online community dedicated to providing visitors like you the ability to research, share, and… -
The Passion to Thrive
3 Nov 2009 | 3:25 pmA just read a great blog post by Jon Gordon, forwarded from my good friend Shelley Sprouffske. The blog post is titled The Passion to Thrive and I have copied it below for your convenience. The blog post discusses how passion will allow you, and your organization to thrive today, and into the future. The post will show you why you need to be passionate, and after reading, I quickly brainstormed all the different things I could try being passionate about:Your constituentsYour workYour causeYour projectYour readingYour learningYour volunteersYour co-workersYour managementetc...What if you… -
Are You Using People-like-them?
30 Oct 2009 | 3:07 pmWhen a significant event happens to a person, they want information immediately. Not just published information, but real, relevant information. Often times this information does NOT come from your nonprofit, the media, or other publishing organizations, instead, and just as easily, it can come from people just like you.Check out this video uploaded to the net with tips about how to apply makeup when you go through chemotherapy.It turns out that sometimes to most relevant resource from information that your constituents need, will NOT come from you or your organization. It will come from…
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How I changed the world today.
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kiva
9 Nov 2009 | 9:02 pmI made a quick loan to theLas Margaritas Group in Boliva. -
Conferences and loans
7 Nov 2009 | 8:19 pmI was off at another science conference this week. Too many scheduled in the fall...Made loans to Julia's today. -
Loans to Julia's
2 Nov 2009 | 10:26 pmI made two kiva loans today - one to Juliana Dorende in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria for her clothing business.The other loan was to Julia Nenith Pina Vd De Sicch from San Martin, Peru for her small business. -
Kiva loans
31 Oct 2009 | 9:01 pmI made a few more loans through kiva.org. Loan Purchase of $25 to Alex Mauricio Castellanos Chavez (business id=148224)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Edvin Antonio Acuña Arias (business id=142215)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Mirismayil Mammadov (business id=141949)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Ilqar Ibrahimov (business id=141951)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Sabuhi Zakirov (business id=142097)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Enrique Garcia… -
Kiva loans
30 Oct 2009 | 10:30 pmI made a lot of Kiva.org loans today. Loan Purchase of $25 to El Quior Group (business id=137892)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Las Inseparables Group (business id=137894)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Senac Group (business id=138214)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Rose Kimani (business id=149084)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Misbah (business id=148431)Counted towards NOVICA.com ($25.00) Loan Purchase of $25 to Aracelly Monestel Mejias (business id=149166)Counted towards…
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Kiva Stories from the Field
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A Sierra Leonean Pick-Me-Up
11 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pmby Stephanie Meyer, KF9, Sierra Leone I eat at Kumba’s at least three times a week. I’ve always been the type that likes to have my “regular spots” – my coffee shop, my bar, my newsstand. I like to think of Kumba’s as my lunch spot. It doesn’t hurt that everything is so homey. There are only three tables, so people tend to share and chat. By the time I had made three visits, I was granted to privilege of walking through the door to “Eh! Step-nie!” followed by enquiries after the folks I usually eat with and their whereabouts. The food is tasty and it’s fast, and on very… -
Kiva, Transparency and P2P Microlending
11 Nov 2009 | 8:50 amby Zev Lowe, KF8 Indonesia There’s been a bit of an ongoing debate about whether or not Kiva is what it seems. *cue ominous music* First, a post by David Roodman, followed by a response from Kiva co-founder Matt Flannery. More recently, Stephanie Strom wrote an article in the New York Times, to which Matt Flannery has also penned a response. All my friends have been asking me what I think about this. My inbox is bursting with emails, my Twitter feed is … well, atwitter. Meanwhile, I never knew when I signed up to represent Kiva for 10 weeks in Indonesia that I was also signing… -
Kiva Lenders Have Character
11 Nov 2009 | 12:08 amBy Prem Thomas, KF9, Philippines Yesterday I took a trip to a CCT Kiva branch located in Caloocan, about 2 hours north of the head office in Manila. CCT offices often have inspirational posters and signs, but I thought this one was very relevant to Kiva. Kiva lenders have good character: “They lend money to those in need without interest.” Here are links to updates on some of the borrowers in Caloocan that have benefited from Kiva loans: Teresa Barola: video game arcade owner Genie Tabarangao: sari-sari (general) store owner Gloria Espayos: news and spice stand operator Prem… -
Why Me?: A Post about Bolivian Women
10 Nov 2009 | 10:49 amBy Suzy Marinkovich, KF8 Peru & KF9 Bolivia Twisted twining vining metal unrhythmic untamed unkempt and in comes the dust sweat and sticking to me tires thumping each rock unsettled plastic bag squeezed empty tossed out the window just a drop of papaya juice leaps back clings to the dirty car door parting from the white stretch of plastic mangling on wire scraps whose posture, never organized nor structured nor retreating but insistingly unfinished uncared for undone and meters behind she rests her worn hand with dirty fingernails on the back of her velvet skirt, flicks her foot backwards… -
So, what is a “community bank”?
10 Nov 2009 | 9:48 amBy Julia Kastner, KF9 Mexico When Kiva first started, all of its loans were to individuals. Borrower A asked for X dollars and voila! Person A got a Kiva loan. Over time, however, Kiva’s been working with more and more MFIs, and the number of different types of loans and lending models has been increasing. Watch a meeting of a community bank (a.k.a. UDE): As Kiva explains: “In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a group of individuals bound by a group guarantee. Under this arrangement, each member of the group supports one another…
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So what can I do?
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Change the world.
6 Oct 2014 | 3:52 pmHow will you make our world a better place?* Health and education* Economics, social entrepreneurship, and microfinance* Food and water* Energy and technology* Women, children, and family* Environment, land, and sustainability* FaithAnd don’t forget to visit the So What Can I Do Bookstore. Your efforts can change the world.”Be the change you want to see in the world.” - Mohandas GandhiPlease visit http://sowhatcanido.blogspot.com to offer your comments and suggestions, forward this post, and peruse the archives. Thanks for reading "So what can I do", the public service weblog promoting… -
Join the So What Can I Do blood donation team.
20 Jun 2009 | 8:40 pmI went to the Red Cross blood center today and gave a pint. Regular readers and regular donors know that blood donation is a fast and easy way to save up to three lives. You never know when you or someone you know will need blood. So please consider donating blood, platelets, or red cells. And if you do, you’re invited to join the So What Can I Do Red Cross Racing Team. Here’s how:• Visit redcrossracing.com .• After you register scroll to the bottom and click “Team Competition.”• Enter the So What Can I Do team code: O?67SO .• Remember to log your donations to win points and… -
Celebrate World Free Your Mind Day – June 19th.
18 Jun 2009 | 9:07 pmI spent this Juneteenth thinking about what my family would have been like if my great-great-granddaddy Griffin Henry Belk hadn’t walked off that plantation when he did. I expect it would have made a huge difference, because when Griffin Henry Belk left, he was able to travel (searching for his parents), purchase land (160 acres for $11 in Ozan, Arkansas), and generally prepare to provide for his wife and five children to come. So I woke up Juneteenth morning and told my daughter about her great-great-great-granddaddy. Even though she’s only two, I expect it resonated with her, or will… -
Make Kiva microloans in the US.
11 Jun 2009 | 9:04 pmI’ve written frequently about microloans - how the concept spread as a tool for economic development, how to lend and get your money back – sometimes with with interest, making a loan a no cost to you, etc. But my most popular post on the topic discusses microloans in the US. I’m pleased to report that there is now another option for those interested in making microloans in the US. Kiva now offers the opportunity to make microloans in the US. If you’re in the US, this is a great way to help your neighbors move ahead through entrepreneurship. And if you need a microloan, this means… -
Be the match: Join the Marrow Registry for free June 8-22.
25 May 2009 | 7:58 pmEarlier today when I wanted to forward my post on cord blood donation, I realized that most of the links had gone dead. While updating them, I was pleased to learn about the upcoming Marrowthon from the National Marrow Donor Program. NMDP has set a goal of adding 46,000 new members to the marrow registry during this drive. Each new member increases the odds that someone with a life threatening blood disease will live, and live well – disease free.Joining is easy: just take the eligibility quiz, fill out a form, and swab your cheeks for a cell sample. (I had to give a bit of blood for…
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Worldchanging: Bright Green
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Editing the Shadow Volume
10 Nov 2009 | 12:13 pmSpotted via New Scientist is an amazing new computer model that allows designers to create objects based on the multiple and highly specific shadows that those objects will cast when lit from different angles. Seen above is one, relatively mundane example of the technology, by Niloy Mitra and Mark Pauly: three paintings by Andy Warhol are being cast from the same object. "Their computer model can calculate the object shape needed to cast up to three distinct shadows simultaneously," New Scientist explains. The designers call it "editing the shadow volume." Niloy's and Pauly's accompanying… -
Alex Steffen at Town Hall Seattle Nov 11 & 12
10 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pmGreeting Worldchangers, Our two night event at Town Hall Seattle starts tomorrow! We are thrilled to invite you to Town Hall’s Center for Civic Life for an evening with Alex Steffen, Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin, Seattle Mayor-Elect Mike McGinn and the Worldchanging Team. Each night, the doors will open at 6:30 pm. Come early and come hungry as Seattle's street food perfectionists from Skillet will be serving up delicious pre-talk snacks outside Town Hall. After a bite to eat, head inside to visit with other worldchangers and our fantastic sponsors: The American Institute… -
East of Nowhere - Contemporary Art From Post-Soviet Central Asia
10 Nov 2009 | 11:56 amNo matter how hard i try to keep in touch with what is going on in Turin, i always seem to do an awful job. Latest openings in London, Berlin, Eindhoven, San Diego or Venice? Easy peasy. But Turin does its best to keep me bored and uninformed. I discovered only a few days ago, as i was taking the plane to Graz (did you know Arnold Schwarzenegger comes from there?), that here was a fantastic exhibition in town. It had opened in May and i managed to visit it yesterday morning, a few hours after being back from Austria. Georgy Tryakin Burharov, Mole Antonelliana (Turin Tower), 2009 East of… -
Brazil Pledges Deep Emission Cuts in 'Political Gesture' to Rich Nations
10 Nov 2009 | 11:43 amby Tom Phillips Brazil will take proposals for voluntary reductions of 38-42% by 2020 to the Copenhagen climate change conference next month, chief of staff says The Brazilian government is preparing to pledge a big curb in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 as a "political gesture" aimed at pressing rich nations into agreeing to large cuts in carbon. The country's chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff, said Brazil would take proposals for voluntary reductions of 38-42% by 2020 to the Copenhagen climate change summit next month. The reductions are from projected 2020 emissions levels if no action… -
Yangtze Delta Warned to Prepare for Effects of Climate Change
10 Nov 2009 | 11:25 amby Jonathan Watts Delta has been warming faster than global average for a decade, and the impact is already being felt, according to WWF China. China's most populous river needs massive investment and careful planning to ease the impact of climate change, which is causing floods, droughts and storms to intensify, a new report (pdf) said today. The Yangtze delta, which is home to about 400 million people, has been warming far faster than the global average for more than a decade and the implications for food security and biodiversity will worsen without remedial action, according to the study…
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Green Tech
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Powering cell phone towers with wind
11 Nov 2009 | 11:35 amSouthern California pilot program to test Helix Wind's small wind turbines to run cell phone towers. -
Flywheels to buffer 20 megawatts on grid
11 Nov 2009 | 11:29 amFlywheel maker Beacon Power said it plans to begin construction later this month of an energy storage facility in upstate New York to stabilize grid frequency. -
Wi-Fi certification might be tweaked for smart grids
11 Nov 2009 | 9:47 amTask force to look at modifying IP standards for Wi-Fi devices as opportunity to become communication tool of choice between home appliance networks and smart grids becomes evident. -
Students pitch green businesses for greenbacks
11 Nov 2009 | 7:51 amThe Ignite Clean Energy Competition in Boston announces winners to a business plan competition, one of many contests used to fund promising green-tech ideas. -
N.J. utility ups solar loans to $248 million
11 Nov 2009 | 7:20 amState approves program to add 81 megawatts of solar power to its grid through PSE&G customers interested in helping the Garden State become a leader in solar.
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GoodGuide - Home
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Nano Health Effects at a Distance
9 Nov 2009 | 10:08 pmNanotechnology is increasingly in the news, both for the benefits that it could bring – and for the very uncertain risks it could pose to our health. Last week, British university researchers reported a startling result from a toxicology experiment. They exposed human cells to nano-scale cobalt-chromium and used a human cell barrier of 4 cells thick to protect the cells. To their surprise, the metal seemed to interfere with the DNA inside the cells, by sending chemical signals through the barrier. A medical law expert, Professor Thomas Faunce said, What [this latest research is] saying is… -
A Food Fight between Kids, Parents...and Regulators
5 Nov 2009 | 6:39 pmThe fight over food labels, health claims, and industry marketing is heating up. Last week, the food industry voluntarily suspended the Smart Choices program after the FDA announced they would be looking into the program. And today, Kellogg’s announced that they are discontinuing labeling cereals such as Cocoa Crispies and Rice Crispies as helping to “support your child’s immunity”, after the San Francisco city attorney sent a letter to the company asking them to back up these immunity claims. As Marion Nestle explains, these types of food claims fall into a loosely regulated, grey… -
Denmark Exposes the Risks of Two-Year Olds
29 Oct 2009 | 9:02 pmWith two young nephews, I’m very concerned about their exposures to chemicals in consumer products and food, since we don’t know how all the chemicals may add up or how they may interact. Based on what science we do have, it’s possible that multiple chemical exposures may lead to much higher risks. With strong government support, scientists working in Europe continue to shed more light on these risks. Last week, Denmark’s Environmental Protection Agency released a stunning report by three researchers on the total exposure of two-year olds to selected endocrine disrupting chemicals in… -
Are Froot Loops a "Smart Choice"?
