Social Entrepreneurship

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    TreeHugger

  • The Week in Pictures: Oil Rigs on Fire, Paris Hilton's Doghouse, Mount Kilimanjaro, and More (Slideshow)

    8 Nov 2009 | 8:59 pm
    From the 35-mile long volcanic rift in the Ethiopian desert that has been confirmed as the beginning of a new sea to the news that oil continues to gush into the Timor Sea--at an estimated rate of somewhere between 400 and 2,000 barrels per day--from an oil rig off the NW coast of Australia, a lot happened this week in green. We took a tour of Paris Hilton's $325,000 dog mansion--complete with air-conditioning and designer furniture--and saw spooky photos of Readers' Green Halloweens. Find out what else happened in the world of green this week in our photo roundup of most popular, most…

  • Wash your clothes by pedaling your bike (with video)

    7 Nov 2009 | 5:08 am
    Credit: Dave Askins, homelessdave.com. You don't need electricity to do the laundry. It's as easy as riding a bike. My wife's 90-year-old aunt still washes her laundry by hand, and dries it with a wringer. God bless her. But if you're a little busier, you can keep your clothes clean with pedal power. GreenovationTV has a segment on the low-tech solution....Read the full story on TreeHugger

  • Voices from Hopenhagen: Copenhagen With an "H," by Tham Khai Meng of Ogilvy & Mather

    7 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am
    Images courtesy of Hopenhagen/Ogilvy & Mather. This guest post was written by Tham Khai Meng, Worldwide Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather, as part of the Voices from Hopenhagen series. In explaining the genesis of the name "The Beatles," John Lennon famously wrote, "A Man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them 'From this day on, you are Beatles with an A.'" With its roots in such a story, the name of the band came to reinforce some essential characteristics of the thing it was naming: free imagi...Read the full story on TreeHugger

  • Mavizen's 130 MPH TTX02 Electric Motorcycle Runs on Linux

    6 Nov 2009 | 4:56 pm
    Why did you stop? Well, I was recompiling my kernel and got a segfault... Mavizen has decided to offer a new electric bike based on the previous winner of the TTXGP so that other teams can have a solid foundation to build on for next year. The TTX02 is based on the KTM RC8 with a Agni powerplant. The twist is that t...Read the full story on TreeHugger

  • C.K. Prahalad, Kraft Going Green(ish) and The COP15 Lead Up in Barcelona

    6 Nov 2009 | 4:07 pm
    A weekly wrap up of green and socially minded business news from the gang at TriplePundit.com. Warrior Film-making: The Story of Free Range Studios - Startup Friday features the makers of The Meatrix today and the trials and tribulations of launching a media enterprise with...Read the full story on TreeHugger
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    Global Voices Online

  • Azerbaijan: Reaction to yesterday's blogger trial

    Onnik Krikorian
    7 Nov 2009 | 4:34 am
    As the trial of video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli continues in Baku, two English-language bloggers from Azerbaijan react to yesterday's aborted court hearing. Both seem pessimistic and unhappy with how the trial has been conducted to date, but nonetheless say they will continue to fight for the two men's release. In particular, L4L shares his observations from yesterday's hearing, and particularly on the decision not to enter phone records in Hajizade and Milli's defense into court. During today’s hearing of…

  • Tunisia: Blogger Fatma Arabicca Detained

    Amira Al Hussaini
    6 Nov 2009 | 10:04 pm
    Tunisian blogger Fatma Riahi, who blogs as Fatma Arabicca, has been charged with defamation on her own blog and is now being detained. A group has been formed on Facebook in support of the 34-year-old blogger, who is also being accused of blogging on Debat Tunise (Tunisia Debate).

  • Yoaní Sanchez & other Cuban bloggers detained, beaten

    Georgia Popplewell
    6 Nov 2009 | 5:54 pm
    On the evening of November 6, Babalú blog linked to a post by Penultimos Dias (es) reporting that a number of prominent Cuban bloggers, including Yoaní Sánchez and Global Voices contributor Claudia Cadelo, were detained by state security forces. An update from Penultimos Días reported that Sanchez and Orlando Luis Pardo were “verbally abused and severely beaten”.

  • Ukraine: Flu and Politics

    Veronica Khokhlova
    6 Nov 2009 | 4:32 pm
    Jamestown Foundation Blog and Ukrainiana - on the politics around the flu situation in Ukraine.

  • Israeli and Palestinian youth use video to understand the conflict

    Juliana Rincón Parra
    6 Nov 2009 | 2:42 pm
    Two different organizations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories are using video tools to help both Arabic and Jewish youth to understand the conflict and bridge gaps between them,  creating spaces for interaction and communication where they can share their dreams, concerns and thoughts regarding the complex situation they live in. One of the initiatives is Sadaka Reut, and this is what they say about their program: With the majority of Palestinian and Jewish youth physically segregated from one another (in separate communities and schools) and fears, racism and prejudice the…
 
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    SSIR Articles

  • Recreating Fine Arts Institutions

    lynch_loreal@gsb.stanford.edu
    3 Nov 2009 | 5:12 pm
    By some measures, the fine arts have been enjoying a boom. The number of U.S. nonprofit arts organizations has grown exponentially, from a few thousand in the 1960s to more than 50,000 today. Not only are there more organizations, many individual institutions have grown significantly in size. Bolstered by ever-larger donations and endowments, leading symphonies, museums, and theaters have built larger and more opulent spaces and vastly increased their programming. To support these new endeavors, institutions have bulked up their infrastructures. Many organizations that had 10 to 20 employees…

  • Public-Private Alliances Transform Aid

    lynch_loreal@gsb.stanford.edu
    26 Oct 2009 | 9:02 pm
    In 1994, 800,000 Rwandans were murdered in the last genocide of the 20th century. When Paul Kagame became president of Rwanda, the nation’s economy was still in shambles, with few resources other than its people and its coff ee crop. But Rwanda’s coff ee beans were of such poor quality and unappealing taste that they were sold at the lowest possible prices. Traders made most of the modest profits, leaving growers impoverished. To make Rwanda’s coff ee crop more profitable, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Rwandan government organized an unusual…

  • Behind the Curve

    lynch_loreal@gsb.stanford.edu
    9 Oct 2009 | 12:27 am
    In 2004, the US. government-backed Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) certified the West African nation of Senegal as eligible to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid. Initially, Senegal seemed like an excellent choice for a grant from the MCC, which targets aid to poor countries that are committed to good governance, free markets, and investments in people. Senegal is one of the few African states that has never had a coup d’état. And since the nation became independent from France in 1960, Senegal’s leaders have peacefully transferred power two times—most…

  • Q&A: Fred Krupp

    lynch_loreal@gsb.stanford.edu
    1 Oct 2009 | 12:58 am
    By any measure, Fred Krupp’s 24-year tenure as president of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has been a success. The organization’s budget has jumped from $3 million to more than $100 million, the staff has grown from 50 to 400, and membership has expanded from 40,000 to more than 500,000. More important, under Krupp’s leadership EDF has become one of the most important power brokers in the environmental arena. Krupp has accomplished all of this by relentlessly focusing on an important insight— that economic incentives can be used to entice businesses to behave in environmentally…

  • Podcasts

    lynch_loreal@gsb.stanford.edu
    24 Sep 2009 | 12:01 am
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    CSRWire

  • Companies Prepare to Share Water Efficiency, Engagement, Labelling and Footprinting Strategies

    6 Nov 2009 | 8:01 am
    Sustainable water stewardship is helping business save money and energy as well as prepare for future freshwater shortages, according to participants of the upcoming Corporate Water Footprinting conference. Sustainability experts from top companies including Diageo, PepsiCo International, BC Hydro, Patagonia, Raisio, Intel, American Water and Coca-Cola are speaking at the event taking place December 2-3 in San Francisco and benchmarking best practices for sustainable water stewardship. Through a combination of corporate case studies and expert panels, Corporate Water Footprinting will offer…

  • Cadbury Delivers 5,000 Bicycles to Ghana, Africa

    6 Nov 2009 | 7:03 am
    Cadbury Canada announced this week the delivery of 5,000 bikes to children in Ghana, Africa as part of its innovative consumer promotion called The Bicycle Factory. The bikes will reach more than 200 communities in central and southern Ghana and will provide access to education to thousands of kids who would normally be at risk of not going to school. In addition to providing kids with a reliable form of transportation to get to school, the bikes will also provide each community with access to water sources and medical care. Many of the 216 communities are part of the Cadbury Cocoa…

  • Webinar: Chemicals Policy Reform and its Importance for Business

    6 Nov 2009 | 6:51 am
    On Friday, November 13 at 11 am PST, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, the Business NGO Working Group for Safer Chemicals and Sustainable Materials and the American Sustainable Business Council will host a webinar on chemicals policy reform and its importance for business. Click here to register for the Webinar This webinar will provide an opportunity to understand The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and its reform as well as to hear from some leading businesses on why policy reform is important to them. The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 is broken. The U.S. EPA has only required…

  • PeaceTags Announces 2009 Holiday "PeaceBaby" Necklace

    6 Nov 2009 | 6:30 am
    PeaceTags, a Seattle-based company creating necklaces engraved with quotes from famous peacemakers, announces its 2009 holiday PeaceBaby tag featuring a peace quote from Dr. Riane Eisler, internationally renowned author and humanitarian. Eisler has been honored as one of the world's 20 greatest peacemakers. Her quote "peace is putting love into action" will appear on the PeaceBaby tag, a petite version of the original sterling silver dog-tag line. PeaceTags donates all net proceeds of its necklaces to veteran’s and peace-making causes "When I learned that this little company is run by…

  • Winner of Second Annual John P. McNulty Prize Announced

    6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am
    The Aspen Institute and Anne Welsh McNulty are pleased to announce that the second annual John P. McNulty Prize has been awarded to Patrick Awuah of Ghana, founder of the Accra based Ashesi University. Meant to celebrate the spirit and memory of Institute trustee John P. McNulty, the $100,000 prize recognizes an extraordinary young leader making creative, effective, and lasting contributions to his or her community and is given annually to an Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) Fellow. In addition, this year prizes of $10,000 are also being awarded to the other finalists On Thursday…
 
 
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    How to Change the World

  • The 19 bloggers Inc. thinks you should read

    GuyKawasaki
    6 Nov 2009 | 6:20 pm
    Inc. named 19 bloggers that you should read. We’ve aggregated them all in one place: Inc19.alltop.

  • How to Get Found

    GuyKawasaki
    4 Nov 2009 | 3:29 pm
    The reality is that people and technology is getting better and better a blocking out unwanted interruptions—aka, “marketing.” Brian Halligan is the CEO of HubSpot, and he explains in my post on the American Express Open Forum “how to get found.” It’s all about creating great stuff and letting Google et al do what they do: find great stuff.

  • How I tweet

    GuyKawasaki
    2 Nov 2009 | 8:47 am
    By popular demand (and some complaints), I’ve done a FAQ with myself about how I tweet. Hope this helps you use Twitter for your business too. I explain how I use ghostwriters and why I repeat my tweets among other “unusual” practices.

  • Current Twitter Demo Script

    GuyKawasaki
    28 Oct 2009 | 2:26 am
    This is the set of links that I used to demo Twitter by going down through this list to show why Twitter is such a valuable marketing tool. Introduction Home page Profile page Monitor Search Guy Kawasaki or Alltop Starbucks VIA introduction Search for “Prius” or “Civic” Sell Dell Outlet Kogi BBQ Support Comcast Cares Engage JetBlue Virgin America Fandango Prospect Camaro Camaro near Palo Alto Advanced searches Surfing or skateboarding (shows how to eliminate extraneous results such as “surfing the web” How I Tweet - Find Alltop MyAlltop helped me find this.

  • How to Avoid Twitter Cluelessness

    GuyKawasaki
    26 Oct 2009 | 4:24 pm
    Over at the American Express Open Forum blog, I explain how to not look clueless on Twitter. The first five ways are: Don’t tell other people how to tweet. Don’t tell the world that you unfollowed someone. Don’t ask people why they unfollowed you. Don’t constantly tweet mundane updates and babble. Don’t use a small picture for an avatar. To read all ten and why they impugn your intelligence, click here.
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    Worldchanging: Bright Green

  • Can We Manipulate the Weather?

    WorldChanging Team
    6 Nov 2009 | 12:21 pm
    Chinese scientists claim to be able to control the weather. But is so-called geoengineering more than wishful thinking? And, if so, should we be worried? Image: Unseasonal snowfall in Beijing, which scientists claim is the result of their geoengineering, November 2009. Photograph: ADRIAN BRADSHAW/EPA The unseasonal snow that fell on Beijing for 11 hours on Sunday was the earliest and heaviest there has been for years. It was also, China claims, man-made. By the end of last month, farmland in the already dry north of China was suffering badly due to drought. So on Saturday night China's…

  • Walk Score Adds Transit

    Clark Williams-Derry
    6 Nov 2009 | 12:20 pm
    Popular walkability ranking now includes bus stops and rail stations. Walk Score, which has become the most widely-used measure of pedestrian friendly neighborhoods in North America, has added a new trick: they're now incorporating transit data into their walkability ratings. So in addition to stores, restaurants, parks, and the like, Walk Score now treats nearby bus stops and rail stations as key ingredients of a walkable neighborhood. What makes this extra nifty is that Walk Score has already partnered with a bunch of national real estate websites to incorporate walkability rankings into…

  • Interview with Rajendra Pachauri: Amid Mounting Pessimism A Voice of Hope for Copenhagen

    Yale Environment 360
    6 Nov 2009 | 11:44 am
    With skepticism growing about the chances of reaching a climate agreement next month in Copenhagen, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says he is “cautiously optimistic” that a treaty can still be signed. But in an interview with Yale Environment 360, Pachauri says the global community may have to move ahead without any commitment from the United States. Few people have as much stake in the outcome of the upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen as Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Yet despite growing…

  • New Study: Changes to Economic Policy Necessary for Switch to Low-Carbon Economy

    Joe Romm
    6 Nov 2009 | 11:32 am
    by Bill Becker New Study: Changes to Economic Policy Necessary for Switch to Low-Carbon Economy In case we need more evidence that an urgent economic transformation is required to avoid catastrophic climate change, it can be found in a new study commissioned by World Wildlife Fund International. Conducted by Climate Risk Pty. Ltd. of Great Britain and Australia, the study concludes: Runaway climate change is almost inevitable without specific action to implement low-carbon re-industrialization over the next five years [emphasis added]… World governments have a window that will close between…

  • The Future of Environmental Law Mapping

    WorldChanging Team
    6 Nov 2009 | 11:17 am
    By Laurent Granier Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and mapping offer great opportunities for the transfer of legal data from books to maps. GIS applications have been evolving in many directions, well beyond geography. Many fields such as environmental economics, social science, health science and administration are now aggregated with scientific representations. The methods for environmental and social mapping are now participatory too. Together, these tools offer new, integrated visions of our territories (or anthromes) and could greatly assist environmental lawyers and policy…
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    SustainAbility Latest

  • Ethisphere Magazine

    29 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm
    Sophia Tickell looks at current attempt at healthcare reform and the lessons learned from the Pharma Futures report. Read the full article...

  • QFinance

    19 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm
    SustainAbility's Peter Zollinger and John Schaetzl's viewpoint on the credit crisis. Read the full article..

  • Two Degrees is Too Much

    7 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm
    With the clock ticking as we approach COP-15 in Copenhagen, Gary Kendall explains why the 2°C threshold for dangerous climate change is so important

  • Our Number's Up and It's 350

    7 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm
    Bill McKibben is the man behind 350.org, the global campaign on climate change that has declared October 24 to be International Day of Climate Action. John Elkington talked to him about the campaign—and the underlying science.

  • Holy Grail of Integrated Reporting

    17 Sep 2009 | 5:00 pm
    Holy Grail of Integrated Reporting - John Elkington reports back on yet another initiative to drive change in company's public disclosure on sustainability
 
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    Triple Pundit

  • Imagine H2O Prize Competition to Drive Water Innovation

    3p Guest Author
    6 Nov 2009 | 5:26 pm
    As 3p readers know, the growing scarcity of freshwater is causing significant social and environment problems around the world.  From a rise in cholera in parts of Africa to chronic water shortages in Australia as a result of drought, people everywhere are feeling the impact of the global water crisis.  

Imagine H2O, a non-profit that [...]

  • Thanks to Triple Pundit’s Sponsors

    Nick Aster
    6 Nov 2009 | 4:45 pm
    As November rolls along, we’re happy to see our community of readers, contributors, and sponsors growing. Our sponsors in particular are what make it possible to continue to publish great content and continue to build the 3p movement. Please take some time to check out what they’re doing and if you’re in a [...]

  • European Lawmakers To Give Free Carbon Credits to Heavy Industry

    BC Upham
    6 Nov 2009 | 12:14 pm
    The EU, that bastion of environmental common sense, is giving away its carbon credits. For free. To some of their biggest polluters. Reuters reports that European Union lawmakers have approved a list of heavy industries, including metals, textiles, building materials and ceramics, that will be handed free carbon credits starting in 2013, rather than have to [...]

