Social Entrepreneurship

• Most Topular Stories

• Business Ideas for the New Community Culture

  GOOD Business Ideas with Matthew Alberto

  Matthew Alberto

  11 May 2012 | 1:00 pm

  If you are in a job that you hate, you may spend a lot of your time thinking about your escape plan. What fabulous business will you start that will get you out of your dead end career? You may have even been thinking about the advantages of social entrepreneurship companies. These are for-profit businesses that take some of the values from the non-profit world and implement them into successful … ...[Continue reading Business Ideas for the New Community Culture]Related posts: Latest Business Ideas for You and the Community Good Biz Ideas for the Community Social Enterprise Ideas From…

• Funding Innovation for Skoll Social Entrepreneurs

  Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

  7 May 2012 | 10:09 am

  I was recently at the Skoll World Forum, probably the best conference in the world for meeting with top social entrepreneurs. As a longtime member of the Skoll community, I prize this week for the opportunity to talk frankly with peers about our biggest mutual challenges. Peer learning is the most valuable opportunity for a field that has no operator's manual -- like social entrepreneurship!The constant theme is raising money for our social enterprises. But not just any money -- we talk about the most difficult money to raise: the unrestricted funding that is the lifeblood for a social…

• Tinker, tailor, programmer: Entrepreneurship is subverting gender in Afghanistan

  Global Envision

  Shandana Durrani

  8 May 2012 | 3:55 pm

  In southern Afghanistan, the promise of a well-paid urban career is luring women to keyboards and men to needlework. INVEST, a vocational training program by Mercy Corps in Helmand Province, teaches men and women trades that can lead them out of poverty. Only 28 percent of the adult Afghan population is literate, and most children can’t attend school due to either the rigidly conservative society or safety concerns. INVEST trains locals in various trades, from construction to calligraphy to mobile phone repair to sewing. So far, INVEST has enrolled nearly 9,000 students, 900 of them women.

• First Satellite Study of Manta Rays Reveals New Areas for Conservation

  Latest Items from TreeHugger

  Jaymi Heimbuch

  16 May 2012 | 12:15 pm

  Manta Rays are big animals and they need a lot of space -- but how much an where? A new study tracks just where the rays go.

• India: Crackdown on Tamil Nadu Anti-Nuclear Plant Protests

  Global Voices

  Rezwan

  16 May 2012 | 12:49 pm

  Concerns have been sparked that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) currently under construction in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, India, may have similar vulnerabilities to the ill-fated Fukushima nuclear power plant of Japan. Activists fear that in the case of an earthquake followed by a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, there could be an accident similar to the radiation leak at the Japanese coastal nuclear plant last year. Construction started more than a decade ago and KKNPP is expected to be in operation soon. S. P. Udayakumar of the voluntary organisation…

• 

  Latest Items from TreeHugger

• First Satellite Study of Manta Rays Reveals New Areas for Conservation

  Jaymi Heimbuch

  16 May 2012 | 12:15 pm

  Manta Rays are big animals and they need a lot of space -- but how much an where? A new study tracks just where the rays go.

• Beautiful and Powerful: Audi's E-Bike Wörthersee

  Michael Graham Richard

  16 May 2012 | 12:05 pm

  After Daimler and its Smart Electric Bike, it is now Audi's turn to unveil a special electric bike design.

• Little Sun Solar Light Is Both Life Saver and Work of Art

  Jaymi Heimbuch

  16 May 2012 | 10:35 am

  Solar lighting for rural and developing areas is a solution to the real problem of toxic kerosene lamps, but this little LED light strives to be a work of art too.

• GM Cotton Fails to Raise Yields in India, Despite Large Increase in Planting

  Mat McDermott

  16 May 2012 | 10:16 am

  Though cotton yields initially doubled when GM cotton began being planted a decade ago, in the past six years yields have failed to increase even though planting has markedly increased.

• North Sea Natural Gas Platform Leak Finally Stopped

  Mat McDermott

  16 May 2012 | 9:56 am

  After a couple months of work the methane leak amounted to not much at all, but it is a reminder that potentially environmentally damaging leaks are business-as-usual with fossil fuels.

• 

  Global Voices

• India: Crackdown on Tamil Nadu Anti-Nuclear Plant Protests

  Rezwan

  16 May 2012 | 12:49 pm

  Concerns have been sparked that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) currently under construction in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, India, may have similar vulnerabilities to the ill-fated Fukushima nuclear power plant of Japan. Activists fear that in the case of an earthquake followed by a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, there could be an accident similar to the radiation leak at the Japanese coastal nuclear plant last year. Construction started more than a decade ago and KKNPP is expected to be in operation soon. S. P. Udayakumar of the voluntary organisation…

• Bangladesh: Bloggers March for Murdered Journalist Couple, Demand Justice.

  Aparna Ray

  16 May 2012 | 12:06 pm

  Three months have passed since the murder of the journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and his wife Meherun Runi. Till date, the police have been unsuccessful in discovering any clues or leads that would help them to solve the case. In the early hours of 11th February, 2012, the couple was found brutally murdered in their West Rajabajar apartment in Dhaka. The Bangladesh High Court has expressed dissatisfaction with the progress (or lack of it) of the Detective Branch (DB) of police investigating the murder. The case has since then been transferred to the anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit - Rapid…

• Kenya: Online Platform for Amplifying People's Power

  Ndesanjo Macha

  16 May 2012 | 10:42 am

  Bunge la Mwananchi is an online platform for amplifying grassroots people’s power to decide on their politics and economics so as to improve their social conditions in Kenya. Written by Ndesanjo Macha · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

• Cameroon: An Overview of Cameroon Prison Literature

  Ndesanjo Macha

  16 May 2012 | 10:32 am

  This is an overview of 10 of the most popular prison literature books from Cameroon: “In the last six months, three former high-ranking government officials currently in jail for a variety of financial crimes have published books about their prison experience.” Written by Ndesanjo Macha · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

• Spain: The “Indignados” of the 15M

  Elizabeth Rivera

  16 May 2012 | 10:17 am

  The date for the first citizen protest in Barcelona to celebrate the first anniversary of 15M (May 15th) was on Saturday 12M (May 12th) at 6pm in Catalunya Plaza. Sixty-one year-old Mari Ángeles left her place in El Prat, a neighborhood close to the airport within the city limits. With a group of neighbors, she took the banners they had prepared and rode the bus to Spain Plaza. There they met other members of the “southern column” which had already marched for a couple of hours starting at Cornellà near mid-day. Miguel Ángel. Photo by Lali Sandiumenge. Miguel Ángel, 44 years…

• 

  Dowser

• The Unreasonable Institute At Sea: A Mobile Incubator

  Rachel Signer

  14 May 2012 | 11:05 am

  The Unreasonable Institute, an incubator for social enterprise start-ups from around the world, has teamed up with Stanford’s d.school and the study abroad program Semester At Sea to offer a unique business development experience for technology-focused social entrepreneurs: the Unreasonable Institute at Sea. A select group will be invited to board a ship charted by Semester at Sea, which will sail around the world for 100 days, spending a few days on land in countries like Brazil, India, and China.  The Unreasonable Institute will choose ten companies, represented by teams of two or three.

• Drink Water? 999Bottle Lets You Measure How Much Plastic You Don't Use

  Rachel C

  10 May 2012 | 11:06 am

  If you've started to feel like plastic has taken over the world, it has -- from the Tupperware in our kitchens to children's toys to the remote patches of ocean it has polluted. And the increase in reusable water bottles may seem like it's helping, but it hasn't managed to stem the problem that those bottles exist, at least in part, to fight: the disposable plastic water bottle. The bain of any environmentalist's -- or surfer's or citizen activist's or bird lover's -- existence, bottled water is a tremendous source of the plastic pollution that has penetrated some of the most remote…

• Are Too Many Social Enterprises Adding To Our Problems?

  Rachel Signer

  2 May 2012 | 11:26 am

  Reich suggests that people target specific needs with unique projects, rather than creating issue-focused organizations. If you want to change the world—whether locally or globally, big or small—you’ve probably thought about starting up your own social enterprise or nonprofit. Think again. Author and Columbia University instructor Brian Reich says that too many organizations impede progress toward solving the world’s most pressing problems. He argues that people need to use existing models to target specific needs or issues, through flexible structures rather than permanent ones.

• Ethikus Leverages the Power of the Ethical Consumer

  Rachel Signer

  30 Apr 2012 | 10:45 am

  The idea that change starts small isn’t new. But in an age when large corporations seem increasingly ubiquitous and powerful, small businesses have become an important locus of sustainable economic movements. From May 3-10, hundreds of New Yorkers will participate in the first Shop Your Values Week, a project of the New York City-based startup Ethikus. The aim of Ethikus is to generate more business for small enterprises whose practices embody certain principles of sustainability in the realms of product-sourcing, employee relations, community engagement, and environmental impact or…

• Weekly Roundup: Malaria Making Progess?

  Anja Tranovich

  28 Apr 2012 | 9:03 am

  This week the global health and development community marked World Malaria Day (April 25), highlighting new initiatives to fight malaria: the Partnership for Transforming Health Systems in tandem with the Clinton Health Access Initiative; the African Development Bank's $30 million grant for malaria; and the WHO's new program, "Test, Treat, Track."  The theme this year is: “Sustain Gains, Save Lives:  Invest in Malaria.” As all these initiatives go into effect (or rally together for greater support), we hear of an upsurge of malaria cases in the Congo and a new wave of resistant strains,…

• 

  Ashoka In The News

• Bill Drayton of Ashoka Wins Harvard Award

  Stephen Outlaw

  8 May 2012 | 2:44 pm

  Release Date:  May 10, 2012 Cambridge, MA - Ashoka CEO and founder Bill Drayton received the Harvard Kennedy School's prestigious Richard E. Neustadt Award for Public Policy last week. The Neustadt Award is presented annually to a key social innovator whose work draws upon research and intellectual ideas in order to develop solutions to public problems.read more

• The BIG IDEA: Global Spread of Affordable Housing

  Stephen Outlaw

  26 Apr 2012 | 4:52 pm

  Release Date:  April 25, 2012 Today 1.6 billion people need safe housing. By 2030, that number will triple. Amulti-trillion dollar opportunity. Will we build it in our lifetime?A new, multimedia book published jointly by Ashoka Full Economic Citizenship and Next Billion compiles over 20 posts from leading housing entrepreneurs answering this global challenge. read more

• Ashoka Global Competition Seeks Innovation in Empathy Education

  Stephen Outlaw

  23 Jan 2012 | 10:57 am

  Release Date:  January 19, 2012 Washington, D.C. - Ashoka Changemakers is launching a global competition today titled: Activating Empathy: Transforming Schools to Teach What Matters.read more

• Bill Drayton of Ashoka Accepts Three Awards in Three Weeks from Europe, US, and Asia

  Stephen Outlaw

  9 Nov 2011 | 12:31 pm

  Release Date:  November 9, 2011 Arlington, Virginia - Bill Drayton, CEO of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public has accepted three awards from around the world honoring his work on behalf of social entrepreneurship through the organization he founded, Ashoka.  At a time when the world is faced with deeply troubling challenges, these accolades celebrate read more

• Four International Personalities Honoured with Entrepreneurs for the World Awards

  Stephen Outlaw

  7 Nov 2011 | 1:14 pm

  Release Date:  November 3, 2011 Singapore – Four role-models whose entrepreneurial achievements and commitment to society make them role-models for entrepreneurship creating wealth and social justice have been awarded the Entrepreneurs for the World Awards at thisread more

• 

  Ashoka In The News

• Wayan Patut : Conserving Serangan’s underwater treasures

  Sarah Johnson

  14 May 2012 | 9:37 am

  Release Date:  May 5, 2012 Original URL:  http://www.ashoka.org/fellow/wayan-patut Publication name:  The Jakarta Post An interview with Indonesian Ashoka Fellow, Wayan Patut

• Social Entrepreneurs Try to Offer Solutions to K-12 Problems

  Sarah Johnson

  14 May 2012 | 8:50 am

  Release Date:  April 25, 2012 Original URL:  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/04/25/29socialbiz.h31.html Publication name:  Education Week Social entrepreneurs, including U.S. Ashoka Fellow David Wish, are taking new approaches to address educational problems in the United States.

• KIPP Founder Shares Story

  Sarah Johnson

  13 Apr 2012 | 10:01 am

  Release Date:  April 5, 2012 Original URL:  http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/apr/05/kipp-founder-shares-story/ Publication name:  Yale Daily News Ashoka Fellow, Dave Levin, discusses the experiences that led him to found KIPP.

• Unesco fetes Kenyan for linking villages with ICT

  Sarah Johnson

  27 Mar 2012 | 3:11 pm

  Release Date:  March 24, 2012 Original URL:  http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/InsidePage.php?id=2000054853 Publication name:  The Standard Ashoka Fellow, James Nguo, receives the Unesco-IPDC Prize for Rural Communication for the work he does through his Arid Lands Information Network (Alin) to connect remote villages with the rest of the world.

• A New Wall Street: Silicon Valley Reimagines Banking

  Sarah Johnson

  16 Mar 2012 | 9:01 am

  Release Date:  March 5, 2012 Original URL:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2012/03/05/a-new-wall-street-silico... Publication name:  Forbes Read more about how Ashoka Fellow, Bruce Cahan, is creating a new bank paradigm through his high-transparency,impacts-aware bank project, known as GoodBank™(IO).

• 

  SustainAbility

• SustainAbility 25th Anniversary Party

  16 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  SustainAbility 25th Anniversary Party Last month marked SustainAbility’s 25th birthday, and on Monday 30th April we celebrated this momentous occasion with a gathering of many people we have worked with over the years. There was a lot of reminiscing, laughter and of course plenty of cake! But there was also a lot of talk about the transformational changes we as a society now need to make to scale up – and speed up – the progress that has been made to date. For those of you who would like to know more about how we got here John Elkington reflects on the past quarter century…

• Carbon Economics Can Change Climate Behaviour

  16 May 2012 | 4:30 am

  This article originally appeared on Ethical Corporation website. At the end of this year the first commitment period of the Kyoto protocol expires. Not because it has succeeded in tackling climate change. Far from it. While there were many positive effects resulting from the protocol, getting carbon reductions down to a safe level has not been one of them. The climate challenge looms larger than ever, and the governments of the world still don’t have a plan to address it. What should be done as Kyoto expires, and what will it take to make real progress? Recently, SustainAbility and…

• Mark Lee to moderate panel at Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum

  15 May 2012 | 6:10 am

  In cooperation with the Rio+20 Secretariat, the UN System and the Global Compact Local Network Brazil, the UN Global Compact will host the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum: Innovation & Collaboration for the Future We Want from 15-18 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro. Mark Lee, Executive Director, SustainAbility will be moderating the Opening Panel on The Business Case for the Green Economy on 17th June with the following panellists: Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Jochen Zeitz, CEO, Sport & Lifestyle Group, Chief Sustainability Officer…

• Join VERGE Virtual on 17th May

  15 May 2012 | 5:19 am

  There is a new wave of technological change revolutionizing sustainability. Smart grid technologies, big data, the internet of things, smart buildings and intelligent transport systems, to name but a few, are changing the very nature of how energy, information, buildings and transportation are procured and managed. VERGE London – hosted by GreenBiz and SustainAbility – will this Thursday, 17th May bring together senior executives, business leaders as well as thought leaders from government and think tanks to look at how the convergence of energy, information, building and vehicle…

• SustainAbility 25th Birthday Challenge

  15 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  As we turned 25 we posed a challenge to our stakeholders to tell us, in 25 words or less, how they would motivate and inspire a classroom of kids to think and act differently, to catalyse the change we need. The responses were rich and varied. John Elkington, SustainAbility’s co-founder, picked his three favourite entries and then the guests at our birthday party in London voted on the winner. The winning entry was from a teacher in India, Susannah Muench, who wrote from the perspective of her class: Talk to us, not down to us. Listen, don’t lecture. Give us experiences, not fiction.

• 

  Triple Pundit: People, Planet, Profit

• The Avon Lady Comes to Mozambique, Hawking Cookstoves

  Jen Boynton

  16 May 2012 | 4:22 am

  CleanStar invests in, builds, and scales triple-bottom-line business models in emerging markets around the world. CleanStar Mozambique, their latest and fastest growing project, was founded to tackle the cook stove problem with a bilateral solution: new clean-burning stoves and an ethanol processing facility to fuel them. But how do they gain traction in a saturated market?

• Interview: Matt Bannick, Managing Partner, Omidyar Network

  Nick Aster

  16 May 2012 | 4:15 am

  TriplePundit's Nick Aster sits down with with Matt Bannick, Managing Partner for Omidyar Network to look for some perspective.

• Chevron’s 2011 CSR Report Provides a (Too) Rosy Picture of the Company

  Raz Godelnik

  16 May 2012 | 4:14 am

  Few years ago a CSR report released by an oil company sounded like an oxymoron. Even later on when these reports have become more common, it still looked to many people as a greenwashing attempt. After all, can a company really show it cares about the environment and stakeholders when its core business is oil production? I was hoping Chevron’s 2011 CSR report would prove this assumption to be wrong and that the “bad guys try to be better.” Is it too much to ask in 2012? Apparently yes, although to be honest, there is no simple answer of Yes or No to this question. While it does look…

• Patagonia Maps Out Its Supply Chain For Even More Transparency

  Leon Kaye

  16 May 2012 | 4:13 am

  Patagonia has released its Footprint Chronicles, one tool to help customers and stakeholders learn more about the the company’s global operations and suppliers.

• Largest U.S. Mutual Funds Not Passing Climate Change Resolutions

  Gina-Marie Cheeseman

  16 May 2012 | 4:12 am

  Although the three largest mutual fund companies in the U.S. (American Funds, Fidelity and Vanguard) voted on a number of shareholder resolutions related to climate change, none of the resolutions passed.