23 Oct 2009 | 11:58 pmSmart Choices, an industry-supported initiative to certify foods for nutritional benefits, is under fire in the press and the halls of government. At issue is the fact that products such as Froot Loops, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Crispies, Ritz Bitz Peanut Butter Chocolately Blast crackers, Mayonnaise, and Fudgesicles receive the Smart Choices “green check” of approval. Critics lament that while products such as Froot Loops do contain fiber, vitamins, and minerals, they also contain 12 grams of sugar per serving - which is 41% of the product by weight. The media has had no problem finding… -
Healthy and Sustainable Seafood
20 Oct 2009 | 9:04 amFinding safe, healthy, and sustainable seafood may have just gotten a lot easier. The Monterey Bay Aquarium released a new report today on the State of Seafood, along with what they call “The Super Green List” of seafood that is both healthy and sustainably harvested. This list responds to a concern of many consumers over the last few years. While it was possible to find out which species of fish were most over-fished from one set of websites and lists, it required looking to other websites and lists to find out which fish were likely to contain the most mercury, PCBs, and other…
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TreeHugger
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Did Rock Music Peak Right Before Oil Did?
11 Nov 2009 | 4:26 pmPhoto via Rolling Stones Lyrics What's the correlation between good, quality rock music and worldwide oil supplies? They both peaked around the same time, according to Overthinking It, and they both illustrate what occurs when you're using something up from a limited pool--crude oil stores in one case, and musical ideas in the other. Have we run out of both?...Read the full story on TreeHugger -
The Fight Over the Future of Food: Monsanto, GMOs, and How to Feed the World
11 Nov 2009 | 3:45 pmPhoto credit: KevinLallier via Flickr On the eve of the World Summit on Food Security, Reuters has an excellent two-part special report about the future of food. Specifically, it covers the intersection of two notions that are being linked with increasing frequency: Feeding the skyrocketing world population, expected to hit 9.4 billion people by 2050; and the perceived benefits (things like increa...Read the full story on TreeHugger -
Readers, Send Us Photos of The One Green Object You Just Can't Live Without!
11 Nov 2009 | 1:22 pmAn Altoids tin solar power iphone charger. Credit: Instructables. Are you a sushi fan slave to a sustainable seafood pocket guide--we hear Fabien Cousteau's a fan--or do you use a Kill-A-Watt to combat your fear of wasted energy? Prove it! We want to see the one--or two, or three--green object(s) you just can't live without--from iphone apps for navigating public transit to the solar charger that powers your cell phone--for our ne...Read the full story on TreeHugger -
John Kerry Skewers Climate Change Denying 'Scholar' (VIDEO)
11 Nov 2009 | 1:19 pmPhoto via Telegraph I've posted a lot of videos of satirists taking on climate issues, people saying ridiculous things about the environment, and controversial clips--but I realize that I don't often enough put up videos of the important folks who get it right on global warming issues. Well here's look...Read the full story on TreeHugger -
Shiver Me Timbers! Scientists Discover Deep Sea Crab Feeding on Wooden Shipwrecks
11 Nov 2009 | 12:46 pmA new article in the journal Marine Biology brings to light the interesting feeding habits of the deep sea crab Munidopsis andamanica, better known to the world (somewhat perplexingly) as the squat lobster. It seems that the this particular animal eats exclusively discarded wood that sinks to the seafloor -- trees, leaves, old wooden shipwrecks are all fair game:...Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Green Inc.
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Forum Reflects Copenhagen Divisions
11 Nov 2009 | 7:07 amA forum in Washington on Tuesday echoed the division that are likely to animate, and perhaps stall efforts next month to hammer out a new climate treaty. -
G.E. Markets First 'Smart Appliance'
11 Nov 2009 | 5:45 amA water heater made by General Electric is believed to be the nation's first commercially available smart appliance. But its smartness is ahead of its time. -
Ahead of Copenhagen Climate Talks, Voices of Hope and Discord
10 Nov 2009 | 1:21 pmWith the approach of a conference on a new global climate treaty, discord rules the day. Green Inc. asked business leaders, lobbyists and government officials for their thoughts on the likely outcome. -
Study Analyzes Food Waste in Britain
10 Nov 2009 | 7:14 amA new report suggests that British consumers unnecessarily discard $20 billion worth of food and drink every year. -
Financing Challenges for Geothermal Power
10 Nov 2009 | 6:05 amA study by an Icelandic bank assesses the potential for geothermal power development in the United States.
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Social Citizens Blog
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Veterans and Volunteers: Why One Millennial Vet Serves
10 Nov 2009 | 2:10 pmGuest blogger Laura A. Moore is a Policy Analyst at Civic Enterprises, a public policy firm that helps corporations, nonprofits, foundations, universities and governments develop and spearhead innovative public policies to strengthen our communities and country. Today, Civic Enterprises releases All Volunteer Force: From Military to Civilian Service, a report based on the first ever nationally representative survey of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and their civic lives. Over 1.8 million men and women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them on multiple… -
Is Offline Action So 2000 And Late?
3 Nov 2009 | 10:33 amFor better or for worse, globalization and innovations in technology continue to make the world smaller all the time. As we grow more connected, our issues and causes are less defined by our physical neighborhoods, cities and countries. Millennials are more globally aware and invested than were our parents' generation and we have already mobilized to fight genocide, malaria, human trafficking, climate change, water shortage and other global issues for people they have never met and may never meet. We are reading the Economist along with the Washington Post, moving around every couple of… -
Where Are the iParticipants?
29 Oct 2009 | 1:34 pmAbout a week ago, I shared some of my high level thoughts about the state of online volunteer matching platforms. I expressed that online platforms for “good” need to be great. Because if they’re not, and we don’t make the experience as easy as possible for prospective volunteers, we lose a very important slice of folks we’re trying to attract. Call them what you will -- the unaffiliated, the unconverted, the I-want-to-give-back-but-don’t–know-where-to-start-“ers” these are people who are compelled by something they hear, or read, or… -
Hashtag Advocacy: #Friend or #Foe?
22 Oct 2009 | 10:53 amGuest blogger Brannon Cullum is a graduate intern at the Case Foundation, working on a Masters in Communication, Culture and Technology at Georgetown University. If you regularly tweet or follow users on Twitter, you may have noticed a particular hashtag popping up frequently over the past week. No, not #balloonboy, but #BeatCancer. The #BeatCancer campaign was one of the first successful efforts using a hashtag in an effort to raise money for a worthy cause. As you may know, hashtags are keywords used to organize tweets around particular issues and makes searches easier. -
How Can We Help Others "Harness the Wind"?
21 Oct 2009 | 8:09 amLast week I had the opportunity to hear a talk which left me feeling simultaneously inspired and totally inadequate. William Kamkwamba spoke about his life, experiences and inventions, which are chronicled in his new book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Born in Malawi, William and his family survived off the corn from their small farm in Wimbe. In 2001, a drought drastically reduced the crop yield, and famine grew so severe that his family lived on just one or two mouthfuls of food per day. Because money was so tight and his family couldn't afford the fees,…
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TakePart Social Action Network™
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TakePart Honors American Veterans
11 Nov 2009 | 5:10 pm"So on this Veterans Day and every day, the best way to honor our veterans is to connect with them. So please remember and honor our fellow humans, our veterans...We have honored you by defending your rights, and all we ask is to welcome us home. -
Veterans Call For Clean Energy And Climate Legislation (Video)
11 Nov 2009 | 4:32 pmA few months ago I wrote about Operation Free, a growing group of U.S. veterans advocating for a clean energy future and climate legislation, so in honor of Veteran’s Day I wanted to share with you a video of some of the organization’s members touring the country by bus to raise awareness of the threat that these issues pose to national security. As we reflect upon the sacrifices made by those who have served in the United States armed services this Veteran’s Day, we should also consider how we can help those who are currently serving. By telling Congress to support… -
Send Holiday Mail To Our Countries Heroes
11 Nov 2009 | 4:31 pmThe American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes, Inc. areonce again inviting Americans to “send a touch of home” to United States service members and veterans across the country and abroad through their Holiday Mail for Heroes program. Over 1.4 million men and women serve in the U.S. armed forces and over 24 million veterans have served in the past. Show these service members that you are grateful for the work they’ve done by giving one of them a holiday greeting card. Check out this video: So celebrate Veterans Day today by sending your holiday cards to: Holiday Mail for Heroes P.O. Box… -
Mexican Drug War Gets Its Own Vocabulary
11 Nov 2009 | 4:28 pmIt seems Mexico’s drug war has become so outrageously violent that the Mexican media has created words to describe the scene. These new words are used to describe drug-related acts ranging from “being dumped in the trunk of a car” to “the hand-scrawled notes hit men leave with the bodies of their victims.” Here are few of terms, as collected by Ken Ellingwood for the Los Angeles Times: Encajuelado: Based on the word for “trunk,” a body dumped in the trunk of a car. This is a common method for disposing of victims of a drug hit. Often, the bodies are… -
TakePart With A Paper Towel
11 Nov 2009 | 3:16 pmI’m still not that down with Twitter. Too many tweets and not enough twours in the tway to twead them. Am I right? But I do like that I can follow some of my favorite actors, writers, and noteworthy folks who actually update their accounts with interesting stuff like today a Tweet from Rainn Wilson (my hero Dwight from The Office) caught my eye about doing a random act of kindness using a papertowel. The idea is a project of SoulPancake, a site he is spearheading that offers an irreverent, fun, and profound take on God, Art, the Soul, Faith, and Beauty. Here’s the description of…
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Change.org's Global Health Blog
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President Obama Finally Appoints USAID Administrator
11 Nov 2009 | 10:27 amAfter hundreds of days of waiting, President Obama has finally nominated an administrator for USAID (United States Agency for International Development). Dr. Rajiv Shah currently works as Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics and Chief Scientist at the Department of Agriculture, so be sure that hunger and malnutrition will be paid close attention, as will to agricultural development. Prior to working for the government, Dr. Shah was Director for Agricultural Development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Of the nomination, President Obama explained "The mission of USAID… -
US Fears Feeding Terrorists, Delays Emergency Food Aid for Somalia
9 Nov 2009 | 4:27 pmThe U.S. recently delayed emergency food aid to Somalia out of concerns that it would end up in the hands of terrorists. Now, the impact of the interruption is becoming clear and causing huge problems, with rations to starving people being cut. The decision in October to suspend millions of dollars worth of aid came due to fears that food and money was going to an Islamic insurgent group, with the U.S. assuring the UN that the delay would be brief. But now the World Food Program has suggested “The food supply line to Somalia is effectively broken.” Food is stuck in Kenya until bureaucrats… -
Obama Still Hasn't Appointed Leader to US Agency for International Development
8 Nov 2009 | 5:36 pmThe United States Agency for International Development (USAID) still doesn't have a confirmed leader. Issues that need a full-time voice lack the volume necessary to really move the White Hosue. All five previous administrations appointed someone quicker than President Obama, and confirmation hearings need to happen within a month else USAID will have been left without an administrator for over year. The Center for Global Development is appalled by the speed of the Obama Administration to appoint someone considering the huge importance of restoring America's standing in the world. Someone… -
Climate Change is Biggest Health Threat to Children of 21st Century
6 Nov 2009 | 9:24 amClimate change could kill up to 400,000 children a year. That's the assessment of Save The Children who explain that not only will does climate change represent a huge global health problem that will kill hundreds of thousands every year, but it's singled out as the biggest health threat to children in the 21st century. Save the Children estimate that up to 175 million a year will be effected as natural disasters increase over the next decade. There of course is no-one immune to climate change, and no immunization being developed, or hopes that the Gates Foundations can step in and fund… -
Lower Fertility Rate is Improving the World in Incredible Ways
5 Nov 2009 | 6:59 pmClimate change, hunger and malnutrition, women's rights, war and conflict are all causes in which the situation is likely to dramatically improve should global fertility rates continue to decrease. Soon a milestone will be reached as "only half of humanity will be having only enough children to replace itself," writes the Economist. We aren't going to disappear as a race, oh no, but population growth is likely to slow and with it more people will enjoy a higher standard of living at no-one's expense. More pairs of hands won't be needed to improve your family's chances of survival, and the…
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Change Becomes Change
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Helpful Information on the H1N1 Vaccine
10 Nov 2009 | 8:45 pmA few months ago I shared information with you from various sources on the H1N1 (Swine Flu) vaccine. Since then, we've watched the news each night with updates on the spread of the flu and shortage of vaccines, we've also heard more concerns about the vaccine and the unknown risk felt by many. Knowing that consumers everywhere are likely having discussions with their family, friends and doctors on this topic, the company I work for, Aisle7, just published an update on the H1N1 vaccine to educate and inform shoppers of our customers. You'll find the introduction to the article below. If you… -
Depaving the parking lot to put up a park
8 Nov 2009 | 10:52 pmDid I get the name of that song wrong? Just ask my husband, I'm always butchering songs. But this time, it was intentional. Think about it: pull up a parking lot to plant something green. Crazy? Maybe.But it's happening. We just watched a clip on our local news tonight where community members rallied to depave a local parking lot that wasn't being used anymore. They plan to use some of the land for community garden space and the rest will be green space to gather in and enjoy. Why? Lots of reasons, but a few include: Asphalt heats up the environment on hot days Run off water from the parking… -
Looking for Smart Choices at the Market
4 Nov 2009 | 9:13 pmWe all want to make the right choices for our family, especially when it comes to the food we feed them. With headlines telling us about the increase in childhood disease like obesity and diabetes, parents everywhere are trying to do their best to protect their children from danger.While some government agencies are helping to make it easier with mandatory nutrition labeling on restaurant menus, there's a gap where we spend the most money on food: the grocery store. A few grocers have implemented their own nutritional guides to help shoppers make educated choices, but they can still require… -
What Will You Do With Your Halloween Candy?