  • Barcelona Climate Talks End after a Week of Boycotts- Next Stop: Copenhagen

    Tom Schueneman
    6 Nov 2009 | 11:07 am
    The final week of climate negotiations in Barcelona have now ended. The last meeting before the main event in Copenhagen next month served to emphasize the lingering stalemate between rich and poor nations, and the equally unmoving impasse between political factions in the United States. On Tuesday, delegations from 50 African nations boycotted the climate talks [...]

  • Give more, Useless

    Audrey
    6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am
    Believe me, USELESS, I get it. I get the point you’re trying to make. Your anti-consumerism, “Use less, give more” message is not a new one. However, following it with a list of products to purchase definitely is. I understand that you mean to be somewhat ironic. And I get how handy it is that when [...]
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    Global X

  • Global X will return

    20 Oct 2009 | 11:10 am
    Global X is this week in Ixtapa attending the Opportunity Collaboration conference. He is taping a new series of video interviews of leading social entrepreneurs, including Willy Foote (Root Capital), Gary White (water.org), Jeroo Bilimoria (Aflatoun), Leila Janah (Samasource) and David Green. They will soon be uploaded on Social Edge --stay tuned!

  • Susan Collin Marks & John Marks - Search For Common Ground - Part 1 of 2

    18 Jun 2009 | 11:30 am
    Global X interviews John Marks, President of Search for Common Ground, and Susan Collin Marks, Senior Vice President. John Marks founded Search for Common Ground in 1982 to “transform the way the world deals with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and towards collaborative problem solving.” As can be seen on this X-Interview, John and Susan are not only partners in social change but also in their personal lives. They are co-preneurs who "share love, vision and passion." John Marks mentions a typical error made by social entrepreneurs as they launch their social…

  • Susan Collin Marks & John Marks - Search For Common Ground Part 2 of 2

    18 Jun 2009 | 11:30 am
    In this second X-Interview (the first one is here), John Marks, President of Search for Common Ground, and Susan Collin Marks, Senior Vice President, share stories.Susan talks about Burundi, where Search for Common Ground launched radio programs to help Tutsis and Hutus celebrate their heroes, those who risked their own lives for helping friends and neighbors from the other ethnic group.These radio programs led into the Heroes Summit, where stories were shared publicly: "Previously seen as traitors, they are now recognized as heroes."John talks about an initiative launched around…

  • Mathis Wackernagel & Susan Burns - Global Footprint Network

    10 Jun 2009 | 3:20 pm
    Mathis Wackernagel and Susan Burns launched the Global Footprint Network in 2003 because "human beings are using more resources than the Earth can provide, and we are in global ecological overshoot." This husband-wife team developed the Ecological Footprint, a resource accounting tool that measures how much nature can produce in our country and how much we use of it. "Our work is so much data driven, and yet it's so much about life," says Susan Burns. "And it's not about future generations anymore. It's about my life, our son's life," echoes Mathis Wackernagel.

  • Martin von Hildebrand - Fundación Gaia Amazonas

    4 Jun 2009 | 3:10 pm
    Martin von Hildebrand, the director of Fundación Gaia Amazonas, describes himself as a dreamer.His father was in the anti-Nazi resistance movement in Germany, and his mother fought against the British for the independence of Ireland. That's how he realized that dreams could become realities. The first time he went to the Amazon, he dreamt that "Indians could have their own land and their autonomy --and that's what we have achieved!"Listen to Martin von Hildebrand as he shares with Global X his moment of epiphany. He went to the Amazon forest for the first time in 1970, spending…
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    Marc Gunther

  • The nerd in the cabinet

    Marc
    5 Nov 2009 | 8:57 pm
    Once a professor, always a professor. Steven Chu, the energy secretary, winner of the Nobel Prize and former physics teacher at Berkeley, spoke tonight at a Washington fundraising dinner for Conservation International, the global NGO. Actually, he delivered a lecture, deploying a long, detailed... >

  • A revolution in finance?

    Marc
    2 Nov 2009 | 9:20 pm
    Not much good has come out of the global financial meltdown but there is this: Investors who watched Bear Stearns, General Motors and Merrill Lynch destroy billions of dollars of shareholder value presumably are ready to focus on what makes companies sustainable, or at least try to better... >

  • The NFL’s tobacco moment

    Marc
    1 Nov 2009 | 8:00 pm
    If you are looking for a case study on how not to manage a corporate crisis, you could do worse than consider the way the National Football League is dealing with the mounting controversy over head injuries and their long-term impact on the health of its  players. The league has denied the problem.... >

  • FPL’s climate change of heart

    Marc
    28 Oct 2009 | 6:51 pm
    Several years ago, Lew Hay, the dynamic chairman and CEO of FPL Group, which is the nation’s leading provider of renewable energy ($16 billion in 2008 revenues), gave an impassioned speech at a Goldman Sachs climate change conference in New York, arguing for a tax on emissions of carbon dioxide to... >

  • Electricity that’s cheaper than free

    Marc
    27 Oct 2009 | 4:07 pm
    Would you believe that there are places and times when power companies generate so much renewable energy that they give it away? In west Texas and Illinois, when the wind blows at night and nuclear plants run around-the-clock, power generators produce more electricity than people need. This... >
 
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    Audeamus: How dare we

  • Seen that? - Sustainable Development for the Future

    31 Oct 2009 | 6:21 pm
    Sustainable Development for the Future at Audeamus - How dare we... (From National Curriculum) Just a round up of sustainable development news as I clean out my backlog of items here today. *PricewaterhouseCoopers has identified six trends that will drive sustainable development ...

  • Seen that? - Case studies in Micro Finance #1

    21 Oct 2009 | 6:18 pm
    Case studies in Micro Finance #1 at Audeamus - How dare we... (Photo from ID21 Insights) A very good place for finding case studies, for those not aware of it, is Case Place. The only problem with the service is that quite a ...

  • Seen that? - The Audeamus Awards Round #2

    11 Oct 2009 | 6:18 pm
    The Audeamus Awards Round #2 at Audeamus - How dare we... (Photo from PBS) Before getting to this week's social entrepreneurship awards, it should be noted that PBS has a program out on social entrepreneurs called The New Heroes, which will air this ...

  • Seen that? - The Robin Hood Awards Round #1.5

    2 Oct 2009 | 6:18 pm
    The Robin Hood Awards Round #1.5 at Audeamus - How dare we... (Picture from Herra) Okay, so I only had two people vote in our first Robin Hood Awards, and they each voted for two different people. An appalling turnout, or simply a ...

  • Finding Like-Minded People on the Web - at NetworkingForPros.Com

    29 Jul 2009 | 9:27 pm
    © Bassi Baba Are you on the Web? Where? If you're involved in a cause, the web is a great place to meet like-minded people. A presence on the Web has quickly become an essential part of professional life in many fields. Whether you're a doctor or a dance teacher, a lawyer or a locksmith, people find you on the Web. NetworkingForPros.com can help increase your presence on the Web. It can help change the Internet from being about news and blogs to being about you and ...
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    Global Envision

  • Microfinance Leaders on the Global Economic Crisis, Women, and For-Profit Lending

    Haley Dillan
    4 Nov 2009 | 8:40 am
    A Mercy Corps small business loan helped Najeeba expand her successful baby cradle business in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy CorpsOver the past decade, Mercy Corps’ microfinance services have lent more than $1.5 billion, reaching more than one million people. Twelve Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) founded and supported by Mercy Corps operate all over the world, with 270,000 active clients — 65 percent of them are women. To better serve those excluded from formal financial services, Mercy Corps is working with these MFIs to develop and offer savings, remittances,…

  • Gazans, Caught Between Two Sides of a Stalemate

    Sarah Standish
    30 Oct 2009 | 3:37 pm
    Israel's ban on the import of building materials means that very little reconstruction has taken place since the 22-day Israeli offensive at the beginning of the year. Photo: Linda Mason for Mercy CorpsFor the past several years, Gaza has suffered from a humanitarian crisis that waxes and wanes in severity, but never entirely disappears. This tiny patch of land on the Mediterranean Sea has one of the highest population densities in the world with over 4,000 people per square kilometer. On top of that, it suffers from a crushing poverty rate and high unemployment numbers that mean that 85…

  • Sending Money is Just a Text Away

    Ian Goldsmith
    29 Oct 2009 | 2:16 pm
    Add banking to the growing list of things your cell phone can do. A September special report in the Economist took a look at the expanding use of mobile banking in Africa and explained how it could play a large part in improving personal financial stability in the region. In essence, here's how it works: You take your cash to a mobile banking agent and tell the agent that you want to send money to a friend or family member. They credit your mobile banking account. Once the funds are available, you transfer money by sending a text message to whomever you want. The recipient then goes to his or…

  • It's Not What You Think: India's Informal Economy and the Global Crisis

    Sarah Standish
    22 Oct 2009 | 11:53 am
    A street dentist in India. Photo: Christian Luna (flickr)Would you want an unlicensed dentist working on your teeth? You might if, like many of India’s poor, you lacked the money to see a professional. By your willingness to pay for these services, you’d also be creating a kind of employment for someone who could never find work in a traditional medical office. Workers like these amateur dentists are part of India's informal sector, made up of the small-business employees like cleaners, agricultural workers, and hawkers of street goods who work for cash without a contract or benefits.

  • Cellscope: There's an App for that

    Nick Chapin
    16 Oct 2009 | 2:59 pm
    Plasmodium falciparum (malaria) parasite taking over red blood cells. Photo: Eric Fortin (Flickr)A team of engineers at the University of California at Berkeley are pushing the limits of cell phone technology with the development of their newly minted Cellscope. The device is a six-inch microscope that attaches to a cell phone’s digital camera lens to take high resolution microscopic images of blood and sputum samples. The Cellscope's compact size and durability makes it ideal for use in the field, nearly eliminating the health worker's need for expensive tabletop microscopes. The Cellscope…
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    Hip Investor

  • How To Get Started: Measuring Impact

    R. Paul Herman
    22 Oct 2009 | 6:21 pm
    Measuring impact – whether human, social or environmental – can feel like an impossible task, but really just requires a step-by-step path. There are many frameworks that you can draw upon; the key is to start simple, pilot an approach, and then evolve. At the Opportunity Collaboration in mid-October 2009 in Mexico, organized by MicroCredit Enterprises, the topic of measuring impact was a top discussion topic and desire in many conversations. Several attendees requested that HIP Investor synthesize the core insights, tools and methodologies that we have seen so far – and how they might…

  • HIP 100 Portfolio Results

    R. Paul Herman
    6 Sep 2009 | 4:16 pm
    Index Net Results As Of HIP 100 +9.17% 10/25/09 S&P 100 +8.68% 10/25/09 Net results as of 10/11/09, since HIP 100 inception date of 7/30/09. Actual net-of-fees results of the HIP 100 Portfolio and the S&P 100 index. Percentages include reinvested dividends and stock splits, and deduct fees and trading costs based on a $100,000 beginning balance. Past results are not indicative of future performance. REQUEST YOUR INVITATION HERE

  • [HIP POV] “The New Fundamentals of Investing”

    R. Paul Herman
    31 Aug 2009 | 3:30 pm
    HIP Commentary: “The New Fundamentals of Investing” What are 10 indicators to evaluate for your portfolio when seeking Human Impact + Profit? Read HIP CEO R. Paul Herman’s commentary in Sustainable Industries’ Money Issue. CLICK HERE TO READ THE FEATURE

  • [HIP POV] Walmart’s Sustainability Index Driving 60,000 Suppliers to Be More HIP

    R. Paul Herman
    31 Jul 2009 | 12:57 pm
    Big Change Fast: Walmart’s Sustainability Index Seeks to Drive 60,000 Suppliers to be More HIP Walmart, the world’s largest retailer at $400 billion in revenue and 7000-plus stores, the US’s second-largest employer with 1.8 million staff, and a leader in sustainability– has just launched a new, sustainability scorecard for the 60,000-plus suppliers across its global supply chain. By one estimate, the total value of all goods and services sold by Walmart suppliers equals about one-third of global output. Yes, 1 in 3 dollars worldwide is associated with a company that does business with…

  • [HIP POV] How HIP Is Your Mobile Phone Firm (ATT, Verizon, Sprint, MetroPCS)?

    R. Paul Herman
    31 Jul 2009 | 12:40 pm
    How HIP Is Your Mobile Phone Provider? BY MARA LUDMER and PAUL HERMAN With a calendar, music player, internet access, and camera, nowadays your phone does a lot more than just make calls. That’s why your mobile phone should be just as HIP as you are. When choosing a cell phone service provider, it’s important to consider not just the features of your network, but also the company’s HIP (Human Impact + Profit) elements. The service provider of the iPhone, AT&T, is a telecom leader in EARTH with a top-notch pilot program for wind power in Texas creating a savings of 230 million kWh…
 
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    Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

  • My Latest President's Update

    2 Nov 2009 | 7:50 am
    Two or three times a year, I publish a president's update for Benetech. This latest one spotlights the many great interns, associates and fellows that are or were working for Benetech over this summer and into this year.Summer 2009Our growth over the last year has been so phenomenal that I wanted to use this summer update to highlight some of the great people working for Benetech: our interns, summer associates and fellows. Each one of these terrific people has committed to spending anywhere from a month to a year helping Benetech with his or her skills and passion. Here are some of their…

  • National Family Literacy Day

    1 Nov 2009 | 12:12 pm
    This Sunday while you're finishing off the Halloween candy, think about doing something for National Family Literacy Day. For Bookshare members, that can be as simple as downloading a new book from Bookshare, or sharing one you already have. The idea behind the day, sponsored by the National Center for Family Literacy is to promote family literacy. Sunday, really, is just another reminder that every day can be literacy day. And, we want to make sure every kid has equal access to the joys of reading!It's a well established fact that reading with your kids helps give them a lifelong love of…

  • Climate Warming and Palo Alto -> Miradi and the World

    15 Oct 2009 | 2:42 pm
    One day last month we were shocked to discover all the street trees on our quaint downtown street had been chopped down. Clearcut.To be honest, most of us probably never took much notice of the 63 mature holly oaks. They were just part of the landscape. Until they were gone. Suddenly the world seemed a little harsher. No more trees. No more shade. No more leafy beauty. Our hot summer (and autumn!) days became a little hotter. Our local version of accelerated climate change.Now, we’re not expecting the world to cry crocodile tears for us. The city made a mistake. But let’s put it in…

  • Encyclopaedia Britannica Supports Bookshare!

    8 Oct 2009 | 12:48 pm
    The news is excellent. We just announced: Encyclopaedia Britannica Grants Digital Rights to Bookshare -- Major Reference Collections Now Accessible for Individuals with Print Disabilities Worldwide.Although it was possible, we never seriously thought about scanning the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Thanks to the support of the EB team, we now have direct access to digital versions of many important reference series, along with the ability to provide these books to people with qualifying print disabilities in Canada, the UK, India and all over the world!Our dream at Bookshare has been that every…

  • FreshBrain

    4 Oct 2009 | 9:30 am
    Just had a chance to meet Dale Ferrario, the founder and President of an innovative nonprofit social enterprise called FreshBrain. I'm always excited about finding out about a new idea that's already gaining traction. FreshBrain is focused on an important problem - filling the gap in the education that our teens receive, specifically in the area of 21st Century Skills. Skills around technology, creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration. Skills that they will needed to be successful in our future workplace and ever evolving global economy.Their website, freshBrain.org,…
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    Change.org: Social Entrepreneurship

  • Unofficial Results for America's Giving Challenge

    Nathaniel Whittemore
    6 Nov 2009 | 1:05 pm
    Sponsored by Causes, Parade Magazine, the Case Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the second annual America's Giving Challenge has come to an end. According to the unofficial results, the Overseas China Education Foundation has absolutely obliterated the competition, raising $188,000 from over 14,000 individual donations and thus winning the $50,000 prize money. As I wrote last week, there was clearly something in the water of this years competition, as a few of the groups were able to generate a staggeringly higher number of donations than the others. The competition worked by…

  • Best Friday Entrepreneur Links

    Nathaniel Whittemore
    6 Nov 2009 | 11:55 am
    It's been a while since I've done a link post. There has been a lot of great content over the last couple weeks - enjoy: Ten Rules for Webstartups: Twitter CEO Evan Williams shares some tips that, while aimed at web startups can be useful for any young startup leader. 30 Under 30: America's Coolest Young Entrepreneurs: Inc. magazine puts out their annual list of the coolest young entrepreneurs in the country. One of my favorites? Ideapaint, the product that turns any wall into a whiteboard. Manhattan Institute Social Entrepreneurship Award 2009: The conservative think tank Manhattan Institute…

  • For Startups To Succeed Means to Evolve

    Nathaniel Whittemore
    5 Nov 2009 | 3:36 pm
    PayPal started as a payment and cryptography platform for palm pilots. Apple - perhaps the savviest consumer company of our era - began by selling assemble-it-yourself computer kits for the uber geeky. Change.org started without any of the content features through which I'm now writing this post. In the land of startups, the ability to adapt and seize new opportunities is perhaps the essential required skill. I was thrilled yesterday to see a Wired piece on Groupon, the group-purchasing tool for local services. Every day, Groupon emails its subscribers a new offer, or "Groupon." A Groupon is…

  • The Power of Partnerships in the Coming Fundraising Season

    Nathaniel Whittemore
    5 Nov 2009 | 6:20 am
    The end of the year is the biggest part of the fundraising season for many nonprofits, but with the economy continuing to struggle, this year is likely going to be harder than ever on many. Some are trying to address this by participating in contests like America's Giving Challenge; others are sending me direct mail trying to guilt me back into funding (sorry - it's not happening). Others are discovering their DNA as collaborative, 21st century nonprofits who, when times get rough, ask how partnership and the skills of those around them can help. Catapult Design is a startup nonprofit based…

  • Watch TEDIndia Live Tomorrow

    Nathaniel Whittemore
    4 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pm
    The first ever TEDIndia conference is streaming live tomorrow (well, in a few hours, to be precise), and you can get all of the details on their site: http://conferences.ted.com/TEDIndia/ There are some amazing folks speaking at the event - more in fact than I can tell you about, as the reality is that I'm just not as familiar with many of those they have from around India. Some notables that you might know already, though, who are speaking tomorrow include Hans Rosling, who has wowed TED before with his completely nontradtional statistical visualizations, and Tony Hsieh, the renown (at least…
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    Environmental Leader

  • Emissions Intensity Falling Globally

    Environmental Leader
    6 Nov 2009 | 8:21 am
    Emissions intensity, the amount of carbon generated from fossil fuel use per unit of gross domestic product (GDP), fell globally in all but two years between 1994 and 2006, according to a World Bank study, reports the New York Times’ Green Inc. blog. A key finding of the study indicates that reducing the amount of energy [...]

