Case Foundation - Investing in People and Ideas that Can Change the World

CNCS announces the 2010 Summer of Service grantees

joshuat — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:34:18 +0000

The Corporation for National and Community Service recently announced the 2010 Summer of Service Grantees, funded by Learn and Serve America, a CNCS initiative established under the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. After taking over 200 applications from nonprofits, universities and schools, CNCS has chosen 17 organizations to participate in a program dedicated to engaging at-risk middle school students in innovative service projects during their time off from school.

With $2 million being granted out to organizations ranging from a Youth Venture project in New Orleans to the Sacramento City Unified School District in California, the Summer of Service not only is making a major investment in new service-learning activities but also in the 4,000 at-risk or lower income children, grades 6-9, who will be participating. The program seeks to teach these participants the aptitude they need to advance in life, such as civic, academic and leadership skills. What’s more, each student who fulfills 100 hours of service is eligible for an educational award of $500, to be used for educational expenses at higher education facilities.

Make sure to check out all of the grantees and their programs here.

Update from SXSW: How tech is changing the landscape for social good

karid — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:10:02 +0000

The 2010 SXSW Interactive Conference is in full swing here in Austin, but even among the sea of geeks, tech announcements and the vast backdrop of parties - there is an underlying theme of how technology is changing the landscape of social good. Beyond some pretty terrific “social good” panels, here are just a few of the things I’ve managed to bump into during my time down here.

We CAN End This/Cause Lab: Starting today, the CauseLab kicks-off a 30-day virtual brainstorm through a new digital co-creation platform called Goodzuma — all in an effort to develop the most powerful, effective, and impactful ideas to end hunger in America. Participants in the room at SXSWi will use Goodzuma to create and capture their ideas during the daylong session. At the same time, people nationwide can join the brainstorm to edit these ideas or upload their own. After the brainstorm ends, charity partners will review all the ideas and use the money raised thru WeCanEndThis.com to implement the best ones.

FourSquare Check in For Charity: There’s no question that location based technology is all the rage, and Microsoft and PayPal have joined forces so that every time folks check-in on Foursquare in Austin they will donate $0.25 toward Save the Children (up to $15,000)! You don’t need to be in Austin to help. Just use the hashtag #sxswHaiti on Twitter and Save the Children and Microsoft and PayPal will make the same donation.

Pepsi Refresh-SXSW Challenge: In a mini version of Pepsi’s Refresh Everything competition, Pepsi is giving away $50,000 to one of three team’s competing during SXSW. You can read over the ideas here, and tweet a team's hashtag to vote. Voting ends at midnight on March 15, and you can vote every two hours!

The Good Capitalist Party: Tonight (March 15th) at 7:00 PM is the Good Capitalist Party, an event put on by an assortment of innovative companies which focuses on social entrepreneurship. The Party will bring together leaders in the field for a discussion centered on finding a balance between financial success and positive impact while also providing necessary information on training, fellowships and investors.

Beacon Lounge / What Gives: Perhaps my favorite “downtime”, if there is such a thing at SXSW, has been spent in the Beacon Lounge, the self proclaimed “Lounge with a Conscience” presented by BeaconFire Consulting. Aside from providing nonprofit professionals and the socially conscious community with a habitat for chit chat, coffee and wifi, this year Beacon Lounge is putting on a series of inspiring events such as SoapBox lunches for a cause, acoustic concerts, and interviews with Social Media rock stars. Check out my interview with Mark Horvath of Invisible People on the Hardly Normal Cup of Coffee show from What Gives.

Charity Water SXSW Campaign: Without realizing that Charity Water was on the ground here, I spotted several people wearing t-shirts with QR codes on the back. I learned that they were there to promote Charity Water , with a goal to raise $100K at SXSW (matching a $100K donation by Invisible Children) to provide clean drinking water to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

That’s a lot of good and it appears that this is only the beginning; I expect the social good presence to continue to grow in years to come. What else have folks been seeing down in Austin this week?

Idealist.org: Don't search for jobs, search for people!

blogger — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:11:51 +0000

This post is the first in a mini-series by Idealist.org's Meg Busse for our Nonprofit Jobs Series with advice on working in the nonprofit sector. Meg is Idealist.org's Coordinator of High School and College Career Transitions and co-author of their Guide to Nonprofit Careers. Check out this interview with Meg and Idealist.org's Executive Director, Ami Dar.

All right, all right – the title is a tad misleading. You’ll still have to search for jobs a little bit. But what if you changed your focus?

So that you weren’t doing the constant Idealist/Craigslist/local job board shuffle and instead spent more of your time searching for—and talking with—people who are doing interesting things and who may be able to hook you up with a job much more easily than you can on your own?

I have a friend who has lived in the same town for 20 years and needs to find a new career after 15 years in the same job. Sure, it’s scary, it’s exciting, it’s an opportunity...but mostly, it was tough for him to figure out where to start. So he started with what he knows really well: his vast network of friends, family, colleagues, and clients.

He emailed all of these folks (yes, all of them) to let them know he’s looking for a new opportunity. He highlighted a few of his most transferable skills and experiences, and mentioned a few types of roles he’s interested in. It was very similar to my other friend’s Club Laid Off email – short, funny, and direct.

In writing that email, he figured out some of the companies, positions, and industries that interested him. With that self-knowledge, he began doing research.

His People Research included:

looking through organizations’ websites
reading industry-specific journals (most libraries have a great selection)
searching for friends-of-friends through LinkedIn and Facebook
Googling keywords to find people who seemed to be doing interesting things in any of the arenas he was looking

From these searches, he:

kept a running list of people he wanted to talk with
searched LinkedIn to see if he had any connections with them
contacted those folks to set up informational interviews
looked over their organizations’ websites for job postings that weren’t posted elsewhere
followed up with leads he’d been sent by people in his network (there were tons!)

While doing all of this, of course he kept an eye on the job boards in case anything came through that fit his criteria. However, more of his effort was spent searching for people, expanding his network, and gaining a better self-awareness of what he’s looking for in his next job.

By the end of the month, he’d had four first interviews, two second interviews, and one job offer. He decided not to accept the offer because he’d gotten tips about two soon-to-be-vacant jobs that he was more interested in. Those tips came from people he’d met over the course of the month and neither of the jobs was going to be posted.

So don’t delete your Idealist/Craigslist/local job board bookmarks quite yet. Instead, just put some time limits on your online job searching. Then with the rest of your time, start your People Research (your PR?) in earnest.

No fear of failure: WeCanEndThis.com to use innovation and amplification to help end hunger in America

blogger — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:53:13 +0000

Guest blogger Scott Henderson is managing director of CauseShift,helping organizations think, innovate, and solve problems. You can find him at causeshift.com, his blog, rallythecause.com, or on Twitter @scottyhendo.

“Do you really think you’ll end hunger this way? That seems to be a pretty audacious statement for you to make,” is something we’ve heard a couple times over the past few months.

It’s a reasonable reaction from those familiar with hunger in America. But our response was and remains: We need new ideas based on new realities, because what we’ve been doing hasn’t worked.

Though we live in the land of plenty, hunger is on the rise with 49 million Americans knowing it all too well. That’s 1 out of 6 Americans and has continued to rise despite many people’s efforts. Sadly, we have enough food to feed all of them. Unfortunately, there are barriers that prevent us from becoming a hunger-free nation.

More than click-thru philanthropy
So what’s it going to take? First and foremost, we need more people to care enough to take action. Then, we need them to keep caring and taking action until we reach our goal. It's really that simple. Simple doesn’t mean easy. Nor does it mean just a click and “Poof!” it's gone. But, it does mean it's doable.

One week ago, we launched WeCanEndThis.com, a yearlong initiative to spark innovation and a broader engagement in the movement to end hunger in America. This is not a flash in the pan campaign. We are here until we have shifted the conversation and created real, tangible solutions.

What makes this different than most other cause initiatives is that CauseShift, a for-profit firm, is leading the charge. Why would we do this? Hunger, like many causes, is too big for one charity, company, or even the Federal government to end. We need someone who has no fear of failure; someone who can bring others together in new, innovative ways.