2 Nov 2009 | 10:13 pmI don't know about you, but I've got a 10 pound bag of candy sitting on my front table and we didn't really stay out that long on Halloween. While I was pleased to see some pencils, stickers a few wind-up monsters, most of the "treats" were anything but for young, growing bodies. What's a mama to do? She needs a good trick up her sleeve.It was so much easier when they were younger and would forget about their sweet treasure by the next morning. This was really the first time that they asked about the candy, but maybe our mistake this year was leaving the goodie bags out in plain view. For a… -
Congratulations to our Healthy Halloween Winner
27 Oct 2009 | 10:22 pmLast week I gave you some new ideas on healthier alternatives for Halloween treats and announced that Whole Foods had provided many of these items to share with one lucky winner. First, I want to let you know that we have a winner. I'm pleased to say that Ms Four was randomly selected and happily received her FEED bag full of Halloween treats this morning. I also want to share some of the ideas for healthier alternatives that were left as comments to the original story:Michelle at What's Cooking suggested giving out seed packets - flowers, herbs or veggiesAnn from Pierce Whole Nutrition…
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GOOD Main
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Why Save a Community Garden?
11 Nov 2009 | 5:07 pmA friend of GOOD, Gordon Douglas, has been part of an effort to save a community garden in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood. It’s been difficult. The University of Chicago owns the land, and is determined to take it over as a staging area for some nearby construction projects. He recently wrote us a letter explaining why the garden is so important. It’s a little long but it’s a great read: I first encountered the 61st Street Community Garden shortly after moving to Chicago in 2006. I had been put in contact with a local writer and activist who keeps an office in the… -
Heartmelting Footage of Dogs Welcoming Soldiers Home
11 Nov 2009 | 4:09 pmNo one knows how to honor a soldier as well as his dog. Watch, tear up, and get all overwhelmed with equal parts reverence and emotional fragility. Click here to view the embedded video. Many more videos at Mental Floss. The dachshunds are especially remarkable. -
Veterans Stump for Clean Energy
11 Nov 2009 | 2:54 pmWe’ve mentioned before that climate change and our dependence on foreign oil represent a couple of the gravest fundamental threats to our national security. So—in honor of Veterans Day—here’s a video of some of our men and women in uniform touring the country in support of clean energy: Click here to view the embedded video. These vets of Operation Free took to two buses (yes, they were biodiesel), and rolled across the country talking to the public, political leaders, and fellow veterans about the national security implications of climate change and the need for Congress to… -
Happy 40th Sesame Street
11 Nov 2009 | 2:03 pmSesame Street turned 40 yesterday. Here’s a clip from the show of Grover and a kid exploring the essence of marriage. Click here to view the embedded video. I think they hit all the most important points. Keep up the good work, guys. Via Boing Boing. -
Rock (and U.S. Oil Production) Is Dead
11 Nov 2009 | 12:29 pmOverthinking It has a thought-provoking chart (view at full size here) that pits the declining quality of rock music against the declining amount of oil production in the lower 48 states. The remarkable similarity between the arcs of U.S. oil production and songs in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” by year is staggering. Some of their analysis: Notice that after the birth of rock & roll in the 1950’s, the production of “great songs” peaked in the 60’s, remained strong in the 70’s, but drastically fell in the subsequent decades. It would seem that,…
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Good Blogs
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Why Save a Community Garden?
11 Nov 2009 | 5:07 pmA friend of GOOD, Gordon Douglas, has been part of an effort to save a community garden in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood. It’s been difficult. The University of Chicago owns the land, and is determined to take it over as a staging area for some nearby construction projects. He recently wrote us a letter explaining why the garden is so important. It’s a little long but it’s a great read: I first encountered the 61st Street Community Garden shortly after moving to Chicago in 2006. I had been put in contact with a local writer and activist who keeps an office in the… -
Change ads with the DoGooder plugin – Osocio, Social Advertising and Non-profit Campaigns
11 Nov 2009 | 4:10 pmThis is a lot like ad-art. It’ll replace your internet ads with messages from charities and nonprofits. Original article: Change ads with the DoGooder plugin – Osocio, Social Advertising and Non-profit Campaigns -
Heartmelting Footage of Dogs Welcoming Soldiers Home
11 Nov 2009 | 4:09 pmNo one knows how to honor a soldier as well as his dog. Watch, tear up, and get all overwhelmed with equal parts reverence and emotional fragility. Click here to view the embedded video. Many more videos at Mental Floss. The dachshunds are especially remarkable. -
Sharp-toothed shark preforms C-section on another Shark!
11 Nov 2009 | 3:21 pmVisitors to Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World were stunned to see one shark give another shark an impromptu caesarean section. Staff were initially dubious when visitors came running to tell them there were baby sharks spilling from a wound in a female school shark’s stomach – courtesy of a large bite by another shark. But they found a female with a large gaping stomach wound and four babies swimming in the tank. Kelly Tarlton’s aquarist Fiona Davies said it was common for sharks to take chunks out of each other, even in the wild, but she had never heard of anything… -
Veterans Stump for Clean Energy
11 Nov 2009 | 2:54 pmWe’ve mentioned before that climate change and our dependence on foreign oil represent a couple of the gravest fundamental threats to our national security. So—in honor of Veterans Day—here’s a video of some of our men and women in uniform touring the country in support of clean energy: Click here to view the embedded video. These vets of Operation Free took to two buses (yes, they were biodiesel), and rolled across the country talking to the public, political leaders, and fellow veterans about the national security implications of climate change and the need for Congress to…
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Good Magazine
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Picture Show: Four Days in Dubai
11 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amDubai can seem more like a mirage than any place on Earth—even in the shade, it’s marvelously bright. Whether the city is the most precious gem in the United Arab Emirates’ crown or merely a piece of costume jewelry is up for debate; regardless, its very presence is remarkable. But for all its pomp and extravagance, there are real people who work and live there. Through the lens of the photographer Dustin Aksland, who recently traveled to the famed metropolis on a separate assignment, the city takes on a strikingly humble tone. “Construction is going on 24 hours a day, but… -
Transparency: How Education Spending Affects Graduation Rates
10 Nov 2009 | 10:00 amThe U.S. government has poured $100 billion of stimulus money into the Education Department, but does paying more lead to better results? Our latest Transparency is a look at the amount of money every state spends per student, and the graduation rates in those states. A collaboration between GOOD and Lamosca -
Digital World Explorer
5 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amThe digital ethnographer Michael Wesch on the dark side of social media, what we learned from Iran, and why the future of the web depends on human interests—not market interests. As a graduate student in Papua New Guinea, Michael Wesch studied how the introduction of books and literacy changed government and society. Now, as a professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, Wesch examines how digital media is changing human interaction. His YouTube video “Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us,” has been viewed more than 10 million times and he has won several awards… -
Picture Show: Inside a Colombian Prison
4 Nov 2009 | 8:00 amAs the home of the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar, the city of Medellín, Colombia, used to be one of the most violent places in the world. Today, the cells and grounds of its Bellavista prison are largely populated with people who grew up in and around the city. It’s an intimidating place, to say the least, yet as is evident in the images of Vance Jacobs’s photographic series “Colombian Prison: A View from the Inside,” even within the confines of prison walls can the beauty of the human spirit be observed. On the invitation of the Centro Colombo Americano, an… -
Transparency: The Change in Carbon Emissions
3 Nov 2009 | 11:00 amAs the world gets closer to the COP15 Climate Change conference, it’s important to look at from where the emissions around the world are coming. In the last year, some countries have started to clean up their act, while other countries continue to pump out carbon dioxide. Our latest Transparency is a look at the five highest emitters in each region of the world as of 2007 and whether they have increased or decreased both their total emissions in the from 2006 to 2007 and their ranking on the list of biggest emitters. A collaboration between GOOD and Lamosca.
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SocialEarth
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Social Entrepreneurs: Serving the Bottom of The Pyramid
9 Nov 2009 | 1:59 pmThis post is the first in what will become a weekly series of posts from the team of bloggers at Ashoka. On Mondays, look for tech news and innovation from the bloggers behind Ashoka Tech. On Wednesdays, read about the latest in peace and conflict resolution from Ashoka Peace and on Fridays get [...] -
Best DAM Thing Out of Palestine
9 Nov 2009 | 2:01 am- It cost me a lot to make it to Durango. By 5pm, most of my friends had bailed on the idea. Some were still hungover, some too lazy to make the forty-minute trip and a few others were wary of the political stability of the climate I was asking them to enter. “It’s just a Palestinian [...] -
From Minnesota to Morocco: $1 Million for Unwed Mothers
8 Nov 2009 | 9:02 amIt is hard to remember the sharper edge of reality when wrapped in the warm cocoon of living abroad. For the better part of each day, I am granted reprieve from having to think about anything except “what shall I have for lunch today?” and “what concerts are on tonight?” The weekends are reserved for [...] -
Blog Your Way to Hyderabad, India with Ashoka
7 Nov 2009 | 9:05 pmYou blog because you have a voice. You blog because your passion to write. You blog because you want to change the world. Now you can blog to win a once-in-a-lifetime chance to attend and cover the Tech 4 Society conference in Hyderabad, India. Exclusively from Ashoka and the Lemelson Foundation, the Blog your way to [...] -
Three More Reasons for Social Enterprises to Embrace Profit
6 Nov 2009 | 5:07 amIt’s true that many social entrepreneurs enter the space, often from the non-profit sector, with the intention of doing good, first and foremost. Making a profit is a secondary concern, if that, and the idea of focusing on profitability can even make some social entrepreneurs quite uncomfortable. However, if social entrepreneurs want to be successful, [...]
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Africa Rural Connect
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Holiday Giving to all ARC Members!
11 Nov 2009 | 7:54 amThis Holiday Season, as a thank you to all members of the ARC Community for their participation, we have teamed up with Shea Yeleen International to offer a 10% discount on all Shea Yeleen International shea butter products. -
New Ways to "Follow" ARC
30 Oct 2009 | 1:29 pmIn recent weeks, we have added two new features to the site to make it easier for everyone to keep track of our developments. RSS Feed While we have long had an RSS Feed for the Updates on the site, we recently added an RSS feed for Ideas. This is a great way to keep up with any new ideas that are posted. You can use one or both of these feeds on your Blog, Website, or simply add it to your RSS Feed Reader. Where can you find the RSS Feeds? Simply click the RSS logo in your Internet Browser: -
Press Release: Kenya Leads Africa Rural Connect in Third Round
27 Oct 2009 | 11:56 amBoost in Kenyan participation leads to winning ideas -
What Winning Round 3 of the Africa Rural Competition Means To Me
27 Oct 2009 | 8:39 amI think winning the third round competition means a lot to me, my organization Seanet International and all those who voted and commented/ improved the E- Agriculture Idea, and even many more people that are learning about it now. -
ARC Sparked Interest and Enthusiasm for Our Project
23 Oct 2009 | 7:36 amThe ARC contest sparked enthusiasm for our efforts from long-time supporters, previous volunteers,and community partners around the world. Our partners in Jamaica emailed to say they were excited about our Africa efforts, people in our home office communities of Pittsburgh, PA and Morgantown, WV got in touch to inquire about how they could be involved, and we saw a huge surge in online interest!