  • JohnsonDiversey Ups GHG Reduction Target to 25%

    Environmental Leader
    6 Nov 2009 | 8:11 am
    JohnsonDiversey plans to more than triple its original greenhouse gas reduction commitment, from 8 percent to 25 percent by the end of 2013. JohnsonDiversey made the 8 percent pledge last year when it joined the World Wildlife Federation’s Climate Savers program. The company plans to spend $14 million to achieve the reduction in emissions, according to a [...]

  • Sainsbury’s Offers Free London Electric Car Charging

    Environmental Leader
    6 Nov 2009 | 7:59 am
    UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s is installing electric car charging systems at 11 of its London supermarkets. The retailer intends to give away charging services to customers. Sainsbury’s aims to help turn London into an “electric vehicle superhighway,” said Neil Sachdev, Sainsbury’s Commercial Director. Sainsbury’s claims to already be one of the UK’s largest users of electric vehicles, [...]

  • Carbon Trading Could Trigger a ‘Sub-prime Style’ Economic Crash

    Environmental Leader
    6 Nov 2009 | 7:41 am
    Plans to expand carbon markets at UN climate talks this December could trigger a second ’sub-prime’ style financial collapse and fail to protect the world from a global warming catastrophe, according to a report from Friends of the Earth. The trade in carbon permits and credits, primarily based in Europe, was worth $126 billion in 2008 [...]

  • Peabody, Exxon Accused of Undermining Climate Talks

    Environmental Leader
    6 Nov 2009 | 7:38 am
    Negotiations for a new climate treaty in Copenhagen this December are being blocked by a multi-national backlash led by fossil fuel industries and other heavy carbon emitters, according to a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), an arm of the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity. According to the investigation, thousands of lobbyists, [...]
 
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    Have Fun Do Good

  • Come On, U.S., Give the Kids Their Rights

    Britt Bravo
    6 Nov 2009 | 2:53 pm
    November 20, 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). According to UNICEF, "The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rightscivil, cultural, economic, political and social rights."Only two United Nations member states have not ratified it: Somalia and the United States.Did you just say, "What?" Yeah, me too.I'm not entirely sure why the U.S. hasn't ratified the Convention. It seems like a no-brainer. According to The Huffington Post article, Obama…

  • People Powered Movement Photo Contest

    Britt Bravo
    4 Nov 2009 | 2:09 pm
    I'm a big walker. Because of where we live, I can walk to the grocery store, drug store, post office, gym, library, doctor's office, and the BART, which will take me into San Francisco, where I can walk some more.Consequently, I was pretty excited when the Alliance for Biking and Walking asked me to spread the word about their People Powered Movement Photo Contest.The Alliance for Biking and Walking creates, strengthens, and unites state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations. One resource its member organizations have requested is high quality images of biking and walking to…

  • Turn Your Book Club Into a Social Action Club with Kristof and WuDunn's Half the Sky

    Britt Bravo
    30 Oct 2009 | 3:31 pm
    Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, "lays out an agenda for the world's women and three major abuses: sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence including honor killings and mass rape; maternal mortality, which needlessly claims one woman a minute."Even though Kristof and WuDunn focus on solutions as well as problems around these issues, reading about them might feel overwhelming. Why not transform that overwhelm into action by registering your book club with the Mercy Corps Half the Sky Book…

  • Have Fun Do Good Link Love: Echoing Green, Jobs for Change, Julia Cameron and 29 Gifts

    Britt Bravo
    30 Oct 2009 | 12:15 pm
    NEWSThis week, Echoing Green partnered with Jobs for Change on a new Be Bold Podcast. In the first edition of this partnership, I interviewed Erin O'Connor Jones, the Director of Candidate Services and Managing Associate at Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group.I talked with Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way, this month for the Arts and Healing Network's podcast: The Artist's Way Every Day: A Chat with author, Julia CameronI have 3 new posts up on the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship blog:Social Media Resources and Inspiration for Independent FilmmakersKickstarter: Funding…

  • Connecting Creative Women Entrepreneurs

    Britt Bravo
    27 Oct 2009 | 11:07 am
    Jennifer Lee, Kimberly Wilson, Lisa Sonora Beam and I were on a call the other day talking about how fun it would be to put together an event for creative women entrepreneurs to connect, create, and learn together. We came up with our own description of what an event like that would look like, but we want to hear your thoughts and opinions, too.We put together a six-question survey to find out what your ideal creative women entrepreneur event would look like. By providing your feedback, you can enter in a raffle to be one of four winners to receive either a half hour of social media…
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    Ecopreneurist

  • Night lights: The Next Green Promo Great Idea?

    John Simonetta
    5 Nov 2009 | 8:47 am
    This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry. Research by Sunbeam Hospitality and Andis Corporation shows that about 45% of hotel guests leave the bathroom light on as a night light while they sleep. Indeed night lights are so important to travelers that since 2003 the American Automobile Association TourBook includes the availability of night lights in their reviews of hotels. Why? Perhaps because the…

  • The Huge Implications of the Eco-Public Health Connection

    Jennifer Kaplan
    2 Nov 2009 | 10:49 am
    Someone recently asked me if there was a public health angle to greening small businesses.  After thinking it over, it became clear there is.  First, when we talk about green we are also talking about issues of safety and health: Materials should foster healthy environments, current and future. This means avoiding toxic and dangerous chemicals. It means using an appropriate ventilation system. It means projects should be well-built to minimize safety risks to the occupants (fire, collapse, etc.). It also means making larger ties between the products we buy and energy security, homeland and…

  • A Global CSR Summit is Coming To a PC Near You

    Jennifer Kaplan
    27 Oct 2009 | 8:37 am
    On November 5th and 9th a gathering of great CSR minds is happening virtually. And while there are many interesting forums and conferences happening every day, this global summit is somewhat unique because its coming to a PC near you. I’m especially happy its happening virtually because my favorite CEO, Jeff Schwartz of Timberland, is giving the keynote. If you, like me are out of town, you do not to have to miss it. It makes sense that a summit on new models of social responsibility should take place making use of a new model of communications. And the event is environmentally…

  • Get Tough. Get Green.

    John Simonetta
    19 Oct 2009 | 9:29 am
    This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry. This is not something I would recommend for everyday use. However we often get questions on the strength of the non-woven reusable shopping bags that are becoming such a staple for our industry, and this image seemed a great way to explain a point. The point is green can be tough. A reusable non-woven bag does not mean a wimpy bag. This is a photograph sent…

  • Interview with Jamie Wimberly, CEO EcoAlign, publisher of “Green Gap Redux: Green Words Gone Wrong”

    Jennifer Kaplan
    16 Oct 2009 | 12:37 pm
    All this talk about going green, do we really know what exactly it means?  Companies invest millions in trying to segment the green market. There’s the BBMG Conscious Consumer Report.  The Roper Green Gauge. The Landor ImagePower Green Brands Survey.  And on and on..(..so many segments, so little time!) Maybe more importantly: When we talk about green are we talking about the same thing?  Apparently not. This week I spoke with Jamie Wimberly whose firm, EcoAlign, just came out with a report called “Green Gap Redux: Green Words Gone Wrong”. Wimberly is CEO of Distributed…
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    NextBillion.net

  • Weekly Round-Up: Financial Services Friday

    6 Nov 2009 | 3:32 pm
    Authored by: Nathan WyethHere are stories that caught my eye this week, an event coming up in San Francisco, and an opportunity for bloggers writing at the intersection of technology and poverty: The Financial Access Initiative out of NYU has concluded in a new report that 2.5 billion people don't have access to a financial institution, including microfinance.  Jonathan Murdoch, FAI's managing director and a professor of economics and policy at NYU, has an illuminating quote: "Until now, the margin of error when considering the world's unbanked was about plus or minus a…

  • Base of the Pyramid Career Paths: What Would You Ask?

    5 Nov 2009 | 7:05 am
    Authored by: Francisco Noguera Are you interested in getting involved in social enterprise? In finding a job and build a career around it? Perhaps even starting a venture of your own or join one that is in early stage?  If your answer to any of the above was yes, you'd probably be interested in knowing how you can best prepare yourself for it. What skills are critical to build a career that relates to the BoP, and what are the best ways to hone those? What opportunities are out there to get started? Where will future opportunities come from? Is it likely…

  • Product Management Internship

    5 Nov 2009 | 5:14 am
    Organization: Kickstart InternationalLocation: Nairobi, KE KickStart International is an award winning non-profit social enterprise with a mission to help millions of people in developing countries escape from poverty and to "kickstart" sustainable economic growth. KickStart develops simple money-making tools and markets them to poor, entrepreneurial persons who use them to start profitable new businesses, increase their family wealth and boost local economic growth. (www.KickStart.org). The organization is recruiting for a qualified, enthusiastic volunteer to assist us full-time over a…

  • Base of the Pyramid Initiative Intern

    5 Nov 2009 | 5:01 am
    Organization: Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis & MalariaLocation: New York City, USJob Description: The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC) is an alliance ofover 200 international companies leading the private sector fight to end these three epidemics.GBC leverages the business sector's unique skills and expertise-including comprehensiveworkplace policies; community programs; core competencies; leadership and advocacy andpublic-private partnerships - in the global drive to eradicate these deadly illnesses. In 2009, GBC began to explore Base…

  • CK Prahalad Releases Two New Case Studies

    4 Nov 2009 | 4:30 am
    Authored by: Moses Lee According to Thinkers 50, a biennial ranking of business gurus, C.K. Prahalad is the most influential management thinker in the world. This is the second straight time that Prahalad has topped the list.  "C.K. Prahalad's influence on the business world is immense," said Des Dearlove, co-creator of the ranking, in a statement. "He coined the term 'core competencies' in the 1990s, which set the strategy agenda for a generation of managers. More recently, his work on The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid has shown the role business can play in…
 
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    The Edge

  • The 2009 Purpose Prize

    26 Oct 2009 | 6:05 am
    This year’s winners of The Purpose Prize, a $100,000 award for social innovators in their encore careers, are ordinary people using a new stage of life to do extraordinary things. They include:* A former telecom executive who helped wire an Appalachian county and brought laid-off factory workers back to profitable farming;* A professor who invented a way to transform toxic fly ash into green bricks;* A psychiatrist who helps saves soldiers’ lives by offering free mental health treatment;* A former NASA exec who works to treat alcoholism in Native American communities by reviving…

  • SXSW panels

    19 Oct 2009 | 9:15 am
    Here are 20 topics that caught my eye... 2009 Iran Election: Women's Revolution? Twitter Revolution? (Mona Kasra, UT at Dallas) The Art & Science of Seductive Interactions (Stephen Anderson, PoetPainter) Blah Blah Blah: Why Words Won't Work (Dan Roam, Author) Crowd Sourcing Innovative Social Change (Beth Kanter, Beth's Blog) Digital's Emerging Role In Unconsumption (Nita Rollins, Resource Interactive) Exploiting Chaos -- How to Spark Innovation During Times of Change (Jeremy Gutsche, TrendHunter.com) Future of Context (Matt Thompson, Newsless.org) How to Teach Entrepreneurialism Globally…

  • ANDE New Grants

    7 Oct 2009 | 7:00 am
    Fifteen international economic development organizations have received grants in support of their work to expand small and growing businesses in developing countries. The grants, which total US $447,000, were the first awarded as part of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Capacity Development Fund, a US $1million effort to increase the productivity and effectiveness of organizations that provide investment, training and other resources to small and growing businesses in developing countries. Funding for the grants was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The…

  • BBC World Challenge 2009

    29 Sep 2009 | 3:31 pm
    Our friend Bunker Roy at Barefoot College just found out that out of 1,000 entries in the BBC World Challenge 2009, the Barefoot Women Solar Engineers of Africa were selected as one of the 12 finalists.Help them win by voting today! 

  • Gains & Gaps at SoCap ReCap: Post 3 of 3: Gaps

    15 Sep 2009 | 11:20 am
    As we look forward to the SoCap10, let's hope in the coming year we can make progress on greater collaboration and sharing of data.  As we seek to hold social enterprises to higher standards, we will need to work together to hold all companies to higher standards, to increase knowledge and awareness among donors and investors alike, and to achieve much greater transparency of data in order to enhance efficiency of the social entrepreneurship sector.  Here are the gaps aka opportunities for the coming year:For-profit SROI metrics Much has been said about the heavy metrics focus of…
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    Greenbang

  • Fossil fuel subsidies ‘inconsistent’ with low-carbon future

    Greenbang
    6 Nov 2009 | 11:13 am
    By subsidising fossil fuels, the world’s leading economies are “artificially suppressing clean energy” and bringing the world “closer to irreversible and catastrophic climate change,” members of the Green Economy Coalition wrote today in a letter to ministers of finance for G-20 countries. The letter (pdf) praised the G-20 for last September committing to a medium-term phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies that “encourage wasteful consumption,” and added a list of five recommendations for finance ministers: Agree to standardised and regular reporting of…

  • Despite economic meltdown, carbon emissions keep rising

    Greenbang
    6 Nov 2009 | 10:22 am
    The global financial crisis might have put the brakes to rising carbon dioxide emissions, but it only slowed them down rather than stopping them. In fact, fossil fuel-related carbon emissions rose by 2.2 per cent between 2007 and 2008, according to new research published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Between 2003 and 2007, the rate increase averaged 3.7 per cent a year. The study from scientists in Norway and Zealand also finds that coal has now bypassed oil as the largest source of global carbon dioxide emissions, largely because of the large growth in exports from China.

  • Make sure geoengineering ’seatbelt’ works before strapping in

    Greenbang
    6 Nov 2009 | 9:54 am
    How are geoengineering fixes for climate change like seatbelts in an automobile? According to top climate scientist Ken Caldeira, tinkering with the climate might help keep us safe, but we’d better be sure the geoengineering “seatbelt” actually works before we start driving. The top priority for dealing with climate change, though, still rests with cutting greenhouse gas emissions, Caldeira told US House members of the Committee on Science and Technology during a hearing on “Geoengineering: Assessing the Implications of Large-Scale Climate Intervention.”…

  • Breaking: Global carbon trade risks the next ’sub-prime’ collapse

    Greenbang
    5 Nov 2009 | 10:47 am
    Expanding the global market for carbon permits and credits — essentially trading or selling the right to emit carbon dioxide — could set off a second “sub-prime”-style financial collapse while doing nothing to prevent dangerous climate change, according to a new report from Friends of the Earth. “Pushing a world carbon market as part of a global agreement to tackle climate change risks a double whammy of financial and environmental disaster,” said Sarah Jayne-Clifton, international climate campaigner for Friends of the earth and author of the report.

  • Science inches closer to artificial photosynthesis, solar fuels

    Greenbang
    5 Nov 2009 | 9:59 am
    Scientists are making progress toward developing an “artificial leaf” that mimics a real leaf’s chemical magic with photosynthesis — but instead converts sunlight and water into a liquid fuel such as methanol for cars and trucks. Energy experts recently discussed such technologies during a symposium aimed at launching a new effort to initiate international cooperation and innovative thinking on the global energy challenge. The three-day symposium, which took place in Germany this past summer, included 30 chemists from China, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US.
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    Global Giving Blog

  • Breakfast Event, Internet Salvation and Project Leader Honored

    Alison
    29 Oct 2009 | 4:02 pm
    Earlier this month, I was invited to the Center for Nonprofit Advancement’s Annual Meeting and 30th Anniversary Celebration, which was held this morning. I was invited through YNPNdc, not as an attendee or an honoree - but to Tweet the event. The Center has been making progress to reach more people, more networks and evolve, just like all of their partner nonprofits. So they recruited a small group of us to attend and do what we do - tweet. It didn’t occur to me until I arrived that I was, in some respects, more of the media than an attendee of the event. It was my job to talk…

  • Transparency on Trial?