Widening the circle
We cannot end hunger in America by working in silos. Nor can we end it by launching random, stand-alone cause campaigns. We need to bring together the major national players, local hunger organizations, companies with a vested interested in helping, and people who are highly connected through their digital and real-world social networks.

Together, we need to amplify the issue, reframe the questions we’re asking, and invite non-hunger experts to offer new, different perspectives. That's exactly what we’re doing thru WeCanEndThis.com.

Here’s our team
We've brought together Share Our Strength, Feeding America, Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, Mashable, PepsiCo, ConAgra Foods Foundation, and Tyson Foods to launch this around the South By Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSWi). This annual gathering in Austin, Texas, attracts about 12,000 media and technology innovators every March.

To help us stand out from the crowd, we’ve assembled an army of creative agencies and others disruptors to create a yearlong experience that broadens our movement and sparks new ideas and solutions. We’re fortunate to have Clever Development, MediaSauce, CrushRepublic, Goodzuma, YupGrade, Appropriate Inc., and Humongus (formerly Plaid) step forward to help.

Get your attention!
The first challenge is getting people’s attention. We realize not everyone cares about our cause, but we know some people do. And, they know others who will help. We just need to offer a creative way to lower the barrier to participation.

In our first 15 days, we’re challenging the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia to rally their communities. People making a promise to act will get to donate a digital can to their favorite state. On March 18 at 5pm ET, we will tally the cans with the Top 10 States each winning a semi-truck load of Tyson Foods product that will deliver 150,000 meals.

Brainstorm solutions
True innovation comes from gathering great minds from a wide variety of fields and asking the questions differently. That’s why we’re using expertsourcing to fuel the CauseLab, a 30-day virtual brainstorm. We’re kicking off with an in-person event this Monday as part of the official schedule of SXSWi, with a collection of disruptors and innovators invited to set the bar high.

On March 22, we’ll open it up to all comers with a $1,000 cash prize for best idea and $500 for the best collaborator. With the money we raise in the ConAgra Foods Foundation $25,000 matching grant challenge, our three charity partners will implement ideas created or inspired by what’s submitted. The entire brainstorm will be the first to use the newly launched Goodzuma platform.

And, much more
We’re assembling a collection of essays from innovative people representing different industries and professions. Hunger Shift will be a three-part e-book series that will start in April and offer new ideas and perspectives.

Our partners at YupGrade have launched their news gathering application with the theme of Hunger in America. This application, featured in the Huffington Post, rewards people who read and share news stories about hunger.

Square has agreed to provide us with their new payment device for our SXSWi street team to use in processing contributions on the spot. We’re excited to put their system to use and give them real world feedback for to make it better for charities and event-based transactions.

From April to August, we’ll deliver the ten semi-truckloads of Tyson Foods and use the opportunity to showcase the good things already happening in the winning states and their local communities. We’ll work with online and local media to highlight the issue and encourage more to get involved.

In October, we will coordinate a national day of service with events planned in the ten winning states and any other communities who want to take part. As we enter the holiday season, we will launch a new approach to engage the huge wave of holiday volunteers that keeps them engaged for more than one day.

How you can help now
We’ve embraced radical transparency in what we’re doing, because we know it will help us improve our efforts and provide other causes with real-world lessons.

Want to tell us how to improve, learn more about our efforts, or experience what we’re doing firsthand? I encourage you to visit WeCanEndThis.com and let us know. You can also follow us on Twitter (@WeCanEndThis) or join our Facebook Fan Page (facebook.com/wecanendthis). Feel free to share our URL using this unique link (http://bit.ly/csfdt11) if you feel inspired to spread our message.

If you want to know the three things we need most, they are:

Commit to end hunger.
Brainstorm new ideas.
Donate your time and money.

The Power of Social Innovation: A discussion with Steve Goldsmith and Sonal Shah

michaels — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:57:24 +0000

The Case Foundation was a proud sponsor of an Aspen Institute Book Talk this week on the Power of Social Innovation.

The talk, which was moderated by Aspen CEO Walter Isaacson, featured Stephen Goldsmith (former mayor of Indianapolis, Corporation for National and Community Service Chair and Kennedy School professor/program director) and Sonal Shah (Director of the White House Office on Social Innovation). Our Chairman, Steve Case and I were delighted to be in the room and part of the dynamic conversation.

Mayor Goldsmith’s new book, The Power of Social Innovation: How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good, provided the framework for the panel and conversation with the standing room only crowd of leading innovators and practitioners.

Discussion flowed from the specifics of participating in the social innovation fund to capital streams for social entrepreneurs and innovators to balancing known and proven innovations with emerging ideas that have great potential. You can see video from the event here or buy the book here.

Upcoming Conferences: the Case Foundation team hits the road in March

allysonb — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:38:16 +0000

The next ten days will be busy ones for several of the Case Foundation team members as we hit the road for a couple of key conferences.

First up is WeMedia in Miami from March 9-11, which brings together a range of professionals in the media, technology, business and communications fields to name a few, to talk about the future of media in a digital world. While there, I'll have the privilege to serve as a judge in the PitchIt! Challenge, which will award $50K to help launch two new ventures.

Beginning March 12 through the 16th, several team members will head to Austin for the SXSW Interactive conference. Judging will again be the theme of the event - our team's Erich Broksas will be part of a panel of expert judges for the Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator competition, which searches for the "next big thing" in the technology business. And on March 14, Kari Saratovsky will participate in a panel with other social media for social good experts such as Beth Kanter and Holly Ross, titled "Crowd Sourcing for Innovative Social Change."

And on the morning of March 16th, Jean and Steve Case will be speaking about the intersection of business, technology and philanthropy at the Economist's Corporate Citizenship conference, organized by the Economist's New York Bureau Chief and Philanthrocapitalism co-author Matthew Bishop. Other notable speakers at the event include President Bill Clinton, Dina Habib Powell of Goldman Sachs and Scott Griffith, CEO of Zipcar, amongst others.

We hope to see you at one or more of these many great events!

Weekly news roundup: Chile, Grad Nation, trusted charity brands and nonprofit jobs

allysonb — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:53:37 +0000

News from the Case Foundation and what people are talking about this week in the world of giving, tech and everything in between.

8.8 magnitude earthquake rocks Chile; tech again plays influential role in response
We woke up last weekend to the unfortunate news of another significantly damaging earthquake, this time in Chile, which also triggered tsunami warnings across much of the Pacific Ocean. Once again, technology played a key role in numerous facets of the disaster response. Nathaniel Whittemore at Change.org's Social Entrepreneurship blog has a nice roundup of how many of the tools leveraged for Haiti earthquake response were repurposed, including Ushahidi and Google's person finder tool. And while the magnitude of Chile's earthquake was significant, the humanitarian crisis was not as widespread as that in Haiti, reflected in significant differences in terms of giving to relief efforts, particularly in the mobile fundraising arena, as outlined in this Christian Science Monitor article. Streaming video also played a significant role in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami warnings, as this Mashable article points out, millions watched online to keep up on local newscasts and the progress of any potential tsunamis affecting Hawaii and other Pacific coasts. If you are interested in helping out or learning more, Google has published this helpful page of resources for Chile earthquake relief, including a full list of text-to-give options.

Colin Powell & America's Promise Alliance launch program focused on preventing high school dropout rates
Last Monday, President Obama joined General Colin Powell and his wife Alma to launch Grad Nation, a 10-year campaign that will be led by America's Promise Alliance - an organization founded by Gen. & Mrs. Powell in 1997 - to address the high school dropout crisis. As this ABCNews.com article notes, the President announced $900 million in government grants that will be given to help underperforming schools, which were also outlined in this New York Times article. However, the grants are only one part of the broader initiative; an article on Tonic importantly notes that "There will be many organizations working to help with this program, but individuals are as important to the program's success, if not more so."

St. Jude's and Komen named "most trusted" nonprofit brands
Last week, market research firm Harris Interactive announced the results of its annual brand equity survey across numerous sectors, including nonprofits. As the NonProfit Times reports, St. Jude's Childrens Hospital and Susan G. Komen for the cure were named by respondents as the two most trusted nonprofit organizations, and also ranked in the top positions in terms of brand equity. The survey also found that Americans are more likely to donate in 2010. The South Florida Business Journal also shared the nonprofit-focused results of the survey in its Giving Guide blog.