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Tactical Philanthropy
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Philanthropy Daily Digest
11 Nov 2009 | 5:07 pmVPP | Chairman's Corner: Here Comes the Sun, Part 2 Mario Marino writes a follow up to his last piece on transparency in philanthropy. This essay looks, in part, at the "dark side to the Transparency Revolution." (tags: philanthropy) The Attack from Within | Philanthropy Central Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, one day after criticizing "outsiders" for attacking philanthropy turns inward and questions recent essays by David Hunter and Mark Kramer. (tags: philanthropy) Social Networking and Mid-Size Nonprofits: What’s the Use? :… -
The Art of Giving: Participation & Collaboration
11 Nov 2009 | 8:52 amI led a discussion last night with a group of major donors and a handful of social entrepreneurs about the impact of the web on philanthropy. One of the big take aways for me was that to the extent the web makes philanthropy more transactional (which was the point of Web 1.0) it is not particularly helpful. But to the extent the web can bring people together to participate and collaborate (the concept of Web 2.0), it offers unique potential for the future of philanthropy. For me, the value of the web to stimulate participation and collaboration was on display last week during the debate… -
Philanthropy Daily Digest
10 Nov 2009 | 5:03 pmPhilanthropy – WSJ.com The Wall Street Journal has published its annual special Philanthropy section. (tags: philanthropy) Why Give? Because Your (College Nonprofit Entrepreneur) Friends Asked | Social Entrepreneurship | Change.org Nathaniel Whittemore thinks the "wonky" Tactical Philanthropy community has missed the point on why people give. (tags: philanthropy) The Intrepid Philanthropist Blog | Philanthropy Central A new group blog from Duke University features an all star cast of contributers including Ed Skloot, Joel Fleishman, Paul Light, Phil Buchanan, Vince Stehle and… -
Twitter, Philanthropy & Influence
10 Nov 2009 | 6:29 amThis is my newest column in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. You can find an archive of past columns here. Twitter Presents a Chance for Savvy Charities to Reach More People November 12, 2009 | Link of Chronicle of Philanthropy Late one Friday afternoon this fall, Matt Flannery, the co-founder of Kiva.org, posted a message on Twitter: “It seems like my Twitter account is getting attacked by spam. 500 new followers a minute. Anyone else experiencing this?” In fact, a small group of people who use Twitter to talk about philanthropy had also been inundated with followers. But the… -
Philanthropy Daily Digest
9 Nov 2009 | 5:06 pmMore Than Money, Part II « The Philanthropic Family Sharon Schneider looks at the five "buckets" (beyond your money) that can be drawn on to have an impact. (tags: philanthropy) Joanne's Nonprofits Blog: 5 Suggestions for High Leverage Charitable Giving Joanne Fritz of the About.com Nonprofit blog looks at the recommendations for effective philanthropy in the book The Art of Giving. (tags: philanthropy) The GiveWell Blog: Too much attention on the giver’s experience; not enough on the recipient’s Holden Karnofsky of GiveWell weighs in on the discussion about donor…
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Cause Global: Social Media for Social Change
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Garbage Island
10 Nov 2009 | 7:47 amDon't miss Lindsay Hoshaw's spot.us piece in The New York Times on the expanding Pacific Garbage Patch -- what Hoshaw describes as that Texas-sized area of "light bulbs, bottle caps, toothbrushes, Popsicle sticks and tiny piece of plastic, each the size of a grain of rice."This floating stew exists in remote stretches of the Pacific Ocean. But the problem it poses is not as remote as it may seem. Photographer Chris Jordanused this fall's PopTech conference in Maine to unveil his latest project, Midway: Message from the Gyre, a series of photographs that he shot in September on Midway Atoll, a… -
Slow Money
8 Nov 2009 | 11:15 amThere is slow food, slow design, slow cities, and slow photography.And now? There is Woody Tasch. The former venture capitalist-turned-revolutionary, as he calls himself, is the guru of "slow money" - the name Tasch gives to his philosophy that combines a passion for social enterprise with the benefits of locally-grown food. Cause Global caught up with Tasch at New York University a couple of days ago, where he was speaking to social enterprise students about his new national campaign to persuade at least 1 million Americans to donate between $25 and $1,000 each to help create a grassroots,… -
Are We Still Here?
29 Oct 2009 | 2:01 amLast week in Maine, at PopTech's annual thinkfest, America Reimagined, writer Anthony Doerr read aloud an essay he wrote for the January/February 2009 issue of Orion Magazine called Am I Still Here?—about our always-on, Web-centric world. Neither too sentimental nor apocalyptic, it's a pitch-perfect reflection of this moment in our culture; Doerr got a standing ovation.[Go ahead. Take the five minutes away from your BlackBerry to read it. Guaranteed it will free up some time for you later.] Here's the text of it, from his reading:I HARBOR A DARK TWIN INSIDE. He’s a sun-starved, ropy… -
America, Reimagined: Conflict
25 Oct 2009 | 7:11 am(Photo: National Geographic/PopTech2009 Photo CampSome sessions at America Reimagined, this year's PopTech conference [which ended last night], focused on the themes of racial and class conflict in the United States. Several speakers offered some new thinking about how these tensions are shaping the idea of America at home and abroad—and urged new ways to ease them.Paul van Zyl, an anti-apartheid organizer in South Africa and Nelson Mandela's executive secretary of the famed Truth and Reconciliation Commission, urged conferees to help work for the creation of a similar body in America. -
America, Reimagined: Food
24 Oct 2009 | 8:20 am(Photo: National Geographic/PopTech2009 Photo CampFood journalist and activist Michael Pollan, the author of the Botany of Desire (which has been made into a PBS documentary and will air on October 28th at 8p EST), urged PopTech 2009 conferees this morning to consider that our food chain is "deeply implicated" in the three biggest problems of our time —the energy crisis, the health care crisis, and the climate crisis. Twenty percent of the fossil fuel we burn in America, he said, is used to feed ourselves; $500 billion in health care costs are used to treat diseases linked to the American…
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Sasha Dichter's Blog
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Pleasantly Persistent
11 Nov 2009 | 12:00 amSomeone left me a voicemail the other day in which she said, “I know we keep missing each other, so I thought I’d try again. And hope that you appreciate my being pleasantly persistent.” Somehow, the way she said it, it really worked. If outreach and building new relationships is part of what you do (and it is, no matter what you do), how you create the next conversation is always top of mind. Nearly all of us need to be reaching out more, to be building more relationships and cultivating them with more care. When you reach out to someone new, especially when you reach out cold,… -
One month later…the NY Times on Kiva
10 Nov 2009 | 12:00 amIn case you missed it, the New York Times has picked up the Kiva story. What I’m struck by is: The story was broken by David Roodman in his original blog post. How quickly the conversation spread online, including response by Kiva to the blog posts and changes to their website. The analysis is definitely deeper online than in the Times story, which almost feels like a story about the story. It took more than a MONTH from the time David wrote his post until the Times picked it up. For all the blogging/Tweeting buzz about the story, there’s been no real impact on giving to Kiva,… -
Breaking point
4 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amWhen do you push so hard that customers get to the breaking point? And do you think you hear much from them until the moment when they’ve had it with you? Here’s what you have to do in order NOT to run up a $4,000 cellphone bill when traveling internationally with your iPhone. Figure out your monthly data usage (either by logging on to the AT&T website, assuming you know how to do that, or knowing to ask the customer service rep this, after 5 minutes of navigating the voice response system). Mine is nearly 300MB on an iPhone 3GS Pre-buy a certain amount of… -
Cheaters
3 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amLast year, 71 out of the 42,000 entrants in the New York City Marathon cheated in some way. None did so as spectacularly as Rosie Ruiz, who rode the subway in the 1979 NYC marathon and was exposed as a cheat in Boston later that year (though Dane Patterson, the Biggest Loser Contestant who recently shaved three miles off the course with her NBC crew in tow comes close). But every year, a number of folks cut corners in one way or another and in so doing undermine the integrity of the race. Cheats and spammers and people who try to beat or abuse the system will always be out there, and you… -
100% of the time
30 Oct 2009 | 3:00 amA while back I wrote about the “125% rule,” the idea that having more on your plate than you can really get done as a good thing, because it forces you constantly to triage, to work better and faster and smarter, and to say ‘no’ to things that you shouldn’t really be spending time on. That post was about work, and this one is about life. A perfect life is one in which at every moment you are doing exactly what you should be doing. Whether at work or at home or somewhere in between, you are fully engaged, fully energized, fully yourself. I’ve never much liked the term…
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The World Affairs Blog Network
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Giving Social Enterprise a Chance
6 Nov 2009 | 10:22 amAs a side project to my day job, I’ve been exploring the world of Canadian public policy. Given the opportunity to participate in a very smart program for non-profits called the Max Bell Public Policy Institute - I’ve been opening my eyes ( & brain) to the world of social enterprise and public policy. In Canada, charitable organizations have the available structures (legal frameworks) to create related business. Related business activities help charities to diversify their revenue. There are two kinds of related business a charity can conduct 1) business that are… -
Why you need a Lawyer, a CPA, and a Philanthropic Advisor…
1 Sep 2009 | 9:39 amThe increasing professionalization of (Western) Philanthropy has left most of us, the average check writer, in the dust. Professionalization is not necessarily a bad thing, but it elicits a similar answer to questions of “why I am unable to do my husband’s treasury job” and “why I need a lawyer to help me buy a house”. Professional industries are complex - and its always nice to have a friendly guide. No matter your wealth, you can participate in philanthropy. The barriers to entry are lowering by leaps and bounds - and the spectrum is getting longer. … -
The Chicken & Egg Debate: High Performance vs. High Impact
19 Aug 2009 | 3:56 pmWhen the FP Article, A $9 Trillion Question: Did the World Get Muhammad Yunus Wrong? came across my Twitter feed this morning my first thought was, blasphemy! The praise and attention that Yunus and Soto have received over the past few years - collecting fans and converts of their teachings - make it hard to imagine that someone would write such a title, such a critique. And yet, there is merit in what Peter Schaefer writes. As of 2004, loans provided by microfinance organizations amounted to just $17 billion worldwide. This is a pittance compared with the potential credit requirements… -
Efficiency Meltdown
14 Jul 2009 | 2:24 pmMuch of what I’m reading these days - in blogs, in articles - seems to swirl around the idea of efficiency: measuring efficiency, metrics for efficiency, foundations granting to efficient non-profits…and on and on. I don’t actually set out to look for these articles, they are just there - alongside the many discussing how to best use Twitter for your non-profit. It is this fatigue with hearing the word efficiency that I began to rebel. One rebellious action, not writing my blog. With so many opinions out there around how to measure, who to measure, what to measure, or… -
The Philanthropist
25 Jun 2009 | 6:10 amWatching NBC’s premiere of The Philanthropist left me with more questions than answers. Luckily, I’m not the only one with conflicted views on the effect the show will have on philanthropy. Last night, we were saturated with quite a portrayal of white man’s guilt - where the most honest moment comes when our hero, Teddy Rist, is questioned on his true intentions. He never really tells us, but then again, neither do many philanthropists. The hero’s British accent, his American company, and the African music accompanying the intro, commercial breaks, and…
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High Impact Philanthropy
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Who’s Who at the APHA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia?
10 Nov 2009 | 7:32 amAre you at the American Public Health Association’s 137th Annual Meeting, currently taking place November 7-11, 2009, in Philadelphia, PA? Well, I’ll tell you who is there: Carol McLaughlin, MD, MPH, our global health director, and Kathleen Noonan, JD, director of PolicyLab and a senior fellow of CHIP. Carol had the opportunity to present, Prenatal HIV testing by undocumented immigrant women in Philadelphia’s Public Health Centers, at last year’s meeting. This year, Kathleen had the opportunity to present, the Importance of policy relevant research, on Sunday. This… -
1st Annual World Pneumonia Day: Monday November 2, 2009
2 Nov 2009 | 1:20 pmHello folks and welcome to November. I wanted to post a brief announcement to acknowledge the Hedge Funds vs Malaria and Pneumonia, Wear Blue Jeans campaign for World Pneumonia Day. You can find them on facebook and twitter, and also read a recent article by Dr. Orin Levine on the Huffington Post website here. Here are a few startling facts about the deadly impact of pneumonia on children: Pneumonia is the world’s leading killer of children under 5, excluding neonatal deaths. 2 main causes, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infections, are responsible for… -
High Impact Health Policy: What’s on the Agenda?
20 Oct 2009 | 11:37 amMy morning email inboxes were jam-packed as usual, though my eyes were drawn to two “Content Alerts” from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The first alert gave details of a September 2009 webcast on the Spotlight on Poverty & Opportunity website, which features Dr. Risa LaVizzo Mourey, the President and CEO of RWJF. In the webcast, Dr. Mourey is interviewed by Mary Jo Walsh and their discussion highlights RWJF’s plans for influencing current public policy to improve access to health care and healthy lifestyle resources for low-income populations. Dr. Mourey… -
Change.org Blog Action Day: What’s Climate Change Got To Do With Philanthropy?
15 Oct 2009 | 9:43 amToday, Change.org is hosting its annual Blog Action Day, held on October 15, in which bloggers all over the world take a moment to write about a specific topic. This year, the topic is Climate Change. By the way, have you heard of Change.org? It’s a social entrepreneurial, web-based platform for raising awareness, raising money, and exchanging information with the goal of fostering social change. There are a variety of causes to get involved in via the change.org website, such as Poverty In America, Education, and Global Health. As a matter of fact, our second philanthropic investment… -
Incentives for Giving in the Downturn: Trend or Fad? (Does it Matter?)