    Dennis
    22 Oct 2009 | 6:47 pm
    [Reposted from the Huffington Post, 10/22/09] A number of commenters have asked me to weigh in on the lively debate that emerged from David Roodman’s Microfinance Open Book Blog about transparency–not only on Kiva, but really about all attempts to make philanthropy more direct, starting with the pioneering efforts of Save the Children in 1940. I’ve hesitated about weighing in–mostly because we have shared war stories, best practices, and worst moments with our friends at Kiva. We know that they are classy folks who know how to work constructively with feedback. And no…

  • International Day of Climate Action

    Bbrower
    20 Oct 2009 | 11:05 am
    As you may have heard, this Saturday is the International Day of Climate Action. Thousands of imaginative activities are planned in the U.S. and over 100 countries around the world. There will be a huge rally in Washington D.C., tracing of the new waterline given a 1 meter rise in sea levels in Santa Cruz, tree plantings in Ghana and much more. Check 350.org for activities near you. Getting creative in the streets is one way to show your solidarity with people all over the world for global action on climate change. Another important approach is supporting projects in communities around the…

  • What do NaNoWriMo and GlobalGiving have in common?

    Marc Maxson
    13 Oct 2009 | 10:22 pm
    If you’re not one of the more than 100,000 giddy writers who eagerly looks forward to writing a novel in 30 days, let me explain.  NaNoWriMo means National Novel Writing Month. Each November I (and many others) take a stab at writing a 50,000 word novel - not because I expect to get published - but because the process itself is satisfying. In fact, part of the joy is diving in to the challenge together. My fellow writers and I use the social networking site to monitor our progress against our peers, as well as to converse about sticky points in our manuscripts. This reminded me of…

  • Earthquakes, tsunami, typhoons, flooding: What a tragic week

    Bbrower
    9 Oct 2009 | 1:15 pm
    Last week saw a string of disasters wreak havoc around the Asia Pacific region. Starting last weekend, a typhoon/tropical storm caused damage and flooding as it ripped across the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. (Check out a video of the flooding from a GlobalGiving project leader in Laos.) Midweek an earthquake triggered a tsunami that hit the Samoan islands and Tonga and another hit off the coast of Padang in Indonesia. Indonesia was then hit by another quake the next day and another tropical storm led to more flooding in Southeast Asia. It was tragic to see these areas hit by a…
 
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    Cleantech Blog

  • Low Cost Desalination - Saltworks Breakthrough

    3 Nov 2009 | 8:15 am
    Canadian firm, Saltworks Technologies, just came out of stealth in relation to their desalination technology, which they claim reduce the electrical energy required for desalination by over 70%. They report they can produce 1m3 of water with 1kW hour of electrical energy, compared to the 3.7kWhr per m3, which is what is currently achievable using reverse osmosis with the use of energy recovery devices.So how to they do it? Well its novel. It appears to be a new approach. And novel and new are two things scarce as hens teeth in relation to desalination technologies. They use solar heat (or…

  • Plugging Electric Vehicles

    2 Nov 2009 | 4:33 am
    by Richard T. StuebiMuch has been written about the planned release by General Motors (NYSE: GM) of the Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. When GM launches the vehicle, now slated for late 2010, it plans to sell tens of thousands of them.As profiled in an article in the August 24 issue of Forbes, the bigger mover in the electric drive vehicles game looks to be Nissan (NASD: NSANY), which is investing several billion dollars to ramp up for producing 300,000-400,000 electric vehicles within a few years. Its entry model is the Leaf, a five-passenger hatchback that it aims to sell in…

  • Ford Electric Car for 2011

    27 Oct 2009 | 7:29 am
    By John Addison (originally published in Clean Fleet Report 10/26/09). My test drive of the new Ford electric car for 2011 demonstrated that Ford (NYSE:F) is building an electric car that millions will want. The Ford Focus EV prototype provided a quiet and smooth drive for a prototype. One Ford engineer indicated that he was going beyond a 60-mile daily range in Michigan without nearing battery depletion. The Focus EV looks and drives like the popular gasoline powered Ford Focus four-door sedan. It comfortably seated four adults, but good luck if you want three people in the back – it will…

  • H2O to H2 w/o C

    26 Oct 2009 | 5:08 am
    by Richard T. StuebiAlthough much of the ink these days about innovative vehicles relates to plug-in hybrids, work continues to explore the potential for hydrogen-based fuel cells to play a key role in the transportation sector -- particularly in light of the recent decision by Congress to reauthorize funding for hydrogen autos.Admittedly, as hydrogen critics and skeptics are quick to point out, the vision for personal automobiles running on hydrogen is very long-term and thus quite murky due to a number of factors, perhaps most notably the lack of a ubiquitous hydrogen refueling…

  • Cleantech Blog Readers - Unite! Let's Color the Volt

    22 Oct 2009 | 8:08 am
    Ok, I couldn't resist.GM is running a contest to name the silver green color for the Volt. Winner gets to go to the LA auto show and drive a pre-production Volt.So if any of you have a few minutes to amuse yourself, add your color name idea in the comments to this post, or email it to me, and we'll take the best ones (we'll run a poll if time allows) and submit them as the Cleantech Blog submissions. (Or just submit straight to GM if you want to try yourself).For the record, if we win, we'll auction off the right to represent Cleantech Blog at the LA autoshow and give the proceeds to a green…
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    Echoing Green Blog

  • Ensaaf In The News

    shalena
    4 Nov 2009 | 4:32 pm
    Last Saturday marked the 25th anniversary of India's anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Over 3,000 Sikhs were killed and many families were torn apart during four days following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. According to an Ensaaf press release, "survivors are still waiting for justice." Founded in 2006 by Fellows Sukhman Dhami and Jaskaran Kaur, Ensaaf continuously works to end impunity and achieve justice for mass state crimes in Punjab--a predominately Sikh state. In the October 28th Time Magazine article entitled "India's 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots: Waiting for…

  • Guest Post: Disasters in the Philippines, Natural and Manmade

    Anthony
    4 Nov 2009 | 3:11 pm
    The following post was written by 2007 Echoing Green Fellows Kevin Lee and Gemma Bulos in response to the recent typhoons in the Philippines. September 26th 2009, Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) made landfall in Luzon dumping over 12” of rain in 6 hrs on Manila and other parts of the National Capital Region.  This caused massive urban flooding, 280+ deaths, destroyed homes and shelters of millions of people.  Five days later, typhoon Pepeng (Parma) made landfall in northern Luzon, devastating agriculture in the Cagayan Valley.  It then hung around the north west coast making landfall two more…

  • Thirty Days to Apply: Our Tweet Challenge Is On!

    Anthony
    2 Nov 2009 | 12:53 pm
    Even though it's only Monday, today is an exciting milestone for two reasons: a) We just zoomed past 100,000 followers on Twitter. Wow! b) There are only thirty days left to apply for the 2010 Echoing Green Fellowship! Last week, we were approached by a terrific supporter and member of Echoing Green's Social Investment Council, Kathryn Corro, with a terrific challenge idea.  For every Tweet about the Echoing Green Fellowship deadline that includes the tag #EG2010, Kathryn will donate $1 to our operating fund (up to $1000)!  We’re looking high and low for this year’s BEST ideas for…

  • Echoing Green Partners with Jobs for Change on new Be Bold Podcast

    Anthony
    29 Oct 2009 | 1:46 pm
    We’re excited today to take the wraps off an exciting partnership to grow and expand our career-focused Be Bold Podcast. Last October, when we launched the Be Bold Podcast, we never imagined that it would touch so many people interested in developing careers with meaningful impact.  The first sixteen episodes have been downloaded thousands of times in over thirty countries, and we have been thrilled with the steady stream of terrific listener questions. To accelerate the growth and impact on the sector, we’ve partnered with the fine people at Jobs for Change.  Over the next several…

  • Anne Tamar-Mattis Featured in The Economist

    shalena
    28 Oct 2009 | 2:51 pm
    After winning a gold medal, 18 year-old South African runner Caster Semenya received a great deal of media attention. Not because of Caster's victory, but because Caster's sex was called into question. This event spawned a number of discussions around intersexuality, including The Economist article "Intersexuality: A question of sex."  2008 Fellow Anne Tamar-Mattis and founder of Advocates for Informed Choice, was featured in the article, and she gives her expert advice on the topic of intersexuality in American society. Check out the full article in The Economist.
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    GreenBiz.com

  • Steven Chu: The Nerd in the Cabinet

    Marc Gunther
    6 Nov 2009 | 8:40 am
    The current Secretary of Energy is also a Nobel Laureate and former physics professor at UC Berkeley, and a self-described 'energy conservation nut.'

  • SRI Field Continues to Shift with RiskMetrics' Acquisition of KLD

    Robert Kropp
    6 Nov 2009 | 12:46 am
    The rapidly changing landscape of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) research providers received another major update this week as RiskMetrics Group announced the acquisition of KLD Research & Analytics. The acquisition, which has been widely anticipated for a month, follows RiskMetrics' purchase of Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, like KLD a provider of ESG research, in February.

  • Nike Debuts Latest Collection of 'Considered Design' Products

    GreenBiz Staff
    5 Nov 2009 | 2:04 pm
    Nike will debut a new collection of athletic footwear Saturday made with environmentally preferred materials. A portion of revenue from the N7 line will support Native American youth sports through the N7 Fund.

  • Johnson Controls: The Quiet Company Raises Its Voice and Its Profile

    Leslie Guevarra
    5 Nov 2009 | 12:51 pm
    Though a giant in the buildings and automotive industries, Johnson Controls Inc. was long considered a quiet company — seldom a major presence outside its lines of business. That's changing as the firm increasingly raises its voice and its profile to spread its mantra of "Efficiency Now."  

  • Diversey Ups Emissions Reductions Investments, Earns Bigger ROI

    ClimateBiz Staff
    5 Nov 2009 | 10:40 am
    One year after setting a goal to cut corporate emissions by 8 percent before 2013, Diversey CEO today announced the company had already surpassed that target, and upped the goal to a 25 percent reduction in the same time frame.
 
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    Afrigadget

  • Win a Copy of William Kamkwamba’s Book!

    Erik Hersman
    14 Oct 2009 | 1:56 pm
    If you’ve been reading AfriGadget for a while, you know of a name that keeps popping up over and over – William Kamkwamba. He was first written about by another blogger friend Mike McKay and then subsequently covered here on AfriGadget a good 3 years ago. His windmills and the story behind it are an inspiration for many. There is now a book, a documentary and a foundation all set up around the inspired story of windmills from Malawi. Win a copy of “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” As luck would have it, I have 2 extra copies of William’s new book. I’d like…

  • RoboCon Kenya 2009 Nairobi Regional

    Obie
    3 Oct 2009 | 1:21 am
    First Peaks The Ministry of Higher Education and Technology has organized a Robot Contest (RoboCon), between Kenyan Universities and middle level colleges. The regional competition is taking place today at the Kenya Polytechnic. Here are the first looks at the Robots from institutions taking part in the competition. University of Nairobi Robot Kiambu Institute of Science and Technology Robot Nairobi Technical Trainin Institute Robot Kenya Technical Training Institute Robot, The Winner Machakos Institute of Technology (MIT) Robot Some video will come soon… For more information on RoboCon…

  • Killer Snares turned into artful message

    Paula Kahumbu
    30 Sep 2009 | 6:08 am
    I’ve been meaning to write this post for some time to recognize the amazing work being done by Dipesh Pabari at the Kenya Coast. When he told me he was turning snares set to kill wildlife into art I didn’t imagine it would look quite like this. Then he embarked on turning pollution in the ocean into another work of art. This whale shark is the outcome of his labor of love, it’s beautiful and meaningful. Hopefully we all get the message ‘stop killing wildlife and stop polluting the natural environment”. The project is getting a quite some attention. Last summer as part of their Ocean…

  • Re-using plastic containers in Kenya

    Paula Kahumbu
    23 Sep 2009 | 9:48 am
    While hiking in the rift valley recently I came across a cow wearing this plastic gadget on his nose. It’s made from an old plastic container …..the local herdsmen said it was to stop him from suckling his mother – which is especially critical due to the severe drought in the region. Simple and effective I’d say! And here’s another one from Dominic Wanjihia – he calls it his vertical shamba and it’s water efficient and space conserving… perfect for a tiny yard. Here’s another clever use of plastic water bottles – bird feeders are…

  • Football: Made in Africa

    Erik Hersman
    16 Sep 2009 | 5:42 pm
    Football Made in Africa is a site put together by a Belgian outfit called Take Five that will air 50 shows that are 1m30s each. It’s a push for themselves and their content before the 2010 Football World Cup taking place in South Africa next year. It’s extremely well done, but that’s not why I’m writing about it here on AfriGadget. Ever wonder how those plastic bag footballs are made? Here’s how to use a condom to create a football bladder.
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    Timbuktu Chronicles

  • Quick Hits

    7 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am
    NPR reports on Jekaben a board game that posits a United States Of Africa.IBM opens an innovation centre in Lagos. Foglamp provides "...research service for overseas investors focused on governance, transparency and regulatory dynamics..."African banks spread their wings-Africa report.

  • 'Laptop Ni Lazima'-Laptop Financing

    6 Nov 2009 | 5:35 am
    Bankelele reports on a Laptop financing initiative:A new promotion dubbed laptop ni lazima [Swahili for a laptop (computer) is a must] brings together two corporate titans of Kenya – Safaricom and Equity bank. The former is the dominant mobile phone company in Kenya, while the latter is Kenya’s fastest growing bank for the last 5 years, albeit at a slowing pace. Equity Bank has a history of financing some unusual loans ...More hereRelated articles by ZemantaKelele African Bloggers Conference 2009 Postponed (socialmediatoday.com)Kenyans to buy air, bus tickets through M-pesa…

  • Another "Lost Crop" found-Tigernuts

    5 Nov 2009 | 5:01 am
    More on indigenous 'lost crops', this one I remember having while growing up. Betumi Blog reports:There is a grass-like sedge, cyperus esculentus, from ancient Egypt, whose nut-like fruit, actually the root, grows underground like a peanut (or groundnut) and that is known in Ghana as tigernut, and in Mexico and Spain as chufa (where they are used to make a drink called horchata (or orxata) chufa . Apparently, the Arabs took the sedge from Egypt to Spain between the 8th and 13th centuries, especially to Valencia. The Spanish took it to Mexico.More here

  • HBD Venture Capital

    4 Nov 2009 | 6:32 am
    From their site:HBD Venture Capital is a Cape Town based venture capital firm founded and wholly funded by African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. Shuttleworth’s objective, when starting HBD in 2000, was to reinvest a portion of the funds received from the sale of his company, Thawte, into South African companies. This objective was driven by his belief that entrepreneurs in South Africa have the potential to start businesses with global impact.We need more innovators like Mr Shuttleworth to do the same. Sustainable Venture Capital ecosystems have largely been built by those who were once…

  • A Versatile Legume-The Cowpea

    3 Nov 2009 | 4:30 am
    The base ingredient in dishes ranging from Akara to Moi-Moi, the IITA profiles the Cowpea:Is a grain legume grown mainly in the savanna regions of the tropics and subtropics in Africa, Asia, and South America. The value of cowpea lies in its high protein content, and ability to tolerate drought. As a legume, cowpea also fixes atmospheric nitrogen, allowing it to grow on, and improve poor soils. All the parts of cowpea that are used for food are nutritious, providing protein, vitamins, and minerals. Cowpea grain contains about 25% protein, making it extremely valuable where many people…
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    Startup Africa

  • Upcoming events in Johannesburg

    Ismail Dhorat
    6 Nov 2009 | 1:59 am
    GeekMeat Chow – 10 November 2009 So at the last barcamp jozi, we conceptualized a regular geek get together for all things geeky, the first Geek Meat (Gerrit?) will be held on the 10 November. Come have a bite and listen to some interesting talks. We are planning 3 talks for the evening. One on deep IT technology, another on Web 2.x/Soft Skills and another suprise geeky fun talk. Date: 10 November 2009 Time: 19:00 Venue: Picola Pizza Restaurant (Cnr 4th & 8st, Linden Square Shopping Centre, Linden) GPS Coordinates: X: 27°59`35“ Y:-26°8`27“ Cost: Pay for your meal Tel…

  • The last few days in Finland

    admin
    1 Nov 2009 | 1:51 am
    On Thursday i arranged a bunch of private meeting, Some of the companies were: http://www.prewise.com http://www.greyarealabs.com/ https://www.scred.com/ On Friday morning we all headed to the Helsinki Living Lab which also has the Arabia factory. They are known for their design with the brand Ittala. Mika told me about Barcamp Helsinki, so decided to head there on saturday and hang with a few Finn geeks. Interestingly, i found some of the same challenges faced in South Africa for startups are faced in Finland, just like in South Africa, failure is not an option and if you have failed it is…

  • Day 3 Finland – Nokia & Design Factory

    Ismail Dhorat
    29 Oct 2009 | 3:27 am
    Yesterday on our knowledge exchange visit, we visited a small little company that was founded here in Finland called Nokia, the company was founded in 1865 as Finnish rubber works, and they have done many different things from forestry to mining boots. Today they are currently a mobile device manufacturer and Nokia is in the process of another transformation from just manufacturing of devices to providing solutions and services as well. They currently employ over 125,000 people around the world, with an R & D presence in 16 countries. What struck me however is their how they deal with…

  • Day 2 in Finland – Tekes & Tieke

    Ismail Dhorat
    29 Oct 2009 | 2:23 am
    The last few days on this trip have been really hectic, with events and meetings the entire day with little time left over to blog.  On Tuesday we visited Tekes a public funding organization for research, development and innovation. Some of the elements for Finnish innovation are: High investment in R & D High Quality Research & Innovation Entrepreneurship Funding of Research One of the programmes run by Tekes is vigo, which is a startup accelerator and provides funding and coaching to startups to fast track their progress. From Tekes, we headed to Tieke is the Finish information…

  • GeoProp – SA Property Listing Startup

    Khalil Aleker
    28 Oct 2009 | 2:39 am
    Today a quick touch base with Mike Kroger yet again. SA Internet Entrepreneur based in Pretoria South Africa. We featured his Plak Startup earlier this year. Now he is in property listing… Why GeoProp Mike? “After someone saw Plak they suggested I do the same thing for the property market… Mainly because most real estate web sites have horrible confusing search interfaces.” Is it free? “Yes, Google Ads to cover the cost of providing a free service.” When did you launch and how did it take you? “Well, not long at all, basically a copy of Plak. I…
 
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    Generating blueEnergy

  • The return!