• 

  Marc Gunther's blog

• At Starbucks and Thanksgiving Coffee, it’s not just a cuppa joe

  Marc Gunther

  15 May 2012 | 10:58 pm

  Aside from being in the coffee trade, Starbucks and Thanksgiving Coffee would appear to have little in common. Seattle-based Starbucks is a FORTUNE 500 company (2011 revenues: $11.7 billion) that sells its brews all over the world, pursues global dominance (its latest outpost is Helsinki) and owns an iconic  brand. The company bought about 428 [...] >

• A schism over Fair Trade

  Marc Gunther

  13 May 2012 | 11:26 am

  Paul Rice is a man on a mission. The 51-year-old president and CEO of Fair Trade USA, who has led the group since 1998, says he wants the practice of Fair Trade to become bigger, engaging more consumers and helping more farmers around the world. To that end, Fair Trade USA last year quit the [...] >

• Organic farming: Beyond the yield debate

  Marc Gunther

  10 May 2012 | 11:18 am

  Yields from organic farming may not match those produced by farmers who use synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, but there are other good reasons to buy and support organic–its health benefits, the good that it does for farm workers, even its animal-welfare rules. So, at least, say executives of the Organic Trade Association, a Washington-based group [...] >

• Organic food is not as “green” as you think

  Marc Gunther

  8 May 2012 | 8:07 am

    To Hindus, cows are sacred. Jewish dietary laws (kashrut) and Muslim dietary laws (halal) prohibit pork consumption. Traditional Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent. Religion and food have forever been intertwined. Food is deep, emotional stuff. So it’s perhaps not surprising that devotees of organic food often embrace with quasi-religious fervor [...] >

• Food for thought from Tyler Cowen

  Marc Gunther

  6 May 2012 | 8:50 am

  This month, just for fun, I’m doing to devote most of my writing to food and sustainability. My plan is to write about organic vs. conventional yields, a controversy around Fair Trade, the giant candy company Mars, clean cooking fuels in Mozambique and the goings-on at a pair of upcoming events where I’ll be moderating: [...] >

• 

  Uploads by skollfoundation

• Visayan Forum Foundation

  19 Apr 2012 | 5:20 pm

  Visayan Forum Foundation From: skollfoundation Views: 40 0 ratings Time: 09:35 More in Nonprofits & Activism

• Hanging In The Balance: The Future Of A Forest

  19 Apr 2012 | 3:15 pm

  Hanging In The Balance: The Future Of A Forest From: skollfoundation Views: 432 0 ratings Time: 14:22 More in News & Politics

• Annie Lennox Performs at the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship 2012

  11 Apr 2012 | 3:03 pm

  Annie Lennox Performs at the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship 2012 An electrifying performance by Annie Lennox at the awards ceremony of the Skoll World Forum. Annie performed an amazing 5 song solo set. She opened with Pavement Cracks, There Must Be An Angel Playing With My Heart, Here Comes The Rain Again and then Little Bird. Annie then returned to the stage and finished with an encore of Sweet Dreams. Annie's voice was incredibly powerful, and very rich, and as we've come to expect from Annie, she really had fun with the songs, especially her ad libbing in Sweet Dreams to…

• Gordon Brown at the Morning Plenary of the Skoll World Forum

  11 Apr 2012 | 6:00 am

  Gordon Brown at the Morning Plenary of the Skoll World Forum From: skollfoundation Views: 47 3 ratings Time: 06:34 More in Nonprofits & Activism

• Innovation In Times Of Flux: Skoll World Forum 2012

  10 Apr 2012 | 9:22 am

  Innovation In Times Of Flux: Skoll World Forum 2012 At the opening plenary of the 2012 Skoll World Forum, this panel was electrifying. Subtitled Opportunity on the Heels of Crisis, the moderator was Judith Rodin of the Rockefeller Foundation. Panelists were, left to right: Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Business and a Skoll Board Member; Soraya Salti, a Skoll Awardee and Senior VP of INJAZ Al-Arab, and Patrick Meier, director of crisis mapping at Ushahidi. Martin spoke about failure when Rodin asked him why institutions are slow to innovate. Roger's tweet-able quote was…

• 

  Global Envision

• Innovation challenge! Sierra Leone women compete for business funding

  Shandana Durrani

  16 May 2012 | 12:18 pm

  Women in Sierra Leone are gaining business acumen and entrepreneurial skills. Photo: UNIFEM.In Sierra Leone, an NGO sponsors a business plan contest that strives to change the gender makeup of the country’s entrepreneurs. The African Foundation for Development in Sierra Leone (AFFORD-SL) creates jobs for underrepresented individuals and offers coaching and mentoring services. Despite Parliament's current review of a 30 percent quota for women to assume positions in government and leadership roles, women are largely marginalized in society. Most rural women don’t work outside the home…

• Reform in Myanmar brings growth but needs caution

  Erik Mandell

  15 May 2012 | 5:06 pm

  Social services provided by aid agencies at refugee camps just outside the Myanmar border should not be ended too swiftly, or returning populations won't be ready to access new opportunities that may await them. Photo: Jacqueline M. Koch for Mercy CorpsReforms and investment are opening new doors and promising growth for Myanmar. But what’s exciting for some Burmese and the West brings a downside for many refugees. The country, also known as Burma, has made headlines recently for its rapid political reforms and promotion of economic opportunity. These days in Yangon, “foreign businessmen…

• Honduras: Up for sale

  Kyla Springer

  11 May 2012 | 6:21 pm

  Can a city start over from scratch? NYU economist Paul Romer's original TEDtalk got people wondering, and Honduras bit. In this week's New York Times Magazine, Adam Davidson, co-founder of NPR's “Planet Money,” describes what Romer's Honduran utopia might be like, and what's needed to make it work. Wealthy countries spend billions per year on projects designed to reform governments, build modern utilities or teach their workers new agricultural techniques. For all the cash, there has been very little success. Sponsoring a charter city, Romer said, may be a better (and cheaper) way to…

• Transforming poo into a valuable resource

  Pete Mercouriou

  10 May 2012 | 12:50 pm

  Inspection of SOIL's new toilet system. In Haiti, one nonprofit may have figured out how to make a pot o' gold out of a port-o-pot. Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods, or SOIL is dedicated to protecting soil resources, empowering communities, and transforming human waste into a valuable resource in Haiti. Leah Nevada Page, SOIL's development director, has the scoop on poop. What's the importance of ecological sanitation and how is it perceived in Haiti? When SOIL first started in Haiti, we provided seminars and trainings on a range of different environmental designs (water treatment,…

• Tinker, tailor, programmer: Entrepreneurship is subverting gender in Afghanistan

  Shandana Durrani

  8 May 2012 | 3:55 pm

  In southern Afghanistan, the promise of a well-paid urban career is luring women to keyboards and men to needlework. INVEST, a vocational training program by Mercy Corps in Helmand Province, teaches men and women trades that can lead them out of poverty. Only 28 percent of the adult Afghan population is literate, and most children can’t attend school due to either the rigidly conservative society or safety concerns. INVEST trains locals in various trades, from construction to calligraphy to mobile phone repair to sewing. So far, INVEST has enrolled nearly 9,000 students, 900 of them women.

• 

  Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

• Benetech’s New Image Description Tool Improves Accessibility of Graphical Content for Students with Print Disabilities

  15 May 2012 | 7:00 pm

  Benetech has long been a pioneer in providing innovative services to people with print disabilities. This week, Benetech’s DIAGRAM Center has announced the release of an open source web application for creating and editing crowdsourced image descriptions in books used by students with print disabilities. The Poet application developed by DIAGRAM helps level the playing field by making otherwise inaccessible graphic content available for students and other readers who cannot read traditional books. Poet supports image descriptions for electronic books created in the international DAISY…

• Funding Innovation for Skoll Social Entrepreneurs

  7 May 2012 | 10:09 am

  I was recently at the Skoll World Forum, probably the best conference in the world for meeting with top social entrepreneurs. As a longtime member of the Skoll community, I prize this week for the opportunity to talk frankly with peers about our biggest mutual challenges. Peer learning is the most valuable opportunity for a field that has no operator's manual -- like social entrepreneurship!The constant theme is raising money for our social enterprises. But not just any money -- we talk about the most difficult money to raise: the unrestricted funding that is the lifeblood for a social…

• Bookshare Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary at Google

  2 May 2012 | 3:41 pm

  Bookshare, Benetech’s pioneering digital library for people with print disabilities, celebrated its 10th birthday last night with a terrific party that was attended by many of our long-time friends and supporters. The event was hosted by Google on its campus in Mountain View, California, which is home to some of the most cutting edge technologists in the world.Betsy Beaumon, Benetech VP and General Manager of BookshareDuring the event, our Bookshare staff offered demos of our Bookshare library and our Go Read accessible ebook reader for Android. They also demoed Read2Go, the accessible…

• Receiving the 2011 CASE Award for Enterprising Social Innovation

  30 Apr 2012 | 10:27 am

  Last October, I had the pleasure and honor to visit the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, to accept on behalf of Benetech the 2011 CASE Award for Enterprising Social Innovation (ESI). The ESI Award recognizes outstanding individuals and organizations whose innovations blend methods from the worlds of business and philanthropy, and that challenge the status quo to create sustainable social value with a potential for large-scale impact. CASE launched the ESI Award in 2009, and Benetech is proud to join the company of…

• Recruiting Geeks for Human Rights!

  18 Mar 2012 | 2:13 pm

  Scientist / Data Analysis Engineer / General TechieWant to help save the world with your code? Like going to hackathons and wish you could get paid to work on a good cause full time? Want to help assemble evidence used to convict dictators of war crimes? We're Benetech's Human Rights Data Analysis Group, and we're hiring right now!What we do:Benetech's Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) develops database software, data collection strategies, and statistical techniques to measure human rights atrocities. This technology and analysis is used by truth commissions, international criminal…

• 

  Environmental Management & Energy News

• APP to Suspend Natural Forest Clearance

  Environmental Leader

  16 May 2012 | 9:20 am

  Asia Pulp & Paper is suspending natural forest clearance on its own pulpwood plantations in Indonesia, effective June 1, as part of a new commitment to international standards on High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF). APP, which is the world’s third largest paper supplier, will ask its independent suppliers to abide by the new principles – [...]

• Ericsson Sustainability Report: Direct Carbon Intensity Drops 6%

  Environmental Leader

  16 May 2012 | 9:10 am

  Direct emissions from telecommunications firm Ericsson’s in-house activities totaled around 0.84 Mtonnes during 2011. This corresponds to a six percent reduction in direct emissions intensity from Ericsson’s activities year-on-year, according to the company’s 2011 sustainability report. Last year, the CO2 emissions associated with the lifetime operation of Ericsson products in operation totaled approximately 24 Mtonnes. [...]

• Steel Plants Could Provide 20 MW of ‘Green’ Thermal Energy

  Environmental Leader

  16 May 2012 | 9:05 am

  Steel plants located just outside Sheffield’s city center could be connected to the UK city’s existing district heating network (pictured) to provide an extra 20 MW of thermal energy, Phys.org reports. Steel companies actually spend money to cool flue gas and the water used during manufacturing, so heat recovery helps them to save money while [...]

• Policy & Enforcement Briefing: Google Wind Line, EU Aviation, Superfund Settlement

  Environmental Leader

  16 May 2012 | 9:00 am

  Here’s the latest policy, enforcement and legal news affecting corporate environmental and energy executives. Today’s briefing includes 10 items. The $5 billion, Google-backed offshore wind energy transmission line proposed for the mid-Atlantic U.S. will advance to an environmental review stage after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management found that there is no competitive interest. After [...]

• NREL Model Improves Predictions of Shade Effects on Solar PV

  Environmental Leader

  16 May 2012 | 8:55 am

  Using microinverters instead of typical string inverters can improve solar panels’ performance in shade by more than 12 percent, according to a new National Renewable Energy Laboratory test procedure, which the lab says greatly improves the accuracy of predictions about shade effects. Shade hinders photovoltaic performance, which is why solar installers consider it in PV [...]

• 

  Have Fun • Do Good

• Meg Worden, Feed Me Darling : How I Have Fun, Do Good

  Britt Bravo

  16 May 2012 | 10:42 am

  The fourth blogger in this run of the Have Fun, Do Good guest post series is the delicious Meg Worden (I say delicious because I love her e-cookbook, Salad Alchemy). Meg is a writer, speaker, storyteller and a certified Holistic Health Coach. She is the founder of Feed Me Darling, a business that helps professional women eradicate food cravings and gain lasting control over emotional eating. Meg works with clients to heal and balance their bodies so that they can do their best work in the world. She writes for Elephant Journal, The Nervous Breakdown, Jack Move Magazine and has been published…

• Blogging for Nonprofits + Juicy Blogging Circle and E-Course

  Britt Bravo

  13 May 2012 | 12:10 pm

  Hello Have Fun * Do Gooders! I wanted to let you know about 4 blogging workshops coming up, in case you're interested. ******  Juicy Blogging Circle: Grow Your Blogging Habit May 16-June 6, 2012 Virtual A fun group blog coaching experience! Each week you'll: Check in with the Circle on a weekly conference call, and/or on the private class blog. Share your blogging goals for the week. Celebrate your successes. Ask for suggestions for how to move through challenges. Support other Circle members with their successes and challenges. Receive ideas, tips, resources, and cheerleading from the…

• Christine Egger, In Conversation: How I Have Fun, Do Good

  Britt Bravo

  9 May 2012 | 8:52 am

   The third blogger in this run of the Have Fun, Do Good guest post series is the wonderfully wise, Christine Egger.  Christine is a facilitator, network weaver, and catalyst. She works with individuals and organizations whose mission is to increase our capacity for empathy, generosity, and creativity. You can learn more about Christine at cdegger.com, or find her on Twitter at @cdegger. How do I have fun and do good? I create conversations. In my experience the most fun, most good-doing conversations are the kind in which the participants not only learn about themselves and each…

• Jocelyn Harmon: People, Words, Technology & Truth: How I Have Fun, Do Good

  Britt Bravo

  3 May 2012 | 10:36 am

   My second guest blogger in this run of the Have Fun, Do Good guest post series is the warm and wonderful Jocelyn Harmon. Jocelyn is passionate about helping nonprofits to succeed online so that they can change the world! As Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Network for Good, she is privileged to lead the team to help over 5,000 nonprofits raise more friends and funds online. Prior to joining Network for Good, Jocelyn was Director of Business Development for Care2, where she worked with some of the most respected national nonprofits, including ASPCA, Environmental Defense Fund,…

• Plant a Kiss Day

  Britt Bravo

  1 May 2012 | 8:35 am

  "Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty" ~Ann Herbert On Sunday, my friend Heather of Create Your Own Beautiful, and I participated in Plant a Kiss Day. Plant a Kiss Day was organized by pal Sherry Richert Belul to celebrate the message behind Amy Krouse Rosenthal's book, Plant a Kiss, a story about how one small act of kindness can bloom. Heather teaches an awesome dance fitness class, ShimmyPop!, at Hipline on Sundays, so after class we "planted a kiss" by giving all of her students flowers and oranges.  Fun! Today through May 4th, 16 bloggers (including me) are…

• 

  Greenbang

• 10 things you should know about smart-meter radio waves

  Greenbang

  16 May 2012 | 12:13 pm

  The rollout of smart meters around the world continues to encounter various objections. Some people view the meters as an invasion of privacy, or worry about the potential for hackers to access their home-energy data. Others are concerned the meters — which typically use radio waves to transmit data — pose a health hazard. A few in that group say smart meters have already caused them to suffer from a range of debilitating impacts: tingling sensations, dizziness, nausea, heart palpitations, difficulty in concentrating, etc. What does science say? Following are 10 things we know…

• World scientists to G8: Focus on energy, water, disaster risks

  Greenbang

  11 May 2012 | 1:20 pm

  There’s the G8, the G20 and, now, the G-Science. In advance of the next G8 Summit, national science academies from 15 countries are urging world leaders to put more focus on several of the planet’s “most pressing challenges.” These include: The growing global demand for two highly interdependent resources:  energy and water; The growing need to build greater resilience to disasters, both natural and technological; and Better ways to assess national greenhouse gas emissions to verify countries are working to meet their own climate goals or international commitments. In…

• Oil bonanza? Maybe … A return to $2/gallon gas? Forget it

  Greenbang

  11 May 2012 | 9:57 am

  For consumers, sentiment about prices generally follows two simple rules: more expensive and hard to get = bad, cheap and abundant = good. In that context, all the new oil “wealth” coming from sources like Canada’s oil sands, the US’s corn-based biofuels and, potentially, gas- and coal-to-liquid technologies definitely falls under the “bad” column. That’s because of the high cost to produce such non-conventional sources of liquid fuel … which have been the only sources to grow significantly, while production of conventional crude has been…

• As smart metering expands, so does tinfoil hat population

  Greenbang

  9 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  It had to happen eventually: smart meters have rolled out in such large numbers around the world that the movement opposing them has taken on global dimensions as well. Just do a Google search for “smart meters” and observe how many of the page one, top-10 results are anti-meter. StopSmartMeters! SmartMeterDangers. RefuseSmartMeters. The list goes on and on. Other, more general-interest websites take on the topic of smart meters with equal apocalyptic fervor. “The new silent killer,” declares one site. “No more privacy” and “the end of the American…

• Which cities have the most electric cars?

  Greenbang

  8 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  Where are electric cars hitting the road in the greatest numbers? Japan, the US, China and Europe are leading the way, with a wide variety of programs and incentives encouraging city-dwellers in particular to switch to plug-in-based transport. Just 16 cities in nine countries account for nearly one-third of all the electric vehicles (EVs) in use today, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The circumstances and strategies in each of these leading areas, though, can vary dramatically. In an effort to better understand what best drives adoption of plug-in cars, the IEA and several…

• 

  GlobalGiving Projects - Just added

• Vision Launch

  Soralee Ayvar

  15 May 2012 | 3:10 pm

  $15 — Provides nutritious snacks and water for an at-risk youth$25 — Provides a creative-holistic art supply kit for an at-risk youth$75 — Sponsors an at-risk youth for one month of Vision Launch programs at Art StudioSummaryVision Launch and Art Studio Inc. have joined together to introduce the power of "Vision" to at-risk-youth in the Miami area. A Vision is a purposeful forecast of one's future and encourages people everywhere to realize their greatest dreams, and hence reach their greatest potential. Vision Launch offers events and…

• ikusi: Storytelling on Latin American Non Profits

  Valentina Quagliotti

  14 May 2012 | 11:00 pm

  $10 — will help us afford transportation costs for visiting 5 organizations$20 — will help us afford cellphone costs for 1 month$50 — will contribute to the design of a new website platform for ikusiSummaryThis project raises funds for the development of a new nonprofit organization which is called ikusi.ikusi addresses the communication and visibility problems that nonprofit organizations have in Uruguay (and hereafter in Latin America). WE SEE, WE TELL, WE CHANGE. Would you help us?Project Needs and BeneficiariesThere are about 600 non-profit…

• Mapping Cholera in Bangladesh

  Maia Majumder

  14 May 2012 | 11:00 pm

  $10 — 100 dipsticks for diagnosis of cholera in patients$40 — Phone and mobile service for 1 health worker's data collection needs$100 — Treatment of 20 families suffering from choleraSummaryEvery year, millions of Bangladeshis contract cholera - the nation's most prevalent diarrhea disease. Using cell phones equipped with data collection software, the Village Zero Project (V0P) aims to create a map that will show the proliferation of cholera in time and space, thus exposing where outbreaks most commonly originate. With this knowledge, water and…

• School Scholarships for 20 Students Gulu, Uganda

  Kelly Joy

  14 May 2012 | 11:00 pm

  $10 — Will help pay for school fees$25 — Will help pay for school fees$50 — Will help pay for school feesSummaryThis project provides 20 young war-effected Ugandan students to attend better schools for both primary and secondary education and also supplies the necessary scholastics for the students.Project Needs and BeneficiariesDue to the civil war in Northern Uganda between the government and the Lord's Resistance Army, many children within the country and the surrounding countries were abducted and forced to become child soldiers. While the…

• FM Broadcast Stations supporting Disaster Victims

  Hirofumi Aizawa

  14 May 2012 | 1:10 pm

  $15 — will buy one emergency radio receiver$25 — will buy one heavy-duty back-up battery, together with other 25 donations$50 — will buy an FM broadcasting transmitter, together with other 40 donationsSummaryAn FM broadcasting station for supporting disaster victims ("Disaster Broadcasting Stations") is a specific kind of Community Radio system to supply "Emergency Control Programs," "Life Support Information" and other community related programs that re-unite the minds of refugees away from their old communities.

• 

  Cleantech Blog

• The Geopolitics of Energy

  Richard T. Stuebi

  14 May 2012 | 8:11 am

  “The Geopolitics of Energy”:  that was the title of a talk given at the Opportunity Crudes conference in Houston last week by Guy Caruso of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  It’s an endlessly fascinating and urgent topic, as very few sectors of the economy shape the world in which we live as much [...]

• Conducting Home Performance

  Heather Rae

  9 May 2012 | 8:07 am

  “Home Performance” used to sound like something musically-inclined parents forced their children to do in living rooms. It’s catching on, slowly, for what it really is, and that is tightening up houses – with an ear for proper ventilation, humidity controls and other riffs on indoor air quality, and fuel-efficient climate controls. (There are geographic [...]

• Venturing Into The Future

  Richard T. Stuebi

  7 May 2012 | 12:38 pm

  Last week, I attended a breakfast hosted by the Michigan Venture Capital Association, at which the President of the National Venture Capital Association, Mark Heesen, made some comments and fielded Q&A about the state of the U.S. venture capital sector. Mark presented a mixed picture.  On the one hand, the VC industry is clearly contracting:  [...]

• Living In A Material World

  Richard T. Stuebi

  30 Apr 2012 | 7:58 am

  It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that cleantech, in large part, is actually materials tech.  “Nanotechnology” has some vogue as a term, but fundamentally nanotech is materials technology, and materials technology is broader than nanotech (altering materials at a molecular or atomic scale). Materials are at the core of most of the required innovations to help solve [...]

• Gertie Finds a New Home

  Heather Rae

  25 Apr 2012 | 8:53 am

  Gertie is a camper — a “short” bus with a powerful International engine. In 2006, I drove her from Colorado to Maine while chronicling in this blog a quest for biodiesel fuel. This week, Gertie found a new home with the Maine Earth Walk Project. Her owner, the organizer and publicist for Maine Earth Walk, [...]