Cautious optimism in the nonprofit jobs sector
The Chronicle of Philanthropy last week reported on a new survey from Professionals for Nonprofits, a staffing organization with offices in New York and Washington, which reported that most nonprofits in Washington, New Jersey and New York expect to fill fundraising and program staff positions in 2010. The Star-Ledger in New Jersey also covered this story. We've been focusing on the topic on our blog as well, with a series of posts focused on where to find and how to get nonprofit jobs. Our latest post, published Friday, features an interview with Ami Dar and Meg Busse of Idealist.org on trends in nonprofit hiring.

Nonprofit Jobs: Interview with Idealist.org's Ami Dar and Meg Busse

sokuntheas — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:24:30 +0000

Ami Dar is founder and executive director of Idealist.org and Meg Busse directs their Career Transitions Programs. Look for additional posts from Idealist.org over the next month, as they will be contributing their own mini-series as part of this Nonprofit Job series with advice on working in the nonprofit sector.

Sokunthea: It’s March 2010 and as I've mentioned before, it seems like the overall job market still looks bleak. What have you witnessed in terms of the nonprofit job market?

Ami: Using our job listing rates as an informal market gauge for nonprofit jobs, 2010 is looking better than 2009. When the stock market crashed in the fall of 2008, our job listings decreased by nearly 50%, stayed down through the first half of 2009 and started recovering slowly towards the end of the year. In January and February of 2010, job listings were up 20% compared to the same period in 2009.

The job market is still challenging, and we anticipate it will take a while longer for us to reach our pre-crisis listing levels, but the posting rates for the beginning of 2010 are encouraging.

Sokunthea: That is encouraging to know that there is an increase in job listings. How about on the job seeker side, have you seen a change in the number of people looking for nonprofit jobs - those looking to switch sectors, new graduates looking for their first jobs?

Meg: There's been a growing number of people looking to create a career in the nonprofit sector, from recent grads seeking careers that merge passion and paycheck, to mid-career professionals who have either been laid off or are unhappy in their current job, to baby boomers who either can't or aren't ready to retire just yet. Nonprofit jobs can offer flexible, mission-focused opportunities that allow anyone to take on a new challenge (or several!) while developing and utilizing a wide range of skills.

With the current economy and the increased interest in careers that have a social impact, there are plenty of people looking for nonprofit jobs. But there are even more people looking for ANY job. In order to stand out from the latter group as well as create a job search that is manageable and efficient, job seekers need to know their options and be able to articulate what they want. A great way to do this is to try the short, nonprofit-focused self-assessment exercises in The Idealist Guides. These will help job seekers move from thinking, "I want to work in a nonprofit" to being able to gain a much clearer understanding of why this type of work interests them and what their options are.

Sokunthea: Interesting, do you have other key pieces of advice for individuals looking to land a nonprofit job?

Meg: Along with self-assessment, networking is also key to finding out more about the sector and hearing about jobs that may never be posted. However, the traditional networking events aren't the best way to network. Instead, try volunteering or doing informational interviews. By volunteering, not only do job seekers gain valuable experience to put on their resume, get to know people in the sector, demonstrate their value and skills to potential employers, but they also are able to get a sense for whether this is really the type of work they're interested in doing before they commit to a full-time position. Informational interviews are similar in that they offer an opportunity to connect with people doing interesting work and hear the inside scoop on a broad range of nonprofit jobs. Informational interviews are also a great way to cultivate a stronger network, as at the end of each interview, it's easy to ask if the person can suggest a few other people who would good to talk with. Voila! New connections, conversations, and opportunities.

And while the economy is not as conducive to quickly creating that ideal job in the nonprofit sector right now, this is the ideal time to begin cultivating a stronger network, exploring the diverse range of nonprofit careers, and demonstrating commitment to an issue or cause. This way, when that great job does come along - whether by word of mouth or posted on Idealist.org - all of the pieces are in place to seize the opportunity and create that exciting new nonprofit career.

Sokunthea: To people who only know Idealist.org as a job search site, what else should they know about your organization to be able to take full advantage of what is offered?

Ami: At Idealist, our goal has always been to help people turn their good intentions into action. It's true that connecting people to nonprofit jobs has been a huge part of this – but we also do it by helping like-minded people find one another; by helping groups find volunteers to help achieve their projects; by creating blogs, podcasts, and resources that help to spread good ideas; and so on. Folks can sign up for free email alerts and get information nightly about events, programs, volunteer opportunities, internships, and yes, jobs, that match their areas of interest and skill sets.

In November we launched the Idealist Network (tagline: Imagine, Connect, Act), helping people around the world move from intention to action, online and in person. As part of this, we recently conducted a survey asking the members of the Network to think of a moment in their lives when they had an idea or wanted to take action on any issue, but didn't do it. We wondered what stopped them, and what would have helped them at that point.

More than 500 people responded to the survey, and the breadth of answers was astounding – the obstacles to action that people described range far beyond the predictable "money" and "time." There is a lot we can do to help people overcome these barriers, and we are excited to begin! You can read more about the survey on the Idealist Network blog, or view the raw data here.

More about Ami and Meg:
Ami Dar is the founder and executive director of Idealist.org. He is an Ashoka Fellow and currently serves on the boards of the Nonprofit Finance Fund and Allforgood.org. Meg Busse directs Idealist's Career Transitions Programs. She is co-author of The Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers, a free-for-download guide for people looking to break into the sector, and serves on the National Board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network.

Are you an innovator at the cutting edge of your field? Apply to be a TEDGlobal Fellow!

blogger — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:47:20 +0000

Guest blogger Logan McClure is the Program Officer for the TED Fellows program.

The TED Fellows program is looking for 20 outstanding multidisciplinary innovators from around the world – artists, scientists, bloggers, filmmakers, musicians, activists, and more.

The 2010 TEDGlobal Fellows will join the TED community in Oxford, UK July 10 – 17, 2010 for TEDGlobal, "And Now the Good News." As part of the Fellowship, TEDGlobal Fellows will receive conference admission, round-trip transportation and room and board at the conference site. Fellows also participate in a two-day pre-conference where they can present a short talk or video which will be considered for TED.com. Other benefits include elite skills-building courses taught by world experts, social opportunities and surprise extras.

The TED Fellows program is an international fellowship program designed to nurture great ideas and help them spread around the world. Each year, organizers of the program select a group of 40 individuals who show world-changing potential to participate in either the TED or TEDGlobal Conference. At the end of the year, organizers will select 15 of these Fellows to participate in an extended two-year Senior Fellowship, bringing them to five consecutive conferences. The principal goal of the program is to empower the Fellows to effectively communicate their work to the world.

The TED Fellows program focuses on attracting applicants living or working in five parts of the globe: the Asia/Pacific region, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East, with consideration given to applicants from the rest of the world. (Applicants must be proficient in English.) The program seeks remarkable thinkers and doers who have shown unusual accomplishment, exceptional courage, moral imagination and the potential to increase positive change in their respective fields. The program focuses on innovators in technology, entertainment, design, science, film, art, music, entrepreneurship and the NGO community, among other pursuits.

Applications close March 5, 2010 – apply today! Learn more about the program here: www.ted.com/fellows.

Know someone who'd make an outstanding Fellow? Email fellows [at] ted [dot] com to nominate.

Let's help the Special Olympics spread the word

jeanc — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:34:03 +0000

As many of you know, the Special Olympics holds an important place in the history of the Case Foundation - Eunice Kennedy Shriver was a dear friend, and her tireless effort and dedication to helping individuals with intellectual disabilities, which led to the creation and incredible growth of the Special Olympics was an inspiration.

In fact, the Case Foundation made one of its earliest grants to the Special Olympics in 2000 to help the organization reach its goal of doubling the number of people they serve by 2005.