    20 Oct 2009 | 9:05 am
    Last week, on October 15th, Lâl rejoined blueEnergy Nicaragua for a 2-year post to help blueEnergy strengthen its presence in the Capital of Managua.  Lâl will be working in many areas including strengthening the movement to support renewable energy in Nicaragua and growing key relationships with the national government, foreign embassies, international development agencies, and other nonprofit and for profit organizations.  He has an uncanny ability in this area - see here.Lâl is joined by his wife Anne-Sophie and their lovely new baby boy, Niels, who after just a few short days…

  • blueEnergy’s quiet impact

    9 Sep 2009 | 12:50 pm
    One example of an often unnoticed impact blueEnergy has had has been in the realm of micro-finance.  Micro-finance is an integral part of the development eco-system but is outside of blueEnergy’s expertise and areas of focus.  blueEnergy’s solution was to help the local micro-finance institution, ADEPHCA, get registered with Kiva as a field partner in 2007.  You can read more about ADEPHCA here and here. The intention was to immediately use this channel as a funding mechanism for blueEnergy community energy projects, but getting all the ducks lined up took longer than…

  • Processes as the foundation for scaling

    1 Sep 2009 | 11:03 pm
    The GSBI leadership team added this subject to the curriculum to help graduates bridge the intense experience of the GSBI to the reality of the environment they return to.  The GSBI only accepts one person from each organization and there is a big task to carry the learnings to the greater leadership team.  There is also the task of translating big vision into operational plans, budgets and the processes that serve as the bedrock of day-to-day activities.  As one GSBI founder put it, paraphrasing, “the GSBI gives you the vision of where you want to go, but you still have to…

  • One year ago

    24 Aug 2009 | 9:37 pm
    To be clear, the GSBI didn’t provide all the answers.  It’s only a 2-week program after all.  But what it did do was bring together an amazing group of entrepreneurs from around the world and pair them with intensive instruction and mentoring.  Through this, strong relationships were formed and for those that were in a place to receive the “download”, it started a process of transformation. I had the great fortune of being invited back this year to participate in the alumni panel.  When asked for some advice for this year’s class on how they could maximize their…

  • SOCAP09?

    14 Aug 2009 | 4:35 pm
    From all I've read and heard, the SOCAP conferences are an amazing, inspirational gathering of leaders in the social sector.  Many of my peers and heroes will be there.  I understand that conferences cost money to put on and that reasonable registration fees must be charged, but $1,200 for a social sector conference!?  How can anyone afford that? If you have an "in" for me, I'd love to hear about it.  Otherwise, I'll be loitering around the backdoor, hoping to catch people for happy hour.
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    Let There D.light!

  • International Business Development Fellow

    30 Oct 2009 | 5:45 am
    Our fabulous BD fellow in China is moving on to be with his wife-to-be.  Apply to join our team and help us at this critical time of growth.  As our BD Fellow in India, Anay Shah, told me "the beauty of this fellowship is that at D.light if you have a good idea and the bandwidth to execute, you can literally shape the future of the off-grid lighting market around the world!"D.light Design Fellows ProgramD.light Design is seeking passionate and talented professionals to contribute to one of the world’s leading social enterprises through 6-month+ fellowship. As a…

  • Vote for Kiran – D.light's new ultra-affordable solar lantern

    19 Oct 2009 | 7:35 am
    As part of National Design Week, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is sponsoring a competition in which good design is chosen by the public.The D.light Kiran is currently in the top 5 out of 170 entries!  Check out the description and if you like the design give us your vote!  http://peoplesdesignaward.cooperhewitt.org/2009/nominee/2165At $10, the Kiran (‘Ray of Light’ in Hindi) replaces 2 kerosene lanterns, provides 8 hours of light on one day’s charge and pays for itself in just 4 months. But it all begins with good design!Thanks for your support! …

  • The Moment of Truth

    27 Sep 2009 | 1:13 am
    Customers are behind everything we do – particularly new product design.  But every time we go out to our consumers, the voices speak loud ... we need to reduce cost.  To go deeper we've got to become leaner, innovate and stretch ourselves to get to the people who really, really need our product solutions.Usually, it's about getting to the next, higher, level.  But not for social enterprises working at the BOP.  We're looking to go the next, lower level, and this coming month we will do just that.The D.light design team just returned from researching a new consumer…

  • D.light in TIME Magazine (and more)

    14 Sep 2009 | 9:56 pm
    One year after the Lehman Bros. collapse, TIME has issued an interesting special on responsibility and service in business: how companies big and small, old and new — and consumers too — are changing the world.  D.light is featured as one of their 25 Responsibility Pioneers.The past few weeks D.light has also been featured in a number of different publications.  Check out:o Outlook Business: Lighting Up Lives.  50 people are featured in this great round-up of social entrepreneurs in India.o Financial Express: D.light is one of three firms in India on the Global…

  • Introduction to D.light China

    16 Aug 2009 | 5:26 am
    Greetings, Social Edge readers, from Ned Tozun, President & Co-Founder of D.light. Sam and I have been working together since day one of this great adventure, when we paired up as graduate business students in the "Design for Extreme Affordability" class at Stanford University.First, a quick introduction to me: I have an engineering background, having studied both Computer Science and Environmental Studies at Stanford as an undergrad. After that I started up several companies, including one focused on making customized music for children in the US, Europe, and Japan. I am an…
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    Untangled

  • Equal Access For All

    3 Nov 2009 | 10:31 am
    The latest New York Review of Books has two prison related articles, one by Peter Mathiessen on Leonard Peltier, and another on the state of the U.S. prison system. Depressing stuff.Peltier is considered by many to be a political prisoner, and there are obvious and extensive problems with his conviction. He was denied parole in July and won't be eligible again for 15 years, when he's 80. How one incident can be viewed so differently by the same court system is a mystery to me. The other two people who were tried in the case were found not guilty on the grounds of self-defense.Whether or not…

  • Why do web communities end?

    27 Oct 2009 | 10:10 am
    Yesterday may not have been the day the music died, but it was the day that GeoCities closed its doors. Or had them shut by Yahoo! who once paid around $3,000,000,000 for the privilege of being caretaker to this dotcom era dead weight.Once upon a time, when Under Construction banners still seemed as cool as digital watches once were, GeoCities was a bustling little neighborhood. Sure, the sites were god-awful ugly, but they were user generated and they were plentiful. Then MySpace came along and took the really ugly user generated web site business away from them. Why? Because GeoCities never…

  • How about showing me some well formed code instead?

    20 Oct 2009 | 10:40 am
    This week we're talking about Global Dignity. I'm reminded that around the world, women have a harder time gaining respect than men do simply because they are women. You would think that the high tech industry, being a relatively new marketplace, could have escaped the old patriarchal trappings and moved forward in a more egalitarian way. But alas, that is simply not the case.If you haven't read Leila's take on her Tech Crunch 50 experience, I'd recommend giving it a go. Two different problems here come to mind. First, the fact that women at a tech conference were assumed to be 'booth babes'…

  • Now you can Photoshop your ex out of your photos on the go

    13 Oct 2009 | 8:54 am
    It finally happened. A new version of Photoshop was released and I downloaded it digitally. I've been waiting for this to happen for a long time, since the heady days for the behemoth software app developer - the mid-1990's. You don't find too many of them around anymore. A few huge monoliths are still rolling around like the dinosaurs they are, having consumed the rest via merger or acquisition.Okay, it wasn't a full desktop version, but a free iPhone Photoshop App. It was small, free, and didn't require delivery or a trip to the store to pick it up on a disc with a ten pound book that would…

  • Is that SPAM? No? You've just been found repeatedly.

    6 Oct 2009 | 11:15 am
    On Friday we thought we were being victimized by some kind of SPAMbot that was adding followers to our Twitter account en masse. It was an easy mistake to make, and we weren't alone in our assumptions. Since we started tweeting regularly about six months ago, we had amassed almost 5,000 followers. On Friday, we passed 5,000. Then 6,000. And on and on it went. As I write this post, we're nearing 24,000 followers. About 5 times as many people are following our Twitter feed as they were on Monday.So, what happened? Twitter added us to their Suggested User List along with a handful of other…
 
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    PSD: The World Bank Group

  • Weekend Reading: Unemployment Edition

    Brian Hoyt
    6 Nov 2009 | 12:42 pm
    Can development workers win wars? Is transport infrastructure the most important aspect of urban evolution? The Treasury's courtship of the blogosphere. Is China's changing worldview bad for business? America's largest retailer: it's not Wal-Mart. Why are some marathons more volatile than others? The EU's role in reducing state fragility in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thoughts on migration: Kosovo edition. Unemployment What America can learn from Europe about unemployment. Other difficulties that arise from high unemployment. Plus, unemployment charts galore from Calculated…

  • Rethinking the brain drain

    Ryan Hahn
    6 Nov 2009 | 10:43 am
    An article in Foreign Policy last month asks us to rethink the brain drain. Authors Michael Clemens and David McKenzie (the latter an employee of the World Bank) argue that the movement of skilled labor is a boon to both developed and developing countries. They decry the term "brain drain" as a serious mischaracterization of the phenomenon. Perhaps they need an alternative catchy phrase to supplant the term—how about brain train? While most of their argument is convincing, I think they may be overstating their case in one spot. The authors argue that…

  • The theory of industrial policy meets reality

    Ryan Hahn
    6 Nov 2009 | 9:40 am
    The idea of industrial policy has been seeing a bit of a resurgence since the financial crisis. It's good to be reminded of the reality of what these policies end up looking like in practice. It seems that Ethiopia's private sector coffee exporters are not too sympathetic to the idea. (H/t African Agriculture)  

  • Does GATS require network neutrality?

    Ryan Hahn
    6 Nov 2009 | 8:09 am
    A new paper argues that permanent blocks by WTO members on internet services like search engines, photo sharing, etc. run afoul of the General Agreement on Trade in Services. The International Economic Law and Policy blog has the details.

  • Small businesses and the case for safe savings

    Brian Hoyt
    5 Nov 2009 | 12:25 pm
    Writing in this blog last July, Anushka Thewarapperuma penned a favorable review of a new book by Daryl Collins and Jonathan Morduch on how people living on less than $2/day manage their financial lives. The authors discovered that the world's poor are quite good at managing their finances: The poorest people on earth engage in the sort of sophisticated money management that would make Chuck Schwab proud. Thewarapperuma ended her post by noting that Collins "will be coming out soon with a pilot study using the same methodology of financial diaries, this time…
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    Creating a World without Poverty

  • The Greatest Anti-Poverty Program in History

    grameenfoundation
    29 Oct 2009 | 11:51 am
    Will Marre is the co-founder and former president of the Covey Leadership Center (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), CEO of the REALeadership Alliance, and the author of “Save the World and Still Be Home for Dinner” (Capital Books, 2009). The following is from a Tuesday, Oct 27 entry on his blog, Thought Rocket. Today the Grameen Foundation is launching $27 on the 27th. This is to commemorate Dr. Mohammed Yunus’ first micro-loan back in 1976. He loaned $27 to a group of impoverished women in Bangladesh who were living on less than $1 a day while working their hearts out. The…

  • Help us Celebrate 27 on the 27th Today

    grameenfoundation
    27 Oct 2009 | 9:04 am
    Today, Grameen Foundation is launching the Ingenuity Fund, our new fundraising effort that aims to create a village – or grameen – of online advocates and funders. You can support the launch of the Ingenuity Fund by participating in our first initiative, “$27 on the 27th.”  In 1976, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus planted the seed that created Grameen Bank by making a loan of $27 to a group of 42 Bangladeshi stool makers out of his own pocket. Professor Yunus’ simple, yet ingenious action has revolutionized the way in which we combat poverty around the world and offers…

  • What Would You Give Up to Help End the Cycle of Poverty?

    grameenfoundation
    21 Oct 2009 | 12:10 pm
    Your daily dose of lattes. Dinner out with friends. Cab fare. The money you spend on items like these in one week could help us impact the lives of poor people around the world. So what would you give up for one week to help end poverty? How much money would that raise for poor families? Tell us below and then send us a Tweet or Facebook message.

  • Reaction to the Recent Wall Street Journal Articles about Microfinance

    grameenfoundation
    21 Aug 2009 | 7:56 am
    Alex Counts is President and CEO of Grameen Foundation. Cashpor client receives her loan Recent articles in the Wall Street Journal about the activities of Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs) and the role global investors are playing in the sector’s development have sparked intense debate about microfinance losing its way. While the articles do highlight a few real challenges facing clients and MFIs in some isolated cases, we believe they contain significant errors, omissions and distortions. Two leading microfinance practitioners, Vikram Akula of SKS and Samit Ghosh of Ujjivan, have…

  • Journey to Morocco

    grameenfoundation
    19 Aug 2009 | 10:30 am
    Emily Snodden is a rising senior at Westminster School in Connecticut. Emily at a Village Meeting The beads of sweat had long ago dripped down my spine and saturated my blouse with moisture as we approached what seemed to be a village. The scattered houses made from decaying plywood, tin, and mud looked similar to the huts I see on commercials late at night trying to raise money for starving children. However, I saw a few cable dishes weighing down the roofs they rested on and realized the slight prosperity in this devastated surrounding. Our guide paused outside the walls of the village to…
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    Social ROI

  • Feed the Needy From the Comfort of Your Phone (via grubstreet)

    john
    2 Nov 2009 | 3:08 pm
    A couple of nonprofits are using technology to make foodie philanthropy easier this holiday season. First, for every $50 you donate via Fresh Direct’s website, Robin Hood will deliver a turkey and fixings to a food organization such as the Food Bank For New York City (Robin Hood is the bank’s largest supplier). Second, City Harvest has released its annual Great Food, Good Hearts guide of restaurants that support the organization. This year, you can search the 160 venues via your cell phone, by texting “city harvest” and any address to 69866 (you’ll then get a text back listing the…

  • Can the world’s richest man feed the planet?

    john
    17 Oct 2009 | 6:21 pm
    Interesting article on Bill Gates: “Three-quarters of the world’s poorest people get their food and income by farming small plots of land,” Gates said. “So if we can make smallholder farming more productive and more profitable, we can have a massive impact on hunger and nutrition and poverty.” That’s exactly what the first Green Revolution accomplished in the Latin America and Asia. “But it didn’t go far enough,” Gates said. “It didn’t go to Africa.” Continue reading…

  • GOOD, an integrated media platform for people who “want to live well and do good”

    john
    14 Oct 2009 | 3:54 pm
    GOOD makes some waves by raising a round of venture capital.  Here’s the details from TechCrunch: GOOD, an integrated media platform for people who “want to live well and do good”, has announced that it has recently closed a Series A round of funding led by its co-founder and CEO Ben Goldhirsh and a number of angel investors including Nicholas Negroponte. While the amount remains undisclosed, newly appointed President Craig Shapiro says it was in the “single digit millions”. In addition to the funding, GOOD is living up to its promise to help ‘push the world forward’ by…

  • Bioneers 2009 Conference

    john
    2 Oct 2009 | 6:50 pm
    It’s the 20th anniversary of the Bioneers Conference. This leading-edge forum on environment and social justice issues focuses on solutions inspired by nature and human ingenuity. Our goal is to turn education into action by connecting people with nature and each other. At this critical time in history we are asking for you to collaboratively help us spread the word about this year’s Bioneers Conference to advance our society. To this end, we have created multiple digital content assets, social media channels and offerings for your sites, readers, audiences, members, managers, employees,…

  • Application process for the 2010-2011 Class of Acumen Fund Fellows is now open!

    john
    2 Oct 2009 | 6:45 pm
    The application process for the 2010-2011 Class of Acumen Fund Fellows is now open! If you know exceptional individuals who should be part of our 2010-2011 class, we hope you will encourage them to apply. Please forward this email liberally throughout your networks so that we reach the strongest and most diverse candidate pool. Applications will be accepted online until 11:59pm EST on Thursday, November 5, 2009. Detailed information about the program and application process, as well as the bios of current and past fellows, can be found on our website. To apply, or to send more information to…
 
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    The School for Social Entrepreneurs

  • Video-tastic: social entrepreneurs in Melbourne + New York

    Nick Temple
    1 Nov 2009 | 8:20 am
    Whilst SSE's focus has been resolutely on the UK over the past 6 months (hello Cornwall, Yorkshire, Devon, Hampshire to the growing franchise), there's also been a bit of international expansion and work going on as well. By all accounts...