13 Oct 2009 | 12:07 pmThe Penn Almanac ran a highlight of last week’s ribbon cutting for the new entrance to the Caster Building, home of the School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) at Penn. This event also showcased the new Centennial Wall, celebrating the 100 year anniversary of SP2, formerly the School of Social Work (SSW), as well as the 100 for 100 Campaign to raise $1 million by 2010. You can read more about the Ribbon Cutting Event on the Almanac’s website, and also in an article by the Daily Pennsylvanian. One feature of the new SP2 fundraising campaign caught my attention: Each donor who…
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New Voices of Philanthropy
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When segregation is good
9 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amThis will become one of those posts that gets me in trouble but it won’t be the first or the last post that has done that, so here we go… When I decided to go to a historically Black college, there were a variety of factors behind that decision but the biggest factor was that I was sick of always trying to explain that racism really existed and I felt like I was spending too much time in high school being the “Black representative” on every topic. I developed a strong personal and educational footing at Howard because I wasn’t spending all of my time dealing with… -
All I need to know about management, I learned from Ace of Cakes
31 Oct 2009 | 10:47 amI am a big Ace of Cakes fan. The most obvious reason is that I like cake and they make cake. But that can’t be the only thing because Cake Boss makes me want to poke myself in the eye. I finally realized that I enjoy Ace of Cakes because it is one of the few examples on television of a happy workplace. Here’s what Duff and his team have taught me about good management: Give staff parameters but be flexible in process and final result. If a client asks for a cake that looks like a tackle box and it needs to serve 50 people, those are pretty clear parameters. Is the tackle box on a… -
Build Your Own Frankenmentor
22 Oct 2009 | 2:06 pmThanks to Dunechaser at Flickr for the image If you looked at my list of mentors you would probably be shocked. On that list you would see a couple egotistical jerks, someone that overshares to a degree that makes you cringe, some bad parents, terrible bosses, a self-promoting lunatic, and a lot of selfish spouses. These people aren’t my mentors because I have bad taste in mentors. They are my mentors because they have other amazing redeeming qualities and I only look to them for advice in the areas that they excel. Penelope Trunk gives great advice about how to move ahead in your… -
Big Picture vs Self Interest
6 Oct 2009 | 9:08 amOne of my pet peeves is when people and organizations shoot themselves in the foot because the lack the vision to see the big picture. This is especially obvious when it comes to many in the nonprofit sector fighing against a change in the charitable tax deductions of our wealthiest donors to help pay for health reform. Many of our organizations are serving the uninsured and underinsured. We deal with school children who misbehave because they have an undiagnosed hearing problem or a cavity that hasn’t been filled, we serve families that have gone bankrupt because they have an emergency… -
When good things happen to great people
4 Oct 2009 | 7:59 amEver since my son was 4 months old, he has been going to the best daycare in the world. I know most parents think their daycare is the best but mine really is and ABC agrees because they just selected our daycare provider for an Extreme Home Makeover! Philanthropy isn’t always about what you can do on your own. I would have love to build her a new house but I don’t have the resources but by all of the parents banding together and sending in many heartfelt entries to ABC we were still able to have the same result (OK a much, much better result that if we tried to build her a house…
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Asian Philanthropy Forum
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JusticeMakers competition - become a JusticeMaker fellow!
11 Nov 2009 | 2:36 pmLast year, the International Bridges to Justice hosted the JusticeMakers competition and we were excited to help promote their work. This year, we are even more excited because the competition is focused on Asia! The 2010 Asia JusticeMakers Competition is supported by the Lien Institute for Social Innovations and the purpose is to search for and fund grassroots initiatives in Asian communities to promote criminal justice and ensure the legal rights of all men, women, and children. How it works. A panel of eight judges will evaluate proposals based on a set of Judging Criteria, looking… -
Asian philanthropy news digest 11/10/09
10 Nov 2009 | 4:53 pmThis month's digest is focused on donors in the media. An interesting pattern can be seen with three of these donors - they are immigrants and support both domestic and international causes. The other two donors live abroad but are supporting programs in the U.S. Predicting donor behavior is becoming more and more complex. The lines between domestic and international giving are blurring. There are patterns emerging though and we hope to document some of them in the future. * Kai-Fu Lee introduced his new venture in China, Innovation Works, at the annual conference of the Asian… -
Job Listing for 11/6/09
6 Nov 2009 | 5:34 pmIndia Portfolio Manager, Hyderabad, India, Acumen Fund. Responsible for managing the healthcare portfolio in India, including current investments and the development of future investments in the sector and manage compliance and operations of the Acumen Fund India office. Charity Shop Adviser, Beijing, China, Volunteer Services Overseas. Help The I Do Kids Fund to set up and run the first charity shop in Beijing, China. The Fund was set up to help improve the living standards of disadvantaged children in China and to promote volunteerism. Asia Regional Director, New Delhi, India, Room… -
Creativity and innovation in the philanthropic sector
5 Nov 2009 | 9:33 amI do not consider myself a very creative person but sometimes, I have to be creative and innovative on how I approach my work in attracting new clients that use our international philanthropic services. During these tight budget times, we all have to innovate with the resources that we have. We also have to create our own opportunities so we can continue delivering high impact services that exceed our client and donor expectations. As a leader, how do you lead and manage creative people? How do you create an environment that encourages them to excel?Harvard Business Review has a… -
Thinking about an internship at a non-profit?
30 Oct 2009 | 11:20 amCharles Ostertag started as an intern at Give2Asia and then went on to become even more. He left for law school last month and it is only now that I am beginning to acknowledge his absence. For those wondering if he or she should apply for an internship at a non-profit, I highly suggest that they read Charles' farewell post. Here is an excerpt; for the full post, please visit Give2Asia Forum:During my undergraduate studies a few years ago at UC Berkeley, I distinctly recall a fellow student explaining to me she wanted to use her degree to work in the nonprofit field. Nonprofit?
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The Philanthropic Family
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More Than Money, Part II
30 Oct 2009 | 4:34 pmI wrote earlier today about taking inventory of your assets–beyond writing checks–to support your charitable causes. (Click here to review the checklist.) I’m still playing with these concepts, but as of now I see at least five categories that comprise your power to bring about social change. 1) You are a consumer Linking our consumer purchasing decisions with our values is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal as a community. If you have an iphone, arm yourself to make good purchasing decisions with the free goodguide app, which will allow you to type in the bar… -
More Than Money
30 Oct 2009 | 6:48 amI’m on a panel today at the Chicago Global Donor’s Network 6th annual Conference on International Philanthropy. More than Money: Expanding Your Philanthropic Toolbox. Many times donors think their primary contribution to the cause comes when they write a check. In fact, passionate, committed supporters bring so many more assets to the table besides their financial wealth–including their own networks, skills, reputation and so much more. In this session you will hear how different populations, including ordinary individuals, foundations, celebrities and businesses, can… -
Why Do You Give to Charity?
27 Oct 2009 | 8:34 amAccording to a new study by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, differences in giving motivations can be explained by income and education. According to the press release issued last week: Among lower-income donors (income less than $50,000), the phrases that resonated as a motivation for giving were helping to meet basic needs or helping the poor help themselves. Donors with income between $50,000 and $100,000 were more likely than donors in either higher or lower income groups to say that they gave to “make the world better.” Among donors with income of $100,000 or more,… -
Running Late
12 Oct 2009 | 7:25 amLast week I was struck by one of those unearned privileges of wealth and power: the right to be running late. While visiting a nonprofit in downtown Chicago, I saw one of their donor relations folks in the hallway. In asking about her morning plans, she said she was rescheduling with a donor who ran into traffic and couldn’t make the meeting. We commiserated about the difficulties of navigating Chicago traffic for a bit and neither of us thought too much about it. Later that same day, I was scheduled to give feedback to a job seeker about her interview skills and she was running late. -
Five Ways to Become Happier Today
8 Oct 2009 | 7:10 amStudying and teaching about happiness is, as I understand it, a relatively new field of positive psychology. The new definition of “healthy” is not a neutral state marked by the absence of mental or physical illness (surviving), but a positive state of productivity and satisfaction (thriving). There is a web community called Big Think that brings thought leaders across disciplines together to share big ideas. This week, they featured a video conversation from Tal Ben-Shahar, a Harvard University lecturer on happiness on the topic of “Five Ways to Become Happier Today.”…
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What Do You Stand For
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Warming Up to Causes Online
5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmTemperatures are dropping and the holiday season is approaching, causing an outbreak of the warm and fuzzies. Yes, the giving season is upon us, and this year is already proving to be the most digitally driven to-date. Nearly every holiday cause campaign underway has an online component, thanks, in part, to growing consumer comfort interacting with brands via new media up 32 percent from 2008.Despite all the glittery online promotions, its important to recognize consumers are still hesitant to donate online. The 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study showed some American new media users are… -
The Power of Positivity
29 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is taking a results-driven approach to promoting American investments in global health efforts by releasing an advertisement centered on impact. The video, part of the Living Proof Project, will strike a chord with policy-makers, philanthropists and citizens alike not by centering on unmet need, but by highlighting true and measureable change: Polio cases reduced by 99%; Mother-to-child HIV prevention in 16 million pregnancies; Malaria cases down 50% in 29 countries. This approach instills confidence that funding saves lives. Aimed at… -
Nonprofit Taglines Enhance Brand Power
26 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmLast week, 13 winners of the 2009 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards were announced, giving due credit to this often-overlooked but powerful marketing element. Over 4,800 nonprofit professionals voted for taglines that best delivered the vision and mission of the organization, putting power in the hands of practitioners who live and breathe nonprofit branding. Winners spanned a range of issues and represented organizations that focus on local, national and international causes, indicating that any nonprofit can benefit from a clearly communicated brand. A theme among the… -
Money Where Their Mouse Is
22 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmCones latest research, the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study, shows consumers are actively engaging with companies and nonprofits through new media channels but are they putting their money where their mouse is? The answer is divided. When it comes to corporate responsibility practices, 62 percent of new media users polled believe they can influence business decisions by voicing opinions via new media channels. And although they report contributing their point-of-view on an issue (24%) or contacting a company directly to share feedback and grievances (23%), new media users are… -
2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study
19 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmDo consumers want to engage with companies and brands through new media? Do they think they can influence corporate responsibility practices online? Are they supporting social and environmental causes via new media? According to the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study, the answer is a resounding yes with a few caveats along the way. The new research released today explores American new media users interactions with brands, their engagement with corporate responsibility practices and their support of social and environmental issues. This survey builds on Cones 2008 Business in Social Media…
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Travelanthropist
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What Does it Mean to be a Global Citizen?
10 Nov 2009 | 9:56 am“What does it mean to be a global citizen?” is a question many have been asking and the answers vary because global citizenship means different things to different people. When we heard that Project Explorer, a non-profit that provides free cultural and travel education programming for kids and teens, is asking people to make and upload a video answering this question with their ideas and experiences, we thought it was a fantastic way to dialogue and to get inspired. Currently there are 61 videos posted with answers from the likes of ... -
Key Shifts Seen in Volunteering Abroad
9 Nov 2009 | 11:46 amVolunteering abroad is nothing new. For decades, people have gone abroad with the Peace Corps, with relief organizations or even on their own. But the momentum for volunteering abroad has never been stronger than today as more opportunities are available for just about anybody. Collectively, we have made this huge shift from thinking about ourselves to helping people on other continents. At its core, this is a by-product of an affluent society where our basic needs are met and we are ready to use our excess resources to help others globally. ... -
Weekly Radar: News & Stories Around the Web
8 Nov 2009 | 4:29 pmWe’ve rounded up some interesting news and stories around the Web this week: Silver Spoon Voluntourism [Time] Going to 2010 Games? Offset Your Carbon [Reuters] NZ Among Lonely Planet’s Best 2010 Destinations [NZ Herald] Have A Heart [ETravel Blackboard] Green My Guy: Green Vacations [Kansan] The Zeitz Foundation’s Getaways That Do Good [CNTraveler] -
Travel Insiders Predict Future Tourism Trends & Hotspots
6 Nov 2009 | 8:28 amNorth Americans and Europeans accounted for the largest groups of travelers in the last 30 years. Travel experts expect that to change in the next 30 years with more people from Russia, India, China, and Brazil traveling. They expect destinations in Southeast Asia and Latin American will jump in popularity because of their proximity to the new source of travelers. UK travel specialist Hoseasons chief executive Richard Carrick indicated, “There will be a shift in the axis of power over the next 30 years. As people from China and India ... -
“Global Online Peace Corp” Set to Launch
5 Nov 2009 | 8:46 amOne exciting news expected to come out of the upcoming UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen December 7-18 is the launch of Hope Plus, seen as a global online Peace Corps or a global “eBay for caring.” This is a global, multilingual web portal that allows people interested in social change projects to meet online, share ideas and resources and start planning projects such as helping disaster victims, building schools, campaigning for clean water. It will run independent of any government. The project, backed by Obama and Gates, is led ...