• 

  Echoing Green Blog

• Van Jones Continues to Drive Change Through Fourth Social Venture

  Nidhi Chaudhary

  15 May 2012 | 4:15 pm

  Van Jones, a 1994 Echoing Green Fellow, is a serial entrepreneur. In 1996, he started the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, an organization that unlocks the power of low-income people, people of color, and their allies to transform California and the world. He co-founded Color of Change, an advocacy group for African-Americans, in 2005. In 2007, he created Green For All, a national nonprofit dedicated to creating jobs via an inclusive green economy. And most recently, he co-founded Rebuild the Dream, an initiative to restore good jobs and economic opportunity.   For nearly twenty years,…

• The Buzz 5-11-12

  Nidhi Chaudhary

  14 May 2012 | 1:26 am

  Our quick read on the top tweets, news, and buzz circulating in the field of changemaking this past week. Tell us, what's got you talking? And what do you want to be talking about? Women bring in more than half of the income in fifty-five percent of US households; they are ruling social networks; and women over the age of fifty control a net worth of $19 trillion. Fortune 500 companies that have at least three women on their boards have seen an average return on equity increase by at least fifty-three percent and return on sales increase by at least forty-two percent. Yet, one in ten boards…

• Advice to the Echoing Green Finalists

  Nidhi Chaudhary

  10 May 2012 | 10:19 am

  Tonight, the Finalists for the 2012 Echoing Green Fellowship will convene in New York City to begin the process for this year’s selection for our next class of Fellows. Their whirlwind weekend begins with our annual Big Bold Benefit with special guest Chelsea Clinton, where they will have sixty seconds to pitch their enterprises in front of nearly five hundred people. It can be a little unsettling (and exhilarating), to say the least. Mark Hecker, a 2011 Fellow and founder of Reach Incorporated, says that his favorite part of the benefit was when his pitch was over—we imagine that will be…

• The Buzz 5-4-12

  Nidhi Chaudhary

  7 May 2012 | 11:15 am

  Our quick read on the top tweets, news, and buzz circulating in the field of changemaking this past week. Tell us, what's got you talking? And what do you want to be talking about? The Reynolds Program for Social Entrepreneurship at NYU put together a great list of social venture competitions and fellowships. With twenty-four pages of descriptions, eligibility requirements, and websites, this is a document you want to bookmark, print out, and then create a plan to meet the applications deadlines! http://ht.ly/aBYDo Would you have given Gandhi a grant? Kate Ahern, the Director of Social…

• Saving Lives in Africa?

  Scott Warren

  4 May 2012 | 3:06 pm

  Cross-posted on Huffington Post.Invisible Children's "Kony 2012" video, in addition to raising awareness about a vicious African warlord through an incredibly effective social media campaign, sparked discussion on an important, yet incredibly complex debate on the Western role in the African continent. The video indisputably educated millions of Americans on a conflict they otherwise would not have been exposed to, and provoked elected officials to act immediately. At the same time, the video's presentation rankled many. The nuances of the conflict and the Lord's Resistance Army were not…

• 

  GreenBiz.com Green and Sustainable Business News

• Data spurs competition for high-performance buildings

  Derek Top

  16 May 2012 | 10:00 am

  HonestBuildings.com hopes to jumpstart the commercial-real-estate market by connecting building owners and service providers via data and Web-based tools.

• What is the media's 'brainprint' for sustainability?

  Jennifer Inez Ward

  16 May 2012 | 8:00 am

  The Global Reporting Initiative has recently come out with comprehensive guidelines on sustainability in the media industry, but will major media companies adopt key measures?  

• Why curbing agriculture's climate impacts is a growing challenge

  Stephen Russell

  16 May 2012 | 6:30 am

  So much uncertainty surrounding how to report agricultural emissions hinders measurement and reduction efforts in the sector, spurring the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to develop industrywide best practices.

• How to defeat the massive plug-load monster

  Tolga Tutar

  16 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  The plug-load threat is emerging like a monster against building energy-efficiency efforts. Here are some easy-to-implement, cost-effective ways to tame loads. 

• Sustainability through software: Q&A with SAP's Peter Graf

  Jennifer Kho

  15 May 2012 | 5:40 pm

  In advance of SAP's largest user conference this week, Chief Sustainability Officer Peter Graf spoke with GreenBiz about decoupling emissions from revenue growth, employee engagement and what's next.

• 

  Timbuktu Chronicles

• Anti Malarial Nanofibre Fibres and Apparel

  Emeka Okafor

  16 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Wired UK reports on a Nanotechnology collaboration between Frederick Ochanda & Matilda Ceesay : ...material scientist Frederick Ochanda has teamed up with designer Matilda Ceesay to create what is described as a "fashionable hooded bodysuit" embedded at the nanolevel with insecticides to ward off mosquitos that could carry malaria. Regular mosquito nets are treated with insect repellant, which lasts about six months. The material that the bodysuit is made from, however, contained clustered crystalline compounds known as metal-organic frameworks, which allow three times more…

• Innovation in Africa

  Emeka Okafor

  15 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  On CNN's Marketplace Africa,Yours truly on the basis for innovation: Continuing,what innovation means in practical terms:

• African Renewable Energy Distributor

  Emeka Okafor

  14 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Good reporting from Rwanda: A.R.E.D was founded in 2012 as an independent power producer that offers renewable energy solutions at a micro or macro level using technology such as M.S.C.C (Mobile Solar Cell Charger) and C.S.P (Concentrated Solar Power) in East Africa. We also provide a total energy solutions for the industrial and commercial sector, small or large communities, public sector and many more…[continue reading]

• Mohammed Sanad's $100K Prize Winning Multiband Antenna

  Emeka Okafor

  13 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Scidev reports: An Egyptian engineer who has designed a base-station antenna that can facilitate upgrades to more advanced mobile networks in developing countries has become the first winner of the Innovation Prize for Africa, which was created last year. The antenna makes it easier for telecommunication service providers to upgrade their networks without needing to change base stations. The winner of the US$100,000 prize, Mohammed Sanad, a professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University, Egypt, said his antenna "suits developing countries, which don't have a…

• Back Pack Farm

  Emeka Okafor

  12 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Founded by Rachel Zedeck: The BPF Program provides not just biological farming supplements and training but a complete 5 phase program ensuring smallholder farmers increase their harvests and improve their qualities of life. Together, it is possible to achieve sustainable linkages in food production, value chains, credible finance, income generation, social and ecological domains. -Access for smallholder farmers to affordable eco-friendly farming agri-tech inputs and training. Backpack farm Image courtesy of Social Earth Materially improve crop yields to semi-commercial levels of production.

• 

  Untangled

• Untangled, at last

  jclark

  15 May 2012 | 10:55 am

• Truffula Tree Approved?

  jclark

  28 Feb 2012 | 9:58 am

• Mistakes you can live with

  jclark

  14 Feb 2012 | 11:02 am

• If your problem is a nail, Twitter may not be the solution

  jclark

  7 Feb 2012 | 10:22 am

• Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley

  jclark

  17 Jan 2012 | 1:40 pm

• 

  Creating a World Without Poverty

• Panel Explores the Power of the Mobile Phone in Fighting Poverty

  grameenfoundation

  14 May 2012 | 3:36 pm

  Alex Counts is president, CEO and founder of Grameen Foundation, and author of several books, including Small Loans, Big Dreams: How Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus and Microfinance are Changing the World. I first met Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy and Director of the Civil Society, Markets and Democracy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations, through one of our greatest Grameen Foundation Board members, Lucy Billingsley.  When Isobel and I were introduced to each other, she was running a small program at the Council focused on women’s issues.  She has…

• Can trust and reciprocity within social networks play a role in rural financial systems?

  grameenfoundation

  2 May 2012 | 8:43 am

  Julius Matovu is the Research and Program Coordinator for Grameen Foundation’s AppLab Money Incubator. Let me introduce two interesting petty traders based in Owino market – the busiest market in downtown Kampala. They are Akim, a secondhand-shoes trader, and Patrick, a secondhand-clothes dealer. Last weekend I visited this market for a variety of reasons – including buying some “new” secondhand clothes to revamp my wardrobe. As I wandered through the market I came across these two different petty traders; because each of these individuals had something that I may need at some…

• The Power of Microbusiness

  grameenfoundation

  30 Apr 2012 | 4:11 pm

  Shannon Maynard is the Director of Grameen Foundation’s skilled volunteer program, Bankers without Borders. Maynard has more than 15 years of experience in nonprofit management and volunteer mobilization. Before joining Grameen Foundation, she served as Executive Director of the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, and managed strategic initiatives for federal agency the Corporation for National and Community Service. One of the books that has been on my reading list for a while but I haven’t gotten to yet is The Coming Jobs War, by Gallup CEO Jim Clifton.  As a busy…

• A Real Education

  grameenfoundation

  26 Apr 2012 | 3:20 pm

  Julia Arnold is a program associate for Grameen Foundation’s microsavings initiative, and will graduate from American University in May with a master’s degree in international development. As a graduate student at American University and a Grameen Foundation employee, I have studied international development in the classroom and have seen it in practice through my work with Grameen Foundation’s microsavings initiative in India, Ethiopia and the Philippines, and our livelihoods work in India. This unique vantage point has given me many opportunities to reflect on the relationship between…

• A 21st Century Trifecta: Two Months at Grameen Foundation

  grameenfoundation

  25 Apr 2012 | 3:50 pm

  Matt Inbusch worked as an intern for Grameen Foundation’s Marketing and Communications team during the spring of 2012. What a moment to come back from the field! After three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Peru, I briefly returned to my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, over the Christmas holiday, and then – probably a little too soon for my mother’s liking – bought a one-way ticket to Washington. I was fortunate to be offered an internship at Grameen Foundation’s headquarters, and jumped right into the day-to-day work of what I believe is one of the most innovative development…

• 

  From Poverty to Power by Duncan Green

• What does the UN’s first Africa Human Development Report say about food security?

  Duncan

  16 May 2012 | 2:25 am

  A guest post from Ricardo Fuentes-Nieva (right), who is taking over from me as head of research at Oxfam in a couple of weeks, (I’m not leaving, just changing jobs within Oxfam – more on that later). Over the past two years, I spent most of my time working on the first Africa Human Development Report (left), which was launched yesterday in Nairobi. It was about time for the first African HDR, especially given recent famine in the Horn and repeated threats of humanitarian food crises in the Sahel. The report focuses on food security – for a large number of Africans (some 220 million),…

• Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia since Live Aid

  Duncan

  15 May 2012 | 2:12 am

  This book review appears in the April/May edition of Charity Times News coverage follows the dramatic – the tsunami, famine, or grisly civil war. Public perceptions in the UK of events in the developing world are inevitably skewed by that prism. New privileges human impact and English-speaking ‘guardian angel’ saviours, rather than structural causes.  And then it moves on, leaving in the public mind lingering images of starving children, or people being plucked from earthquake-shattered buildings. In his book, Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid, Telegraph and ITV journalist…

• Theories of change = logframes on steroids? A discussion with DFID

  Duncan

  14 May 2012 | 2:32 am

  ‘Theories of Change is just the latest attempt to shine a light on what lies behind, what makes everything work or fail. We constantly reach for new tools, but we keep alighting on small islands and losing the big picture.’ Jake Allen, Christian Aid I recently spoke at a half-day DFID seminar discussing a draft paper by Isabel Vogel – ‘Review of the Use of Theories of Change in international development’. The draft is here (keep clicking) – Isabel wants comments by this Friday 18 May, either on the blog, or emailed directly to info@isabelvogel.co.uk. She is particularly looking…

• Jobs, Justice and Equity: excellent new overview of Africa’s progress

  Duncan

  11 May 2012 | 3:01 am

  Jobs, Justice and Equity is the title of a new report published today by the Africa Progress Panel, a high powered group of ten luminaries including Kofi Annan and Graca Machel. And Bob Geldof. The report does an excellent job of assessing the cup half empty v half full narratives on Africa, and has some great graphics – it should become a standard reference on the region. Here are some highlights: “The extreme pessimism surrounding Africa a decade ago was unwarranted. So is the current wave of blinkered optimism. Real gains have been made and Africa has an unprecedented opportunity for…

• ‘It’s the share of the rich, stupid’: brilliant inequality stats + politics from Gabriel Palma

  Duncan

  10 May 2012 | 2:09 am

  A while back I reposted Andy Sumner’s blog on new research on inequality from the Chilean economist Gabriel Palma (right). But I’ve now read the paper, catchily titled ‘Homogeneous middles vs. heterogeneous tails, and the end of the ‘Inverted-U’: the share of the rich is what it’s all about’ and am so blown away, that I have to come back for another go – it really is a brilliant piece of work. The Development and Change paper is gated (when is the revolution in academic journal publishing going to hit the development sector – time for DFID and the ESRC to take a…

• 

  CIPE Development Blog

• Delivering Dignity in the Arab World through Political and Economic Reform

  Kim Bettcher

  16 May 2012 | 9:32 am

  In the past year since the uprisings in the Arab world, there has been no shortage of debate on the political future of Arab countries. Yet we are all still grappling -- in Washington as in the affected countries -- with the economic dimensions of this upheaval and their implications for political transition. While the region may be in the early stages of a long transition marked by considerable...

• A Chinese Professor’s Take on China’s Economic and Social Progress

  Michelle Chen

  15 May 2012 | 3:39 pm

  CIPE recent had the honor of inviting Professor Mao Yushi, the winner of the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty awarded by the CATO institute, to share his valuable insight on the current events in China. Professor Mao is the founder of Beijing Unirule Institute of Economics and is one of the ten most influential economists in China.

• Friday Wrap-Up: Voices of Youth, Corporate Citizenship, and a Tenuous Balance in Liberia

  Jon Custer

  11 May 2012 | 12:41 pm

  This week on the blog: Global Program Assistant Molly Brister introduces the winners of CIPE’s Fourth Annual Youth Essay Contest. Global Program Officer Anna Nadgrodkiewicz talks about the real meaning of corporate citizenship and how it differs from corporate social responsibility (CSR). Africa Program Office Yana Hongla discusses the issues he saw during his recent visit [...]

• Liberia: A Tenuous Balance

  Yana Hongla

  10 May 2012 | 3:44 pm

  When you land at the Roberts International Airport in Monrovia, Liberia, two things immediately catch your attention: the national flag and the sizeable fleet of United Nations helicopters, planes, and armored vehicles. The stars and stripes of the Liberian flag speak to the country’s unique origins as a United States colony for emancipated slaves. The heavy footprint of the United Nations across...

• Rethinking Corporate Citizenship

  Anna Nadgrodkiewicz

  9 May 2012 | 10:56 am

  Corporate citizenship, or corporate social responsibility (CSR), is a frequently contested issue. For one, no universally agreed upon definition of it exists, so many debates focus on what the term actually means. But more fundamentally, differences in what corporate citizenship should entail stem from divergent perceptions of the very nature of business. All too often the debate is framed with...

• 

  ODI Opinion

• Rio+20 must... do the impossible (Post2015.org, 10 May 2012)

  10 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  'The level of ambition of those outside the Rio process is not matched by those within it. The last round of negotiations on the ‘Outcome document’ finished in New York at the end of last week, and the signs are that concrete agreements will be hard to come by.' View full details

• Drive on by? Will upcoming meetings in Bonn take the opportunity to make progress on addressing drivers of deforestation? (Articles and blogs, 10 May 2012)

  10 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  'Recognition of the need to reduce emissions from forests as part of efforts to avoid dangerous global warming has helped push forests up the political agenda. Whether these efforts are able to face head on the trade-offs and conflicts that exist and find solutions to these challenges will be one of its biggest tests.' View full details

• Evaluating EU aid: a booming business! (ODI Blog Posts, 9 May 2012)

  9 May 2012 | 5:00 pm

  'The House of Commons International Development Committee (IDC) inquiry into EU aid and the OECD DAC peer review ran in parallel... the main findings of the evaluations were not dissimilar. However, the key takeaways from both reports are rather different.' View full details

• The decline of the corporate website (and rise of a social internet) (Articles and blogs, 8 May 2012)

  8 May 2012 | 5:00 pm

  'A good communications strategy must start planning for obsolescence of a corporate website as a communications tool: it must look at how connections can be made between content and the social world, how information can be automatically posted on relevant platforms in the right format.' View full details

• The shifting dynamics of poverty – how do we research poverty and wellbeing in a changing world? (ODI Blog Posts, 8 May 2012)

  8 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  'We need to look back, building on the lessons of the past decade on what works best for understanding the causes of and solutions to poverty. We also need to look forward, and respond to the changing world.' View full details

• 

  Zerodivide

• Sharing Our Way toward Equality: Social Media and Gay Rights

  John Hoffman

  14 May 2012 | 12:42 pm

  Reposted with permission from Nonprofit Quarterly.  To receive NPQ free in your inbox, sign up here. Since the moment that President Obama stated that he supports same-sex marriage, there’s been a flurry of social media activity, both pro and con, on the issue. It’s obvious by now that social media has played a huge role in shaping Americans’ attitudes toward LGBT issues. But I would go a step further. Despite the unavoidable struggles and setbacks that lay ahead, the inherent qualities of social media make the passage of same-sex marriage and equal rights for LGBT individuals and…

• Cover Flow, coverflow, New Schools, and Empty Photo Frames

  Timothy C. Wu

  4 May 2012 | 7:56 pm

  When we talk about Digital Divide Issues, access to quality educational opportunities often jumps to the top of the list.  Technology adoption and socio-economic status are often so closely linked - and as we all now know, the zip code in which you are born is one of the most accurate predictors for whether or not  you will attend college.  Wealthy zip code?  Start saving up for that cap and gown.   Poor zip code?  Not so much.  Much of ZeroDivide's work in the past decade has focused on providing underserved youth with the technology tools they will…

• Spy Hopping in Utah?

  McCrae Parker

  18 Apr 2012 | 3:42 pm

  A couple of weeks ago I ventured out to Utah to visit with our Generation ZD partner, Spy Hop Productions. Spy Hop is a nonprofit youth media arts and educational enrichment center located in the historic Arts Space district of downtown Salt Lake City. Here they have created a dynamic range of digital media training and production programs that encourage young people’s free expression, self-discovery, critical thinking and skilled participation via the big screen, the airwaves, and the web.Established in 1999, Spy Hop currently serves nearly 2000 youth a year in an area that is called the…

• That Thing in Your Pocket? It's Not a Computer.

  John Hoffman

  14 Apr 2012 | 12:40 pm

  Smartphones are great. I love my smartphone. I use to it to email, tweet, photograph, text, map, like, calendar, draw, comment, game, read, bank, and sometimes even talk. But, sorry, my smartphone is no substitute for my laptop computer. It’s not. It just isn’t. I can’t use it to apply for a job, or get into college, or write a report, or create a spreadsheet, or put together a presentation, or do my taxes, or format this blog entry or complete any number of tasks that facilitate my membership in the middle class in the early part of the 21st century. Which is why I get slightly annoyed…

• What Old Bears, Smart Phones, and New Refrigerators Have in Common.

  Timothy C. Wu

  10 Apr 2012 | 8:40 pm

  Yosemite National Park was beautiful this past weekend - filled with happy campers (the literal ones, not the euphemistic ones), flowing waterfalls (more about that in a bit) and some very smart old bears.  Or at least that's what the park rangers were telling us.       Remember when you used to go camping (and I say "you" because I never went camping, so this part is all second-hand information for me) and the rangers told you to seal all food in airtight containers to prevent bears from raiding your campsite?  Well, old dogs may not learn new tricks, but old…

• 

  Sustainable Industries: All Content

• Has the well run dry?