  • Residential wrap: can social entrepreneurs work in teams?

    Nick Temple
    30 Oct 2009 | 10:32 am
    Following Colin Crook's witness session, the SSE residential in Dartington took an unexpected turn (ok, so the staff were expecting it, but anyway). London SSE Director of Learning Marcia sounded the siren from the middle of the Dartington lawn (see...

  • Transparency and (green) social entrepreneurship

    Nick Temple
    15 Oct 2009 | 10:04 am
    So on Day 2 at the SSE residential, 140 social entrepreneurs packed into the Great Hall at Dartington to hear from Colin Crooks, social entrepreneur and founder of Green-Works, the furniture recycling social enterprise It takes quite an individual to...

  • What is the collective noun for social entrepreneurs?

    Nick Temple
    13 Oct 2009 | 6:38 am
    So I'm at Dartington Hall in Devon, in 1500 of the UK's finest leafy acres. But no time to enjoy the peace and quiet, or the view. Because I am here with 150 social entrepreneurs from across the UK: all...

  • Forces for Good: a brief review

    Nick Temple
    8 Oct 2009 | 10:26 am
    Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High Impact Nonprofits by Leslie Crutchfield & Heather McLeod Grant (Jossey-Bass) [review originally in Social Enterprise Magazine with a strict word limit: hence the brevity...] This book could not come more heavily garlanded...
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    Duncan Green: From Poverty to Power

  • Eight introductory powerpoints on development – please plunder

    Duncan
    6 Nov 2009 | 1:19 am
    I recently gave a two week introduction to development (undergrad level) at the University of Notre Dame, consisting of eight 45 minute lectures – here are the powerpoints for anyone wanting to nick them. Each lecture includes a brief illustrative video clip of campaigns, social movements etc. Subjects covered are: Risk and Vulnerability; The Global Economic Crisis; The International System; Climate Change; Poverty and Wealth; Power and Politics; NGOs and Advocacy; How Change Happens All feedback welcome. If you have a Slideshare account you can download and share the presentations by…

  • Why demanding ‘political will’ is lazy and unproductive

    Duncan
    5 Nov 2009 | 1:07 am
    I find myself getting increasingly exasperated by the term ‘political will’. Let me explain. The standard NGO shtick, whether on development, environment or pretty much anything else, is a three parter a) description of the problem b) clever proposal for solving the problem c) call for leaders to show ‘political will’ in adopting the proposed solution the standard view A talk on climate change I attended recently followed this pattern, with some consumer action thrown in on point c. What’s wrong with that? After all, leaders are there to solve problems and some show more…

  • Mobile phones and magic bullets

    Duncan
    4 Nov 2009 | 1:23 am
    The Economist continues its love affair with the mobile phone in a recent special report. Highlights: ‘In 2000 the developing countries accounted for around one-quarter of the world’s 700m or so mobile phones. By the beginning of 2009 their share had grown to three-quarters of a total which by then had risen to over 4 billion. [see chart] China is the world’s largest market for mobile telephony, with over 700m subscribers. India is adding the biggest number each month: 15.6m in March alone. And Africa is the region with the fastest rate of subscriber growth. Three trends in particular…

  • Can the law advance education and healthcare in poor countries?

    Duncan
    2 Nov 2009 | 11:57 pm
    I recently spent two weeks doing jury service in an inner London court – a grim experience of leaking municipal toilets, undrinkable coffee, frequently incompetent barristers and Dickensian judges, overseeing a squalid litany of petty crime. In between the alleged threats and beatings, I read Courting Social Justice, a new book on the use of the courts to enforce social and economic rights (in particular healthcare and education) in Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Nigeria. It left me feeling a bit more optimistic about the role of the law. The book asks if resort to the legal…

  • Aid, growth and love; North Korea; people power; sleepless physicists; Afghan fudge and a warmer world map: links I liked

    Duncan
    1 Nov 2009 | 10:48 pm
    Owen Barder reports on a new paper that finds that on average, aid promotes economic growth. I share Owen’s doubts about the fixation with regressions, but it’s worth noting that the anti-aid battalions don’t own the maths. Talking of aid sceptics, Bill Easterly asks if aid is more like science or falling in love The Economist has a harrowing report on the human rights situation in North Korea On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall etc, Adam Roberts discusses the rise of ‘people power’ and the importance of choosing your moment What keeps physicists up at…
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    Futureshifters: Blog Posts

  • Mobilizing Idle Assets for the Greater Good

    Kevin Asuncion
    In the nearby city of Montclair, CA, a vacant lot sits idle. For years the lot was a vibrant place of commerce and activity, but the plaza closed down in 1996. Thirteen years later, the lot remains idle as ever. Whenever I drive by Montclair I always bemoan the lot’s inactivity, but always find myself envisioning what it could be. Due to the recent recession, cities around the United States are full of these very same vacant lots, unused buildings, and underutilized community assets. It's sad see things with so much potential go to waste, but the point here is not so much about lamenting…

  • Premier of our latest promotional video at 11 Downing Street

    Simon Baker
    The 28th of October 2009 was an eventful day for Gateway Media and myself. We were able to premier our latest video work at Number 11 Downing Street as part of our parent charity, City Gateway, 10 year celebration. The event was attended by a number of Gateway Media's clients along with other partners of City Gateway and a number of MP's. The video shown was a short promotional video highlighting City Gateway's work followed by another video on how corporate partners could get involved. The video was another first for us as it was shot using a Canon 50D Mk2 which is a high quality DSLR camera…

  • Social Revolution

    Lincoln Builds
    Social media started out as a toy but is now a powerful tool being used by big business. I recently talked to an HR manager who has setup a social network at her site to train staff on everything from the medical and dental insurance plans offered, the special travel medical insurance required there, and even the reimbursement policy for home security systems because this company has a very mobile work force. By using social media, she has been able to engage her large staff. They use videos, share documents, and more. The bulk of the information and idea sharing has come out of the…

  • A Bit On Connecting

    Annie
    You may remember the blog about the hug. I've had more hugs, recently, in the form of other things, umbrellas, emergency exits, water bottles and figs. I'm re-reading, editing and realizing that I am coming up with more and more that I could add here. Ways in which I have shared with people, connected and hugged. This isn't meant to be warm and fuzzy, just know that this is about connecting, my connections, my proverbial hugs and a hope that I can inspire you to hug too. Here's a story: I went to New York not so long ago. Apparently after only two months back in Southern California, 6 years…

  • "Have you heard of obstetric fistula?"

    Ilya Brotzky
    Most people haven't. That's why we at the Fistula Free Climb chose to raise money for OperationOF.org by climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. According to OperationOF founder Seth Cochran, "Obstetric fistula is really one of the worse possible fates that any human could ever endure. Despite the fact that OF affects women, it is not a women’s issue – it’s a human rights issue. We have had the technology to fix this terrible curse cheaply for over 100 years, yet there are 2 million women living with OF, 150,000 new cases every year and only enough doctors trained to treat 10,000 women annually."…
 
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    CIPE Development Blog

  • Argentina’s Shaky Freedom of the Press

    Tomas Mandl
    6 Nov 2009 | 1:52 pm
    Freedom of the press is an essential component of a genuine democracy. That is why Thomas Jefferson expressed that, “were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” Indeed, one of the most powerful development messages is written in the U.S. constitution: “Congress shall make no law (…) prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” Freedom of the press’ key contribution to democracy is its unique ability to…

  • Democracy and Prosperity

    Michael Hendrix
    6 Nov 2009 | 2:11 am
    The Legatum Institute recently released their annual Legatum Prosperity Index, based on an assessment of 104 countries.  The index looks at 79 variables that form the “building blocks of prosperity”: economic fundamentals, entrepreneurship and innovation, democratic institutions, education, health, safety and security, governance, personal freedom, social capital – in sum, both wealth and quality of life.  The study found that democracy and prosperity are necessarily bound with well-being.  “The most prosperous nations in the world are not necessarily those that have only a high…

  • Dialing for Justice in Morocco

    James Liddell
    5 Nov 2009 | 7:56 am
    “Are you the victim of corruption? Then call 080 100 76 76.” This is how a new advertisement for the Center for Anti-Corruption Assistance (Cajac) begins – exhorting Moroccans to say no to corruption! Cajac was set up by Morocco’s local Transparency International chapter (Transparency Maroc) and is funded by the British Department for International Development. Since its launch last January, Cajac has treated some 250 cases; most of them dealing with property rights, complaints about the justice system and stories of abuse of power by local police. The Center is run by a voluntary…

  • The Informal Sector: Opportunity or Problem?

    Kim Bettcher
    5 Nov 2009 | 3:59 am
    Recently we were asked whether the informal economy might prosper in the long term in the developing world, or if it should be curbed as a hindrance to development. Informal business accounts for 35-50% of GDP in many developing countries and more in some cases. Paradoxically perhaps, the sector contains both entrepreneurial spirit and the struggle for subsistence. From one perspective, informal businesses have an unfair advantage in avoiding taxation. On the other hand, these busineses lack legal rights, and are unable to access public services or formal sources of credit. So what is…

  • “Toward an Afghan Democracy? Exploring Perceptions of Democratization in Afghanistan”

    Anna Nadgrodkiewicz
    4 Nov 2009 | 1:33 pm
    The latest developments in the controversial Afghan election bring new urgency to the question: what do Afghans think about democracy? CIPE’s Feature Service article, based on a recent study conducted by the Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), sheds light on this timely issue. The study indicates that there is a decreasing level of acceptance of the current democratization process for a number of reasons. Key among them is widespread disillusionment with the Afghan democracy in its current shape due to an expected but lacking improvement in rule of law and economic development,…
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    The Dreambank Blog

  • Tips On Cutting The Waste Out Of Gift Giving

    Victoria Ronco
    15 Oct 2009 | 2:34 pm
    Here at DreamBank we’re all about gift giving that helps reduce the impact on the environment.  We  know we’re biased in saying that DreamBank is one of the best ways to do this , but we are also always looking for helpful tips  about reducing waste and being environmentally aware even if you’re not using DreamBank! So we thought we’d post a few tips on how to reduce the waste gifts create. The holiday season is just around the corner, so hopefully some of these tips will be useful to those of you preparing for your festive celebrations! A. Give Waste-Free Gifts.

  • Where Do Lost Gifts Go?

    Victoria Ronco
    6 Oct 2009 | 3:33 pm
    We were talking here at DreamBank HQ about the gifts that get lost in the mail, and what happens to them. Surprisingly, despite the amount of information available on the internet, I had quite a bit of trouble finding anything that could point me in the direction of the lost gift booty. I found that there aren’t any available statistics about how many gifts are lost in transit, or stolen upon arrival at their destination. A little disappointing, much like the great sock-disappearing-in-laundry-machine mystery, though maybe that means not many get lost/stolen! A little digging into where…

  • Chasing Your Dreams Against All Odds

    Victoria Ronco
    24 Sep 2009 | 2:11 pm
    We’re all about chasing your dreams here at DreamBank. If Dawn hadn’t done so, we wouldn’t be here! So when I saw this post on Zenhabits.net, I knew I wanted to share it with our dreamers. For anyone who is still umming and arring about whether or not their dream is worth chasing – this one’s for you. Cross-posted from www.ZenHabits.net, check them out, they have tons of great advice! How to Doggedly Pursue Your Dreams in the Face of Naysayers Photo by WTL photos What do you do if you have a dream, but everyone around you keeps telling you to be more realistic…

  • Back To School Special – 3 Cheers For The Oldest Students In The World!

    Victoria Ronco
    4 Sep 2009 | 4:06 pm
    With September comes that mad rush to get all your pencils sharpened, your lunchboxes cleaned and your cool new school supplies ready for another year of the grind. Some approach this with excitement- the thrill of starting fresh, of learning, of moving on in life- while others are more hesitant, holding on to the last days of summer bliss and dreading the bells that call them to their studies. For those of you heading back to sweet academia, we’re proud of you! If you’re feeling like you want to drag your heels a little, maybe these two individuals will inspire you: 1. Meet Chao…

  • DreamBank Service Announcement: IE Bug Has Been Fixed

    Victoria Ronco
    30 Aug 2009 | 1:59 pm
    Hi again everyone! It seems as soon as we log a bug we get it fixed! The last blog post was about a problem making contributions when using the Internet Explorer browser. This was fixed last Friday, but things were so hectic at DreamBank HQ that I didn’t have a chance to post about it until now. So now you can happily use IE7 or higher to contribute to Dream Gifts. Thanks for bearing with us, please let us know if you encounter any difficulties while using DreamBank!
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    Overseas Development Institute

  • The EU climate finance deal: what are the implications?

    Jessica Brown
    4 Nov 2009 | 7:35 am
    In an effort to ‘drive momentum towards Copenhagen’ the European Union has just agreed that measures to tackle climate change will need €100 billion a year by 2020. In the short-term, the leaders agreed that up to €7 billion a year would be needed from January 2010 for three years for ‘fast-track’ funding in the developing world. This news raises some significant questions and potential concerns regarding how finance will be raised....(read more)

  • Aid workers under fire

    Sarah Bailey
    30 Oct 2009 | 5:02 am
    In the aftermath of the bombing of a UN guest house in Kabul, this blog examines the rising violence against aid workers worldwide. ...(read more)

  • The global financial crisis: identifying the chronically poor in low income countries

    Caroline Harper
    16 Oct 2009 | 4:52 am
    To mark International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, this blog urges a stronger focus on those most vulnerable to the impact of the global financial crisis: children, youth and women....(read more)

  • Fighting hunger: the endless plight of pastoralists in the Horn of Africa

    Sara Pavanello
    16 Oct 2009 | 1:47 am
    On World Food Day, Sara Pavenello looks at the plight of pastoralists in northern Kenya. ...(read more)

  • From regional club to global player: how Lisbon could transform Europe

    Mikaela Gavas
    5 Oct 2009 | 7:49 am
    This blog looks at how the Lisbon treaty could put the EU in a stronger position: ready and able to play a more prominent role in the world; looking after its own interests whilst recognising that those interests are reinforced by an international outlook that actively promotes stability and sustainable development. ...(read more)
 
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    Zerodivide

  • ZFellow Marc Levine Elected to San Rafael City Council

    Brian Gallagher
    4 Nov 2009 | 11:31 am
    Congratulations to ZFellow Marc Levine who won election to the City Council in his home town of San Rafael, California yesterday.  He was elected to one of two open seats on the Council with 27% of the vote.  Marc was a member of Class II of the ZeroDivide Fellowship and currently serves as Executive Director of ABDF.org, an on-the-ground relief provider for Tsunami victims in war-torn Sri Lanka.  As part of the ZeroDivide Fellowship, Marc worked on a Strategic Impact Project which supported the development and innovative use of Web 2.0 tools and technology by students from underserveread…

  • Dinner, Discussion, and Disability Access at the San Francisco Zoo

    tim
    29 Oct 2009 | 12:31 pm
    Tonight, ZeroDivide will conduct the fourth in its ongoing series of Salon dinners.  These Salons bring together policy experts, advocates, and donors in a small group, intimate setting to discuss innovative ideas for addressing cutting edge topcis.  This evening's Salon turns the spotlight on disability and accessibility.  It will feature Kathy Martinez, President Obama's newly appointed Assistant Secretary for Disabilty Employment Policy at the US Department of Labor.  Assistant Secretary Martinez will lead the evening's discussion, which will focus on the intersections between accread…

  • All About Twitter

    margaret
    29 Oct 2009 | 9:10 am
    PEW just released a report Twitter and Status Updating, Fall 2009 indicating that a “social segment” of internet users is flocking to both social network sites and status update services. This segment is likely to grow as ever more internet users adopt mobile devices as a primary means of going online. According to the report, some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others.read more

  • The Digital Divide - A Personal Story

    Millie Guillermo-Trovao
    28 Oct 2009 | 12:34 pm
    It's my turn to blog this month and I'm way overdue.  It's also my first time and I really didn't think I had anything significant to share.  Well, today, as I sit in my living room I consider myself lucky.  Lucky in the sense that here I am in Dos Palo, Ca - a town of about 5000 people smack in the middle of the Central Valley.  Yet, the digital divide is nil from my rural location because I have access, and I CAN work from home.  read more

  • Doing Good with Social Media

    John Hayes
    23 Oct 2009 | 1:07 pm
    Want to spend time on your Facebook page and do something good? This Mashable post shows lots of great ways you can use Facebook to make a difference. read more
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    Creating the Future

  • What Does It Mean to “Be the Change We Want to See?”

    Hildy
    4 Nov 2009 | 10:09 am
    Five consultants from across the US walked into our class last Monday as “consultants to community benefit organizations.”  They left on Friday as facilitators of their communities’ highest potential for being amazing places to live. As it is with each of our Consultant Immersion Courses, the focus began far beyond the question “What do I have to do to effect change in my community?” Instead the class began where we begin each time, asking, “What does it mean to be the change I want to see in my community?” I hope that begins to answer why conversations here at…

  • Armchair Change Agents

    Hildy
    20 Oct 2009 | 9:25 am
    This week I get to indulge in one of the most energizing parts of my work. In preparing for next week’s immersion course in Pollyanna Principled Consulting, I get to speak one-on-one with the participants, to find out what difference they want the class to make for them. I get to hear their dreams and their frustrations, knowing how different they will feel when the week is done. In these conversations, people consistently share this: I have been consulting to community benefit organizations for a long time. And I have been frustrated for a long time. I am really good at what I do, yet I…

  • What’s In a Name?