We continue to be inspired by the incredible efforts of the Special Olympics, and today ask for you to consider supporting the organization's second annual day of awareness to "Spread the Word to End the Word." The day of awareness highlights a national and international effort to get people to think about the hurtful effects of the use of the word "retard" and encourage them to pledge to stop using it. The Special Olympics has a great list of ideas of what you can to do help spread the word from leveraging social networks to encourage others to get involved, to getting involved with youth activities. We applaud Tim Shriver for his leadership on this initiative. I am pleased to pledge my own commitment to spread the word to end the word, and hope you will join this important movement.

Leaders in Action: Tim Shriver of the Special Olympics

joshuat — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:38:31 +0000

Timothy P. Shriver is the Chairman of Special Olympics. In that capacity, he serves 2.8 million Special Olympics athletes in more than 180 countries. He has helped transform Special Olympics into a movement that focuses on acceptance, inclusion, and respect for individuals with intellectual disabilities in all corners of the globe.

Josh: While the winter Olympics in Vancouver has just come to an end, the US Special Olympics are gearing up to begin in Nebraska this July. It appears Olympic fever is still in the air. If you were to try your luck in an Olympic competition, what do you think your sport would be?

Tim: I have to exercise a huge amount of imagination to see myself in the Olympics, that level of athletic ability was not the gift I was given, but I think I would try them all! It’s hard to imagine a sport that at some level doesn’t strike me as being a blast, so I’d take all of them!

Josh: I guess that’s why we all love the Olympics, there’s no shortage of thrill. Before your time at the Special Olympics, you served as a leading educator on social issues such as substance abuse and teen pregnancy. How did this help you prepare for your success in carrying out your agenda at the Special Olympics?

Tim: What I learned in education was that the most important things kids are looking for is someone to believe in them; not to be stigmatized or marginalized by the expectations of negative outcomes. Kids taught me that while they need a good English teacher, they really need someone who is good at listening to them and believing in them.

That fundamental lesson has been what I’ve tried to bring to the Special Olympics- we don’t want pity, we don’t sympathy, and we don’t really want charity in the traditional sense. We want a world of empowerment; a culture where every gift is valued and recognized. We want our athletes to be treated as the leaders they are. The secret to the movement is the athletes, they are the inspiration, the people that are recruiting the volunteers, inspiring fans, encouraging donors and challenging policy makers and educators to be more sensitive to and respectful of the diversity of human giftedness.

If you don’t understand that the human spirit knows no boundaries, come to the Special Olympics and we will teach you.

Josh: I recently read that 52% of Special Olympics athletes are employed as opposed to just 10% of the intellectually disabled community. Can you give us an idea of how the Special Olympics are pushing these athletes outside of sports and competition and more in the real world?

Tim: I think the most important thing that sport does is enable people to adopt an identity of skill and gift. Participants in the Special Olympics are athletes. As Loretta Clayborn famously said, “I may be a person with an intellectual disability, but I am an athlete.” She didn’t say simply “I do a sport”. An athlete is someone who achieves something, someone who scores goals, breaks times, wins races.

It’s in those moments when this pervasive stigma that tragically dominates the lives of so many of our athletes is cast off. The athlete crosses the line onto the court and it’s as though there’s a transcendent change. That transformation unleashes within them a sense in which they can do more things. They can be confident, popular, successful; they can be contributors and skillful members of a community.

Those are the factors that are so important to employment. They’re important to social success, to relationships, to community living and they have been routinely denied to our population. At a core level, learning self confidence, social skills and developing a community of people who can help you--those are the keys to a job. Those keys are hard to find, but our athletes find them all.

Josh: One of the great trends we are seeing is the expansion of the Special Olympics around the globe. The Case Foundation has partnered with the Special Olympics to help build its international programs. How have you been received around the world; can you give us an idea of the international impact of the Special Olympics?

Tim: The truth is we wouldn’t be where we are without the Case Foundation. Steve and Jean Case believed in us before we could believe in ourselves. We had a vision for growing around the world, but we didn’t know how to do it and we certainly didn’t have the resources. But somehow they knew that we would figure it out. I can’t imagine a philanthropic gift that created greater leverage and greater change than theirs to us.

We only knew that there were half a million or so athletes, yet we knew there were 190 to 225 million people with intellectual disabilities, most living in the developing world. Most were subjected to terrible prejudice with no chance at a fulfilling life. We knew we needed to grow dramatically and quickly, and Steve and Jean said go for it, here’s the resources. The result is over 2.5 million new athletes in the last decades, most coming from India and China, from the poorest communities, in areas where age old stigmas persist.

If you look at a case study like India, the numbers are staggering. They are mostly the rural poor; children having their first real sports experience, their first healthy experience, their first community program. And that’s just one country. It doesn’t tell the story of the small programs started in rural Uganda or in Afghanistan or in Caracas, Venezuela. All over the world, when asked, people will rise to the challenge.

My vision is that every school system in the world will include a Special Olympics experience as part of its developmental program, as a volunteer opportunity, as a friendship development opportunity, an opportunity to learn to overcome the prejudice against difference and learn to understand the universality of human giftedness all over the world.

Josh: I think a lot of people realize how much work there really is to be done. What can we, the average citizens do to help give back to this community?

Tim: Well, in our movement there’s a number of ways to do that. The best thing to do is join a unified sports team with people with intellectual disabilities. Also, we’re always looking for people to donate, our workforce is 99% volunteer but we need the other one percent to be bigger and stronger if we’re going to grow in numbers around the world. We’re asking people to make contributions outside of our programs, to join programs like Best Buddies which create social networks for our population, and to work hard to eliminate discrimination everywhere. We’re also asking people to help us with sensitizing others around the use of language, to join us on March 3rd as we spread the word to end the r-word.

Josh: You send a very powerful message. Tim, you are also a leader in the world of service and civic engagement; a large area of focus for the Case Foundation. You were involved in Service Nation, which led to the passage of the landmark legislation, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. What do you think are the most important elements are of this legislation and what makes it stand apart from other past service initiatives?

Tim: It’s the geometric size of the growth and the real investment in expanding service which makes this legislation great. We still have to look to governors, senators and presidents to focus the work of service organizations around some of the enduring problems in our country. We still have tremendous substance abuse problems in our urban and suburban communities, we still have great dropout problems in education, and still have significant environmental problems in our parks, and in our rivers and streams and coastlands.

I would love to see a day when public officials marshal the armies of service in pursuit of solving significant and pressing social challenges. It’s not just enough to ask people to serve; I think it’s better to ask people to serve in pursuit of a mission. Service has become a way of expressing one’s love of country, but also ones willingness to serve a cause, to make a difference, and to have an impact. That sometimes needs a call to action, which this legislation provides. Young people today are looking for this.

You see this in response to crises like Haiti, where people are instantly ready to go. They’re ready to go in part because there’s a problem to be solved. They want to join a cause bigger than themselves and serve in a way that allows them to express their commitment to helping others and making the world a better place. We still have work to do in the rhetoric of service, and in the policy around service, to take some of the work that’s gone into the Edward F. Kennedy Serve America Act and to convert it into a real army of people focused on solving problems.

Photo by Special Olympics.

Off and running (and walking) towards a cure for brain cancer in South Florida

blogger — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:48:14 +0000

Guest blogger Danielle Rosenzweig is the Director of Events for Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (ABC2).

Everyone says that you have to walk before you run, but Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (ABC2) has asked “why can’t we do both?” In the spirit of hitting the ground literally running, ABC2 is in the final planning stages of its first fundraising event in Florida, The Florida Brain Cancer Walk. This 5K Walk, Run, and Family Fun Run is scheduled for Saturday, March 27, 2010 at John Prince Park in Palm Beach County.

While you wouldn’t know it from the website, community support, or funds raised to date, the Florida Brain Cancer Walk has only been a project of ABC2 since October 2009. I was hired in mid-October with the task of creating something out of nothing, a task that, when you first hear it, is pretty daunting. But my colleagues had confidence in the work that was being done at facilities such as Scripps Florida and felt that we should be doing all we could to support such promising projects. We decided that the best way to not only raise funds, but also awareness, was to host an event that would be accessible to the entire community and open to participants of all fitness levels. From the beginning we made the important decision that all the proceeds would benefit Florida-based brain cancer research projects! We were asking the local South Florida community for their support and wanted to make sure that we were demonstrating that same level of support in return.