  Gina-Marie Cheeseman

  15 May 2012 | 7:55 pm

  The End Polluter Welfare Act would end fossil fuel subsidies, and save over $10 billion a year and more than $110 billion over 10 years.Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Keith Ellison announced they would introduce the bill to Congress during a press conference with 350.org. The bill would specifically end tax breaks for fossil fuel companies, plus eliminate special financing, end taxpayer funded R&D, and set fair royalties policies.Bernie Sanders describes the End Polluter Welfare Act in an op-ed piece for Reader Supported News, as the "most comprehensive ever introduced on…

• Swap, don't shop

  Michelle Hardy

  10 May 2012 | 11:01 pm

  Good green marketers push the innovation of different products. Better products. But can we profit from making less products in the first place? “Swap Don’t Shop,” the most recent of the Columbia Business School Alumni Club’s Making Green from Green events, explored this very dilemma.The panel began with a sobering point. Moderator Cameron Tonkinwise of the Parsons School of Design Strategies reminded his audience of green business advocates that for all the sustainable sourcing, the holistic manufacturing, the reusable materials, and whatever else constitutes our…

• Abolish territorialism

  Beth Buczynski

  10 May 2012 | 9:38 pm

  Coworking spaces can be a lot of different things depending on where they are and the community they exist to serve. Some are startup incubators or event centers, while others are hubs for all types of sharing. Some coworking spaces are free, though most charge monthly membership fees.No matter what shape or size, the mission of most coworking spaces is the same: to facilitate collaboration and success among a community of talented people who believe they are better when working in close proximity with their peers.What's funny is that coworking spaces sometimes forget to exercise this…

• Processing power

  Noah Goldstein

  10 May 2012 | 11:52 am

  Every six months or so, a tempest brews around the details of the newest smartphone. These devices - small and elegant, powerful, while easy to use - are a marvel of modern technology. Yet there is a less visible but more profound innovation phenomenon under way at the other end of the spectrum – that of “Big Iron” and high performance computing (HPC). “Big Iron” is used to refer to large computers; large, parallel computers with thousands or millions of core processors, gigabytes of memory, and dazzling speeds. HPC is at the heart of a new “computational…

• "Cool" cash, cold heart

  8 May 2012 | 10:44 pm

  This article is part of the Building a Sustainable Business series about starting and running a sustainable business. Read all the articles hereEvery new business needs a bank that will treasure you, help you, be there for you when things get hard. Of course, this is mostly fantasy, since banks only give money to people who don’t need it. Actually, all I ever expected was common courtesy and a smile. My bank, big evil bank #2, according to Occupy Everywhere, practiced benign neglect which was fine until I started my business. I was aware of a revered environmentalist who invested…

• 

  Dani Rodrik's weblog

• Ideas, interests, and a video

  Dani Rodrik

  26 Apr 2012 | 3:10 pm

  This has been a long-standing concern of mine: what are the respective roles of ideas iand interests in shaping policy outcomes? The most widely held theory of politics is also the simplest: the powerful get what they want. Financial regulation is driven by the interests of banks, health policy by the interests of insurance companies, and tax policy by the interests of the rich. Those who can influence government the most – through their control of resources, information, access, or sheer threat of violence – eventually get their way. It’s the same globally. Foreign policy is…

• What Turkey’s political-military trials reveal about the country’s democracy

  Dani Rodrik

  24 Apr 2012 | 7:31 am

  To understand what is happening in Turkey’s murky world of judicial politics these days, it helps to imagine you are watching the closing scenes of a Hollywood courtroom drama. The movie’s protagonist stands accused of attempted murder. The prosecutor has produced a set of elaborate plans that the defendant allegedly drew up to poison an opponent. The plan was aborted, the prosecutor says, when a friend of the defendant got wind of the plot and alerted the intended target. The defendant proclaims his innocence and denies vehemently that he had made such plans. He says the materials on…

• Erdoğan’s Dilemma

  Dani Rodrik

  25 Mar 2012 | 10:15 am

  Imagine you are the leader of a regional power, basking in the glow of global attention to your political and economic success.  You have managed to consolidate your power by outmaneuvering your opponents, most critically the military with its habit of pushing out governments not of its liking.  You are celebrated the world over as a flawed, but transformative and visionary leader of an emerging democracy.   Now imagine you are faced with the revelation that key parts of the judiciary on which you have relied to accomplish your political transformation are controlled by a…

• A video of a talk on structural change and convergence

  Dani Rodrik

  16 Mar 2012 | 5:59 am

  Here is a video of my keynote address at Mt. Holyoke College: 2012 Global Conference Keynote Speaker Dani Rodrik from MHC MCGI on Vimeo.  

• A Moscow show trial on the Bosphorus

  Dani Rodrik

  12 Mar 2012 | 5:15 pm

  [Note: This piece first appeared in Paul Krugman's blog.] In what is probably the country’s most important court case in at least five decades, hundreds of Turkish military officers are in jail and on trial for allegedly having plotted to overthrow the then newly-elected Justice and Development Party back in 2003.  The case also happens to be one of the most absurd ever prosecuted in an apparent democracy. The evidence against the defendants is such an obvious forgery that even a child would recognize it as such.  Imagine, if you can, something that is a cross between the…

• 

  PHILANTHROPY 2173

• ReCoding Good: Impact investing, philanthropy and the new social economy

  Lucy Bernholz

  14 May 2012 | 2:51 pm

  ReCoding Good: Part 5 | Stanford Social Innovation Review The next ReCodeGood charrette is May 15th. We will be looking at the policy implications of a social economy in which impact investing, new enterprise forms, philanthropy and nonprofit co-exist. You can read the full blog post at Stanford Social Innovation Review.

• Putting data in context

  Lucy Bernholz

  12 Apr 2012 | 11:05 am

  (logo from NFF Financial Scan) The Nonprofit Finance Fund has a new tool out, called Financial SCAN, that is quite exciting. It takes the deep financial analysis for which NFF is noted as a framework for gathering and making sense of nonprofit organizations' 990 data. In partnership with Guidestar, Financial SCAN pulls information from nonprofit profiles and presents it in a templated form built from NFF expertise. A user gets the best of aggregated web data - you can search for any nonprofit - and the expertise of financial experts who've been working with nonprofits for decades. I hope this…

• Governance in the 21st Century

  Lucy Bernholz

  11 Apr 2012 | 10:33 am

  Remember the public pressure on the Komen Foundation that led the organization to change a board decision? I said back then this was a harbinger of a new expression for public accountability that foundations need to understand. It is an early edge of a new kind of governance capacity for which most foundations (and most nonprofits) are not prepared. If you think it's about a social media strategy, you're wrong. The Gates Foundation is experiencing this right now. The Foundation provided grant funds to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC works on many policy issues. In the…

• ReCoding Good - Are Nonprofits People, Too?

  Lucy Bernholz

  6 Apr 2012 | 4:34 pm

  Stanford Social Innovation Review just posted the latest in our series of #Recodegood updates. Here is the synthesis of the conversation on March 20 about Citizens United, political giving, and the nonprofit sector. The SSIR post has links to the previous updates as well. The conversation also catalyzed thinking about data - here is that post. There are several presentations and materials linked off the article. Would love to hear your thoughts.

• Data and ...

  Lucy Bernholz

  3 Apr 2012 | 3:59 pm

  On March 20 a group of researchers, policy makers, data experts, and nonprofit policy experts met to talk about Citizens United and the Future of the Social Sector. This was one of the #ReCoding Good charrettes I'm organizing as part of the Stanford Philanthropy, Policy and Technology Project - and a full synthesis of the meeting will soon be available on SSIR. In the meantime, I wanted to highlight a few themes from that meeting that are very much on my mind. 1) Data and stories We were honored to be joined by Jane Mayer of The New Yorker at the March 20 event, along with Dan Newman of…

• 

  Social Business Blog

• Our Obsession with New (and Cool!) Social Ventures

  Rod Schwartz

  16 May 2012 | 8:18 am

  Recently ClearlySo was asked to raise capital for a business we know well. It has been going for over a decade, is well-established in its marketplace, and sells products people like at affordable prices which generate a satisfactory gross margin. The firm has over £1 million in sales, operates at breakeven and achieves considerable social impact; but the road to get there has been long and difficult. The lessons have come painfully, yet the CEO has matured greatly, he has built a strong Board with an effective Chairman, and with a bit more capital they could thrive. Sadly, investor’s…

• Public Services (Social Value) Act in action?

  Anne Mountjoy

  15 May 2012 | 6:22 am

  At the end of last year the Social Enterprise Mark Company launched the ‘50in250’ campaign. It’s designed to help public and private sector organisations buy from certified social enterprises. The campaign provides these organisations with an easy way to develop ethical supply chains and achieve meaningful corporate responsibility. Innovative organisations that have already signed up to the campaign include KPMG, Wates Group, City of London Corporation, Telereal Trillium and most recently Connect Housing. As we’ve been travelling around the country at various 50in250 events (with more…

• The dull pains of human networks and technology

  Katrina Cruz

  4 May 2012 | 4:11 am

  At the beginning of last month, I attended Skoll World Forum’s fringe forum – Oxford Jam run by Emerge Venture Lab. I am told it’s a Jam worth getting stuck in* and sure enough I book myself in for one full day of back-to-back sessions between 8am and 5pm. ‘Fringe’ event-styled apparel thoughtfully selected and 12-hour caffeine-intake strategy in place, I begin with conversation at a breakfast session organised by Cisco. Discussion circles around how to exploit the potential of human networks and technology to unlock barriers to large-scale change, which of course reflects the…

• Charity, Politics, Tax-Breaks and the CITR

  Rod Schwartz

  27 Apr 2012 | 12:04 pm

  Over the past few weeks I have been shifting in my seat over reactions to the Government’s decision to limit the tax breaks rich people can receive for charitable giving. We would all like to see more charitable giving, and with all the pressure charities are under, this seemed potentially ill-timed. However, I felt distinctly uncomfortable watching a steady cast of charity execs provide political cover for and plea for continuing this subsidy to the rich. There are sacrifices that need to be made and, after all, there is nothing to stop wealthy individuals from giving should they wish…

• Mind your language

  Colleen Baldwin

  27 Apr 2012 | 8:22 am

  I have a good friend, let’s call him AK, who broadly speaking works in IT. Introduced at a party, strangers are prone to start grilling him about their poor broadband connection or recurring laptop glitches. He almost certainly won’t know how to fix them. On the other hand, you could certainly have a useful conversation with AK if you are a CIO with a budget the size of a small country’s sovereign debt, and you need help formulating a five-year strategy to update your firm’s legacy software. AK’s title is research analyst and vice-president in a major international IT research…

• 

  Socializing

• Marriage For All!

  11 May 2012 | 6:22 am

  Not yet a reality, but this is a great step for the United States and rights in general. Thank you, Mr. President. Read and Watch! I like that the daughters led their father toward this decision.

• More Thoughtful Responses On Kony 2012

  9 Mar 2012 | 4:25 am

  On Complexity, Awareness, and Social ActionWhat I am advocating for is that before you take action you dig deeply into the issue before pushing people with political power to use international force in a nation and continent not your own. That is not a flippant decision to make. And to do so based on emotion or slick marketing is socially irresponsible. You may decide, as other thoughtful people

• Exaggerating Truth To Be Effective?

  8 Mar 2012 | 6:49 am

  ...and another thing...I was reminded of another video that got me a bit unsettled last year. I refreshed my memory and came across another thoughtful piece in The Guardian: Unwatchable: should charities use shock tactics to get attention?It speaks about when it is and isn't OK, in the writer's opinion, to exaggerate, shock and make the general public uncomfortable. I'd guess there will never be

• Kony 2012

  8 Mar 2012 | 6:20 am

  Holy Thursday morning distraction! I must blog!The buzz around Kony 2012 reached my inbox early, encouraging me to drink even before lunch. I watched the film -- I cried a bit, rolled my eyes a lot and felt old for not being able to socially network like my younger socializing friends. Mixed emotions.I've got no major problem with the filmmakers. I think it's naive. But I value and respect what

• Learning More About Hospice

  23 Jan 2012 | 2:26 am

  I learned about a new film via Help the Hospices. Check out the trailer of Life Before Death, which I hope to see in a few weeks in London.The bigger website seems a bit odd, but I support all efforts to talk more comfortably about the issues.

• 

  Acumen Fund Blog

• Lok Capital and Acumen Fund announce Rs. 7 crore investment in Hippocampus Learning Centres

  Acumen Fund

  16 May 2012 | 3:07 am

  Lok Capital and Acumen Fund announce Rs. 7 crore investment in Hippocampus Learning Centres, a rural education services provider, signaling both funds’ first foray into education. HLC improves education quality and generates employment through pre-school and after-school learning programs in rural India. Bangalore, May 2012: Lok Capital, one of the largest dedicated funds in India for businesses focused on serving the lower income and base of the pyramid (BOP) customer segments and Acumen Fund, a pioneering nonprofit global venture firm addressing poverty in South Asia, East and West…

• Acumen Fund Invests in BASIX Krishi to Increase Agricultural Productivity Of Smallholder Farmers in India

  Acumen Fund

  11 May 2012 | 11:23 am

  Innovative model offers affordable extension services for crops and livestock to smallholder farmers through a wide network of trained personnel. Mumbai, India,May 11, 2012 – Acumen Fund, a pioneering nonprofit global venture firm addressing poverty in South Asia and across Africa, today announced an equity investment of INR 9 crores (~$2M) in BASIX Krishi Samruddhi Limited (BASIX Krishi). BASIX Krishi delivers productivity enhancing extension services—such as soil testing, seed treatment, vermicomposting, pest management and good harvesting practices for crop farmers; and livestock…

• Facebook + Skoll = Impact?

  Tristan Zucker

  10 May 2012 | 9:51 am

  Late last March I boarded a plane to Great Britain after attending a conference on the European debt crisis at the Banque de France.  I was heading to the Skoll World Forum, hoping to replace the despair about the state of the world I had picked up in France with optimism for the future of a world transformed by social enterprises.  I was not disappointed. For an intern at Acumen Fund, the Forum was an eye-opening experience.  Every person I talked to told me about amazing ventures, every conversation between the participants ended with excited promises for future collaboration, and every…

• We Are Watching You – Political Accountability through Civic Participation

  Acumen Fund

  9 May 2012 | 10:11 am

  We Are Watching You is a campaign to create political accountability in Kenya by increasing citizens’ vigilance and civic participation. The campaign uses elements of popular culture to sensitize citizens and works in collaboration with civil society leaders. Created in the wake of the 2007-2008 post-election violence in Kenya, it is led by Ramadhan Obiero – an Acumen Fund East Africa Fellow. Ramadhan has experience as the Coordinator for the Vumilia Youth Group, the Stage Manager for musician Eric Wainaina, the leader of the Kale Leo Band, and the Chairman of the African Cultural…

• Our Experiments with Generosity

  Sapna Shah and Prateek Kanwal

  3 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

  In 2009, Sasha Dichter ran a  ’Generosity Experiment’, an attempt to say yes in a world where you often hear ‘NO’. It quickly turned into a worldwide phenomenon, and became part of a broader effort to reboot Valentine’s Day as “Generosity Day” in order to reconnect the day to the core ideas of love and human connection. Three years later, the Acumen Fund India office recognized this ongoing effort and partnered with Teach for India (TFI) to run our very own generosity experiment with students from a school in a low-income community in Mumbai. The video above documents the…

• 

  Adventures in Hope: Stories of DiscoverHope

• Celebrating the Joy of Motherhood in Cajamarca!

  Desirée Ledet

  10 May 2012 | 9:44 am

  Good Morning DHF Family! After getting some much needed rest and relaxation, I’m excited to share the highlights of our 2nd Annual Mother’s Day Celebration. Yesterday was a refreshing and very gratifying reminder of why we dedicate so much time and energy into our village banking project here in Cajamarca, Peru. Our women are simply amazing and true testaments of what it means to sacrifice and persevere all in the name of motherhood. To sum it up in a few words, it was afternoon of pure fun and relaxation. For three hours, more than 215 women from 22 village banks were able to forget…

• 26 Apr 2012 | 12:25 pm

  Desirée Ledet

  26 Apr 2012 | 12:25 pm

  Mother’s Day is always a big event at DiscoverHope! 97% of the women we serve are mothers (or grandmothers) and May 13 is a revered Peruvian holiday. Family members from near and far will gather at Mom’s house on Sunday afternoon for a big shared feast.  Often the first born child will begin the meal with a tribute toast to mom, thanking her and expressing the family’s adoration.  And afterwards – music & dancing! DiscoverHope is getting into the spirit by honoring our village bank moms on May 9.  We’re planning a fun fiesta with games, dancing, singing, and small…

• HopeHouse Classes Back in Session

  Desirée Ledet

  22 Mar 2012 | 7:05 pm

  Hello DHF Family, Delia Torres teaching jewelry class.  I’m excited to announce that the Hope House is officially open! Classes are in session! With great anticipation and careful planning I’ve been hard at work locating new teachers, new ideas, and new classes for our village banks. My hope is that our classes provide our women with new ways to expand their businesses and their bank accounts. Last week our newest addition to the project, Delia Torres, taught a class full of women three beautiful new earring designs and a fabulous bracelet. As we speak 15 loan recipients are…

• “What Progress Looks Like” & Other Reasons Why Our Annual Report is Actually Cool

  Charlotte Bumbulis

  6 Mar 2012 | 9:43 am

  Here in Austin, Cajamarca, & Chicago a team of folks are hard at work on our 2011 Annual Report, putting on the finishing touches -- at this point we’re in the whipped cream & sprinkles stage. Before I type another word – let me praise the goodness of Chicago’s own Tracy Kuramoto, our fantastic volunteer graphic designer. A true prince among men.I know most annual reports are often met with respectful yawns. But I swear, ours is shaping up to be cool. Because we’ve got such good news to share -- 2011 was huge! We more than doubled in size in all key areas. It was inspiring to…

• A FUNDRAISER, A WEDDING & A RENOVATION

  Desirée Ledet

  23 Feb 2012 | 6:26 pm

  Saludos DHF Family!The DiscoverHope team is doing the “happy dance!”  We raised $5,000 through our Microcredit PLUS project on Connecther and a matching donation from the Stahl Family Foundation – enough to fund a village bank for a whole year! From the DiscoverHope staff and board, we want to say THANK YOU to all our supporters for helping us meet our goal.  We are deeply grateful to Lila Igram and Connecther for supporting our work and to the Stahl Family Foundation for their generous matching contribution.During the past three weeks there’s also been a lot of commotion…

• 

  (BLOG) RED - Buy (RED). Save Lives.

• ADO(RED): 5 (RED) Mother's Day Gift Ideas

  10 May 2012 | 11:42 am

  Mother's Day is just around the corner and we have 5 (RED) gifts to make your mom's day that much better. Every (RED) purchase you make helps fight for an AIDS Free Generation by 2015. Mother's Day Gift Idea #1: Spread the LOVE - The (FEED)RED Special Edition LOVE 30 Bag Mother's Day Gift Idea #2: For your tech loving moms - The (APPLE)RED iPad Smart Cover Mother's Day Gift Idea #3: We know your mom still rocks them - (CONVERSE)RED Chuck Taylor All Star shoes Mother's Day Gift Idea #4: Give your mum a boost - The (MOPHIE)RED Special Edition universal battery line Mother's Day Gift Idea #5:…

• How do you prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV?

  30 Apr 2012 | 9:15 am

  UNAIDS (Outlook 30, 2011 Report) Guest post by Erin Hohlfelder, ONE's global health policy manager It’s hard to miss (RED) & ONE’s focus on The Global Fund and our goal to ensure that virtually no child is born with HIV by 2015. But many of you have rightfully asked, “How does this exactly work?” It’s a miracle of modern medical technology that we’re able to prevent the mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). To help you understand, we’ve created a CliffsNotes version of how it works: An HIV-positive mother can pass HIV on to her baby any time during pregnancy,…

• Win a Trip to See (RED) Creativity & Commerce at Work in Montreal

  26 Apr 2012 | 1:36 pm

  Remember when we were calling for the most creative people in the world to be part of the Sid Lee and (RED) Boot Camp? We've rounded up eight multidisciplinary talents, put their creative juices to work and are now giving you the chance to see their final ideas come to life at the C2-MTL creative conference in Montreal. Not only will you get to spend May 22nd - 25th in the fantastic city of Montreal, you'll also be part of exploring creative answers to commercial questions at the conference. So how do you enter? We want to hear your favorite quote on creativity. (e.g.

• Don’t be fooled… we can reach the beginning of the end of AIDS

  6 Apr 2012 | 10:54 am

  Guest blog by ONE's Chief Marketing Officer, Jeff Davidoff ONE pulled a lot of legs this week. We launched our new spot “I Predict” across the web and in an April Fool’s Day email to our members with a series of crazy predictions for what could happen by 2015 — “kittens will be banned from YouTube,” “Charlie Sheen will be president,” “fax machines will make a comeback.” We got your attention. Now we want you to act to support the one prediction that can actually come true: the beginning of the end of AIDS. “I Predict” was shot at the Sundance Film Festival back in…

• (RED) Goes to Washington

  3 Apr 2012 | 9:52 am

  All rights reserved by Ralph Alswang Photography These days “red” and “blue” are pretty divisive colors around Capitol Hill, but when it comes to the fight against AIDS, being (RED) means something entirely different – it means a belief in the idea that we can be the generation to deliver an AIDS Free Generation.  On March 20, I traveled to Washington to speak at a briefing session for members of congress, congressional staff, and leaders in the global health community that highlighted the private sector’s critical role in the Global Fund’s lifesaving work.  Coming…

• 

  Women Thrive Worldwide

• Two Great Ways to Shop the Cause!

  8 May 2012 | 7:00 pm

  If you're in the D.C. area, there are two great ways to shop the cause in the coming weeks! A...

• Board Member Spotlight: Suzanne Lerner

  7 May 2012 | 7:00 pm

  Women Thrive board member Suzanne Lerner has her hands full. She's a co-founder of Michael Stars clothing, is active in...

• Mongolia Leads the Way on Gender

  3 May 2012 | 7:00 pm

  Ritu Sharma, President and Co-Founder of Women Thrive Worldwide, presented an award at the Millennium Challenge Corporation's first annual Global...