    Hildy
    15 Oct 2009 | 9:51 pm
    I confess this week’s impassioned discussion of changing our self-identity from “nonprofits” to Community Benefit Organizations took me by surprise… in a good way. What thoughtful consideration of so many aspects to the term and its use! My initial thought has always been that using the term “Community Benefit Organization” would not be a legal term - it would not replace IRS or other taxing entity language. It would just be what we call ourselves. I’ve ranted about this for a long long time (like in this video that many of you have already seen). …

  • 6 Reasons to Use the Term “Community Benefit Organization”

    Hildy
    12 Oct 2009 | 2:47 pm
    Lately we hear a louder and louder drumbeat to stop using what my friend Mark Riffey calls “the other N word.”  Nonprofit. This post will not be about that. After all, if we’re mounting a campaign to move to more positive language, it’s pretty self-defeating to have that campaign itself be negative! The command to “STOP using negative language” is about as self-contradictory an oxymoron as one could find! So herewith, 6 reasons to move TOWARDS a positive name for the work we all do - Community Benefit work. 1) “Community Benefit” Says What Our Organizations Are and Why They…

  • Monday Morning Rock Out!

    Hildy
    11 Oct 2009 | 6:50 pm
    Hey you - yes you. You are an amazing gift to your community! You have chosen to dedicate a big chunk of every single day to making our world a better place. You don’t just want to make a difference - you are putting your hands and your heart and your soul where your mouth is! For the often unrewarded and unrecognized work you do, every single day, you deserve a gift - a boost you can share with everyone you know who is also working to create an amazing world. You are amazing. You are doing amazing work. Thank you for doing it, and thank you for caring about doing it even better. Have a…
 
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    ThinkChange India

  • TC-I’s Shital in Hyderabad

    admin
    5 Nov 2009 | 7:02 am
    One of ThinkChange India’s Managing Editors, Shital Shah, is in Hyderabad for the next few months.  If you are in the city and want to meet up, want TC-I to cover your event or organization, have feedback about the site, or just want to talk more about Indian social enterprises in general, please get in touch by sending an email to shital [at] thinkchangeindia.org.  She looks forward to meeting you in person!

  • [TC-I Call to Action]: Ideas India 2009 Essay Competition

    Shital Shah
    3 Nov 2009 | 3:57 pm
    Aspen Institute India wants to hear your big idea that will define India in the 21st century!  The Ideas India 2009 Essay Competition is soliciting entries to contribute to the annual “conversations” forum that will be held December 17-19, 2009 in New Delhi.   The prompt is broad: Do you have ideas that could address some India’s problems? Can you suggest ways that India can live up to its true potential? Do you want to become part of the debate? If you do, send us your thoughts in the form of a 500-word essay on the topic “The 1 Big Idea that will Define India in the 21st…

  • [TC-I Call to Action]: Apply Now for the Atlas Corps 2010-2011 Fellowship

    tdomf_ecbf4
    1 Nov 2009 | 11:25 am
    Atlas Service Corps seeks nonprofit leaders from around the world to apply for their 2010-2011 fellowship positions in Washington, DC, Baltimore, MD and Bogota, Colombia. Expenses are paid in this prestigious fellowship program, including a living stipend, health insurance, and training. Applicants must have 3 or more years of experience in the nonprofit sector, a college degree, fluency in English (and Spanish if applying to volunteer in Colombia), and a commitment to return to their home country after one year. Candidates from outside the U.S. are placed at outstanding host organizations in…

  • Devising Scalable Deployment Strategies for mHealth

    Prerna Srivastava
    25 Oct 2009 | 12:08 am
    Over the course of this academic year, I intend to work alongside D-Tree and Dimagi on developing a sustainable deployment and scale-up model for CommCare, a mobile-based scheduling, monitoring, and referral application for community health workers (CHWs).  Through its “Safe Pregnancy” module, CommCare aims to routinize antenatal care by providing CHWs and their supervisors the ability to monitor, in a consistent and standardized fashion, the progress of pregnancies within a defined geographic area.  Examples of the types of capabilities CommCare can provide include, but are not…

  • Challenge:Future, Global Student Competition for a More Sustainable Future

    maggie
    25 Oct 2009 | 12:02 am
    Challenge:Future is a global student competition, aimed at promoting innovation for the world’s sustainable future. If you are a student between the age 18 and 30, Challenge:Future sincerely invites you to join our competition to develop sustainable solutions for specific global and business challenges. The registration for the competition has been launched on the 24th of September. To date, we have over 600 registered participants from over 50 countries and 196 schools, with the first round of the competition starting on November 21st, 2009. Please check out our site at…
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    Truck and Barter

  • Dinar And Discussion November, December 09 & January 10

    DinarAdmin
    1 Nov 2009 | 3:53 am
    This is the Dinar And Discussion Page for November and December 09 & January 2010...

  • Dinar And Discussion August Sept Oct 09

    DinarAdmin
    4 Aug 2009 | 12:51 pm
    This is the Dinar And Discussion Page for August, September and October 2009...

  • Random thoughts on Electronic Medical Records

    Kevin
    16 Jul 2009 | 6:41 am
    Regardless of the lawsuit implications, I am not so sure of the benefits of EMRs. I would be all in favor of a private and complete electronic medical history for each person, but the EMRs I have seen are neither private nor complete, and tend to reinforce formulaic medical practice, as opposed to discovery, discussion, and intelligent understanding. Broadly, my concerns with EMRs: First, GIGO. I was enthusiastic about Kaiser-Permanente's electronic medical records until I saw garbage being put into the system by well intentioned folks. This translated into outputs that incommensurable over…

  • Dinar and Discussion May, June & July 2009

    DinarAdmin
    30 Apr 2009 | 11:15 pm
    Dinar and Discussion for May, June & July 2009...

  • Trust

    Kevin
    9 Mar 2009 | 10:08 am
    Reading Craig and Russ: Some top notch economists insist we have a crisis of trust. True enough. Yet it seems to me that the market is trying to fire quite a number of the poor-judging risk-takers in the financial sector -- basically, those that we cannot trust. However, Mr. Obama and Mr. Geithner appear to be doing a damn fine job keeping them there, I think partly because of successful lobbying, but also because they cannot envision the market and political orders that would ensue should AIG, Citi, BoA, and a host of other international conglomerates suddenly disappear....
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    PHILANTHROPY 2173

  • Open organizations

    Lucy Bernholz
    5 Nov 2009 | 7:08 am
    (Photo from Boboroshi, Flickr, Creative Commons)Thanks to an email from Martin Kaminer I just read about PresenTense's open source efforts over at Community Organizer 2.0. According to the post, PresenTense, an organization focused on building the Jewish community's next generation of pioneers and innovators, open sources much of its programming and advisory roles. Community Organizer 2.0 quotes PresenTense's founder @ArielBeery as saying:"The PresenTense Group calls itself an “open source organization." Co-founder Ariel Beery defines an Open Source Organization as one that “enables all…

  • Mixing data with your values

    Lucy Bernholz
    2 Nov 2009 | 1:07 pm
    I've written a lot about how data can transform giving. The November 2009 issue of Harvard Business Review includes a compelling feature story about how this is true at some of the country's biggest foundations. Written by staff from The Bridgespan Group, "Galvanizing Philanthropy" looks at the relationships between data, timing, strategy, and external feedback. The article provides several examples and points out the common mistakes of relying on "evidence too early" or "values and beliefs too late."The importance of this insight is even bigger than the HBR piece emphasizes, in my opinion.

  • The 2009 Embedded Giving Challenge

    Lucy Bernholz
    2 Nov 2009 | 12:18 pm
    (Photo by Roland. Flickr, Creative Commons)It's that time of year again - giving season. Time to play: What is your favorite embedded giving experience of 2009?!*While being asked to donate a dollar for [name your cause here] has become a year-round experience for anyone who a) shops at a store b) searches online or c) leaves their house, the "opportunity" to round up your bill for a good cause should present itself even more frequently in the mad dash to Christmas shopping that is the next 8 weeks. And shoppers this holiday season will no doubt have endless opportunities to choose between…

  • The downsides of transparency

    Lucy Bernholz
    30 Oct 2009 | 6:09 am
    Once again, the readers of this blog have provided critical insights and resources for my learning. Thank you. Specifically, a comment on the Decoding the Future (1 of 3) post pointed me to this AidfInfo Wiki - a resource for open sharing of data on development aid. Thanks.And I want to encourage everyone to read Larry Lessig's article in the October 21, 2009 issue of The New Republic. Lessig, a parent of the Creative Commons movement, a guru on technology and creativity and change, and a member of the advisory board to The Sunlight Foundation reaches off the newstand and grabs you as you…

  • Huff Post Game Changers in Philanthropy

    Lucy Bernholz
    29 Oct 2009 | 8:05 pm
    So there I was, minding my own business with friends in New Hampshire, watching the Yankees game (or what most of you call "The World Series") when I get a call - "You're on the front page of the Huffington Post!" So....I turn away from the TV (Yankees up 2-1)*, boot up laptop and find this:"Huffington Post Game Changer: Who is the biggest game changer in Philanthropy""Current Status: Blogging the business of givingChanging The Game By: Creating a conversation pit for the philanthropic sector with her blogsite Philanthropy 2173, an “accessible round-up and analysis of emerging trends.”…
 
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    Social Business Blog

  • The Banks: State Aid versus Public Support (or RBS/Lloyds vs. Triodos)

    Rod Schwartz
    5 Nov 2009 | 1:52 pm
    Earlier this week it was announced that RBS and Lloyds were due to receive another £30+ billion in support from the UK Government. We have become so inured to such injections, that many commentators hailed this as a positive restructuring and applauded the fact that RBS and Lloyds were being dealt with severely; bonuses to be restricted or deferred and certain businesses to be sold. The unexpectedly harsh treatment from Brussels prompted RBS’s CEO Stephen Hester to say he felt “bruised”, regarding the measures imposed. I may be alone, but this saga and the muted reaction to…

  • The Bankers are Coming! Will they Destroy Social Enterprise and Investment?

    Rod Schwartz
    2 Nov 2009 | 5:51 am
    Last week I attended the Good Deals Conference, to talk about ClearlySo, and met an old friend. She said something like, “oh I don’t know, a few too many ex-bankers here for my taste!” When I pointed out that this was also a perfectly apt description of me (I too am a recovering banker), she politely added, “oh you don’t count, you’ve been at this (social investment) for years!” Hmmmmm….I guess the stench washes away after some period, thankfully. Her comment did give me a a great deal to think about. First, why are so many bankers in, or coming…

  • Announcing Our Next Social Business Conference: Good Deals 2010, in Collaboration with Social Enterprise Magazine

    Rod Schwartz
    29 Oct 2009 | 3:45 pm
    In a few weeks we will be hosting our 4th annual ClearlySo Social Business Conference, on 12 November. Just today I came from the 2nd annual Good Deals Conference, operated exquisitely by Social Enterprise Magazine and Society Media, two sister companies. I suppose it says something about London and the social business and enterprise sector that you can hold two conferences on very similar subjects within two weeks of each other and both will have record attendances. But is this optimal? No, I don’t think so. So we put our heads together and said let’s do one bigger/better one…

  • Despite Reservations, We Support the Social Investment Wholesale Bank

    Rod Schwartz
    17 Oct 2009 | 11:00 am
    Ten days ago we submitted our response to the consultation paper written by the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) regarding the Social Investment Wholesale Bank (SIWB). For those of you not based in the UK, this is a bank to be created by the Government, designed to accelerate the development of the social investment market in the UK and to maintain leadership in this area globally. The funding will come from “unclaimed assets” at financial institutions. Quite poetic actually; the funds (over £300 million) for a SOCIAL bank will come from the dormant assets of much-maligned and…

  • The Point Behind ClearlySo’s 4th Annual Social Business Conference—12 November 2009

    Rod Schwartz
    13 Oct 2009 | 8:16 am
    People ask me why we, at ClearlySo, have had this annual gathering and what objectives we are trying to pursue. As this is one of the more popular pages on the ClearlySo site, I hope that readers will indulge me in utilising this blog to make these points. You will also not be surprised if I say that I think there are some principles underlying the conference which strike me as important—what are these and why have we been holding this conference for the past few years? Perhaps it would help if I explained how and why this all got started? I was attending the annual Skoll World Forum (SWF)…
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    Acumen Fund Blog

  • Cohort Experiment (9 of 9): Alumni Development

    Blair Miller
    6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am
    And so the cohort experiment continues, though with this blog post reaches its online conclusion. In the penultimate post in the series, Nicole discussed the critical variables involved in designing leadership programs, in a discussion that we hope was helpful in considering the development of your own leadership programs. As we reach the end of this series, on the nature and the role of cohorts in leadership programs, we find ourselves confronting the after or extended life of our programs. In other words, what do you do once the program finishes?  Needless to say, this question demands a…

  • PVRI and UHEAL: Announcing New Eye Care Investments in Kenya and India

    David Platzer
    5 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am
    Acumen Fund is excited to announce two new investments, both in the field of eye care. PVRI (Pushpagiri Vitreo Retina Institute) based outside Hyderabad, India, and UHEAL (Upper Hill Eye and Laster Centre), in Kenya, both focus on specific forms of preventable ocular damage.  With similar business models and parallel aims, through our investment in these complementary enterprises, Acumen Fund seeks to identify and and share best practices across continents, while building an effective model for delivering eye care to the poor. Loss of eye sight has a tremendous economic and social impact on…

  • News Round-up: Investee awards and interviews, business schools and social enterprise, patient capital

    Mariko Tada
    3 Nov 2009 | 5:11 am
    Award-winning investees: Acumen Fund entrepreneurs continue to be recognized for their work. The founders of D.Light Design were among Social Venture Network’s 2009 Innovation Award winners. And the entrepreneurs behind Books of Hope were recently named as Purpose Prize Fellows. Congratulations! Investee interview: Listen to Sam Goldman of D. Light in his recent podcast for the Social Innovation Conversations series. MBAs and social enterprise: This article in the Financial Times discusses how business school coursework is responding to the rise of social enterprise. Acumen Fund…

  • AF Fellows: Everyday Barriers (Part 3 of 3)

    Meghan Simkins
    2 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am
    Each year as part of their training in New York, the new class of Acumen Fund fellows is sent out into the city armed only with a $6 metro card, a $5 bill, and their IDs. Their mission is to experience the challenges of obtaining basic services with these meager, minimal resources; in the course of the day, they stand in soup kitchens, visit shelters, and attempt access to medical care. Over the next week, we will be sharing their experiences on our blog. The last entry in this series comes from Meghan Simkins. After training, Meghan will work with LifeSpring, a growing network of affordable…

  • AF Fellows: Everday Barriers (Part 2 of 3)

    Kevin Martin
    30 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am
    Each year as part of their training in New York, the new class of Acumen Fund fellows is sent out into the city armed only with a $6 metro card, a $5 bill, and their IDs. Their mission is to experience the challenges of obtaining basic services with these meager, minimal resources; in the course of the day, they stand in soup kitchens, visit shelters, and attempt access to medical care. Over the next week, we will be sharing their experiences on our blog. The second in this three part series comes from Kevin Martin. After Training, Kevin will work in Tanzania with D.light Design on marketing…
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    Oxfam News Blog

  • Climate Countdown success - onwards to The Wave!