The Walk has already attracted amazing supporters! Genentech, Promega and the Rendina Family Foundation have all committed to sponsorships; Sunny 104.3 and Earl Stewart Toyota are providing in-kind services; and community leaders are showing their support including Grace Nelson, Wife of U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, who will be serving as Honorary Chair and Anne Gannon, Palm Beach Tax Collector, who has created a Walk Team.

Everyday more teams and individuals register for the upcoming Walk, and our current count is 28 teams and 160 participants. Needless to say with every new participant comes new donations and even as I type this message I am watching our fundraising total roll past $36,000…very exciting!

Our efforts in Florida could not succeed without the support of amazing volunteers on the ground. During my most recent trip down to Florida, I had the pleasure of participating in our first volunteer committee meeting. This small, yet determined group of nine started the meeting by sharing stories of loved ones and reasons for being involved.

As the Event Director, I have a lot of professional interest in the success of this event however my real commitment comes from my own experiences. In 2007, I lost my mother to a brain tumor, after watching her fight for nearly 8 years. Her illness along with her passing had a huge impact on my father, sister and I, and left me with a feeling of helplessness. Sitting in that living room and listening to stories that echoed my own, I was inspired by the people who surrounded me. Their experiences reminded me of how important our mission is and I was moved listening to people who have suffered so much, and yet were determined to find ways to help others avoid similar pain. As tears filled my eyes, I realized that this event was going to do much more than raise research dollars; the Florida Brain Cancer Walk is going to be a celebration of hope, love and life and I invite you to join us and get involved!

We Walk For Those We’ve Lost, We Walk For Those We Love, and Together We Walk For a Cure! For more information about the event or to get involved please visit www.floridabraincancerwalk.org

Water For People and PlayPumps

allysonb — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:08:43 +0000

We're excited to share with you a video from our friends at Water For People, a Case Foundation partner that supports the development of sustainable safe drinking water resources and improved sanitation facilities in developing countries.

The organization's CEO, Ned Breslin has just returned from a visit to Malawi, where initial implementation of PlayPumps is now under way, as part of Water For People's broader water solutions portfolio. We hope you'll take a brief moment to watch this video and see why we're excited about their work.

Weekly news roundup: DoGooder awards, ICPD, Pepsi Refresh

allysonb — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:22:33 +0000

News from the Case Foundation and what people are talking about this week in the world of giving, tech and everything in between.

Submit your nonprofit video to the DoGooder awards!
We are excited to be a supporter of the DoGooder awards, presented by See3 Communications and YouTube, honoring the best nonprofit videos of the year. The Nonprofit Technology Network, Flip Video and Nomadsland .com are also supporters. You can read the press release announcing the awards here, and we thank the many supporters who helped us spread the word as the submissions process kicked off this week, including Jocelyn Harmon at Marketing for Nonprofits, Katya Andresen at her Nonprofit Marketing Blog, the Causecast Video Blog and Service Nation among others.

International Corporate Philanthropy Day
On Monday, major corporations around the world marked International Corporate Philanthropy Day (ICPD), organized by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) with several events, including a convening organized by CECP that gathered 50 leading CEOs for its Board of Boards event to talk about corporate philanthropy in a peer to peer setting and a bell-ringing by corporate foundation CEOs at the New York Stock Exchange. The Nonprofit Quarterly provided an overview of the day's activities. Several corporations also honored the day with their own philanthropic initiatives and announcements, including Bloomberg, which kicked off its 2010 "Employee Matching Dollars for Your Hours" program and State Farm, which announced its annual Youth Advisory Board grant recipients. You can read more about several companies' ICPD initiatives here.

As the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports, President Obama also marked the day with a letter to CECP, stating that:

Through their skills, ingenuity, financial support, and dedication, corporate philanthropists and their employees have answered the call to serve, giving back in meaningful ways that help those in need.

In addition, CECP partnered with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the UN Office for Partnerships to host a program focused on how philanthropy can help to advance the Millennium Development Goals, specifically focused on gender equality and women's empowerment. The Washington Post featured a nice roundup of the event, which featured actress Geena Davis as a speaker.

Finally, on our own blog, Charles Moore, executive director of CECP, challenges the organization's 150 corporate members to rethink the future of corporate philanthropy.

Pepsi responds to Refresh criticism
Late this week, there was a bit of a stir over Pepsi's Refresh Project, the company's effort to give away $20 million in grants to help revamp communities by leveraging the crowdsourcing model. In today's New York Times, Stephanie Strom highlights a situation in which the organization currently leading this month's round of voting, founded by TV star Mariska Hargitay (of Law & Order: SVU fame), was able to submit material past the contest's deadline. She notes that this:

...upset some of the contestants who wondered whether Pepsi was doing favors for a celebrity. “I can’t edit my own submission, so how did she do it?” said one contestant...

In the article, Pepsi acknowledges the snafu as an honest mistake and announces that it will give away a third $250,000 grant on top of the two they had planned to give away in the current round, and also shared this information in a blog post.

Several bloggers praised Pepsi's response, including Nathaniel Whittemore who on his Social Entrepreneurship blog gives kudos to Pepsi for its efforts to address the issue head on:

To Pepsi's credit, though, the company has responded quickly, and with the sort of openness that's essential for success in the new social media sphere.

Beth Kanter also notes that Pepsi "has embraced a learning as you go approach when it comes to social media and the art of public learning," and shares additional thoughts on the contest design. (It's also worth checking out recent guest posts on her blog for more from Pepsi's director of global social media with an insider's view on the contest, and from Generations of Hope, one of the participants in the contest.)

Nonprofit Jobs: Over 60? Combine social impact and continued income in your encore career!

blogger — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:35:53 +0000

Guest blogger Alexandra Céspedes Kent is the Director of The Purpose Prize, a program of Civic Ventures.

The aging of the boomer generation is accelerating - an average of 8,000 women and men turn 60 each day, a wave that will only grow in the coming decades. Will the aging of our society drain precious resources as some predict, or will it be a tide of talent, purpose, and experience that lifts us up and leaves us better off?

The Purpose Prize, which recognizes adults over 60 making extraordinary contributions in their community, shows the latter to be true. In the four years since the program was launched, nearly 4,000 adults have been nominated, more than 200 have been named fellows, and nearly 50 have been named Prize winners, taking home up to $100,000 to support and expand their work.

The old notions of retirement defined by the “golden years of leisure,” are being replaced by entirely new definitions of what’s possible in the second half of life, both personally and for our communities as a whole. Purpose Prize winners are helping to create this entirely new stage of life and work.

Take for example Judith Broder, who watched a play documenting the mental anguish some veterans experience after coming come from war, and felt something click. As a psychiatrist, she knew that without help some soldiers would never get past what they had seen and done. She also understood that a veteran’s distress can painfully affect loved ones, particularly their children and spouses. Taking action, Broder created The Soldiers Project, an organization that supports free, confidential, unlimited therapy to service members and their families.

Broder’s encore career fully utilizes her accumulated talents, contacts and training to leave the world a better place. But, is her case an aberration?

When we started The Purpose Prize, we weren’t sure how many nominations to expect. Since then, the sheer number of nominations and the high quality of so many of them forced us to find additional ways to recognize candidates’ accomplishments. We’ve created opportunities to develop a powerful network of older innovators, encouraged them to tell their stories to the press and, along the way, elevated a new set of spokespeople for their generation.

Catalino Tapia, an immigrant who launched a small gardening business, couldn’t have known he was pointing others towards a new vision of the second half of life when he watched tearfully as his eldest son graduated from law school. Struck by the power of education and the American dream, Tapia began asking his clients for donations to help young Latinos attend college. Now Tapia has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarship funds for low-income students with his organization, the Bay Area Gardeners’ Foundation.

And a recent survey shows that millions more want encore careers that combine personal meaning, social impact and continued income. The 2008 Encore Career Survey of Americans between the ages of 44 and 70, found that half of those surveyed have a strong interest in encore careers. Working with youth, preserving the environment and teaching topped the list of interests. The survey also found that as many as 8 million adults are already in encore careers.