• Politico: Violence Against Women is No "Women’s Issue"

  19 Apr 2012 | 7:00 pm

  Women Thrive Worldwide Co-Founder and President Ritu Sharma penned an op-ed in Politico about why violence against women is more...

• Tell Us About Your Mom!

  15 Apr 2012 | 7:00 pm

  This Mother's Day, Women Thrive wants to honor amazing moms from around the world! Please share a story with us...

• 

  ONE

• Talking G8, hunger and food security with USAID’s Don Steinberg

  Emily Alpert

  16 May 2012 | 11:02 am

  As you know, the G8 Summit is just a few days away. ONE has been working over the past few weeks to rally our ONE members to sign our petition to world leaders, asking them to prioritize global hunger and malnutrition at the Summit. To help put our petition into context, we interviewed with our friend Ambassador Don Steinberg, current Deputy Administrator at USAID with three decades of US diplomatic service. The questions we outlined below answer some of the most important points that our ONE members should look out for during and after the Summit. Don Steinberg. Photo credit: El Tiempo ONE:…

• Obama, Bono, G8 leaders… and YOU!

  Malaka Gharib

  16 May 2012 | 9:14 am

  Clear some space in your schedule this Friday for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security, a discussion on new activities to advance global agricultural development, food and nutrition security in Africa. Bono and President Obama, at last year’s World AIDS Day event, will meet again at the Chicago Council’s Symposium on Global Agriculture. Photo credit: Ralph Alswang/ ONE. This event is a dream come true for us here at ONE — we’ve been trying to “plant the seed” in the G8 to put sustainable global…

• World economists agree: child nutrition is a best buy in development

  Kelly Hauser

  15 May 2012 | 2:56 pm

  What would you do if you had $75 billion and four years to improve the world’s well-being? Recently 65 world-renowned researchers, economists and Nobel laureates got together and answered that question. They released their findings yesterday after more than a year of reviewing proposals and evidence, thanks to the Copenhagen Consensus Center. Being economists, they weighed their choices carefully using cost-benefit analyses. Seventy-five billion dollars may sound like a lot, but $18.75 billion (1/4 of $75 billion) represents only a 15 percent increase on top of the current $130 billion that…

• Peter Braid MP attends ONE Canada event in Ottawa

  Field

  15 May 2012 | 2:30 pm

  When Ben Leo, director of ONE’s global policy team and Sara Messer, policy manager from ONE in Washington, D.C., recently traveled to Ottawa, it seemed like a great chance to have a meet up with some of our ONE members in the Ottawa area. From left to right, Mark Entwhistle, Sara Messer, Peter Braid, MP for Kitchener-Waterloo, Sarah Stone, Ben Leo The event drew about 25 local members, many of whom were also members of our partner organization Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB). Ben Leo talked about the exciting campaigns that ONE is currently running –- the Beginning of the End…

• What We’re Reading: African growth depends on food security

  Emily Walker

  15 May 2012 | 1:20 pm

  Africa must end hunger to sustain growth – U.N. – The United Nations Development Program said on Tuesday that “Africa needs to boost agricultural productivity and address the debilitating hunger that affects 27 percent of its populations if it is to sustain its economic boom.” The report highlighted that “investment in agricultural productivity was important not only for reducing hunger but also in creating jobs for Africa’s rapidly growing population.” (Reuters, Katy Migiro) Business, NGO leaders join hands to push progress on health goals – The MDG Health Alliance is a new…

• 

  Jolkona Blog

• Jolkona is on Pinterest!

  Gabriel St. John

  15 May 2012 | 9:59 am

  Daljit Singh, our stellar Office Manager, is a lady of eclectic talent – she maintains all the records of donations and expenses with fine comb consistency, she manages relations with partners and volunteers, she runs our Facebook page, she tweets up a storm on Twitter, and she even fixes our air conditioning. Like I said, stellar. More recently, though, she’s quietly been building up a small empire on Jolkona’s Pinterest, carefully curating all the stuff that inspires us and you the most. If you haven’t seen our Pinterest page, check it out here, or click on the image below: As…

• Transforming the Struggles of Young Parenthood in Academia

  Guest Contributor

  13 May 2012 | 11:01 am

  Note from the Editor: this post was written by Muneezeh Kabir. She is a recent graduate of The University of Texas at Austin where she earned degrees in English Honors and Women’s and Gender Studies. In college she spent several years tackling feminist issues, including chairing the Orange Jackets’ university-wide “Week of Women,” working as student staff in the UT Gender & Sexuality Center, and serving as Director of the Women’s Resource Agency. She currently lives in Houston, TX where she works in Accenture’s management consulting practice.  …

• This One Is For You Mum (Mom)!

  Gabriel St. John

  8 May 2012 | 9:59 am

  I was born in Morocco near the Algerian border in the small city of Oujda. It was an unassuming city, dusty and tourist free (for good reason). I was the last of six children. The location of my birth was in my oldest brother’s bedroom, which also served as our classroom – and now a maternity ward. I was born around 3.30pm, just in time for afternoon tea. The people present were my Mum and my Dad. Knowing my birth was imminent, my father had taken my unruly siblings to the park with our visiting grandmother. My delivery was quick and problem free. So quick, in fact, that my meant-to-be…

• Stretch Your Donation – GiveBig Today!

  Gabriel St. John

  2 May 2012 | 9:59 am

  The Seattle Foundation is launching its annual GiveBig campaign today, and over these next 24 hours you can have your chance to make an impact – and increase it! The campaign is supporting over 1,300 nonprofit organizations by enlarging donations made to each of those organizations today. Needless to say, we’re delighted to be one of them! The stretch Give to Jolkona through the Seattle Foundation’s webpage between midnight and 11.59pm (Pacific Time) today – May 2, 2012 – and you will receive a pro-rated portion of the matching funds from their “stretch pool”. The amount of…

• The Power of Social Giving: Infographic

  Gabriel St. John

  1 May 2012 | 9:59 am

  At Jolkona we believe online philanthropy is the future of giving. Our online model has been at the heart of what we’re about since we began. It’s important to us not just because it’s hip (though it is that as well), but because online giving is incredibly effective and powerful. Our ultimate goal is impact – more of it. Going on online and making philanthropy more accessible and more transparent, we believe, is the best way to see this impact achieved. This week we’re highlighting two great events in our calender: Seattle Foundation’s GiveBig (blog post…

• 

  What Do You Stand For?

• Microsoft to Business Units: Reduce or Pay Up

  10 May 2012 | 11:00 pm

  In less than two months, all direct operations divisions of Microsoft will be forced to reduce emissions or pay the price. But it's not a government organization or NGO who's enforcing the mandate it's the company itself.  Microsoft announced this week it is committed to going carbon neutral by July 1 and is extending this responsibility throughout its company. Through what Microsoft deems the "accountability model," each division within the company will be responsible for its own carbon emissions, which will not only raise internal awareness, but will also send a strong message to…

• Status Update: Facebook Promotes Organ Donation

  3 May 2012 | 11:00 pm

  For years, the Department of Motor Vehicles has inquired whether we'd like to be an organ donor, but Facebook has posed a more direct question: Are you?The world's leading social network announced Tuesday it will now allow users to include organ donor status among other biographical information on member profiles, marking perhaps the first time an individual's donor status has been shared in such a public way. Yet, the outcome is much more than a timeline milestone. The New York Times reports nearly 7,000 people die each year waiting for an organ transplant; Facebook reaches 161 million users…

• Burger Kings Big Commitment

  26 Apr 2012 | 11:00 pm

  Burger King, the world's second largest fast food chain, signaled bold change this week when it announced it will source 100 percent of its eggs and pork from cage-free chickens and crate-free pigs by 2017. The company, which purchases hundreds of millions of eggs and millions of pounds of pork annually, currently sources just nine percent of eggs and 20 percent of pork from cage-free vendors. Burger King joins a number of other brands making cage-free egg purchasing decisions, but according to Matthew Prescott, a spokesperson for the Humane Society of the United States, this is the first…

• Earth Day Roundup

  19 Apr 2012 | 11:00 pm

  As Earth Day supporters look to "Mobilize the Earth" on the National Mall on Sunday, companies are mobilizing consumers to take part in Earth Day promotions. Here's a sampling of programs you can expect to see as you do your part to reduce, reuse and recycle this weekend:   Target is celebrating "Earth Month" by offering special discounts on environmentally friendly products throughout the month of April, in addition to giving out 1.5 million reusable bags on Sunday. The retailer has also partnered with Recyclebank, a B Corp that doles out points and discounts at major retailers to…

• Sustainability: No Secret Sauce

  12 Apr 2012 | 11:00 pm

  It's no secret most companies prefer to keep their proprietary tools and processes under wraps for competitive reasons. Yet in the age of transparency, companies have become more willing to open their doors to inspection. One company has taken this a step further by allowing anyone even its competitors to view an essential aspect of its supplier assessment process, all in the name of sustainability.  Bart King recently reported for Sustainable Brands on P&G's newest innovation in sustainability, its Supplier Scorecard Analysis Tool. The scorecard measures supplier improvement year…

• 

  Kiva Stories from the Field

• Lost in Translation

  Philip

  16 May 2012 | 11:00 am

  Compiled by Philip Issa | KF17 | Palestine We’ve all had these moments: Trying to impress a native speaker with our ability to speak their language, we compose an elegant sentence in our minds, open our mouths, and… proceed to swallow our feet whole. Indeed, we Kiva Fellows have had no shortage of these incidents – we’ve twisted and tortured whole phrases so that they come out no better suited than to embarrass and offend. So here are a few stories of us Fellows shattering our carefully constructed, professional identities with a spectacular “whoops!” Can…

• Clean Water and Safe Streets: What do we take for granted?

  adriaorr

  15 May 2012 | 3:28 pm

  By Adria Orr | KF17 | Samoa Of course, home doesn’t look like this… A huge part of choosing to move to another country, even temporarily, is leaving behind the comforts of home. There are several levels to this–the ease of familiar environs, the social security of friends and family, relatively cushy lifestyle (hot water, I’m thinking of you), and of course, sometimes, your physical security. When I think about the privilege I’ve enjoyed growing up in a developed country like the United States, the first things that come to mind are abundant food, clean water,…

• Update from the Field: Kiva’s new coffee partner and female empowerment in the Middle East

  IsabelB

  14 May 2012 | 11:00 am

  Compiled by Isabel Balderrama | KF17 | Ecuador Palestinian female borrower and FATEN customer Rima, pictured along with family Having been in the field for a little over three months now, KF-17 fellows’ posts begin taking a retrospective look at what has been accomplished over the past few months while working with their assigned Kiva partners worldwide. From having played a role in getting a new kind of Kiva partnership up and running to working with two MFIs dedicated to helping women get ahead in male-dominated Palestine, it is clear that this is the time for a Kiva Fellow to reflect…

• Empowering Women in Palestine

  Philip

  11 May 2012 | 10:00 am

  Philip Issa | KF17 | Palestine A couple of years ago, Mohammed Al-Shawaf, a Kiva Fellow serving in Palestine previous to me, wrote a thoughtful post on the complexities of implementing a women’s empowerment agenda through microfinance. Having served my placement at the same MFIs as him, I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about FATEN and Ryada’s women empowerment initiatives and implementations. The two institutions are far apart in their models, with each carrying associated benefits and disadvantages. I also had the opportunity to meet with a women’s savings and…

• Coffee Time: Welcoming La Unión Regional Huatusco to Kiva

  kiyomibeach

  8 May 2012 | 11:00 am

  Kiyomi Beach | KF17 | Mexico Nursery for coffee plants. Once these plants reach a certain size they will be planted in the fields and be producing at full capacity in about three years. La Unión Regional de Pequeños Productores de Café Huatusco (La Unión Regional) is Kiva’s first non-microfinance institution partner in Latin America.  It’s a member-owned coffee cooperative dedicated to helping their largely rural, low-income members bring their coffee to market at a fair price. By partnering with organizations other than microfinance institutions, Kiva is able to provide much-needed…

• 

  The Change Blog

• The Free Resource that Can Help You Cope With Anything

  Wendy Aron

  16 May 2012 | 7:30 am

  By Wendy Aron When I had my comic memoir published by an award-winning independent press in 2008, I thought it would be the pinnacle of my professional writing career. But after my publisher went bankrupt one year later, taking with him most of my dreams, that celebratory moment turned into one of despair. Standing in our basement, looking at the five big crates of unsold books we were left with after the experience, my husband wondered aloud what we were going to do with them. I said to him: “We can always make a bonfire and toast marshmallows.” Suddenly, the tension seemed to lift. I…

• How To Break Free Of Limiting Cultural Beliefs

  Thomas Maurer

  14 May 2012 | 9:30 am

  Photo by Fayez By Thomas Maurer “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain Limiting cultural beliefs operate in much the same way to limiting personal beliefs. A lot has been written in the personal development and self help fields about overcoming perceptions in the mind that hold you back from achieving your goals. Negative self talk such as “I’m not brave enough, strong enough, beautiful enough, dedicated enough…” Self imposed limitations are self…

• Right Rejection and Happy Acceptance

  Om Swami

  12 May 2012 | 9:28 am

  By Om Swami Once upon a time, Buddha, with his monk disciples, stopped by a village. His intentions were to deliver sermons and spread the message of righteousness and liberation. Some of the villagers however did not receive him well. They called him an atheist, used abusive language and asked him to leave the village. Buddha, however, remained quiet and peaceful as ever. He did not respond to any of the verbal abuse. His face expression did not change. His disciples could not bear their master being abused, they could not see him treated that way. They felt bad and hurt. Taking cue from…

• Saying Yes to Change: An Interview with Alex Blackwell (+Book Giveaway)

  Peter Clemens

  10 May 2012 | 8:23 am

  By Peter Clemens Today I’m very happy to feature one of my longtime blogging friends, Alex Blackwell. Alex is the founder of the popular blog, The Bridgemaker, and has just released his first book, Saying Yes to Change: 10 Timeless Life Lessons for Creating Positive Change. I have two hard copies of the book to give away, but first I would like to share with you an interview I recently did with Alex: 1. Alex, what led you to write this book? It’s been a story in the making for the past nine years. In 2003, my life was at a crossroads. On the verge of losing my wife, I decided it was…

• Nothing Lasts, But Suffering Makes It Worse

  Larry Wharton

  8 May 2012 | 7:30 am

  Photo by h.koppdelaney By Larry Wharton The Buddha spoke of impermanence, that nothing lasts, and that failing to understand the real nature of impermanence means suffering. Most of us would agree that impermanence, or change, is a fact of life. If I ask if the weather, a river, or a mountain will always be the same, most will say no. If I ask if we as individuals will never change, again most will say no. But here is the rub. Our sensitivity to impermanence shows up in our attachments to wishing for the world to be other than it is, unchanging. We exist in a conflicted state where…

• 

  SocialEarth

• Union Bank Teams with SCA to Protect California Parks

  3BL Media

  17 May 2012 | 12:23 am

  (3BL Media) San Francisco, CA – May 16, 2012 – California state parks will get some crucial extra hands this summer thanks to a new partnership announced by The Student [...]

• ARAMARK Chefs Showcase Sustainable Food Cooking Skills

  3BL Media

  17 May 2012 | 12:23 am

  (3BL Media) Philadelphia, PA - May 15, 2012 - Food lovers, culinary experts and chefs from across the country will convene in Monterey, California from May 18-20 for Monterey Bay [...]

• Cool Buildings, Parched Cities?

  3BL Media

  17 May 2012 | 12:21 am

  By John Schinter, Executive Director of Energy, ATT, and Gwen Ruta, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships, Environmental Defense Fund We live indoors, we work indoors, we shop indoors, we even [...]

• El Dorado Hills’ Jackson Elementary Received a Grant from Recyclebank and Coca-Cola Live Positively for Green Schools Program

  3BL Media

  17 May 2012 | 12:18 am

  (3BL Media) El Dorado Hills, CA - May 14, 2012 - Recyclebank  and Waste Connections announced  that Jackson Elementary has reached its fundraising goal and received a grant from the [...]

• NHL, Sterling Planet Mitigate Environmental Impacts of 2012 Cup Playoffs

  3BL Media

  17 May 2012 | 12:13 am

  (3BL Media) New York, NY - May 9, 2012 - NHL Green has teamed up with Sterling Planet, the nation's leading retail provider of environmental assets for corporate, utility and [...]

• 

  Social Velocity

• Reader Question: How to Find Major Donors

  Nell Edgington

  16 May 2012 | 10:26 am

  Last month I launched a new regular series on the blog called Reader Questions. I receive so many great questions from readers that I decided that at least once a month I would pick a reader’s question to answer. It can be about anything related to nonprofits, social entrepreneurship, boards, financing, fundraising, social innovation, philanthropy, you name it. If you have a burning question that you would like answered, fill out the form here. And you can read past blog posts in the Reader Questions series here. This month’s question comes from a nonprofit leader in Hong Kong. But…

• Innovation in the Arts: An Interview with Karina Mangu-Ward

  Nell Edgington

  11 May 2012 | 9:05 am

  In this month’s Social Velocity blog interview, we’re talking with Karina Mangu-Ward. Karina is the Director of Activating Innovation at EmcArts a social enterprise for innovation and adaptive change across the arts sector. She leads the strategy and development of ArtsFwd.org, an interactive online platform where arts leaders can learn from each other about the power of adaptive change and the practice of innovation. Her interest is in bringing adaptive capacity and innovation from the margins of dialogue in the arts sector to the center. You can read past interviews in our Social…

• Is Earned Income Right for Your Nonprofit?