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Being the Change I Wish to See
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U.S. not really about equality
6 Nov 2009 | 10:29 pmI am angry and sickened by Maine putting gay marriage rights on a ballot. They just became state number 31 to overturn equal marriage rights for same-sex couples in a popular vote, after those rights became law in that state. How is it that gay civil rights are allowed to be put to a popular vote? How is this in any way legal? It is not legal. It is a direct violation of our Constitutional right to equal protection under the law. LGBT organizations are going about this issue completely the wrong way. This is a U.S. Constitution 14th Amendment issue. Section 1. All persons born or naturalized… -
Service Dogs, Prison Inmates and Wounded Veterans
3 Oct 2009 | 5:38 pmI am an occasional listener of NPR’s Fresh Air, and I happened to catch the “Puppies Behind Bars (For A Good Cause)” segment during animal week. Samba with Paul at the U.S. Capital Gloria Gilbert Stoga is the founder of Puppies Behind Bars, Nora Moran is a former inmate who participated in the program while in prison and went to work for the organization after serving her sentence. Paul Bang-Knudsen is a former Marine Corps corporal who was wounded in Iraq. The dog in the story is Samba, a small black lab and Bang-Knudsen’s service dog trained through the program. Dave… -
Tom Ridge back-peddles on his own book
18 Sep 2009 | 6:05 pmIf you haven’t read the previous posts I’ve written about war and peace, national security, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the atrocities that were committed under the Bush administration, please read through the categories “civil rights and justice”, “terrorism” and “war and peace”. This post is another piece of a huge chunk of history being made week-by-week as more information is uncovered about Bush administration policies; especially foreign policy, war policy, and blatant violations of the law and U.S. Constitution. Tom Ridge was…
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Change Your Life
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The Limits of Our Freedom
11 Nov 2009 | 4:30 amImage courtesy of h.koppdelaney Viktor Fankl, the Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning, ‘Between stimulus and response there is a space, and in that space lies all our freedom.’ In the most extreme conditions of privation imaginable, Frankl discovered that he was, remarkably, free to choose his response to any situation. I love this quote because it sums up the essence of my philosophy. I believe it is the cornerstone of a happy and effective life. A real, experiential understanding of this radical freedom is life changing, liberating and… -
Feeling Down? 39 Ways to Boost Your Mood
9 Nov 2009 | 4:30 amImage courtesy of *Zara Our moods are like weather, constantly changing. When a cloud appears, it’s time to mobilize all your resources to help you get through it. Whether you feel blue, blah, or just plain gloomy, here are some useful ways to help the cloud pass a little more quickly. Note: If your symptoms are extreme enough to affect your daily functioning for two weeks or more, or if you have thoughts of hurting yourself, please see your family doctor or a counselor right away. Break tasks down into small chunks and feel a sense of accomplishment when you complete one piece… -
Focusing Your Mind On The Difficult
4 Nov 2009 | 5:48 amImage courtesy of jin.thai Competitively, that which is easy gets you very little. If it is easy, anyone can do it, so it is of low value. Tying your shoes in a special way will get you no recognition from anyone except maybe a kindergartener. Doing a couple of simple math problems to review for a placement test won’t help you much. The point of tests and the free market is to separate those that go a bit further. Average Difficulty Actions Lead To Adequate Gains Doing items at a medium level of difficulty will get you somewhat valuable gains. Running 3 miles to train for a… -
Planning is Good, Doing is Better
30 Oct 2009 | 6:15 amImage courtesy of Muha A few months back, during a conversation with one of my mentors, he said something that I will remember for the rest of my life. “All this planning and focusing is good, but doing is better” was the exact phrase that came out of his mouth. It hit me like a ton of bricks. It was one of those “aha” moments we get every so often. Now the reason he was saying this to me is because I had been working on a semi large project for that past month or so and I was really close to finishing it. However, I had stalled somewhat and found myself in a state of… -
How Getting Used To Silence Can Help Your Productivity
26 Oct 2009 | 6:25 amImage courtesy of anoldent Sitting alone in a quiet place can be a difficult experience. Without distractions, we can feel bombarded by unpleasant thoughts and emotions. All the ways we’re unhappy about ourselves and our lives come raging back into our awareness when there’s space for them to come up. It’s no surprise, then, that our culture is hostile to silence. Everywhere we go, it seems, we’re confronted with some kind of noise—whether it’s background music in stores and restaurants, cars and airplanes going by, or something else. And when we’re alone, we often find…
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Charitable Gift Giving Blog
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Recipes for a potluck lunch or dinner
10 Nov 2009 | 8:40 pmIf you’re like me, you are always at a loss of what to bring to those office potluck lunches or holiday potluck dinners. I mean, how many tuna casseroles and baked macarroni dishes can people stomach? Fret no more. This newly released cookbook, Park Avenue Potluck Celebrations: Entertaining at Home with New York’s Savviest Hostesses, is a collection of the fanciest, schmanciest recipes to come out of the most finest homes on New York’s Park Avenue, from New York Times columnist Florence Fabricant and some of the most celebrated hostesses of New York’s high society. The… -
Become a Toys R Us Fan on Facebook and help Toys for Tots
7 Nov 2009 | 8:23 pmHere’s a cool thing you can do for the holidays which will cost you nothing but will help a lot of needy kids. Toys R Us is doing a clever bit marketing where if you become a Fan of them, they’ll donate $1 worth of toys to Toys for Tots. Just visit this page: http://www.facebook.com/toysrus And click the “Become a Fan” button. Spread the word to your other Facebook friends! And of course, don’t stop there. Visit the Toys For Tots site at http://www.toysfortots.org/ and make your own donation of money or toys as well. In these difficult times, it’s all the… -
Patriotic Yankees and Phillies Caps
4 Nov 2009 | 8:31 pmThe Yankees and Phillies played a phenomenal World Series this year. I grew up in central New Jersey with a clear TV signal to Channel 11 in New York and Channel 17 in Philadelphia, my earliest baseball memories are of the Yankees 1978 World Series wins and the Phillies 1980 World Series wins, I stuck by both teams when they fielded awful team in the late 1980s and early 1990s, at times sitting all by myself in the old Yankee Stadium or Veteran’s Stadium, and I enjoyed the resurgence of both teams in recent years. So this year was a pretty cool year for me. I didn’t really root… -
Ranger Rick - Still a great gift for the young person in your life
1 Nov 2009 | 8:26 pmBack when I was growing up, one of my prized possessions was my collection of Ranger Rick magazines. Published by the National Wildlife Federation.The National Wildlife Federation was founded in the 1930s as a non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about nature, connecting people to nature, and conserving lands. One of the things I’ve always loved about the NWF is that they’ve managed to avoid controversy. They carry out their mission quietly and effectively, bringing together a wide spectrum of people such as sportsmen, outdoor enthusiasts, bird-watchers,… -
Cute Pink Bear
29 Oct 2009 | 9:16 pmLast but not least for Breast Cancer Awareness Month is this cute Pink 9 inch Bear. Huggably soft with the cutest face you’ll see on a teddy bear, this bear has beautiful pink and white fur. A portion of sales of this bear will go to support the Val Skinner Foundation’s breast cancer work.
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The GiveWell Blog
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The Carter Center
11 Nov 2009 | 3:06 pmEarly in 2009, we were extremely excited about The Carter Center. It seemed so strong that we devoted weeks to understanding it in depth. As discussed in a blog post we made at the time, several of its programs work on extremely promising “neglected tropical disease control” activities, and there’s a truly unusual amount of disclosure from these programs. It appeared that the Carter Center is near the top of the heap both for what it’s doing and for how it’s sharing information. To boot, it was directly involved in one of the most cited global health success… -
Medicine and philanthropy
10 Nov 2009 | 9:47 amDavid Leonhardt’s excellent piece on health care reminded me of the debates within philanthropy. For most of human history … [doctors’] treatments consisted of inducing vomiting or diarrhea and, most common of all, bleeding their patients … Yet patients continued to go to doctors, and many continued to put great in faith in medicine … There was a strong intuitive logic behind those old treatments; they seemed to be ridding the body of its ills. They made a lot more sense on their face than the abstract theories about germs and viruses that began to appear in the late 19th… -
Evaluating microsavings
10 Nov 2009 | 9:46 amWe’re excited about the idea of microsavings as opposed to microlending. But it isn’t enough to see that an organization offers microsavings. We need to know: Are savings services being provided relatively efficiently? How many clients are served per dollar of operating expenses? Are clients able to access their funds when they need them? We have heard anecdotal concerns about client dissatisfaction with the difficulty or bureaucracy involved in accessing savings. In addition to the proxies for satisfaction discussed in our earlier post, we’d like to see the… -
If microsavings is more needed, why does microcredit get more attention?
9 Nov 2009 | 7:24 amPortfolios of the Poor tells a story you won’t hear from a typical microfinance charity: Sankar was a landless, illiterate rickshaw driver, whose wife had Grameen membership. They had borrowed from Grameen Bank a few times - in fact one loan had helped him buy his rickshaw. Suddenly his wife told him they would have to open a GPS [savings account] in order to get the next loan. He was suspicious, he told us. “And now?” we asked. He chuckled. “Now, we try to avoid loans and just use the GPS.” Pressed to explain, he said that his income was small but sufficient for… -
Too much attention on the giver’s experience; not enough on the recipient’s
6 Nov 2009 | 9:46 amFrom the recent discussion on Tactical Philanthropy: As philanthropists/donors/funders, we spend so much time thinking about how to maximize social benefit through our activities, that often we lose sight of the personal benefits that we experience from these endeavors. We disagree. Consider the current state of the nonprofit sector. We have practically no information about charities’ effects on the people they serve. Donor misinformation is rampant. Failure to disclose basic facts sets off no one’s alarm bells even coming from the world’s biggest charities. Charities…
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Jamie and Dylan Chase
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Ever Feel Just Incredibly Blessed?
5 Nov 2009 | 5:06 pmAfter a month of traveling from Sonoma, CA to NYC for work, I came home to see this sign. The porch was decorated with ten beautifully carved, lit pumpkins. The whole house was clean, including the boys room, the dishes, fresh sheets. This is all the work of the amazing, magnificent (drum roll please) Jenny Arde. Jenny (pictured with beau Todd) is a single mom, like me. She owns her own business, again ditto. She is renting the spare room in my home and her son and Dylan are sharing a room while construction finishes on my investment house, the mother-in-law home on my property. She will move… -
$500,000, Einstein, NYC and a Long Lost Friend
25 Oct 2009 | 5:31 pmIt's my favorite work of art, because it comes to life in person. I haven't visited it in over ten years. It took $500,000 to get there and I arrived at the MET with the man who stole my heart as a boy seventeen years ago in high school. The art is Autumn Landscape by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The $500,000 is a US Treasury grant Melina, Scott and I (Credit Union Strategic Planning) landed to help immigrants in Harlem to lift themselves out of poverty. Did you know that immigrants are the poorest of the poor in the U.S. for three generations? And my renewed friendship is with one of the finest… -
Good Times
25 Sep 2009 | 11:43 pmDylan and I have hit our work hard, play hard stride. Dylan's grades have skyrocketed. He is taking caring for the pups seriously. And soccer is in full gear. My dear friend Karl Kilga (Claire and Travis' dad) is D-man's soccer coach. Karl works the boys out so hard they come home EXHAUSTED.The Kilga kids, Karl, Dylan and I have been close for years; I even taught Claire how to ride her bike. While the boys work the soccer field, Claire and I relax with the puppies, swing on the playground and taunt each other with double dutch jump rope challenges. With work in full gear (The US Treasury… -
Little Girl Games
17 Sep 2009 | 7:16 amI still like to play games, little kid games. I am talking about the kind of nonsense I played with Trista. Tuesday I attempted an old game silently in my mind as I drove D-man to school in a neighborhood filled with beautiful houses. It was a game of little girl imagination along the lines of how many kids do you want to have? What do you want to be when you grow up? It was which house do you want to live in? I always chose the little white one beside Dr. McDonalds' (both of them) office in downtown Bolivar. The one with the Bolivar sign in the front yard. It was the way they manicured the… -
Yo Quiero- We got a puppy dog!