Already in an encore career or know of someone who is working for the social good in post mid-life? Consider nominating yourself, a friend or a colleague for The Purpose Prize, which provides a total of $750,000 in awards to ten individuals in encore careers who are inventing new solutions to major social problems. Nominations are due March 5th at Encore.org.

Olympic philanthropy

blogger — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:17:53 +0000

Guest blogger Riva Warrilow is an intern at the Case Foundation.

With the 2010 Winter Olympics in full swing, the whole world is tuning in to root on compatriots, relive past rivalries and soak in the spirit of international cooperation. Athletes have been training for years for this opportunity and everyone’s got their eye on the gold. Despite intense training regimens, many Olympians have found time in their schedules to work with existing nonprofits or even start their own foundations. Here’s a look at what some of our favorite Olympians are doing to make a difference:

Hannah Teter, US gold medal snowboarder, started her own foundation called Hannah’s Gold. In conjunction with World Vision, Teter works to build schools and provide clean drinking water to people in Kirindon, Kenya. The project is funded by sales of maple syrup from her home state of Vermont. Although Hannah’s Gold is her main focus, Teter has also been involved as a spokesperson for Boarding for Breast Cancer and pledged to donate the winnings from her most recent snowboarding competition to the relief effort in Haiti.
Evan Lysacek, currently ranked number two in figure skating worldwide, is involved with the organization Figure Skating in Harlem (FSH). The organization is a nonprofit that teaches girls figure skating as a way to build their confidence and encourage physical fitness. Lysacek first started supporting the organization in 2006 and currently sits on the FSH board. Not only does FSH offer skating lessons and academic tutoring, it also, as Lysacek says, “gives [the girls] another loving and supportive family to nurture their education and athleticism.”
American Alpine skiing champs, Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso recently set aside their friendly rivalry to raise money for Haiti. The teammates coordinated with fellow World Cup Alpine competitors to organize an auction with all proceeds being donated to the American Red Cross. Skiers including Swiss star Didier Cuche and the U.S.’s Bode Miller offered up signed racing bibs to be auctioned off online. Together, the skiers raised over $90,000 for earthquake relief in Haiti. To make your own contribution to the relief effort or learn about other ways to help click here.
Just two years after receiving a liver transplant, Chris Klug competed at the Salt Lake City Olympics in snowboarding. Klugg was the first and only organ transplant recipient to participate in an Olympic competition. In 2004, he started the Chris Klug Foundation (CKF) to promote organ donation and offer resources to donors and their families. CKF uses a grassroots approach to spread the word on organ donation. The organization also holds events, like the Aspen Summit for Life, a nighttime race aimed at raising awareness and encouraging donation.
Four-time Olympic gold medal speed skater Johann Olav Koss founded Right to Play in 2003 with the goal of using sports and play to teach children teamwork, conflict resolution and integrity. Since then, hundreds of Olympic athletes have contributed to the organization’s efforts by traveling to the 23 countries where Right to Play is present. There, the Olympians act as Athlete Ambassadors to share their skills and inspire children.

Do you know of other philanthropic Olympians to add to this list?

Do you have an awesome nonprofit video? Nominate it for a DoGooder award!

sokuntheas — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:43:29 +0000

Did your nonprofit organization create a video in 2009? If so, enter it into the 4th Annual DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards for the chance to win $2,500 for your nonprofit, get your video featured on the YouTube homepage, receive great prizes from Flip Video and NTEN, and have your work showcased at a screening in Washington DC, hosted by Nomadsland.

The Case Foundation is excited to be a sponsor of the DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards, presented by See3 Communications and YouTube.

Submissions close on March 19, at which point, a set of nonprofit and media professionals (including Guy Kawasaki, Gary Vaynerchuk and Beth Kanter) will select 16 finalists to compete in a public vote among the YouTube community. Winners will be announced on April 10 at the Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta.

The categories for submission are:

Best small organization video
Best medium organization video
Best large organization video
Best innovation in video

For more information, check out today's press release, watch the video below, follow what's happening on Twitter (#npvideo), or go straight to www.youtube.com/nonprofitvideoawards.

International Corporate Philanthropy Day 2010: How are sectors problem-solving to meet social challenges?

blogger — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:39:38 +0000

Charles Moore is the Executive Director of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), the only international forum of business CEOs and chairpersons focused exclusively on corporate philanthropy.

Today, on International Corporate Philanthropy Day, the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy is challenging its membership of over 150 leading corporate CEOs to take the uncomfortable step of thinking about what the world—and environment for business—will look like in the year 2020 if we don’t adapt to a new solutions-oriented mindset on the social issues we face locally and globally.

Frankly, most organizations refuse to look so far into the future because the pace of change is too rapid. Thinking even 18 months ahead can feel like a lifetime. And yet, there are some risks and opportunities that it is best to prepare for now while we have a full range of options available to us. The longer we wait, the narrower our choices become.

This is true not only for today’s multi-national corporations, but for every individual and organization that shares a passion for social change and justice. As the complexity of issues affecting local and global communities continues to escalate, it has become increasingly clear that no single actor in the philanthropic realm can hope to match the impact of organizations working in concert. There is simply too much work to be done and too much ground to cover.

In that light, the most important and inspiring trend that I see across our corporate membership is the commitment to proactively engage in problem-solving on tough issues. The walls and silos that separate funders, grantees, governments, multilaterals, activists and others are falling away as each change agent instead focuses on bringing its unique skills and resources to bear on today’s most difficult social challenges.

Nonprofits and other independent sector players have the on-the-ground knowledge, theories of change, and the local manpower to ensure that the right services are delivered with integrity. Private foundations bring subject matter expertise and funding. Community members add a nuanced understanding of the cultural strengths that can be harnessed to turn challenges into opportunities. For their part, in addition to funding, corporations bring expertise in marketing, logistics, research and development, and project management. Multilateral organizations and academic institutions have, among other skills, the ability to unite and coordinate those seeking to make a difference. By fitting these pieces together, the result is much more than the sum of the individual parts.

This fact is at the heart of President Obama’s message to those celebrating International Corporate Philanthropy Day. To further celebrate this potential, CECP is:

Bringing together over 500 representatives from all sectors at the United Nations to focus on Millennium Development Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Releasing a groundbreaking new research report available as a free download: “Measuring the Value of Corporate Philanthropy: Social impact, business benefits, and investor returns,” that assesses current practices and measurement trends in corporate philanthropy
Ringing the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange
Highlighting initiatives from member companies
Lighting the Empire State Building in New York and the clock tower of the Wrigley Building in Chicago in the colors of ICPD, blue and green
Working with the media to educate the public on the good work happening across sectors to take a proactive and collaborative approach

We invite those who share this conviction to join us in stepping forward to share their initiatives, milestones, and hopes for the future on Twitter: #ICPD2010 (International Corporate Philanthropy Day 2010). Those seeking to engage in the process of making a difference are strongly encouraged to lend their voice to this conversation.

The world is changing under our feet, but we must recognize that we have the capacity to take action and steer our course to the future. This is what CECP is encouraging our members to do. We hope you’ll join us in fostering the skill sets and mindsets needed to make it work.

Nonprofit Jobs: Advice for millennials from Social Citizens

sokuntheas — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:32:51 +0000

Last week's guest post by John Bridgeland addressed a very important segment of our unemployed population - millennials. As referenced in his post, four million young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 are unemployed! Kari Saratovsky and Kristin Ivie have written some great posts on our Social Citizens blog that provide additional resources for millennials looking for work in the nonprofit sector. Make sure to check them out!

In Millennials Looking for More than Just a Job, Kari suggests fellowship opportunities as a way for people to combine meaningful work and making a social impact:

...we are witnessing what many believe to be the beginning of a new era of problem solving and social entrepreneurship – as Millennials demonstrate that it’s not just one sector that will help solve some of our most challenging social problems, but rather a look at blending sectors and structures to create meaningful impact ... we thought we’d ... bring attention to some of the opportunities being offered to the Millennial Generation for fellowship programs here at home and abroad.