  Nell Edgington

  9 May 2012 | 9:28 am

  Earned income, or the sale of goods and services, is a somewhat misunderstood and unexplored financial opportunity for nonprofits. Yet there are countless examples of nonprofit organizations that sell goods or services to supplement their revenue, like the Girl Scouts, Goodwill, museum gift shops, hospitals, charter schools. If you’ve ever wondered if earned income might be an opportunity for your nonprofit to raise unrestricted revenue, join us for our “Evaluating Earned Income” webinar on May 23rd. This webinar is part of our ongoing Financing Not Fundraising webinar…

• 10 Great Social Innovation Reads: April 2012

  Nell Edgington

  7 May 2012 | 11:33 am

  The month of April in social innovation was all about change. From a changing landscape between nonprofits and public policy, to new nonprofit sector trends, to how foundations and boards need to restructure in response to changing environments. And that’s why social innovation is so interesting– it is a work in progress. Below are my ten picks of the best reads in social innovation in April, but as always, please add what I missed in the comments. If you want to see other things that caught my eye, follow me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Pinterest. And if you want to read 10…

• The Fundamental Building Blocks of Social Change

  Nell Edgington

  2 May 2012 | 11:16 am

  There is no shortage of great ideas to change the world. I get countless emails and calls each week from passionate, committed people who see a need in their community, in their world, and have an idea for solving it. But they are frustrated because they can’t find the funding to get their idea off the ground. Well, funding follows social change momentum. If you lack money it is  merely a symptom of a larger lack of momentum. To create social change it is not enough to be a single person with an idea, or even a single person with an idea and a group of friends. You need to put some key…

• 

  SSIR Articles

• Networking a City

  vclewis@stanford.edu

  16 May 2012 | 1:30 pm

  Boston is a city historically beset by politics and turf issues that extend to its large nonprofit sector. With one of the higher concentrations of 501(c)(3) organizations in the United States—more than 4,600 in a population of less than 620,000— the pressure to compete for influence and limited funding has often pitted the city’s nonprofit leaders against one another. “There has been a great deal of competition, coupled with not enough resources,” says Celina Miranda, a senior program officer at the Richard & Susan Smith Family Foundation. “All of this leads to divide and…

• Elizabeth Littlefield

  vclewis@stanford.edu

  16 May 2012 | 1:00 pm

  The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is arguably one of the most important players in impact investing, but very few people outside of the economic development field have heard of it. OPIC, an agency of the US government, doesn’t invest its own money overseas. Instead, it helps private investors overcome the barriers that keep them from investing in developing countries by providing loans, guarantees, and insurance that the private sector does not provide. Elizabeth Littlefield became president and CEO of OPIC in 2010. It’s a role she was well prepared for. Before OPIC, she…

• In Search of the Hybrid Ideal

  vclewis@stanford.edu

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  Recent news coverage of Hot Bread Kitchen reads as if it were written about two different organizations. The New York City bakery is widely acclaimed for its innovative selection of international breads, but it is simultaneously an award-winning workforce development program. Hot Bread Kitchen is a hybrid organization: Its employees, mostly low-income immigrant women, bake bread inspired by their countries of origin, while learning job skills that can lead them to management positions in the food industry. In this way, Hot Bread Kitchen combines two traditionally separate models: a social…

• Local Forces for Good

  vclewis@stanford.edu

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  Of the more than 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States, the vast majority are local groups striving to achieve maximum results while operating on budgets well under $1 million. Most aim to deepen their impact within the local community, rather than increase their reach by scaling up nationally. So how do the six practices outlined in our book Forces for Good apply to smaller groups, when we originally studied only large national and global nonprofits such as Habitat for Humanity, Teach for America, and the Environmental Defense Fund? Phrased differently, can the six practices of…

• A Big Deal for Conservation

  vclewis@stanford.edu

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  When Costa Rican President Óscar Arias declared “peace with nature” in 2007, he laid out an ambitious plan for his country to take the lead among developing nations in supporting ecosystem conservation. The goal was admirable—to expand and secure all of Costa Rica’s national parks, wildlife reserves, and protected seascapes and become the first developing country in the world to meet the protected area targets and management standards of the UN convention of Biological Diversity. At the time, however, it seemed like yet another environmental proposal filled with promise but with…

• 

  GOOD Business Ideas with Matthew Alberto

• The Best Business Ideas that Contribute to your Community

  Matthew Alberto

  16 May 2012 | 1:00 pm

  If you are an entrepreneur searching for the best business ideas that will contribute to your community you have found the right article. There are a wide variety of best business ideas that can contribute to your community such as a lawn care company, tree removal company, general landscaping company, or any business that creates more jobs. If you can run one of these businesses successfully, you will increase the … ...[Continue reading The Best Business Ideas that Contribute to your Community]Related posts: Latest Business Ideas for You and the Community Business Ideas for the New…

• Cause Related Marketing Videogame on YouTube For HopeLab Foundation

  Matthew Alberto

  14 May 2012 | 11:00 am

  Cause Related Marketing Videogame on YouTube For HopeLab Foundation In a cause related marketing videogame on YouTube for the HopeLab Foundation called Re-Mission, Roxxi the nanobot battles cancer in the body of a fictional cancer patient. Videos can be part of marketing within your business management structure. Her mission is to destroy a colony of replicating lymphomic cluster cells. The game was designed with young cancer patients in mind by … ...[Continue reading Cause Related Marketing Videogame on YouTube For HopeLab Foundation]Related posts: Hopelab Social Enterprise Partners…

• Business Ideas for the New Community Culture

  Matthew Alberto

  11 May 2012 | 1:00 pm

  If you are in a job that you hate, you may spend a lot of your time thinking about your escape plan. What fabulous business will you start that will get you out of your dead end career? You may have even been thinking about the advantages of social entrepreneurship companies. These are for-profit businesses that take some of the values from the non-profit world and implement them into successful … ...[Continue reading Business Ideas for the New Community Culture]Related posts: Latest Business Ideas for You and the Community Good Biz Ideas for the Community Social Enterprise Ideas From…

• Best Business Ideas for Social Entrepreneurship

  Matthew Alberto

  9 May 2012 | 1:00 pm

  Social entrepreneurship is a business scheme that involves the best business ideas which are used by social entrepreneurs in establishing social difficulties. Once the social difficulties have been established, the entrepreneurs make use of entrepreneurial values to come up with a conclusive and reliable change. Ideally, social entrepreneurship is widely concerned about the social and environment factors towards the business rather than dwelling on the internal factors of the business. … ...[Continue reading Best Business Ideas for Social Entrepreneurship]Related posts: Social…

• 5 Advantageous Ways to Market Online

  Matthew Alberto

  7 May 2012 | 9:29 pm

  As an entrepreneur these days, creating an effective marketing campaign for your brand is undoubtedly one of the most central keys to a successful enterprise. And as the plethora of social media sites continues to grow in numbers and conceptually different sites, the ways and options to market your brand do so as well. But with these various emerging site trends, it’s often difficult to make an accurate assessment of … ...[Continue reading 5 Advantageous Ways to Market Online]Related posts: Using Commercial Print in Order to Market Your Business Best Ways to Fundraise Online Top Ways…

• 

  Free Source Daily|Daily tips on free sources,wordpress themes,blogging,ideas

• Earn Money with Facebook Likes

  admin

  26 Apr 2012 | 4:24 am

  How to earn easy money online with Facebook is just an incredible question that the majority of us seek a response to. You will find most likely 100s of the ways to earn money online, today. And to earn money with facebook is included in this that is more reliable and result orienting. If you are looking at generating income online, this is just among the best ways to begin with and you will find that you may make a small fortune immediately. Without doubt you’ll need some understanding and advice on causing this to be true. To begin with facebook is among the best marketing platform…

• 7 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Facebook Business Page

  admin

  5 Dec 2011 | 7:21 am

  With the recent economic recession and the phenomenal advance of technology, businesses are wise to reassess their marketing strategies. Traditional marketing strategies are becoming less effective with the demise of the newspaper industry, and the high cost of media advertising. Online marketing,, and particularly using social media, has become increasingly invaluable for businesses to invest in ,as part of their marketing strategy. Facebook business pages, or ‘fan pages’, are becoming more and more popular for businesses looking to attract new leads and potential clients. Why? It works!

• 10 Best Chronicle Blogs of 2011

  admin

  30 Nov 2011 | 12:51 am

  Chronicle is the study of the past, often with an eye toward how it can help us understand the present and the future. Many professional and inexpert historians have blogs where they share history-related reflections, news, interviews, book reviews, images, and more. Below are our outputs for the most interesting and useful history blogs of 2011 : 1. American Creation A fascinating, argumentative group blog exploring the history of America’s founding, with a particular emphasis on the religious dimension. 2. American Presidents Blog Three history teachers blog interesting facts about the…

• Online Content: How to Beat Your Competitors with SEO Content

  admin

  29 Nov 2011 | 12:09 am

  Your website does not have to be perfect to get high listings on Google. It just has to be better than the websites of your competitors. If your website is only slightly better than the sites of your competitors, your website will get the click. If more than one web page has been optimized for a keyword, it’s the quality of the links that makes the difference. The following tips will help you to beat your competitors: When you start producing online content to support your business, it is important to have a strong understanding of search engine optimization. Quality SEO content can…

• 5 Top Secrets of better Time Management For Business people

  admin

  27 Nov 2011 | 11:34 pm

  Successful people are careful about how these people spend their time. Irrespective of how you slice the item, we all have 1 day in a day, hence the key lies in learning to make use of our time wisely. Below are some ways you might dramatically increase your productivity through stronger use of your occasion. 1. Get Aggressive About Managing Time Time and money are both very important in business. Many business people tend to give a lot more specific thought as to how to spend their money. Too often, how we spend our time is only thought of in terms of “What am I going to do…

• 

  Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC)

• 12 Negotiation Techniques for Buying an Existing Business

  The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC)

  16 May 2012 | 6:30 am

  Question: I'm currently in negotiations to buy an existing business. What are some negotiating techniques I can use to make sure I get the best deal? Question by: SeanKnowledge Is Power"The person with the most information usually does better in negotiations. Find out what is most important to them and their needs and wants. Leverage this information to gain the upper hand in the negotiations. How do you find out this information? Research and ask questions!" - Anthony Saladino | Co-Founder & CEO, Kitchen Cabinet Kings Follow @cabinetkingsShop the Deal"Always make sure that you have other…

• Starting Up? Avoid These 3 Common Mistakes

  Abbie Davies Steinbacher

  16 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Oops © by dingler1109 (2010) The opposing forces of the economy tanking and technological advances soaring have created a prime environment for first-time entrepreneurs. That said, “entrepreneur” has become a buzz word associated with the few startup founders we’ve watched become millionaires, and even billionaires, overnight.  As the media catapults these successful entrepreneurs to celebrity status, the separation between “us” aspiring entrepreneurs and “them” — the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world — grows. This growing separation can cloud…

• 43 Troubling Facts About the Youth Unemployment Crisis

  Scott Gerber

  15 May 2012 | 12:51 pm

  Placer Graduation 2008 © by Nick Ares (2008) The class of 2012 is graduating from community colleges, four-year colleges and universities all across America this month. When they toss their caps in the air, I suggest you duck — because this graduating class has a lot to protest. While overall U.S. unemployment has dropped to about 8 percent — in part because many Americans have simply given up looking for work — recent college grads face a much more dismal reality: one out of every two was either jobless or underemployed in 2011. To combat this epidemic, the Young…

• The Business Lesson That Cost Me $30,000

  Trevor Mauch

  15 May 2012 | 12:50 pm

  Money © by 401K (2011) When I was first honing my chops as a young entrepreneur I heard a lot of advice—including the golden rule to outsource what I’m not good at. However, I was also told to never outsource marketing. At the time, I vowed that I’d never be “dumb” enough to hand off the lifeblood of one of my companies to someone on the outside. Why would I outsource my marketing? I loved it! Over the next two years, my first company grew past $1 million in sales. I loved handling the marketing side; I did it well and I did a lot of it. But as my publishing…

• 15 Tips for Writing Your Company’s Mission Statement

  The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC)

  14 May 2012 | 6:30 am

  Question: What is your #1 tip for writing a really powerful mission statement for your company? Question by: TerryCommit to Forward Thinking"When writing a powerful mission statement for your company, think about statements that are applicable today and that will still be applicable to your company years from now. A powerful mission statement speaks volumes to the vision of the company. Your mission statement should be something that your company strives to do every single day, regardless of how big your company grows." - Lauren Maillian Bias | Founder and CEO, Luxury Market BrandingHedgehog…

• 

  Return On Now

• Google Penguin Update | Return On News

  tpltx70

  8 May 2012 | 10:59 am

  Google has been very busy in the past month or so. First they rolled out an update to how they handle anchor text, during March. Then we had another Panda tweak. And finally, the big daddy “Penguin” update hit in late April. Google Penguin Information For those of you who don’t know about Penguin yet, it has caused quite a stir. Google originally dubbed it the “Over Optimization” Penalty. That threw much of the SEO world into a panic, so they retitled it the WEBSPAM update (a.k.a. Penguin). The thought is that they’d systematically drop sites that exhibit…

• Keyword Match Types for Google AdWords

  tpltx70

  24 Apr 2012 | 11:00 am

  For this post, let’s turn our attention back over to Pay-per-click (PPC) and Google AdWords. As a Search Marketing professional, it is important to understand all angles of search. That means you can’t just focus blindly on SEO in the long run. Sure, SEO is “free” and should be addressed for any website. But once you have optimized the on page and started driving backlinks, you really need to have patience as it all starts to pick up momentum. Most businesses don’t have time to simply sit and wait. That’s when PPC needs to be taken more seriously. Keyword…

• Types of Social Media

  tpltx70

  18 Apr 2012 | 11:00 am

  Have you ever taken a brief moment to consider what the various types of social media are? Some tend to want to oversimplify and combine disparate definitions of social media into one. I, on the other hand, think that even small differences are relevant. So here’s my swag at listing out the various types of social media, at least in my own opinion. Social Networking Social Networking gets the most attention overall, and for a good reason. This is the closest to a real world relationship we will likely ever be able to build in cyberspace. There are many types of social networking, but…

• Anchor Text, Trackbacks, What to Tweet, and More | Return On News

  tpltx70

  28 Mar 2012 | 11:00 am

  What a month March has been. Google pre-announced some massive changes to come to backlinks for their algorithm, SXSW has come and gone, and I’ve had quite a few distractions on the personal front. I plan to do a whole summary of the upcoming Google algorithm changes later, but for now, let’s see what else has caught my eye this month. Are Over Optimised Link Profiles A Barrier To Top 5 Rankings? SEO Wizz has authored a number of posts on backlink campaigns and how to handle anchor text. The standard direction from most SEOs is that you should acquire as many backlinks that use…

• Return On News: Week of February 27, 2012

  tpltx70

  27 Feb 2012 | 9:38 pm

  Last month I was talking to a friend of mine about the content that I curate and share on different social media sites, and he made an outstanding suggestion. Basically, if the content is good enough to move me and deserves being tweeted or liked, it makes sense to also share the best of the best here with brief commentary. So today you are looking at the first edition of “Return On News”. My goal is to share a similar set of recommended articles and blog posts at least once monthly. If there is enough volume, I might even do it more often. How to Remove Your Google Web History…

• 

  Blog Write Now!

• Mid-Year Marketing Review

  Audrey Wyatt, Startup Strategist

  9 May 2012 | 10:48 pm

  Can you believe it? We are almost halfway through 2012. I thought it would be a good idea to do a mid-year marketing review using Ansoff's Product/Market Growth Matrix. This tool was created back in the 1960s. It is still useful today. To use the matrix, we asked ourselves:  How can we better penetrate our existing market?   Can we offer new products to our existing customers?  Is it time to pursue new markets with our existing products? Are we ready to diversify and develop new products for new markets?  See how we answered these questions on The Matrix:

• Online Training Tools Comparison

  Audrey Wyatt, Startup Strategist

  30 Mar 2012 | 4:37 pm

• You Are the Next Great Entrepreneur

  Audrey Wyatt, Startup Strategist

  7 Mar 2012 | 8:49 pm

• Happy Martin Luther King Day!

  Audrey Wyatt, Startup Strategist

  16 Jan 2012 | 2:30 pm

• Merry Christmas!

  Audrey Wyatt, Startup Strategist

  23 Dec 2011 | 12:16 pm

• 

  Finch Blogs

• Get Instant Access to God via Fiverr

  Finch

  29 Apr 2012 | 9:00 pm

  I’ve seen some crazy attempts at monetizing the masses on Fiverr. But this has to rank as one of my favourites. Proof in the pudding that Jesus is out there… if you’ve got five bucks. I never thought I’d see the day where praying could be outsourced to an Indian call center for five bucks, but that day appears to be drawing ever closer. “5 dollar make Him holler, honey boo boo…” What’s next? I’ll tell you what. I, Finch, will erase your sins for a pint of bitter and a packet of crisps. Call me for bulk order discounts. Really fucked up…

• Try Crunch Accounting For Free

  Finch

  26 Apr 2012 | 10:00 pm

  I’m a big fan of Crunch Accounting. I love the simplicity, and I love the convenience. It’s not for everybody but it’s perfect for me. Crunch is an accounting solution, exclusive to the UK, for freelancers and small businesses. I’ve been using the software for over a year, and I’ve endorsed it to many other Internet Marketers with similar business models. It’s a sleek, easy-to-use and very potent weapon in the battle to stay on top of my company’s finances, and by that virtue my own sanity. Before Crunch, I was a disorganized slacktopus of number…

• Bloggers: How to Deal with Criticism, Haters and Trolls

  Finch

  19 Apr 2012 | 11:00 pm

  There are three things you can take for granted when you run a highly opinionated blog. Criticism, haters and trolls. The first in that list, criticism, is perhaps the hardest to swallow. I believe one of the reasons why so many blogs die is because their owners find it tough to deal with the raft of criticism when their writing reaches a wider audience. When you stick your neck on the line and make your opinions heard, it can take a while for the first criticism to appear. Many times, bloggers will get used to a small crowd of praise and positivity towards their posts. Followers congregate…

• How to Avoid A Mental Breakdown From Working At Home

  Finch

  13 Apr 2012 | 6:28 am

  Do you remember what happened to Jack Torrance when he tried to ‘work from home’ in The Shining? Jack thought a little peace and quiet would be nice. What better way to finish his writing than to migrate to a remote hotel with nothing but time and his rocking shadow to fill the void? Unfortunately, that particular ‘home’ turned out to be harbouring some sinister spirits. Believe it or not, Internet Marketers and Jack Torrance have something in common. No, not haunted mansions. But rather, we have to deal with the psychological effect of isolation. We have to win the…

• Volusion Review – My First Impressions

  Finch

  5 Apr 2012 | 9:45 am

  I recently registered with Volusion to setup my own commerce store at FinchPremiums.com. I’ve been experimenting with the software for 2 weeks now, and I’m impressed at how many bases they’ve managed to cover. If you sell products – online or offline – Volusion is a powerful beast that deserves a closer look. If nothing else, it’s certainly a step up from E-Junkie. Volusion: The Basics Volusion simplifies the process of running an online store. It’s branded as the definitive all-in-one ecommerce solution, boasting 24/7 support, and over 35,000 active…

• 

  livityafrica.com

• Wax on, wax off: lessons The Karate Kid can teach us about tackling youth unemployment

  Gavin

  11 May 2012 | 7:43 am

  Miyagi: Now, ready? Daniel: Yeah, I guess so. Miyagi: [sighs] Daniel-san, must talk. [they both kneel] Miyagi: Walk on road, hm? Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later [makes squish gesture] Miyagi: get squish just like grape. Here, karate, same thing. Either you karate do “yes” or karate do “no.” You karate do “guess so,” [makes squish gesture] Miyagi: just like grape. Understand? Daniel: Yeah, I understand. Miyagi: Now, ready? Daniel: Yeah, I’m ready. I must have watched Karate Kid ten or twelve times before the…

• Live Mag SA: Issue 3 sneak peek

  Gavin

  21 Apr 2012 | 9:22 am

  Issue 3 will see a slight update in the design of Live Magazine SA, to bring it into line with the UK edition. Our four design musketeers, Sivu, Ryan, Clint and Thabo are hard at work, and here’s a little preview of how things are looking, with a story about Umuzi Photo Club…

• Welcome to Pollsmoor

  Gavin

  16 Apr 2012 | 5:29 am

  The typography of the sign at the entrance looks better suited to a theme park than a notorious maximum security jail. Pollsmoor’s prison gates appear innocuously opposite open green space along a leafy boulevard in moneyed Tokai. Most of the landscape around here is dedicated to gated three-storey new build residential complexes and quasi-suburban wine estates with award-winning restaurants recommended South Africa’s top gourmand guides. Once you turn into the parking lot for Pollsmoor and step out of the car, you’re well and truly through the rabbithole. M. turned up late. He was to…

• Live Mag SA on Bizcommunity

  Gavin

  4 Apr 2012 | 12:33 pm

  This week we were front page news on South Africa’s Bizcommunity platform, with a very detailed overview of what we’re doing down here. Read it now at http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/347/73283.html

• Highlights: December to February

  Gavin

  8 Mar 2012 | 5:13 am

  Here’s a round-up of all the main events of the last 3 months. ISSUE 1 DISTRIBUTION COMPLETED The Live Magazine team completed the distribution of issue 1 of Live Magazine SA, with 50,000 copies going out to shops, schools, universities, libraries and malls, as well as into the hands of young people at taxi ranks and train stations via our street team distribution network. The distribution concentrated on urban and township locations across Cape Town and Gauteng initially, with two phases of distribution before and after Christmas. ISSUE 2 HITS THE STREETS In late February the second…

• 

  Changemakers Ideas ExChange

• E HealthPoint transforms rural health care by providing access to clean water and affordable treatment

  John Converse Townsend

  25 Apr 2012 | 11:35 am

  Editor's note: This post was written by Andrea Boston, freelance writer for Ashoka Changemakers. For many families in developing countries, traveling to a nearby city for a doctor’s visit is expensive and inconvenient, and a lack of safe drinking water can make existing health conditions even worse. E HealthPoint provides low cost, clean water and quality medical treatment to rural Indian communities with a unique technology-based management and delivery system. read more

• Saúde Criança: A winning innovation for global family health

  John Converse Townsend

  20 Apr 2012 | 11:48 am

  Editor's note: This post was written by Vanuza Ramos, a Brazilian journalist and collaborator with Ashoka Changemakers, with contributions from Andrea Boston. The Saúde Criança Association (Children’s Health Association, or ASC), one of Brazil’s most robust health initiatives, has been recognized—not for the first time—for its clever and comprehensive approach to pediatric and family care. read more

• FNMI Summit Blog: Paul Martin's speech

  bjacoby

  18 Apr 2012 | 8:03 am

    by Shawna Snache There have always been Changemakers in our midst. read more

• Congratulations to the Winners of the Innovations for Health Competition!

  cmblog

  16 Apr 2012 | 2:33 pm

  After thoughtful deliberation, our expert panel of judges has selected three winners in the Innovations for Health: Solutions that Cross Borders competition, co-hosted by Ashoka Changemakers and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio.   read more

• Zoom in on Change Photo & Images Contest

  Tsega

  16 Apr 2012 | 8:17 am

  What does change look like in action? Show us—share your images in our #ZoomChange contest. read more

• 

  Charles Lee

• Startup: Not for the Faint of Heart

  Charles

  16 May 2012 | 12:18 pm

  The term “startup” rose in popularity during the dot-com bubble (mid to late 1990′s) when new tech ventures were plentiful. Today, the term is often used to describe new endeavors in multiple fields of passion. I personally like the term. It definitely conjures up feelings of hope, unyielding optimism, and a “nothing can stop us now” attitude. It’s usually inspiring to engage people in this startup phase of business or organizational development. Most startups carry a contagious zeal for their work and its potential to impact many. Exciting indeed.