8 Sep 2009 | 11:41 pmDylan has been asking for a Chihuahua for over a year. Not just any dog- a Chihuahua. As we've been living in peace and harmony with new rules and respect in the house I was actually thinking about it. During the past year, I've always said, "No way." I haven't really liked a dog since my dachshund when I was a little girl. And ooooh the responsibility (wrinkled brow and sigh.)Well the lesson at Genesis this week was about feeling joy. I almost felt like Rev. Charles was speaking right to me about letting go of the need to work too hard and taking life too seriously. Separately we had a great…
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Everyday Giving Blog
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New Social Network to Support Charity Walks
11 Nov 2009 | 1:48 pmA new social networking site was launched today that was created specifically for people who are passionate about charity walks. Joining and participating is free. It is the Charity Walks Network. At the Charity Walks Network there is a forum to ask and answer questions. There is a blog where each member can post personal thoughts and experiences. There is even a section to promote charity walk events."Now walkathon leaders have a place to go to connect with each other, share ideas, and benefit from the accumulated wisdom of the crowd," said Lee Garverick, author of www.walkathonguide.com. -
Don't Miss This 1-day Opportunity
21 Jul 2009 | 5:44 amFrequently, I get comments like "You're everywhere on the Web" and "I was searching on the Internet and your websites kept appearing in the results."This doesn't happen by accident. It is also much less frustrating and less time-consuming if you have a world-class mentor who can guide you through the steps you need to take.Two of my mentors are David Perdew and Mark Hendricks. They are world-class Internet marketers and mentors. They are also available to mentor you in person, and David is allowing me to give you a $200-off coupon code that will get you access to this opportunity for less… -
Comic with Serious Message
27 Jun 2009 | 11:03 amThis was my first attempt at creating a comic. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. -
2009 Fredericksburg Arthritis Walk
16 Jun 2009 | 5:44 amIf you were not able to attend the Fredericksburg Arthritis Walk this year, check out the below slideshow. Charity walks can be fun and provide support to your cause. If you are not involved in a charity walk, go to http://www.LetsMoveTogether.org to find an Arthritis Walk in your area or contact your favorite nonprofit organizations to discover if they host a walkathon you can join. -
Calling All Videographers Who Want to Make a Difference
26 May 2009 | 8:00 amVideo is a great medium to use for bringing attention to an important cause. You don't need to be a professional videographer or use expensive equipment to create and distribute effective videos. Would you like to have some fun while creating videos that can make a difference? The following are a couple of current video contests night you should consider participating in: Show Us Your Moves The Show Us Your Moves video contest is encouraging physical activity. It is a part of the Arthritis Foundation’s Let's Move Together campaign. Monthly winners of the contest receive a Flip Camera. The…
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BigBlueBottle
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Potential New Lung Cancer Drug Shrank Tumors In Mice
11 Nov 2009 | 9:00 amResearchers in the UK working with a new experimental drug for lung cancer showed that it eliminated small cell lung cancer tumors in 50 per cent of mice and also stopped tumors from growing and becoming resistant to treatment. The researchers now plan to do clinical trials to test whether the drug might be able to help people with small cell lung cancer, which can't be treated with surgery because it spreads so fast. -
More Targeted Cancer Treatment Likely Following Discovery In Worms
11 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amResearchers at Queen's University have found a link between two genes involved in cancer formation in humans, by examining the genes in worms. The groundbreaking discovery provides a foundation for how tumor-forming genes interact, and may offer a drug target for cancer treatment. "When cancer hijacks a healthy system, it can create tumors by causing cells to divide when they shouldn't," says Ian Chin-Sang, a developmental biologist at Queen's and lead researcher on the study. -
Antitumor Activity Of Nutlin-3 In Neuroblastoma With Wild-Type P53
11 Nov 2009 | 3:00 amThe small-molecule inhibitor nutlin-3 may be a viable treatment option for neuroblastoma patients with wild-type p53 activity, according to a new study published online November 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In this study in mice, Tom Van Maerken, M.D., Center for Medical Genetics, Ghent University Hospital in Belgium, and colleagues evaluated the antitumor efficacy of nutlin-3, a potent and selective antagonist of the p53-MDM2 interaction. -
90 Percent Of Africans Are Not Protected By Smoke-Free Laws
11 Nov 2009 | 3:00 amAs African nations are poised to undergo the highest increase in the rate of tobacco use among developing countries, nearly 90 percent of people on the continent remain without meaningful protection from secondhand smoke, according to a new report released at a regional cancer conference. The report, Global Voices: Rebutting the Tobacco Industry, Winning Smokefree Air, points to signs of hope, however. -
Journal Of Clinical Oncology Publishes 500th Issue
11 Nov 2009 | 3:00 amThe Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) is celebrating the publication of its 500th issue. The tri-monthly peer-reviewed journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) will reach this milestone with its November 10, 2009, edition. The inaugural, 72-page issue of the JCO published in January of 1983.
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Asian American Giving
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Asian philanthropy new digest 11/09/09
9 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amThis month's digest is focused on donors in the news. An interesting pattern can be seen with three of these donors - they are immigrants and support both domestic and international causes. The other two donors live abroad but are supporting programs in the U.S. Predicting donor behavior is becoming more and more complex. The lines between domestic and international giving are blurring. There are patterns emerging though and we hope to document some of them in the future. * Kai-Fu Lee introduced his new venture, Innovation Works, at the annual conference of the Asian American… -
Asian Americans encouraged to apply! 11/6/09
6 Nov 2009 | 5:50 pm* Deputy Director, Asian Pacific Community Fund, Los Angeles. APCF provides funds through charitable campaigns in public, private and nonprofit organizations throughout Los Angeles County. Deputy Director is responsible for strengthening the organization's internal processes and infrastructure. * Executive Director, Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project (DVRP), Washington, DC. Executive Director will work collaboratively with the organization’s staff, board, community advocates and leaders, and other women’s rights, civil rights, and community-based organizations… -
Philanthropy & diversity: Q & A with Meghna Shah
2 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amRockefeller Professional Advisors (RPA) produced three studies on diversity in philanthropy last year. Meghna Shah, a former Associate at RPA, co-authored the reports, Philanthropy in a Changing Society and Diversity and Inclusion: Lessons Learned from the Field. Meghna also served as Editor of Diversity in Action: Strategies with Impact. We were honored to have the opportunity to ask Meghna several questions about the findings.Meghna Shah is currently a William J. Clinton Fellow of the American India Foundation.She will be spending the next ten months working on capacity-building… -
Asian Pacific Fund announces $285,000 in grants
31 Oct 2009 | 6:00 amThe Asian Pacific Fund made ten grants totaling $150,000 to community groups for the 2008 -2009 year. The purpose of the grants is to cushion the impact of the economic downturn and "offset the loss of substantial government and corporate funding." Grant recipients include: * Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center -- $17,000 * Asian Women's Shelter -- $17,000 * Charity Cultural Services Center -- $15,000 * Community Youth Center -- $20,000 * Family Bridges -- $17,000 * Friends of Children with Special Needs -- $10,000 * Kimochi -- $10,000 * Oakland Asian Students Educational… -
Live blogging: Stimulating innovation in journalism that strengthens communities
29 Oct 2009 | 9:26 amThe Renaissance Journalism Center hosted: Seizing the Moment II: Turning Challenge into Opportunity: a panel and roundtable discussion about how news and community media organizations are re-imagining traditional models- in journalism, business and technology - to gather and distribute content to communities. Jon Funabiki is the Director of the Renaissance Journalism Center. Below is the panel discussion of "How media organizations are adopting, adapting and innovating" Moderator: Paul Lamb, Man on a Mission Consulting Geoffrey Samek: Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Sacramento Press Kenji…
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Give and Take
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Foundation Invites Poetry About National Debt [1]
11 Nov 2009 | 11:58 amWhat do poetry, Twitter, and the national debt have in common? Answer: The Peter G. Peterson Foundation. In an unusual effort to promote better fiscal health in America, the foundation has asked people to submit haiku poems that shine a literary light on the growing federal debt or their own credit-card bills. The organization displays the entries on a new Web site and sends them out via Twitter. The short poems follow the traditional Japanese form of five syllables, seven syllables, and five again, and are effective at delivering a message, though they won’t be confused with the words… -
Why Charities Shouldn't Mirror Corporations, Plus More: Wednesday's Roundup [4]
11 Nov 2009 | 8:26 amWhile recent books encourage nonprofit groups to act more like big business, such thinking could threaten the charity world’s “distinctive identity and purpose,” writes Phil Buchanan, the chief executive of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, a foundation research group in Cambridge, Mass. His views appear on a Duke University blog. To help their clients find ways to give in an uncertain economy, financial advisers should recommend they draw on individual retirement accounts, donate stocks or bonds, or use donor-advised funds, says Shelly Banjo, who writes The Wall Street… -
A Call for Feed the Children Founder to Step Aside, and More: Tuesday's Roundup
10 Nov 2009 | 8:30 amAs a leadership struggle continues to embroil Feed the Children, its founder, Larry Jones, should leave the charity and allow new people to guide it, says an editorial in The Oklahoman. Social-media activists are protesting the decision by Causes to stop working with MySpace, saying the move will hamper their work to connect with poor people and racial minorities, writes Joe Solomon with NetSquared, a nonprofit technology program. Causes, an online application that enabled users to raise money for charity on social-media Web sites, said it is leaving MySpace to focus on Facebook. Bloggers are… -
Debate About How to 'Fix' the Nonprofit World [3]
10 Nov 2009 | 8:28 amShould a recent opinion article about how to “fix” the nonprofit world be applauded or trashed? The Wall Street Journal article by Pablo Eisenberg, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership (and a frequent Chronicle contributor), has stirred up a range of reactions. It has generated more than 50 comments on the newspaper’s Web site. The most contentious of Mr. Eisenberg’s suggestions is that foundations should be required by the government to give more money to charity each year (6 percent of their assets versus the current… -
Criticism of Philanthropy as Too Donor-Centric, Plus More: Monday's Roundup
9 Nov 2009 | 8:15 amPhilanthropy suffers from being too donor-centric, writes Holden Karnofsky, a founder of GiveWell, the nonprofit group that rates charities. “The sector revolves around telling donors great stories, while charities’ actual impact is unexamined and essentially irrelevant,” says Mr. Karnofsky. Charities take, on average, eight days to respond to people who sign up for their e-mail lists, according to a new survey by Care2, a company that works with nonprofit groups to promote environmentally friendly living habits. Sean Stannard-Stockton, an adviser to donors and a Chronicle…
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Elephantbeans
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Mind. A Dream Interpretation: Tuneups for the Brain
10 Nov 2009 | 2:54 amMind A Dream Interpretation: Tuneups for the Brain By BENEDICT CAREY Published: November 9, 2009 at NYTimes It’s snowing heavily, and everyone in the backyard is in a swimsuit, at some kind of party: Mom, Dad, the high school principal, there’s even an ex-girlfriend. And is that Elvis, over by the piñata? Uh-oh. Dreams are so rich and have such an authentic feeling that scientists have long assumed they must have a crucial psychological purpose. To Freud, dreaming provided a playground for the unconscious mind; to Jung, it was a stage where the psyche’s archetypes acted out primal… -
Student sues over injury causing adjustment
4 Nov 2009 | 2:51 amYoga Workshop Handed Lawsuit for Improper Adjustment Injury, Are All Studios Doomed for Sue-dom? by YogaDork on November 3, 2009 More lawsuits! Improper adjustments! This time not as naughty as you’re thinking. Can we just be happy for a moment this is not about sexual assault? OK.. moving on. It’s suddenly a rocky road for Boulder, CO studio Yoga Workshop, Richard Freeman’s joint (he and his wife relinquished ownership and management earlier this year update: they took back ownership 9/09). News hit late yesterday that the studio is being sued by a former student due to instructor Luke… -
I need a yogi
31 Oct 2009 | 11:34 pmLoL -
Yoga: The True Path To Awesome Poops
24 Oct 2009 | 6:26 amPosted by Neal Pollack on Alternadad/October 15, 2009 Yoga: The True Path To Awesome Poops Yoga does many wonderful things. It clarifies the mind and provides a solid ethical foundation for a productive, happy life. For physical fitness and a way to make loving friendships that last, it can hardly be topped. It can be a path to spiritual ecstasy. But for me, one of yoga’s most profound benefits is also one of its most simple: If you practice regularly, you take awesome poops. read more -
Pamper yourself: DIY castor oil bath
22 Oct 2009 | 12:25 amCheck out this great article on the ancient wisdom of oil baths written by Kimberly Flynn. Try it! It’s really easy and it definitely makes a difference Relieve aches, pains and stiffness with oil baths By Kimberly Flynn Williams Oil bath is a traditional, weekly Ayurvedic home remedy still practiced widely in South India. Shri K. Pattabhi Jois routinely recommends oil bath to his yoga students especially for the relief of back and knee pain as well as stiffness. Weekly oil bath reduces excess internal heat (pitta in Ayurveda) particularly in the joints, liver, and skin. This heat is…
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Social Goodies - Where Business & Evolution Intersect
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Can a One-Person Business Really Make a Difference?