And, in Kristin's post, Millennials: Congrats on Your Degree, Welcome to Unemployment, she offers job search resources for people who are looking for more than just a paycheck:

Many are looking at their next chapter as a time for self exploration. They’re trying to find meaning in their jobs and are delaying the traditional workforce to join programs like AmeriCorps - or heading overseas to teach English in a developing country. They’re leveraging technology to innovate and create new solutions to complex environmental and social problems. Gen Y is seen as ambitious and hopeful. But they are also debt ridden and anxious.

Read their posts for more details.

Your office, 2.0

joshuat — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:46:06 +0000

Social media is a great tool for nonprofits, this much we know. I’ve written many posts in our Learn the Lingo blog series detailing how nonprofits can utilize social media to communicate with their communities, fundraise or promote. But what about using social media within the office, helping us to streamline information and share valuable assets with our coworkers?

This technology, dubbed “Enterprise 2.0”, still has yet to really take off. Many companies are starting to see social media’s perks when it comes to marketing and advertising, but have yet to understand how an inter-office, Twitter style network could really help their company run smoother.

I recently read a great article by Zach Wales, the Director of Interactive Services over at Changing Our World, which really elaborated on the subject of “Enterprise 2.0”, or what The Economist describes as “social networks of the workplace”. Zach really got to the heart of this issue:

According to a study cited in the Economist, corporate workers spend between six and ten hours per week hunting for information that they could otherwise communicate to one another seamlessly in the Facebook/Twitter-like sphere of Yammer [an inter-office social network].

And what Enterprise 2.0 tools provide that Twitter and Facebook don't is security - online communities where ideas are exchanged freely without fear of breaking confidentiality, or letting sensitive information slip. They make silo-thinking an excuse of the past, and bring an organization closer to operating like a coordinated, central nervous system.

Zach mentions the France based Danone Corporation, who is experimenting with an in-house solution to network their 90,000 employees across 10 countries. Imagine how many of those 90,000 employees are working on resolving the exact same issue, but have no communication with their peers? Now imagine how much time those employees are wasting on finding information their coworkers have already researched, or even published. “Enterprise 2.0” might just be the solution to the repetitions and endless searches that hinder organizational functionality.

For more information be sure to check out Zach’s post at OnPhilanthropy.

Presidential philanthrophy

Kristini — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:24:53 +0000

With Presidents Day coming up, it's nice to reflect on the different types of philanthropic efforts by some of the leaders of the free world. On both sides of the aisle, our former presidents have continued to use their influence and skills as leaders in philanthropy. Here are a few outstanding examples.

President Dwight Eisenhower founded the People to People Program in 1956 as part of the U.S. Information Agency to advance cross-cultural communication and international understanding. After leaving office, he worked to privatize the program as a Missouri nonprofit organization, and he served as the Chairman of its board of trustees. People to People International, which is now led by President Eisenhower’s granddaughter Mary, presently has student and community chapters in 38 countries, which have involved hundreds of thousands of people since its founding. He also donated his home and farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to the National Park Service, which now serves as a museum and home to some of the state’s endangered and threatened species.

While perhaps not wealthy enough to mount his own philanthropic efforts after leaving office, President Harry Truman established a few well-known philanthropic practices. Through the Marshall Plan and his “Four Points” program, President Truman set a precedent for the U.S. to support social and economic improvement in underdeveloped nations, a policy that eventually led to the creation of USAID in 1961. Back at home, Truman was the first former commander-in-chief to raise private donations to build a presidential library to be donated to government for operation, a practice that has been followed by each president since.

President Bill Clinton is arguably the most active and visible presidential philanthropist in recent years. His Clinton Foundation works on responses to crises like Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake, but also addresses issues like the climate, childhood obesity and HIV/AIDS. Perhaps the most well-known of the Foundation’s programs, the Clinton Global Initiative has secured more than 1,700 commitments to action, worth $57 billion. The results include new jobs, education, clean drinking water, better healthcare and improvements benefiting more than 200 million people around the world.

In his first year in office, President George H.W. Bush established the Daily Points of Light Award and inspired the Points of Light Foundation to promote service and civic engagement. Since leaving office, President Bush has partnered with President Clinton in efforts to raise money and support for victims of Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

President Jimmy Carter has been an advocate for human rights and global health through his Carter Center. In addition to monitoring more than 28 elections and mediating conflicts in places such as Bosnia and Sudan, the Carter Center has nearly eradicated Guinea worm disease, an extremely painful parasitic infection. The number of people affected by the disease has been drastically reduced from 3.5 million cases in 1986 to fewer than 10,000 in 2007. In addition, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, have been active advocates and volunteers for Habitat for Humanity since 1984. Each year, they participate in the Carter Work Project, volunteering one week each year, completing Habitat building projects everywhere from Texas to Thailand.

Learn the lingo: U is for Ustream, TV... on the internet

joshuat — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:49:57 +0000

As they say, history is repeating itself. No, I’m not talking about the second Great Depression. I’m talking about the second revolution in media and communications. Just as the last millennium brought us the printing press, then the motion picture, and finally, broadcast television, this millennium the internet has given rise to blogging, YouTube, and finally, Ustream.

Ustream may sound like another MyFaceTube or TweetBook, but this tool provides a unique and powerful feature that Facebook and Twitter cannot: live video streaming, often referred to as livestreaming or lifecasting. Ustream, along with its two main competitors Jason.tv and Livestream, gives every individual or organization with an internet connection and a camcorder the ability to start their own TV show. And I’m not talking basic cable. With over 2 million registered users and 1.5 million hours of video broadcast every month, this thing has more channels than even your most expensive Comcast sports and movie packages.

As we have seen in the past, nonprofits are outpacing the for profit industry when it comes to social media, and Ustream is no exception. Nonprofits are quickly learning that instead of breaking their wallets on live TV spots or letting cable programs dictate their interviews, they can take video broadcasting into their own hands, for free. What’s more, live broadcasting can help them raise money, rather than spend it. For example, check out how Extra Lives used Ustream to raise over $12,000 for Free The Children, to provide clean water, healthcare, food and education to children in developing nations

Ustream also offers nonprofits a whole toolkit of items that live TV broadcasting can’t. These tools not only help make broadcasting easier for you, but it makes it more fun, interactive and accessible for your viewers:

Chat: Allows your viewers to communicate with you in real time. Give your viewers what they want, when they want it.
Social Stream: Ustream allows viewers to sign into the chat using their credentials from Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and AIM (even simultaneously!) so that their conversations appear as live updates to their networks. This can really help your broadcast go viral and grow your audience.
Mobile Broadcast: You can now broadcast on Ustream on the go from your mobile phone.
Video Archiving: After your broadcast is over, your video is not lost. You and your viewers still have access to your entire broadcast, and you can even upload it to YouTube.
Highlighting: Ustream allows you to break up your videos into highlights with their own titles and URLs. Great for sharing parts of your video on Twitter.

So now that you know what Ustream is, you're probably wondering what your nonprofit can do with it. Well, the possibilities are unlimited, but here are a couple of ideas I have floating around.

Broadcast an event: Having a gala or a conference but don’t have room for your whole audience? Let them watch it live online. For a great example of this, check out the archived videos of 2009 National Conference on Citizenship held at the Library of Congress in DC.
Conduct an interview: Let your viewers ask you the questions and share your knowledge. Check the Case Foundation’s Gear Up for Giving program, where we interviewed nonprofit social media gurus.
Give a talk: Whether it’s your CEO speaking at an event, or you broadcasting from your cube, let your viewers know your organization’s message. Check out Mac from Public Allies giving talks on careers, connections and other topics.
Run a live telethon: Use Ustream to broadcast a live, interactive telethon (with or without the phone). You can promote it with Facebook, Twitter or your organizations' newsletter. Check out how the Tweetathon used money to raise money for clean water for the children of Kenya.
Nonprofit News: Are you a nonprofit promoting Cancer research? Run a weekly news program detailing recent developments in your field. Check out the Business Boomer network, which engages audiences from communities of purpose by providing original content, production and distribution.

But most importantly:

Show your impact: People want to see what your organization is capable of, so find ways to broadcast your progress.