• Ideation Conference 2012 in Pictures

  Charles

  12 May 2012 | 9:17 am

  Ideation Conference 2012 in Chicago was an unforgettable experience. Here are some inspiring photos by Scott Wade who captured our time together. Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

• Ideation Pre-Conference Intensives

  Charles

  27 Apr 2012 | 2:07 am

  Ideation Conference is a little over a week away! One of the new features we have this year is our Pre-Conference Intensives on Monday May 7th. We are hosting these intensives for those interested in adding an extra day to their conference experience. These 6 hour intensives are designed to be interactive and will be facilitated by thought leaders and practitioners specializing in the following areas of focus: (1) The Art of Collaboration and Finding Unexpected Partnerships (with Groupon & Friends) In this intensive, numerous thought leaders from socially minded companies and…

• Animated Graphic on Instagram Purchase

  Charles

  12 Apr 2012 | 8:32 am

  Here are some truly mind-boggling facts and stats about Facebook’s purchase of Instagram. I guess a lot can happen online in less than 2 years! Created by: Online MBA Programs

• Good Idea. Now What? Interviews

  Charles

  10 Apr 2012 | 11:06 am

  It’s been really great to see momentum build around “Good Idea. Now What?“. Thanks so much for all of you’ve shown by sharing the book with others! As an update, here are 2 recent interviews and a guest post I did around the book this past week: Audio Interview with Bill Ringle, Host of “My Quest for the Best”. Blog Interview with Dan Portnoy of Portnoy Media Group. Post about Execution on “Three Thoughts On” Blog. If you have any thoughts about the book, I’d love to hear from you! Also, be sure to like the book page on Facebook.

• 

  In Search of Sanuk - Charity and Volunteering in Bangkok

• Could You Help Someone Whose Face You Couldn’t See?

  Dwight Turner

  13 May 2012 | 11:05 pm

  The biggest obstacle to fundraising for refugees is the responsibility to do your best to protect their identities. I have to be careful about the photos and videos I post. If I can include them in pictures I share online, I have to use obscure angles or blurs. I’m even more selective about the volunteers who can participate in our work in Bangkok. And I can’t let them speak for themselves, no matter how loveable and articulate they are. Are they still worth helping? Yes, just like Ryan who now lives in the US, they have dreams of one day not living in fear. Dreams of being able…

• Sunshine Makes Me High: 7 Volunteering Photos to Inspire

  Dwight Turner

  5 May 2012 | 4:46 am

  It’s been super hot in Bangkok lately and as much I love the heat when it’s constantly 100 degrees it wears you down. The same is true of the things we decide to give our time, money and energy to no matter how worthwhile. As much as I love working with kids and families, when the emails pile up and the donations don’t seem to be coming in, fatigue sets in. I’m fortunate that it’s a holiday weekend in Thailand and to take advantage of not having Saturday school today, I’m relaxing and playing catch up on the week’s work. It’s important to take a…

• Extra Help and the April Fun Raising Report

  Dwight Turner

  29 Apr 2012 | 2:50 am

  “If I go home now I’ll just sleep the rest of the day, I don’t have anything to do,” says the young woman watching Tom & Jerry. She receives about $70 each month to help her survive living in Bangkok. She’s unable to work and often struggles with finding a sense of purpose while she bides her time waiting to hear back from the UN. “One year, nine months exactly,” she startles me with her accuracy when I ask how long she’s been in the country. “…still waiting…” She pauses and looks thoughtfully and confesses,…

• 7 Photos From Our Volunteer Led Culture Exchange in Bangkok

  Dwight Turner

  2 Apr 2012 | 7:43 am

  I’ve revamped the way we run volunteering to integrate volunteers better into the project. In the new format volunteers who commit themselves to our project, no matter the length of their time in Bangkok, can make a difference by helping us fundraise and pump new energy into each of our initiatives. If you’re interested in joining, please revisit the guidelines on our volunteer page. Many of our recent volunteers have been funneled into a culture exchange activity on the outskirts of Bangkok. Instead of only teaching English, the volunteers exchange instruction in English for…

• Video Game Saturday and Volunteering Program Changes

  Dwight Turner

  18 Mar 2012 | 3:26 pm

  This week I’ve been restructuring our volunteer  program, so I’m able to focus my efforts on finding sponsors for the other half of the thirteen families we support. The changes include hiring help and implementing a some fees to help cover costs. If you’re volunteering with us in Bangkok or planning to, read the new guidelines for participation on our volunteer page. Also happy to report a good time with the kids from Saturday school this weekend. They joined their high school mentors for a few hours of crafts, video games and pizza! Next week, we’re back on track…

• 

  maternova.net

• Cesarean section

  Maternova

  16 May 2012 | 8:21 am

  A 2009 study in a Nigerian hospital showed that the death on the table under anaesthesia was 5.6 per 1000 anaesthetics. Maternal Deaths During Caesarean Delivery In A Developing Country-Perspective From Nigeria - ISPUB: http://bit.ly/L5YSzW Ugochukwu Okafor FMCA Department Of Anaesthesia, University Of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Ituku Ozalla, Enugu, Nigeria Hyginus Ezegwui http://www.medicine.caerdydd.ac.uk/media/filer/2012/03/04/anaesthetics__... clyburn@cf.ac.uk http://www.brighamandwomens.org/Research/labs/CenterforSurgeryandPublicH...

• Maternal morbidity: maternal deaths are just the 'tip of the iceberg'

  Maternova

  15 May 2012 | 10:04 am

  maternal survival Millennium Development Goal 5 sets out to “Improve Maternal Health” by 2015. To track progress on this target, researchers rely on maternal mortality ratios and rates of skilled birth attendance as indicators. While these are important proxy measurements, maternal health is not the same as maternal survival. Indeed for every woman who dies from pregnancy-related causes, approximately 20 women develop maternal morbidities—illnesses and injuries that have a significant impact on their own health and that of their families and communities. Moreover, skilled birth…

• 2 "Mompreneurs" unite to empower women globally

  Maternova

  2 May 2012 | 5:01 pm

  culture baby Maternova and Culture Baby have partnered in a creative way to make a newborn's entry into the world connect even more closely with the rest of the globe. Natalia Rankine Galloway is the Founder of Culture Baby After the birth of her first baby she felt very acutely the good fortune she had to give birth supported by skilled care. She also wanted to create a business that directly connected the birth of a new baby to something bigger--a lot bigger- to a global consciousness. Natalia's products are sourced from artisans all around the world--she finds beautiful hand crafted baby…

• Traditional Birth Attendants Save Newborns Using Bulb Syringes

  Maternova

  23 Apr 2012 | 8:05 am

  The bulb syringe is a part of many U.S. parents' armamentorium of infant supplies, but in other hands it can be truly a life saver. In order to improve birth outcomes, many organizations have designed clean birth kits containing supplies and instructions to help birth attendants prevent infection. However, many “next-generation kits” are in the works to help manage other post-delivery complications impacting mothers and newborns. One such enhanced birth kit was tested in Zambia by Dr. Christopher Gill—the first we’ve seen that has incorporated the bulb syringe for use by traditional…

• A new take on the clean birth kit: rebranding as a wedding gift

  Maternova

  18 Apr 2012 | 3:23 pm

  CBK with bow When we came across this unique take on the clean birth kit we were really impressed--anything that puts a unique, positive spin on creating a safer birth is very welcome! This Tibetan birth kit combines 'how to' images and actual implements in a beautiful box meant to be given as a wedding gift. The RISD team rebranded the concept of birth kit as 'sanitary item' into wedding gift. To be clear, this birth kit was only taken through the prototype stage and is not available anywhere for purchase (yet). Kathleen O'Donnell, Soomi Lee and Esther An worked on this project as part of a…

• 

  The Official Rang De Blog

• The Joy of Volunteering

  admin

  3 May 2012 | 11:58 pm

  By Sreekanth Raghunath, Rang De Volunteer and Bangalore Chapter President A casual search on LinkedIn for innovative social enterprises working towards poverty alleviation in India is what led me to Rang De almost 3 years ago. Since then, I have been volunteering with the Bangalore Chapter of Rang De! Below is my attempt to put together a brief write-up regarding why Rang De needs volunteers, what it means to be a volunteer at Rang De, what roles, responsibilities and opportunities volunteering brings with it, how volunteering can change one’s world view and the kind of impact one can…

• Start Young!

  admin

  26 Apr 2012 | 7:38 am

   Malini Srikrishna, High School Student and Rang De Volunteer talks about the importance of starting young in the social space: “Starting young is important because this makes sure that social service isn’t just an activity for students but a way of life.”   Organizations like Youth For Seva and Sri Sathya Sai Youth have made schools send their students out to help their communities and do their part for the society. They have personally recruited students and brought them out into the real world, shown them the poverty ridden streets, children who are way less fortunate…

• Rang De Entrepreneur Success Story: Saraswati Devi

  admin

  5 Apr 2012 | 6:31 am

  From our Field Partner, Udyogini Saraswati Devi is a disadvantaged woman social entrepreneur who overcame all odds to build an enterprise that is of direct benefit to the community and herself. Saraswati Devi being felicitated for her achievements Saraswati Devi is a simple, yet sharp 30-year old woman of Gambharia Village in Bundu Block, Ranchi district. Almost 70% of the population in Bundu is dependent on Agriculture which in turn, is totally dependent on the monsoon owing to the lack of irrigation facilities. Hence, the villagers are engaged only for about six months in a year. The…

• Latest Updates from the Rang De Tech Team!

  admin

  27 Mar 2012 | 7:27 am

  By Trilok Jain, VP Technology at Rang De. One of the primary areas of focus for us at Rang De is to try and make the experience of our social investors better. Be it performance or ease of use, we continuously strive to improve the overall experience of users on our website. Here are some new features that are now available to our social investors: Improved Portfolio and Borrower Repayment Visualization If you log-in to your Rang De account today, you’ll notice a map representing the distribution of your social investments on your dashboard. This map of India displays your investment…

• Run for Rang De at the 10K in May!

  admin

  20 Mar 2012 | 2:53 am

  Rang De is excited to participate in the TCS World 10K Run which will be held in Bangalore on Sunday, the 27th of May, 2012. The run starts and ends at Kanteerava Stadium. Registration begins on Wednesday, the 21st of March on the TCS 10K Website. You can sign up for the 10k run or the 5.7K Majja Run (see the official website for the full list of categories). How does Run for Rang De work? Rang De Team Members at the TCS 10K Run in 2011 In the past, Rang De Team members, volunteers, chapter members and supporters came forward to Run for Rang De. Each one pledged to raise an amount of their…

• 

  Nate Riggs Blog | Content Marketing and Social Media for Business

• Ohio Growth Summit 2012: 13 Indisputable Reasons You Must Attend

  nateriggs

  10 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  It’s that time of year again. Every Spring brings a stellar event to the Columbus, Ohio community. The Ohio Growth Summit is in it’s 7th year and going after lucky number 7 with some serious gusto!  If you live in and around the state of Ohio and work for or own a small business, #OGS12 has evolved over the years to offer topic discussions and expert presentations that can help you to make an impact on what matters most to all businesses – growth. In the past few years, attendees have called for loads of information on using social media as part of a small business…

• Pinterest Analytics: Install the Pinerly Browser Extension

  nateriggs

  8 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  It seems that the Pinterest bubble has burst, but all is not lost for marketers looking to tap into the power of visual niche-network’s scrolling-based rabbit hole, in hopes of drive traffic and attention to their brand. Pinerly is one of the first 3rd party Pinterest analytics apps that’s already making progress towards gathering user engagement insights from content on Pinterest boards. The start up has launched a Pinterest analytics dashboard that integrates directly into any user’s account. While the service is only currently available to select users in a private Beta,…

• 23 New Marketing Books to Keep Your Nose Pointed (Plus 1 More)

  nateriggs

  25 Apr 2012 | 2:30 pm

  Photo by fmgbain  A few weeks ago Aleksey Kernes tweeted me to ask about what new marketing books I recommend as good reading. A good question deserves a good answer. Here’s a list of some new marketing book titles that I believe have the potential to keep your nose pointed down towards the table for long periods of time. Fair warning. New Marketing Books I’ve Read and Recommend Please note that while this is a numbered list for order’s sake, in no way is this a ranked order. The list reflects the order of how the titles randomly popped in my head. The Cluetrain…

• 

  EllieFunDay

• A Cloud Party

  EllieFunDay

  4 May 2012 | 11:00 am

  Yes, sometimes at Ellie Fun Day we like to throw parties for special friends. My dear friend Traci at 45 Wall Design was celebrating a special birthday, so her husband Herman decided to enlist me and her cousin-in-law, Rachel to come up with something fabulous for her. We were brainstorming ways to bless Traci and their new Eichler and came up with the idea of showering her with blessings. We enlisted all of her friends to write a phrase of blessing for her and the new house. I printed them onto raindrops that hung from the linen cloud mobile that I sewed. The light was just perfect in her…

• Start Something that Matters Winner!

  EllieFunDay

  25 Apr 2012 | 11:00 am

  And we have a winner for our “Start Something that Matters” contest! Gabi B said. “I would like to rent out a room in a convention centre, church, etc.. and give a presentation about the north Koreans and there struggles and also tell people how they can help and get involved. I want to start a non profit org. to help the NK orphans and mothers and I think that if I just started going to different places and speaking it would bring me that much closer to my goal and hopefully encourage others to help. I would use the money to help pay for the auditorium or centre fee.”…

• Ellie Fun Day Pop Up Shop @ Slave Next Door Event

  EllieFunDay

  24 Apr 2012 | 11:15 am

  This past Friday we had a chance to set up a pop-up shop at The Slave Next Door event hosted by Project Peace. This event specifically highlighted the issue of modern day slavery  in our own backyard. We were really floored when we heard the story of Minh Danh. She was sold for sex by her own parents right here in San Jose, California. We first heard about Minh’s story on Dateline NBC, but to hear her speak, opened our eyes wider. She was eloquent and dynamic, and spoke not as a victim, but an advocate. The speaker that came up after her, Kevin Bales, of Free the Slaves,  said that…

• What to do with $50 “Start Something that Matters”

  EllieFunDay

  10 Apr 2012 | 11:00 am

  10 EASY Ideas to “Start Something that Matters“ 1.) Buy books for your local preschool in need 2.) Purchase toys for a local women’s shelter 3.) Do a carwash to fundraise for your own “Start Something that Matters” project 4.) Start a one-for-one donation for the local Boys and Girls club. For every ball donated, you will match it 5.) Find a children’s hospital that allows you to visit and give away balloons to kids that are on the mend 6.) Buy a $50 grocery card for a friend who is having a hard time making ends meet 7.) Start a garden and give the extras…

• Giveaway! TOMS “Start Something that Matters” Book + $50 to start something that matters

  EllieFunDay

  3 Apr 2012 | 11:10 am

  So I was graciously given 2 copies of “Start Something That Matters” written by Blake Mycoskie of TOMS shoes. One to review and one to GIVE AWAY! For all of you that don’t know who Blake Mycoskie is, he is the founder of TOMS shoes. For every shoe you purchase TOMS gives one away to a child in need. They now have branched out to glasses and books. I’ve truly come to look at Blake as a forerunner in social entrepreneurship. (I’ve even emailed him for advice about Ellie Fun Day and he’s responded!) Thanks BLAKE! Let me tell you a little about how Ellie Fun…

• 

  Justmeans

• Social Innovation: iPhone Ensures the Visually Impaired Are Connected

  Sangeeta Haindl

  17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

  The iPhone has turned out to be one of the most revolutionary social innovation developments since the invention of Braille for the visually impaired. The iPhone and its world of apps have transformed the lives of this community, teaching us all a lesson in the transformative and often unpredictable impacts that technology can have on our lives. The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and the rest of the Smartphone gang probably at the start seemed like an adversity for the blind, because now everything was based on touch screens, and if you were visually impaired, it would just feel like a…

• Social Innovation Introduces 'The Granny Cloud'

  Sangeeta Haindl

  16 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

  Have you heard about a social innovation initiative called, 'The Granny Cloud'? It is where U.K.-based grandmothers volunteer to help teach children in India. This project is the brainchild of Prof Sugata Mitra, who is known for his hole-in-the-wall computer scheme which put basic PCs into some of the poorest parts of India. Prof Mitra installed the first computer on the wall of his Delhi office, opposite a slum, and was amazed to see that the children, initially curious about the machine, soon became self-taught experts. Within days they were able to browse the Internet, cut and paste copy,…

• Patagonia in Canada: Toronto Store Makes Sustainability A Driving Goal

  Meirav Even Har

  15 May 2012 | 6:16 pm

  The Patagonia activewear brand and story is well known and is synonymous with corporate sustainability and citizenship. In Canada, Patagonia is the new kid on the block. Literally. Its first retail store opened less than two years ago in the vicinity of Europe Bound and Mountain Equipment Co-op. But already the store has become a hub for raising environmental awareness and advocacy activity. In a phone interview with Andrea Reekes, manager of the Toronto Store, she explains how the brand and mission is interwoven with sustainability.Building a Toronto Patagonia communityAs part of…

• Getting Ready for Its Rio+20 Debut: The Natural Capital Declaration

  Reynard Loki

  15 May 2012 | 5:31 pm

  In the run-up to Rio+20, more finance sector CEOs have made a commitment to support the preservation of ecosystem servicesThe concept of "ecosystem services"that humans benefit from the products that nature providesis an ancient one. Even Plato realized the connection:"What now remains of the formerly rich land is like the skeleton of a sick man with all the fat and soft earth having wasted away and only the bare framework remaining. Formerly, many of the mountains were arable. The plaines that were full of rich soil are now marshes. Hills that were once covered with forests and produced…

• Affordable Healthcare and Safe Drinking Water through Social Innovation

  Vikas Vij

  15 May 2012 | 4:42 am

  Health Point Services is a unique social enterprise in the heart of rural Punjab in India that is delivering healthcare and safe drinking water at an affordable cost. Co-founded by Amit Jain in 2009, the enterprise uses social innovation to address the needs of the rural communities.Health Point has won numerous social innovation awards and recognitions, including the US Aid Grant Challenge Award and the Tech Nokia Global Health Award. The enterprise has also been ranked among MIT's top 50 innovative companies in 2012. Health Point has even earned the distinction of becoming at case study at…

• 

  Naveen Jain's Blog

• Education, Meet the 21st Century

  Naveen Jain

  8 May 2012 | 6:10 pm

  Last Wednesday, Harvard and MIT announced their partnership in a venture called edX, an organization they have established to offer free open-source technology based distance learning courses. This is a real step forward for open- source education because it provides access to high-level academics to those who may not be best served by the traditional higher education system. It also represents a paradigm shift in ....

• Think Conservation Will Fix Our Sustainability Crisis? Think Again.

  Naveen Jain

  4 Apr 2012 | 11:03 am

  April 22 is Earth Day, a day each year when we focus on the need to preserve our natural environment. Besides being encouraged to gather at pro-environment rallies, such as the one that takes place each year on the National Mall in Washington DC, people are urged to take small, yet positive actions to help save the earth. Today, social media and Internet technologies have ....

• International Women’s Day- Celebrating Women’s Accomplishments

  Naveen Jain

  8 Mar 2012 | 6:46 pm

  Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. This day has been observed for over 100 years as a way to celebrate the successes and achievements of women around the world and to promote awareness of gender issues that still exist. Thousands of events are being held globally today to celebrate and recognize women’s achievements now and in the past. While walls (and ceilings) have been ....

• Social Entrepreneurship Still Thriving

  Naveen Jain

  17 Feb 2012 | 4:19 pm

  I continue to see stories on the topic of social entrepreneurship in the news. In a time when people are as concerned with the social impact of their spending as they are with what they are spending on, social entrepreneurship is the way that all can benefit. And there are so many examples of great socially focused companies. One company that many people are familiar ....

• What is the Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE?

  Naveen Jain

  27 Jan 2012 | 12:16 pm

  I encourage all of you to read about the Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE. This X PRIZE encourages entrepreneurs and innovators to build a device that can allow a user to make diagnoses without having to visit a doctor or hospital. Imagine a portable, wireless device that can diagnose diseases in remote areas of the world. Read the full description below, which comes from the official ....