2 Nov 2009 | 8:02 amIt seems that when the phrase “social responsibility” is used in connection with business, it usually has the word “corporate” in front of it. If your enterprise isn’t a corporation, this can make socially responsible businesses seem like an exclusive club, where the one-person business isn’t welcome. Related posts:Doing Good versus Doing Well Check out the radio interview I just completed with co-authors...Socially Strategic Enterprise: Doing Well While You Do Good Did you ever see the Academy Award-winning movie “A Beautiful...Muhammad Who? (And What’s a Social… -
Climate Change: An Example of How Marketing Messages Spread
15 Oct 2009 | 2:00 amWord-of-Mouth is the most powerful marketing tool we have at our disposal. And businesses are not the only ones who can leverage this to their benefit. We all spread messages. Sometimes our own. But most of the time, the messages belong to someone else. Usually we're spreading those messages because of good intentions. Because we believe them to be true. And because we want to help those we love live better, make better choices, and gain a better understanding of the world. Related posts:5 Marketing Tips for Businesses that want to Change the World If I only had a nickle for every time… -
What Color is Your Business? (or, 9 Steps to Creating a Greener Workplace)
6 Oct 2009 | 10:45 amSo where do you start? Follow this 9-Step Plan to create something that’s perfect for your office... No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
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The Adsideologist
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make your own ringtone
7 Nov 2009 | 8:48 amMake a ringtone from any mp3 file in iTunes in under a minute.Personal Note: I say keep it on vibrate most of the time out of politeness for the general public, but use the ringtones for your morning alarm!1. In iTunes, find the song from which you want to make a ringtone. Write down the interval of time you wish to capture (e.g. the chorus from 1:13 to 1:27).2. Right-click on the mp3 file and select 'Get Info'.3. Go to the tab for 'Options', check the boxes for 'Start Time' and 'End Time', and input the interval you wish to capture in your ringtone. Hit 'OK'.4. With that mp3 file still… -
Update #4: This Year in Baseball
5 Nov 2009 | 6:46 amThis post is related to the following previous posts:Update #3: This Year in Baseball (October 26, 2009)Update #2: This Year in Baseball (October 5, 2009)Update #1: This Year in Baseball (July 24, 2009) This Year in Baseball (February 22, 2009)Well it was Yankees in six games. Pretty unreal feeling. Couple notes:Pettitte closed out all three playoff series (Derek Lowe also did it in 2004).I am extremely happy for Joe Girardi, even though I wish Mattingly had his spot.Teixeira gave the last out ball to Johnny Damon who had a few crucial hits this series but went out early with a strained… -
math in 2010 and beyond
3 Nov 2009 | 12:57 pmIf we want to fuel future growth and innovation in mathematics, three worlds must meet in the middle.In 2009, we see three distinctly developed worlds:The Communities: Math + People = Associations, Publications, Journals, Groups, Departments (ASA, IMS, WFU Math, etc.)The Connectors: People + Technology = Social Media & Social Networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, iPhone Apps, etc.)The Foundations: Math + Technology = Software/Web Applications (Wolfram|Alpha, SAS, R, Matlab, Mathematica, Statistica, etc.)In 2010, we need these three worlds to mold into one, unified experience. With whom… -
shapes and squiggles
3 Nov 2009 | 12:36 pmArmed with a pencil and paper, you can simplify about 99% of the world's problems.Despite a couple decades of extra-substantial technological growth, there are two things that can never be replaced: the pencil and paper. For the toughest analytical challenges, only so much can be done computationally to simply and digest such problems. For these challenges, the solutions should start with a pencil and paper. The first step in breaking down a problem is the conversion of the problem from the brain's three dimensional space to a the two dimensional space of paper. In mathematics, there are… -
matrix power
3 Nov 2009 | 7:05 amHow much of your life can you fit into rows in columns? Well, enough of it for you to cherish the matrix as a valuable organizational and analytical tool.Spreadsheets, tables, and matrices are used in every aspect of life. We track finances, monitor tasks, plan our future, and analyze potential relationships with rows and columns. And we are surrounded by this information as individuals, as part of small social groups, and as part of large organizations such as classes, companies, or governments.More simply, matrices and tables give a new structure to elements of our life that are not always…
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Kiva Loans
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Maria Evangelina Tacuri Quilli : Ecuador
11 Nov 2009 | 5:30 pm$25 of $675 raised. Started raising funds on Nov 11, 2009 The Heart of Jesus Communal Bank is located in El Valle Parrish, which is southwest of the city of Cuenca in southern Ecuador. This region is primarily known for its production of corn, beans, potatoes, and other crops. It also has tourist attractions, such as the archeological sites in Gullanzhapa and Pedernales. The people are very friendly and kind to domestic and foreign tourists. Sra. María Evangelina Tacuri is a member of the Heart of Jesus Communal Bank. She lives in the community of Poloma in El Valle Parrish. She is 48 years… -
Gema Carolina Blanco Gurdian : Nicaragua
11 Nov 2009 | 5:10 pm$25 of $250 raised. Started raising funds on Nov 11, 2009 Gema Carolina is 25 years old and she is married. She has one child and is studying to be a professional. Her economic activity is selling clothes, and she has been running her business for 7 years. She started the business with her husband, who gave her the idea, and she started to sell these products in order to have a better income for her family. Gema intends to move forward with her business - everything that she has currently has cost her a lot of effort and she doesn't want to lose the advantage. It is for this reason that she… -
Epifania : Peru
11 Nov 2009 | 4:50 pm$25 of $700 raised. Started raising funds on Nov 11, 2009 Epifania is 38 years old, married, and lives with her two children in their home. Seven years ago she planted plantains in her in-law’s fields under her husband’s guidance. Since then, she doesn’t have to work stranger’s land; instead, she takes cares for her parcel of land. When they have to cut down plants to clean their land, her husband wakes up before dawn and she prepares his lunch. Over the years, Epifania has seen her economic situation improve and is very happy with her fields of plantains (since she is making money… -
Ana Maria : Peru
11 Nov 2009 | 4:50 pm$75 of $200 raised. Started raising funds on Nov 11, 2009 This is Ana Maria. She is a native of the city of Cusco and a member of the Amauta Communal Bank. Ana Maria is 45 years old, married, and has two daughters. The older daughter is a university student while the younger one is in high school. She divides her time between her household chores and her business selling clothing and beauty products such as cosmetics, bracelets, perfumes, earrings, etc. She is requesting a loan so that she can acquire more of these products. Ana Maria is grateful for this opportunity and promises to make her… -
Mamadou Moustapha Diouf : Senegal
11 Nov 2009 | 4:20 pm$100 of $575 raised. Started raising funds on Nov 11, 2009 Mamadou Moustapha Diouf is unmarried and a tailor. He has been a member of U-IMCEC at the branch office of Baye Laye for several years. He has already repaid six loans. He has been in this business of tailoring since 1989. But it was only since 2003 that he acquired his own workshop and has worked for himself. He was born into a family of tailors and used to go to his older brother’s shop regularly. Thus, he chose this trade for the love of it. He’s requesting a loan of 250,000 francs with the goal of rounding out his savings to…
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Vital Voices Blog
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‘The richest leaders, the poorest women’ -Ritu Sharma in Washington Post
11 Nov 2009 | 9:50 amNovember 11- Co-founder and President of Women Thrive Worldwide Ritu Sharma shares her insight as a guest in the On Leadership section of The Washington Post, a forum devoted to the discussion of leadership as it relates to various challenges of our time. Sharma writes that leadership, in its truest form, has little to do [...] -
Two Groups Take Computers to Nepal
10 Nov 2009 | 1:51 pmTwo humanitarian groups are making a difference for young girls in Nepal. Room to Read, a foundation building libraries around the world has partnered with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program to bring computers to school-aged children in Nepal. Girls in Nepal often drop out of school around age 12. Many are forced into [...] -
Securing Land Rights for Women
10 Nov 2009 | 9:23 amWhen you picture a farmer in your mind, what do you see? Do you picture a man tilling a field? If you did, this picture may denote a misconception about the gender of most farmers. Internationally, women produce more than 50 percent of food, and in developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the number [...] -
Pulitzer-Prize Winning Play “Ruined” Staged in DC – Chouchou Namegabe Featured in Panel Discussion
10 Nov 2009 | 8:43 amPlaywright Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer-Prize winning work, “Ruined,” was staged on the evening of November 9 at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC with the cooperation of The Enough Project. A powerful depiction of the plight of Congolese women during ongoing war, “Ruined” is the product of Nottage’s conversations with various women in the Democratic Republic [...] -
Wal-Mart and CARE Team Up to Empower Women Farmers in India
10 Nov 2009 | 7:38 amWal-Mart Store Inc. has teamed with the leading humanitarian group CARE to launch a series of programs designed to lift women around the world out of poverty. The first program to launch is a women owned-and-operated, community-based cashew farming operation in southern India. In India, cashew farming is one of the largest agricultural sectors, and [...]
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Kevin Asuncion's Blog - Push the World Forward
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Catch me on Alltop!
3 Nov 2009 | 5:30 pmI was just recently added to Alltop, the social media site that aggregates the top blogs on a plethora of topics. Catch me on the Social Entrepreneurship & Good channels! -
Social Entrepreneurship: A Growing Trend on Campus
30 Oct 2009 | 3:47 pmA story published last week by the Wall Street Journal documents the growing trend of top flight business schools offering instruction in the discipline of social entrepreneurship. According to the article, business school administrators offer up two possible explanations on why social entrepreneurship is gaining more ground on campus. Some administrators believe that the rise is attributable to a generational progression of business students who were nurtured to be socially responsible, while other prominent pundits argue that a lack of traditional jobs has spurred an interest in… -
Scalability is not the Answer
30 Oct 2009 | 3:47 pmIn a recent post by Nextbillion.net Emily Pittlon, PopTech! Social Innovation Fellow, asserted in response to questions of scalability, “I truly believe scalability is not the inescapable answer. I believe it’s more important to move a million people to do one thing than make one thing and copy it a million times.” I think she’s on to something. Often times, when vetting potential sustainable solutions to development, the question of scalability reigns. But I think the bigger question to be asked is how do potential solutions build local capacity to lead systemic change. In… -
Mobilizing Idle Assets for the Greater Good
30 Oct 2009 | 3:46 pmIn the nearby city of Montclair, CA, a vacant lot sits idle. For years the lot was a vibrant place of commerce and activity, but the plaza closed down in 1996. Thirteen years later, the lot remains idle as ever. Whenever I drive by Montclair I always bemoan the lot’s inactivity, but always find myself envisioning what it could be. Due to the recent recession, cities around the United States are full of these very same vacant lots, unused buildings, and underutilized community assets. It’s sad see things with so much potential go to waste, but the point here is not so much about… -
On The Bright Side of Climate Change
15 Oct 2009 | 3:29 amI’m really glad to be part of Blog Action Day 2009. It’s an honor to be part of such a large movement of folks unified under a single purpose. I must confess I’m kinda scared that with so many people writing about the same thing on the same day that there will be some sort of black hole ripped opened on the interwebs, but let’s just hope my understanding of the physics behind how black holes work is way off base, or we’ll have a larger problem than climate change to address. I wanted to have a little fun with this post, I think we’re going to get a lot of posts warning us…
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Live United Blog
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Bumpy Ride Ahead
11 Nov 2009 | 11:40 amThe new unemployment numbers took a lot of people, including me, by surprise: Unemployment rose from 9.8% in September to 10.2% in October. Is isn’t the increase that surprised me—all the economists have been saying the unemployment rate is going to continue its climb, even though the recession itself is likely over. Rather, it was the size of the increase. I had just finished my October State of the Economy the previous week, which included unemployment projections of 10% by December and a peak of 10.2% in February. So I wonder if it’s peaking early, or if it’s going to peak a lot… -
Community Window: Conversations with the Homeless
2 Nov 2009 | 12:16 pmAndrea Ferstan, our intrepid reporter impact manager in the area of homeless prevention, recently helped out with the Wilder Homeless Study count—interviewing people about the unfortunate circumstance they have found themselves in. (Every three years Wilder Research issues a report on homelessness in Minnesota, based on headcounts and interviews. This invaluable report gives us information about the causes, effects and circumstances surrounding homelessness, including specific subgroups such as youth, veterans, and older adults.) She was kind enough to answer a few questions about her… -
Hear Us Roar
23 Oct 2009 | 11:48 amIndra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo at World Economic Forum 2008 A couple of days ago I picked up the new Time magazine at Lunds (an impulse purchase I usually resist since I don’t even keep up with the magazines I subscribe to) because the cover story caught my eye—The State of the American Woman. It’s a fun article—lots of charts and graphs, lots of data, with comparisons to 1972 (when Time had a forerunner cover story—the New Woman). It was heartening in many ways. It is so easy to be focused on the glass is half empty (women still make only 77¢ for every $1 that a man… -
An Earthquake in St. Paul
15 Oct 2009 | 9:39 amThe Wilder Foundation announced some serious cuts yesterday—nearly a third of their staff and 35% of their budget. Gone. I first heard news of it yesterday morning. Vague, but specific enough to have the ring of truth. I felt stunned through most of the day. I know these people. I work with these people. The Wilder Foundation is a community institution with vital programming. They help thousands and thousands of people every year. It’s like hearing about an earthquake in another country where you have relatives but you can’t get through on the phone. And today it’s in the news and I… -
Beware of Heard, a Dreadful Word that Looks Like Beard and Sounds Like Bird
9 Oct 2009 | 9:21 amphoto by Celestial Photography @ flickr I have finally finished Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, by Maryanne Wolf. I have always loved to read (as far back as I can remember) and have a healthy respect for the reading brain, but this book reminded me just exactly how complex reading is. That anyone can learn to read—it’s practically a miracle, there are so many developmental processes that have to come together. There’s phonological development (understanding the small units of sound that make up words). There’s orthographic development (learning that…
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Pamela Grow's Grantwriting Blog
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5 Down & Dirty Tips to Ramp up Your End-of-Year Appeal
11 Nov 2009 | 6:03 amIt’s already November, and, if you’re working for an understaffed agency with too much to do and not enough time or resources, think twice before you regurgitate last year’s annual appeal letter and call it a day. First off, ask yourself a few questions: Will you be mailing out your letters in-house or using a mail house? If you’re using a mail house, what is their timeframe for getting the appeal out within your time frame? Will you be segmenting your mailing? By that I mean will you be mailing the same appeal to your board members as to your donors? Who will be signing the… -
6 Benefits of Using Twitter for Nonprofit
10 Nov 2009 | 3:57 am“Why should we?” “Twitter is just a bunch of noise about people eating lunch.” “Our customers aren’t online.” “We already have a website.” Sound familiar? There are plenty of reasons to avoid social media, it seems. It is true that there are a zillion time-wasting testimonials out there, and a plethora of pundits sharing little, if any, value to organizations and the causes they represent. I work for a non-profit think tank. We’re tiny, but we’re smart. With limited human resources, we have to constantly punch above our weight and consider smarter ways of doing…