Have your own nonprofit Ustream channel? Post it in the comments section and share it with our audience. If you have a great idea of how nonprofits can use Ustream, share that, too!

Dressed to Give: I "heart" fashion for good

stephanieh — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:41:16 +0000

It's mid-February and I always get excited around this time of the year. While some look forward to Valentine's Day, it's NY Fashion Week that gets me giddy. I eagerly anticipate next season's trends, and while they change from year to year, there's one thing that always remains in style: the color red! As the symbolic color of American Heart Month, red will once again be in fashion in order to raise awareness about heart disease.

Throughout the month of February, there are a number of promotions to encourage women to take action to protect their heart health, since cardiovascular diseases are #1 killer of American women. As I did in my Valentine's Day post last year, I've listed my favorites below.

The Red Dress Collection
Today, February 11, is the opening day of NY Fashion Week, More than 20 celebrities will walk down the runway in designer red dresses as part of The Heart Truth's awareness program. The celebrity lineup includes Felicity Huffman, Kim Kardashian, and Rose McGowan, who will appear in dresses by some of America's top designers. Afterward, several of these dresses will be auctioned off to the public through Clothes Off Our Back and all proceeds will go to benefit heart health research.

adDRESS Your Heart
And the red dresses don't end there. Campbell's Soup's adDRESS Your Heart program asked people to tell their personal story about heart disease and design a dress for their "heart hero". Three finalists were chosen and then the public voted for their favorite. Escorted by Project Runway's Tim Gunn, the winner will model her dress during the Woman's Day Red Dress Awards, where several honorees will be recognized for their contributions to heart health research and disease prevention. To get involved, you can click here and Campbell's will donate $1 (up to $625,000) to the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women's movement through March 31, 2010.

ShoeDazzle
Of course, no dress would be complete without the right pair of shoes. Kim Kardashian, who is one of the celebs participating in the Red Dress Collection, is also the founder of ShoeDazzle, a shoe membership society. In support of American Heart Month, ShoeDazzle has partnered with WomenHeart to design a limited-edition red pump, where 10% of proceeds will be donated to further heart disease awareness and prevention. The shoes are available for preorder now and are up for general sale beginning February 19.

Take Action
Red dresses and shoes are fashionable reminders of the importance of women's heart health, but the most important way to stay in style during American Heart Month is to take the Go Red Heart CheckUp to make sure you're doing everything you can to prevent heart disease.

Nonprofit Jobs: John Bridgeland - Can an injection of national service heal the unemployment problem?

blogger — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:17:58 +0000

Guest blogger John Bridgeland is President & CEO of Civic Enterprises, a policy firm that helps corporations, nonprofits, foundations, universities and governments develop and spearhead innovative public policies to strengthen our communities and country. In last week's first post of this Nonprofit Jobs series, we referenced his piece, Put Service on Steroids, and asked him to share this perspective with our audience.

As America struggles to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the nation's top priority is finding jobs for the 10 percent of men and women out of work. An even more staggering figure often gets lost in the debate: the four million unemployed people between the ages of 16 and 24. If the U.S. wants to make a real dent in unemployment, young people are the place to start.

With the private sector short on certainty and Washington short on cash, creating jobs isn't easy. That's why targeting young people makes so much sense. Not only are jobless youth in ample supply, they're cheap to hire and eager to serve. A national network of nonprofits and service organizations already exists to put them to work.

Americans saw the fruitful results of this idea in the 1930s when Franklin Roosevelt worked with Congress to create the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Within a few months, he had 250,000 young men serving in national parks and forests. Over the term of FDR's national service program, more than three million young men planted three billion trees, constructed 97,000 miles of fire roads, and built drainage systems for 84 million acres of agricultural land. Many of the youth who served for one or two years in the CCC went on to find good jobs in areas related to their service.

Seventy-five years later, the youth unemployment picture looks remarkably similar. What has changed, however, is that the nation has well-oiled service programs in place, thanks to the extraordinary growth of national and community service over the past two decades. And thanks to the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. Congress and the administration have the authority to enlist 250,000 young people in tackling the nation's challenges at a cost of $8 billion, less than one percent of last year’s economic recovery package.

With youth unemployment at record levels, it's time to put national service on steroids. Instead of slowly ramping up to 250,000 national service opportunities over five years, the President and Congress should at least double that number now. At a fraction of the cost of other stimulus proposals, the national service injection would offer the country a hat trick.

First, it would put half a million unemployed youth into productive work immediately. Imagine young people teaching, tutoring and mentoring students in America's lowest-performing schools; building Habitat for Humanity Homes in impoverished neighborhoods; strengthening the capacity of food banks and soup kitchens to reach more hungry Americans; and cleaning up America's rivers and parks. What's more, research shows that national service acts as a successful bridge to full-time employment. And by the time these young people finish their national service, the job market will have plenty of room for them.

Second, a burst of national service would come at little cost to the taxpayers. Youth would receive a below-poverty stipend for their year of service and a small award to help defray the costs of college. Why not turn the educational award into a completion stipend, giving young people the incentive to complete college and graduate school after they finish their national service?

Third, the national service plan creates no new bureaucracy. Young people would serve through an existing and well-respected network of non-profits, such as Teach for America, City Year, Earth Conservation Corps, and LIFT.

Engaging young Americans in service to the nation, especially in a time of war with increased deployments to Afghanistan, would have other benefits. Young people would be taught the value of service; their civic habits over a lifetime would improve; and the social and civic connectedness of even those with jobs in their communities would rise.

In such a partisan climate, this could be the needed bipartisan effort. In the same way John McCain and Barack Obama joined hands on a national service bill on the campaign trail, and Orrin Hatch and Edward Kennedy co-authored the Serve America Act, leaders from both sides can place national service on steroids. Such a bold move would reduce one of our country's most urgent national challenges - unemployment - by summoning the next generation to address many more.

Give a gift that gives back this Valentine's Day

megans — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:31:09 +0000

February 14th is rapidly approaching and like with any gift giving holiday, you have a choice to make! Are you going to go the traditional route and drop your cash on standard red roses and a box of chocolates, or will you give to impress with thoughtful gifts that give back?

If you opt to give AND give back this year, here are ten of my favorite charitable gift ideas to get you started:

Who doesn't love a charm bracelet? Give this Liz Claiborne Heart Bracelet from the Cause Shoppe and 100% of the profits will benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Want to go the traditional route of chocolates and roses but still give back? Check out the Valentine's Day gifts on giftback.com and 10% of every gift will go towards a charity of YOUR choice!
Does your loved one really have a sweet tooth? Buy them this Valentine's Day Gift Box from Baking for Good and 15% of your purchase will be donated to a cause you choose.
Is charity enough? If your Valentine isn't the type who needs jewelry or flowers, give her the ultimate gift that gives - a charity gift card. You choose the amount, the recipient chooses the charity. Check out Good Cards from Network for Good or give the gift of giving through GlobalGiving.
Another place to find great ways to give back in your loved one's name? Check out The Goods from Huffington Post and Causecast. Send a USO care package for a U.S. soldier or provide a week of life-saving meals this Valentine's Day.
Giving to a music lover, male or female? The iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED is the perfect gift. Proceeds will go directly to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.
Want to buy something charitable and pink? Check out the Breast Cancer Site's Pink Ribbon Store. There are tons of pink items to choose from and proceeds go towards funding mammograms. I love this Live, Love, Laugh Stainless Steel Water Bottle.
Give a "Heart for Haiti." Donate funds to Haiti through World Neighbors and your loved one will receive a personalized card detailing the donation you made in their name.
Shop with a purpose through Amnesty International. Amnesty International has tons of great options for Valentine's Day, like this Mother Earth Seed Necklace from Colombia or this Checkered Bracelet for Change.
Buy a gift from giftsthatgive.com and 20% of your purchase goes back to the school or nonprofit of your choice. Pop open a bottle of bubbly and light this luxurious Champagne candle for the ultimate romantic evening. Buying for your man? Giftsthatgive.com also has an amazing selection of cuff links and ties!

Need more ideas? Check out some of these past blog posts with additional charitable gift ideas for that special someone in your life:

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY AND HAPPY GIFT GIVING!!!