• 

  Social Enterprise Buzz

• The First Annual Impact Forum in Singapore 2012

  Melissa Ip

  15 May 2012 | 12:59 pm

  On June 25-26, the Impact Forum 2012: Igniting Capital Markets for Social Good will bring together over 500 participants and speakers at the alumni complex of the National University of Singapore.  The Forum is part of an overall mission by the Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIXA) to bridge the gap between impact investors and social enterprises in Asia. IIXA has been working on several platforms to advance their mission, including a private marketplace called Impact Partners that links accredited investors wanting both financial and social outcomes in their investments to social…

• Food For Thought: Is Food the Solution to Economic and Social Inclusion?

  Melissa Ip

  14 May 2012 | 9:25 am

  Take a stroll through Singapore’s bustling hawker centres and you’ll find this sight: stir-fried egg noodles tossed above a flaming fire with moist shrimp and succulent pork, served with a sliver of lime and sambal chili.  The next time you order this dish at a hawker centre in Singapore, it may very well be prepared by one of many vulnerable people trained in the kitchen. Hawker centres remain popular for providing inexpensive food conveniently located near bus interchanges and train stations.  In response to rising food costs, the Government of Singapore announced in October 2011 that…

• Colorado Senate Passes Benefit Corporation Bill

  Melissa Ip

  9 May 2012 | 2:30 pm

  Sponsored by Senator Bob Bacon, Bill 182 passed Senate Monday by a vote of 31-4, which would make Colorado the eighth state to have the benefit corporation legislation.  The bill would allow companies to incorporate non-financial interests, such as social benefit and environmental impact, as part of their fiduciary duty along with bottom-line profit for their shareholders. Benefit corporation law developed out of concern that entrepreneurs have on their social and environmental missions being pushed aside from mere profit-maximization decisions.  A company with a benefit corporation class…

• 5 Social Entrepreneurs Awarded at World Economic Forum on Africa

  Melissa Ip

  8 May 2012 | 1:39 pm

  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Five leading innovators were named the Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2012 Africa by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship at the World Economic Forum on Africa from May 9-11. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, presented the awards to the winners on the opening day of the meeting in the presence of President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of Nigeria, President Jakaya M. Kikwete of Tanzania, and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia. “Africa has seen tremendous growth over…

• Hillary Clinton Backs Grameen Bank Independence

  Melissa Ip

  7 May 2012 | 11:07 am

  The Bangladeshi government announced in recent that it will be investigating the affairs of Grameen Bank’s associated social businesses.  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton touched down in Bangladesh following a truce between the government and the opposition amidst weeks of strikes, demonstrations, and violence.  Yesterday, she urged the government not to do anything that would undermine the effectiveness of Grameen Bank at the International School Dhaka. “We do not want to see any action taken that would in any way undermine or interfere in the operations of the Grameen Bank…

• 

  Give to Get Jobs RSS

• Social Enterprise Manager -- Success Measures

  16 May 2012 | 7:44 am

  The Social Enterprise Manager provides timely business and financial analysis, and planning and reporting in support of the management and growth of the Success Measures enterprise

• Senior IT Consultant - Waterloo

  10 May 2012 | 2:27 pm

  Are you looking for a change? Do you have a passion for helping those in the community with limited resources? Do you believe in creating technology solutions that empower organizations?

• Campus Representative

  8 May 2012 | 7:59 pm

  Campus sales and marketing representative

• Business Development Intern

  2 May 2012 | 10:04 am

  Business Development Intern

• Award Winning Social-Good Startup Seeks Designer

  27 Apr 2012 | 7:55 pm

  psGive is looking for skilled graphic designers to assist with our site refresh.

• 

  Development Marketplace - Turning Ideas into Action

• The Raw Material that is Waste

  Parvathi Menon

  8 May 2012 | 11:56 am

  It is estimated that every Indian consumes approximately 8 kgs of plastic a year. If even 20% of the total plastic consumed gets into the waste cycle, that equals over a billion kilograms of plastic waste that will be generated in India just this year alone. The per capita figure usage has gone up from 4 Kgs per Indian in 2006 and is expected to grow to 25 Kgs of plastic used by every Indian per year by 2020. Imagine how much plastic waste we will be dealing with by 2020? Seriously alarming. Remember the film Wall E? *sigh*.. The United Nation’s Environment Program published an excellent…

• Beyond Hero Worship

  Jill Richmond

  9 Apr 2012 | 3:28 pm

  Supporters of social entrepreneurship often cite examples of “heroes” who have successfully built organizations to solve social problems on a global scale. But social entrepreneurship also includes many efforts to fix targeted, local problems rather than working toward large-scale global change. An increasing number of social entrepreneurs are experimenting with ways to use commercially generated revenue to grow and maintain their social impact. These findings are part of one of the most robust quantitative studies of social enterprise to date. Undertaken by Harvard Business School…

• Transforming Plastic Bottles into Classrooms

  Myra Valenzuela

  26 Mar 2012 | 4:13 pm

  In the Philippines and Guatemala, local groups have taken the mantra “Reduce, Re-use, Recycle” to a whole new level. MyShelter Foundation and Hug It Forward use discarded plastic bottles as ‘eco-bricks’ to work with local communities to build “Bottle Schools” – providing an innovative response to the problems of plastic waste and the chronic lack of educational infrastructure. read more

• 'All People Want to Do Is Live Their Lives'

  Elizabeth Howton

  22 Mar 2012 | 3:32 pm

  "All people want to do is live their lives." Dr. Suneeta Singh made that simple yet powerful statement during a panel discussion on “Empowering Gender Minorities in South Asia” on March 14, 2012 at the World Bank. Singh, a former Bank staffer and CEO of consulting firm Amaltas, spoke via videoconference from Delhi, India, while Nepal’s first openly gay elected official, Sunil Babu Pant, dialed in from Kathmandu. Pant told the story of how he built a grassroots movement of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) people in Nepal, beginning in 2001. A turning point was in 2007,…

• AVN is shortlisted for Buckminster Fuller Challenge!

  Tony Kaye

  15 Mar 2012 | 11:21 am

  Association La Voûte Nubienne (AVN) was awarded a DM grant in 2009 to test an innovative strategy for scaling up and accelerating the recruitment and training of Nubian Vault (NV) apprentices and the growth of a self-sustaining market in NV houses in Burkina Faso. The Nubian Vault is an ancient Egyptian technique of building vaulted roofs made from local bricks without using any wood, instead of typical tin roofs that are more expensive and use scarce wood during construction. AVN is transforming traditional housing available in the harsh climate of the Sahel region by providing a…

• 

  Austin Center for Design

• Describing The Value of Your Product

  Jon Kolko

  16 May 2012 | 9:53 am

  I’m advising a startup that’s in a fairly typical “starting” position: they have a team, a good idea of a high level topic (“We’re focusing on financial markets, not on baking bread”), and a series of product features that they know they want to include in the company. They have a timeframe for success, driven by the amount of money they have, their perspective on how fast their competition will work, and, as is usually the case, a bit of arbitrariness. And they have a name. And now, they need to build a product. There are lots of different processes for identifying what to…

• File Management and the Pragmatics of Digital Work

  Jon Kolko

  15 May 2012 | 7:32 am

  I wrote, previously, that it’s important to “… be extraordinarily diligent about file management. I maintain a rigid file structure of every document, artifact, presentation, and design deliverable, organized by client, project, project phase, and so on. When I enter a new context, I can immediately change my work space to ensure I’m ready to work; there’s no searching for files, or locating old emails. It’s just ready to go.” I want to describe in more detail how this works. Files All of my files have a name that’s extremely specific, and follows a pattern like this:…

• What Does It Mean To Be Playful?

  Jon Kolko

  14 May 2012 | 10:57 am

  Most designers acknowledge that having a sense of playfulness is important to their work. But what does it mean, and why does it work? The word itself is light; it implies a lack of care for repercussions, outcomes, or intent. There’s a sense of doing something as an end in itself – of trying things for the sake of trying them, or simply to see what happens. For me, play means being “light-hearted”: taking things less seriously, re-casting things from different, unexpected, or purposefully bizarre perspectives, or teasing an idea, literally making fun of an idea as it develops. When…

• Announcing A New Conference in Austin, Texas

  AC4D

  14 May 2012 | 10:27 am

  We’re please to announce a new design event in Austin, Texas: A Mingle-Mangle Razzle-Dazzle Ragtag Design Extravaganza! Join us October 5th and 6th, 2012 in Austin, Texas, for 2 days of thought-provoking and inspirational conversations about the role of design, technology, and “user experience” in shaping the fabric of society. This design event is a conference not to be missed. Confirmed speakers include: Allan Chochinov, Chair, Products of Design, School of Visual Arts Bryony Gomez-Palacio, Co-Founder, UnderConsideration Anya Kamenetz, Senior Writer at Fast Company Alan…

• The Ingredients of Innovation: Framing, Empathy, Play, Insights, Constraints and Synthesis

  Jon Kolko

  13 May 2012 | 6:54 am

  Here in Mexico, I’m teaching a course in innovation. The focus of my class is on “customer relevance” – what makes a product have emotional and lasting resonance with a customer? We’re working through eight or nine methods that can be applied in the context of research, synthesis, and prototyping. All of the ideas fall back on the core themes of Framing, Empathy, Play, Insights, Constraints and Synthesis. To me, these are the ingredients of design – the structures upon which a thoughtful approach to design lies. Framing describes the perspective taken when approaching a new and…

• 

  A World Not Yet in Existence

• the lawyer i want to be

  B. M. Wells

  15 May 2012 | 12:55 pm

  In the legal profession perception is everything, and where reputation reigns, you are what others think you are.  Attorneys must exude trustworthiness and competency to win clients’ hearts and colleagues’ respect.  So in addition to producing quality work, they must tuck in their button-down shirts and shave their grizzly faces.  The silicon-valley programmer’s dress code … Continue reading »

• who is b. m. wells?

  B. M. Wells

  6 May 2012 | 4:45 am

  Don't you just hate being a walking cliché? I sure do. But whether you embrace it or run from it, you'll end up in the same place, stinking the same cliché stench. And what of your old friend Mr. Wells? Quite frankly, the guy reeks. My name is Ben, and I am an existentially anxious 24 year old, likely in the throws of a quarter-life crisis, bemoaning the prospect of committing to a career. I feel that I am on the verge of a realization, perhaps signaling my official entry into adulthood, that the life we always imagined we'd live rarely materializes. Compounding this realization is a…

• behold, the power of the crowd

  B. M. Wells

  28 Apr 2012 | 8:30 pm

  If you seek to live first and work second, do read on. I come bearing news from the future, and the future is a crowded place. At times, this can be frustrating; longer lines, more traffic. But there is a massive upside: the crowd is a largely untapped, massive resource. The crowd I speak of has published an encyclopedia of the sum of all human knowledge, restaurant guide, and a restoration manual for your old Volkswagen. Q: So, how shall we tackle the issues facing the world with the tools we have? A: Simple, just turnaround and face the crowd. For entrepreneurs with limitless dreams but…

• the authors among us

  B. M. Wells

  22 Apr 2012 | 4:58 am

  Man is different from the rest of the animal kingdom.  From nothing, he creates something.  He fills empty pages with words, blank walls with murals and silent rooms with music.  Perhaps this is his natural drive, for he is after all, the “tool-making animal.” oh that i had – mt eden & ruby frost   … Continue reading »

• the simple, good, life; aka typical jack johnson afternoon

  B. M. Wells

  10 Apr 2012 | 6:57 pm

  In the back of our house there’s a trail that won’t end We were walking so far that it grew back again There’s no trail at all only grass growing taller Get out my machete and battle with time once again But I’m bound to lose ’cause I’ll be damned if time don’t win I’ve … Continue reading »

• 

  PASSIVE CLEANING INCOME

• Your Tax Options For Going into Business for Yourself

  Eddie

  10 May 2012 | 9:41 pm

  Tax season is over, and I’m happy to report that I was left owing $1,800 to taxman. No surprise though, my income rose 23% over the same time last year. I was pretty impressed, hence for not being surprised that I’m owing. But, after ever tax season, I’m often wondering how can I improve for next year? Self employment is the answer, and whether you choose to go full-time or part-time, self employment can be big help to help to elevate a healthy income. Choosing what you do for self employment part-time or full-time is not as important, as long as it’s legal. You can…

• Fostering an Epedemic of Enthusiasm

  Eddie

  8 May 2012 | 6:58 pm

  As a business owner and as talented as you are, you’ll notice over time that your employees will not be as dedicated and enthusiastic to the same degree that you are. Those who share your drive may leave at some point and launch their own business. Your job as the business owner and the face of the business is to maintain a sufficiently high level of ambition among your staff. This task is no walk in the park, but most driven businesspeople can complete this task more effectively than traditional managers. Your business is essentially a team, and nothing should be done without your…

• 7 Things Every New Entrepreneur Should Know

  Eddie

  2 May 2012 | 12:43 pm

  Starting a business is likely the most exciting time you’ll experience over the life of your new start-up. There’s the magic of creating something from scratch, overcoming adversity and seeing your business grown from nothing to hopefully something bigger. The other side of the coin is that running a business will get frustrating at times, because no matter how hard you try, you’ll repeatedly fail at something. I’m that someone who’s been through the start-up stage  twice in my life. I started a successful cleaning business, and a pretty successful personal…

• 

  B2N | Social Focus Consulting

• 360 Degree Feedback for Volunteers

  2 May 2012 | 6:01 pm

  How are you currently evaluating the performance of your volunteers, if at all? One of the more common ways of evaluation is through the volunteer program manager. In this respect, the manager's job is to give feedback on the volunteer's performance so that the volunteer can improve. Further, the evaluation serves as a control point where volunteers who aren't fitting in can leave or those who are high performing can be given more responsibility.While a volunteer program manager's evaluation is important, this method provides an incomplete picture of the volunteer's performance. Since the…

• The importance of volunteers (part 3 of 3)

  20 Apr 2012 | 3:18 am

  In celebration of National Volunteer Week (April 15 to 21, 2012), here's the last of three blog posts covering my life-long experience with volunteering. The first post covered my experience as a volunteer. The second post covered my experience as the founder of a volunteer-based program at the University of Toronto.This post will cover my experience watching Power Unit, a volunteer-based youth organization, grow and thrive.In the summer of 2010, newly graduated with an MBA from the Queen's School of Business and looking for a job, I relentlessly searched for networking…

• The importance of volunteers (part 2 of 3)

  18 Apr 2012 | 5:54 am

  In celebration of National Volunteer Week (April 15 to 21, 2012), here's the second of three blog posts covering my life-long experience with volunteering. The first post covered my experience as a volunteer. This post is dedicated to my experience as the founder of a volunteer-based program at the University of Toronto.A colleague of mine joked how he would forever remember his University of Toronto (UofT) student number because this is how you were known on campus. To register for programs, to sign-up for courses, to inquire about your library account, to check grades, etc.,…

• The importance of volunteers (part 1 of 3)

  14 Apr 2012 | 2:49 pm

  In celebration of National Volunteer Week (April 15 to 21, 2012), here's the first of three blog posts covering my life-long experience with volunteering. This post is dedicated to my experience as a volunteer. I've held many roles over my lifetime, but none as emotion-filled as a hospital volunteer.Growing up most of my life in the Malvern area of Scarborough had its ups and downs. I still remember the gasps of telling someone where I was from amid the air of increasingly negative media attention. From an outsider's point of view, Malvern was a drug-infested gangland. To my family, it was…

• Creating a happy organizational culture

  6 Apr 2012 | 6:34 am

  I recently attended the Social Enterprise Experts talk at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Bruce Poon Tip, Founder and CEO of G Adventures, gave a great talk about the importance of a supportive corporate culture to organizational success. Listed below are Bruce's four dimensions of happiness along with my own comments.A supportive culture facilitates employee (and volunteer) happiness under four dimensions:1) perceived progress: Employees and/or volunteers need to feel that they can grow within the organization. There needs to be an opportunity for them to gain…

• 

  TeasasTips

• Build Your Email List For Lifelong Rewards

  LaTease Rikard

  14 May 2012 | 7:19 am

  Grab our FREE featured resource of the day! Build it or Buy it Email marketers must have opt-in lists in order to pursue their selling goals and operate their email marketing business. Since the CAN SPAM Act became law in 2004 it is against the law to send bulk marketing emails without the express consent of the recipients so opt-in lists are a must. Building an opt-in list from scratch is a lot of just plain old hard work. It is a time consuming task. Building an opt-in list means that articles must be written and submitted to articles banks. It means that opt-in incentives must be created…

• What is B2B Email Marketing?

  LaTease Rikard

  13 May 2012 | 2:31 pm

  B2B Email Marketing B2B (Business to Business) email marketing is a bit different than B2C (Business to Customer) email marketing. If your email marketing business focuses on products and services that are only of interest to other Internet marketers or other online businesses, you need to be certain that you are not over-doing your email marketing letters. Business oriented people see email marketing as a tool that can be useful but can also become not useful and even intrusive. People who are operating businesses online are extremely busy people. Each day their email inboxes are full to the…

• No Job? That's Ok, Entrepreneurs See Opportunity

  LaTease Rikard

  12 May 2012 | 5:44 am

  Featured FREE Resource: by Docstoc. Browse more infographics. America, as we all know, is “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” It’s also the land of the entrepreneur. This is abundantly clear from recent statistics published by the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. More than half-a-million new businesses are created in the United States every month—543,000 new businesses, to be exact. This added up to a total of more than 6.5 million new businesses started in the U.S. in 2011. The U.S. has been widely viewed as the best place in the world to start a new business…

• How to Write Great Subject Lines - Business Email Secrets

  LaTease Rikard

  11 May 2012 | 11:53 pm

  Grab our FREE featured resource of the day! Rather than making email obsolete, widespread use of social media has in many ways made email an even more powerful marketing channel. Here's a free ebook The Definitive Guide to Integrating Social Media and Email and a video below to show you how to write great email subject lines. First off, social media usage actually makes consumers even more engaged with their email inbox. Plus social media users are likely to share their email-delivered content with their personal networks. That's additional juice for email campaigns. In the new eBook The…

• Article Writing and the Email Marketer

  LaTease Rikard

  10 May 2012 | 8:54 am

  You have got to have an opt-in list if you are an email marketer. There simply is no other choice. After Congress passed the CAN SPAM Act and it became law in 2004, you cannot legally send bulk marketing emails without the express consent of the recipients. If you do, you will be fined heavily. The law provides fines for up to $11,000 per incident. So...there you have it! You either have an opt-in list or you will have to find another way to make a living. One of the best ways to build your opt-in list is to write and market articles. Each time an article that you have written and submitted…

• 

  The Aspiring Renaissance Man

• Coachella & the Aftermath

  ConnorMeaks

  25 Apr 2012 | 11:18 pm

  Back with mind (sort of) in tact Coachella easily ranks as one of the most amazing weekends of my life. Every renaissance man enjoys tasteful music. It was your stereotypical three day bender with minimal sleep and terrible 3am Del Taco missions that always seem to be a good idea at the time. The performances [...]

• Goal Setting and Accountability

  ConnorMeaks

  18 Apr 2012 | 12:02 am

  I wrote a couple weeks ago about having lofty goals and ambitions. A friend from work asked why I wouldn’t declare my goals to the world. My initial reaction was terror. I struggle with opening myself up to vulnerability.  No doubt some will clown my aspirations as some of them are ridiculous. (what the hell [...]

• Fueled by Fives on Easter

  ConnorMeaks

  10 Apr 2012 | 11:11 pm

  Great response to 5Run this weekend. Despite my nightly activities, I managed to hammer out three amazing 5Runs: around UBC, the west end / sea wall and along the beach from tower to Kits and Granville Island.  I only managed to get caught in one hail storm in the process. My legs are absolutely killing [...]

• 5Run: Bring Fun to Running

  ConnorMeaks

  4 Apr 2012 | 12:05 am

  Sunday I woke up extremely hung-over. I have a strange relationship with such a state: I always feel that I need to have a productive day following a pizza infused late night endeavor. Sunday, I decided to get going and shake the char with a long run. Jogging at one pace has to be up [...]

• Amateur Hour Almost up – What Next?

  ConnorMeaks

  31 Mar 2012 | 7:47 pm

  School is starting to wind down. After a brutal week, I managed to get through the last two term papers of my illustrious UBC career. Classes end next week. One final separates me from freedom. My amateur hour undergrad is almost over. What happens next? That right there is a loaded question. Soon I will [...]