    Fiona Remnant
    6 Nov 2009 | 10:23 am
    Well on Saturday 24th October we pulled out all the stops with The Converging World and Christian Aid to put on an all-singing all-dancing climate change action extravaganza. Thousands of Bristol folk turned up to hear Jonathon Porritt tell us that there is a “gathering momentum that gives us more hope than we have ever had reason to have before”. Next up our own international climate change expert, Push Krishnamurthy, told us ”the time is running out - we have to act now. We have to act now because lives are being lost!” Watch the You Tube clip above to see our…

  • Liverpool and Manchester students thumbing up in the fight against climate change

    Megan Bickle
    6 Nov 2009 | 9:43 am
    Hi there. I’m Megan, co-chair of the Manchester University Oxfam society. There is a lot of us about -Check us out (Manchester University Oxfam society)  and at the moment we are all really busy with a fantastic campaigning project which is slowly, but happily, taking over our lives! Back in sunny June we met with members from the Liverpool University Oxfam society to chat about climate change, the UN Climate Change talks in Copenhagen and how, together, we could make a difference.  We all already knew that climate change is already happening and hitting the poorest people first.  We…

  • World’s biggest arms traders promise global Arms Trade Treaty

    Ed Pomfret
    6 Nov 2009 | 8:45 am
    FINALLY world starts Arms Trade Treaty negotiations At the end of October in the United Nations after years of discussions and debates, the vast majority of governments – 153 in total - agreed a timetable to establish a “strong and robust” Arms Trade Treaty with the “highest common standards” to control international transfers of conventional arms. Ed Pomfret explains what this means for campaigners and people affected by armed violence. Most of the world’s biggest arms traders - including the USA, UK, France and Germany - now back the UN process. Nineteen states abstained but…

  • Malawi: “They have destroyed nature”

    Nicole Johnston
    6 Nov 2009 | 6:03 am
    Oxfam recently hosted a Pan African climate change hearing in Cape Town, chaired by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, with testimony from witnesses from across Africa about how climate change is affecting their lives. Nicole Johnston reports on how climate change is affecting rural poor people in Malawi. Malawi’s rural poor don’t know much about the science of climate change but they know the effect it is having on their lives: a slow slide deeper into poverty, in an inexorable cycle of heat, hunger and HIV/Aids. Across the country farmers tell tales of once fertile soil that now…

  • Oxfam response to Jerusalem Post

    Oxfam Media Unit
    6 Nov 2009 | 4:39 am
    The Jerusalem Post published on Monday 1 November an article in which it relayed accusations by an Israeli group which claimed that Oxfam was “involved in illegal Palestinian construction and agriculture activity in the West Bank”, and that Palestinians had illegally siphoned water “with the assistance of Oxfam”. Such information is not only inaccurate but misrepresents our mandate. Oxfam has been working in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory since the 1980s. Our work includes supporting poor farmers in the West Bank who struggle to make a living under…
 
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    Mercy Corp Women Features

  • Honored to be back among a people I love

    Steve Mitchell
    4 Nov 2009 | 7:24 pm
    It had been 33 years since I had lived there. When I heard that an earthquake and resulting tsunami had struck the Samoa Islands on September 29, I was taken back to a time when I had lived among the Samoan people as a young missionary. The Samoan people I knew were a friendly, open and culturally rich people with deep traditions of respect and honor. I was deeply concerned, and felt Mercy Corps could be of assistance. With support from Mercy Corps’ generous donors and assistance from Western Union, I knew that we could do much to assist the traumatized and devastated communities along the…

  • Dr. Paul R. Polak Lecture

    Minda Seibert
    4 Nov 2009 | 11:25 am
    Start: 11/12/2009 7:30 pm Start: 11/12/2009 7:30 pm Come to this lecture and learn about design dedicated to developing practical solutions that attack poverty at its roots. The speaker for the evening is Dr. Paul Polak, Founder and President of the Design for the Other 90% Board. For more on the current exhibit, Design for the Other 90%, running from now until February 27, 2009 at the Mercy Corps Action Center,go to www.mercycorps.org/events/2009/08/19/16206. Thursday, November 12, 2009 7:30pm Mercy Corps Community Room 28 SW 1st Portland, OR

  • Helping Assamese Women Go Back to School

    15 Oct 2009 | 4:15 pm
    Anami Bawri's greatest regret is leaving school at age nine because her parents wanted her to look after her younger siblings. Today, she is a daily-wage worker at Moran Tea Estate in Assam, India. And she is illiterate. With funding from the Western Union Foundation, Mercy Corps is helping Anami and more than 300 other Assamese women learn to read and write. Under a program called Women's Empowerment for Literacy (WEL), Mercy Corps worked with the Indian Government’s Department of Adult Education to design a special curriculum for the women, most of whom work in tea estates. In groups of…

  • Design For The Other 90%

    5 Oct 2009 | 9:22 am
    Start: 10/22/2009 End: 02/27/2010 Start: 10/22/2009 End: 02/27/2010 Presented by Mercy Corps and The Lemelson Foundation, Design for the Other 90% features some of the most inspired inventions to improve the lives of low-income people around the world. Go to other90.cooperhewitt.org/about for complete information about this innovative and uplifting exhibition revealing the power of design to improve the lives of millions. “The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing…

  • Spring 2010 Rickshaw Run

    Jennifer Adams
    2 Oct 2009 | 1:49 am
    Start: 03/28/2010 Start: 03/28/2010 Welcome Rickshaw Runners! A warm welcome to all those taking part in the Spring 2010 Rickshaw Run, Mercy Corps is once again delighted to be one of the beneficiary charities for this fantastic event. This Spring, the route will see brave explorers travelling in their Auto Rickshaws from Cochin in Kerala to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. The event is pretty simple with no preparation and less luggage participants fly to the Indian Subcontinent to force 150cc of Indian engineering over thousands of miles of questionable terrain in around two weeks. For more details…
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    Vital Voices Blog

  • Women’s Rights Activists in Saudi Arabia Wear Black Ribbons on November 6

    vital voices staff
    5 Nov 2009 | 9:42 am
    On November 6, 1990, forty women publicly drove their cars into the capital of Saudi Arabia. Each citizen was detained, stripped of their passport, and fired from their job because in Saudi Arabia, women do not have the right to drive. In commemoration of these brave women, political activist Wajeha al Huwaider launched the “Black [...]

  • One Group Fights Back Against Gender Violence in Peru

    vital voices staff
    5 Nov 2009 | 7:38 am
    Cuzco, Peru is an ancient capital of the Incan empire and a city where two out of three women suffer from sexual or physical violence, according to the World Health Organization. In fact, Cuzco retains one of the world’s highest rates of violence against women. In 1999, one group began amission to turn back this trend. [...]

  • Remembering Neda Soltan, Iranian Protester -CNN

    vital voices staff
    5 Nov 2009 | 7:21 am
    In an interview with CNN, the mother of Neda Soltan, a protester fatally shot in the aftermath of the Iranian election, shares her last memory of her daughter. On the night before her death, Neda told her mother, Hajar Rostami, that she had dreamt of a struggle, and of her role in it: “There was a [...]

  • Vietnamese Writer Jailed for Support of Pro-Democracy Activists

    vital voices staff
    4 Nov 2009 | 1:58 pm
    In early October, writer and pro-democracy advocate Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was reportedly beaten and jailed for her public support of nine detained human rights activists in Vietnam. The Writers in Prison committee of International Pen, a supportive community for writers and readers around the world, explains that Thuy, “a renowned novelist, poet, essayist, blogger [...]

  • A Call for Women in Malaysian Government

    vital voices staff
    3 Nov 2009 | 12:29 pm
    Malaysia’s largest political coalition is calling for an increase in female leadership. The Barisan Nasional (BN) contains three component parties each representing of one of Malaysia’s three main ethnic groups. The coalition’s goal is to use these new leaders to successfully raise women’s issues to the forefront. Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minister of Women, [...]
 
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    Adventures in Hope: Stories of DiscoverHope

  • Serpost EASY Export Facil Adventure

    NoraBee
    4 Nov 2009 | 6:55 am
    Let me share a little story about "easy" export with all you readers. On the week of Oct. 19 I started to fill out "easy" export forms with the local mail service Serpost. I filled them out with Brian Horsley online, but not without a handful of glitches. It took us 3 whole days to figure out the "easy" 1 page form. After getting the required signatures I was ready to take my package to the Serpost office. I packaged up our women's jewelry in a small box and walked with excitement to the office, as it was the first time DHF has entered into the export adventure. I arrived at the office at…

  • Yute

    NoraBee
    30 Oct 2009 | 3:52 pm
    Trying a new craft with present knowledge. Women in Peru Knit. Crochet. Sew. But, DiscoverHope women before yesterday didn't know how to combine all three skills to create a Yute Bag. Now they do.Yute is a natural thread that has become popular in Cajamarca for making artisan bags. DHF women have learned how to make bags out of artisan hand woven material, but haven't actually crocheted a bag before. This afternoon we had 15 Yute Bags completed, some of which were already "sold" before they were finished. Our participants had advertised their bags to family and friends before they were…

  • Bocaditos Baker Trouble

    NoraBee
    28 Oct 2009 | 11:43 am
    Let me explain: Bocadito Baker Trouble = Plug-in ovens that take FOREVER to cook appetizers.Yesterday DHF held an appetizer (bocadito) course where women learned how to make three different types of appetizers. It was a chaotic course. First, the rainy season started in Cajamarca about 2 weeks ago, and the rain yesterday came down in full force right at 3pm when our course was suppose to start. So we had some late arrivals (including the teacher) and some women that couldn't cross the river that was formed in front of their houses due to the downpour and just didn't make it.With the 11 women…

  • Don't forget your Holiday of Hope Tickets!

    Maggie Miller
    27 Oct 2009 | 10:35 am
    Dear DHF Family,Don't forget your tickets for Holiday of Hope, our final event of 2009. 100% of your $15 ticket supports the work of DiscoverHope Fund and gives you entry into our silent auction party where you will be able to bid on vacations, dinner outings, artwork, and much more for amazingly low prices!You'll be treated to fabulous free food from Thistle Cafe and Latin music by Acoustic Jungle. Free parking is included in the garage as our guest...so no downtown parking hassles! Thank you to our event sponsors Thinkwell and Tunuvah for making this wonderful event possible!Join us Thurs…

  • Lots and lots of Guinea Pigs

    NoraBee
    23 Oct 2009 | 7:46 am
    Yesterday afternoon was the official close of the Health Project with the last village bank group preparing yet another plate of guinea pig. With Tula we attended 2 clausuras yesterday; the 1st village bank started at 11am and the 2nd group started at 2pm. Both groups prepared fried guinea pig (Cuy). We went from one Cuy lunch to another. On top of that, I was given a whole fried guinea pig to take home 'to eat as a snack later.' This week I have hit my weekly record of eating guinea pig. In addition to being incredibly physically full, I was also full with gratitude and happiness. Gratitude…
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    UNIFEM: Latest News

  • UNIFEM Launches Global Action Platform to End Violence against Women (Press Release)

    United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
    5 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) today launched the global advocacy initiative Say NO - UNiTE to End Violence against Women, which will stimulate, count and showcase actions on ending violence against women. The innovative platform will spotlight global efforts and demonstrate the groundswell of support and actions ...

  • UNIFEM Currents - November 2009 (News)

    United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
    3 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    The November 2009 issue of UNIFEM's electronic newsletter reports on the recent UN General Assembly resolution in support of the establishment of a single UN body to promote the rights and well-being of women worldwide and work towards gender equality, and two UN Security Council resolutions that strengthen women's protection ...

  • Campaign against Domestic Violence Launched on National Women's Day in Timor-Leste (News)

    United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
    2 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    National Women's Day was celebrated in Timor-Leste on 3 November, in honour of Timorese women's role in the history of the country, from their involvement in the struggle for independence to their work on rebuilding the nation. At an official ceremony in Dili, attended by approximately 300 people, the current ...

  • Egyptian Government Scales Up Gender Equity Certification for Private Firms (News)

    United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
    2 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    The Government of Egypt has announced plans to expand an innovative programme, piloted by UNIFEM, to extend gender equality in private sector companies. The Gender Equity Model Egypt (GEME) has set up a voluntary certification scheme with minimum standards for hiring, training and promoting women in private sector firms. Companies that ...

  • Spain Contributes EUR 31.5 Million to UNIFEM in 2009 (News)

    United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
    29 Oct 2009 | 10:00 pm
    The Government of Spain will contribute EUR 31.5 million to UNIFEM this year, as part of its efforts to boost official development assistance (ODA) and in line with the emphasis on gender equality and women's empowerment in its international cooperation policy. Increasing its total contribution by EUR 12 million from 2008, ...
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    (Blog) RED

  • (STARBUCKS) RED launch in the U.K. & Ireland: Watch the video.

    6 Nov 2009 | 10:49 am
    We love this video! It’s for the announcement of our (STARBUCKS) RED launch in the U.K & Ireland that happened this week. The (STARBUCKS) RED Card lets you turn ALL your purchases at Starbucks (RED). Every time you use your (STARBUCKS) RED Card in the U.K. and Ireland until 31st December 2010, Starbucks will contribute 5p/5 cents to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa.The (STARBUCKS) RED range in the U.K. & Ireland:(STARBUCKS)RED CardUse your card to turn ALL your purchases at Starbucks (RED). Until 31st December 2010 Starbucks with contribute 5p/5c to the Global…

  • Fall Out Boy (RED)NIGHTS Video

    5 Nov 2009 | 4:16 pm
    Pete Wentz we agree! With (RED) “You can be Bruce Wayne & Batman”. Check out this great video from their show and watch how you can channel your inner superhero.For additional pictures and videos check out http://www.joinred.com/rednights/#concerts/night9

  • (STARBUCKS) RED – Now available in the UK & Ireland too

    3 Nov 2009 | 4:43 pm
    Our favourite coffee brand in the U.K & Ireland has now turned (RED). And we couldn’t be more excited!We’ve extended our partnership with Starbucks so that all of you who live in the U.K. & Ireland can now buy (STARBUCKS) RED too. There are two products to choose from, now available at participating stores in the UK and Ireland:(STARBUCKS) RED CardThe (STARBUCKS) RED Card lets you turn ALL your purchases at Starbucks (RED). Every time you use your (STARBUCKS) RED Card in the U.K. and Ireland until 31st December 2010, Starbucks will contribute 5p/5 Euro cents to the Global Fund to…

  • Dashboard Confessional Postpones North American Tour

    3 Nov 2009 | 12:41 pm
    We’ve just heard from the Dashboard Confessional guys and unfortunately they’ve had a family situation and have had to cancel their North America Tour, including the two (RED)NIGHTS shows they were going to play. Here’s the statement from the band. Chris, John, Scott, Mike – we wish you the best and we’re thinking of you and your families. “Dashboard Confessional will postpone their scheduled North American tour on behalf of their latest album “Alter the Ending”, due to a family issue within the band. “Due to a family situation that is beyond our control, we have to cancel…

  • Susan Smith Ellis’ Blog In Today’s HuffPost

    29 Oct 2009 | 8:01 am
    (RED) CEO, Susan Smith Ellis, has a blog featured in today’s Huffington Post. It’s called ‘One Step Closer to Universal AIDS Prevention and Care.’ Here’s an excerpt:Here's some good news. A report issued this month by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and UNAIDS discussed the world's advance towards the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services by 2010. Remarkable progress has been made, the report said. There are now more than 4 million people on antiretroviral treatments; up from 3 million the previous year. Nearly half of all HIV…
 
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    ONE

  • #FollowFriday @ONECampaign

    Chris Scott
    6 Nov 2009 | 4:58 pm
    Follow Friday is a chance for people on Twitter to recommend other people, organizations, and movements on Twitter. We at @ONECampaign like to take the opportunity to give shout-outs to other partner organizations and people who are making a difference in the fight against extreme poverty. Here’s today’s round-up: #FF @mercycorps turns crisis into opportunity at [...]

  • Upgrade Aid Petition Delivery

    Emily.Stivers
    6 Nov 2009 | 3:58 pm
    Yesterday a team of ONE members, interns and staff delivered our Upgrade Aid petition with more than 45,000 signatures from ONE members across the country. We were well-received in every office we visited, reflecting the bipartisan nature of the bill we support: S.1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act. This bill will give USAID, the [...]

  • A-List: Vusi Mahlasela Performs at the African Leadership Academy

    Vusi Mahlasela
    6 Nov 2009 | 2:59 pm
    ONE is turning to its community of artists, friends, members and staff for their top picks on creative works that have enhanced their knowledge and understanding of the richness of African culture and arts. Today we have a recommendation from Vusi Mahlasela: Two years ago, I met an inspired young South African named Fred Swaniker at [...]

  • Protecting Children from Rotavirus

    Chris Scott
    6 Nov 2009 | 1:59 pm
    If you watched Bill and Melinda Gates’ “Impatient Optimists” presentation, you probably remember this discussion about rotavirus, and the deadly impact it can have on children: The Living Proof Project also has this great corresponding photo gallery documenting clinics in Managua and Pantasma, Nicaragua where great progress is being made in the administering of rotavirus vaccines. You [...]

  • What do you know about the Central African Republic?

    Les Roberts
    6 Nov 2009 | 12:58 pm
    Les Roberts, Clinical Associate Professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health has worked extensively in countries ranging from Zimbabwe to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Today he writes about a lesser-known country– the Central African Republic: The Central African Republic (CAR) is a little known nation in the middle of Africa with a [...]
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    Changed by Design

  • The Project H Redesign of Hippo water transport

    editors
    28 Oct 2009 | 6:06 pm
    In a recent interview with Hippo Water founder Cynthia Koenig, we learned a bit more about the recent re-design of the Hippo Roller. It was a dream experience for this blog. The challenge In third-world countries, women and children must haul water over long distances in order to supply their communities with clean, safe water. Alternative sources like wells are only functional 6-8 months of the year, and well pumps are unreliable or fuel to power them can be difficult to obtain The first version of the Hippo Roller multiplied the hauling capacity of a single person but the cost of…

  • Hippo Water: Smarter and ready to go further

    editors
    14 Oct 2009 | 1:14 pm
    We’ve had the fortune of interviewing Cynthia Koenig, founder of Hippo Water International, to learn more about their recent re-design and their latest plans to spread Hippo technology to more communities outside South Africa. Before we dig in, Hippo most urgently needs your vote for a much-needed scouting trip in India to exchange ideas and advice with other social entrepreneurs and establish critical distribution partners. The contest is hosted by JustMeans, offering an India Social Entrepreneurship Journey with Journeys for Change, for which Hippo Water is currently in the Top 5…

  • Chicken a la Carte

    editors
    22 Jul 2009 | 1:33 am
    Sometimes, a well-told story can do just as much good for a problem as a well-designed solution. This principle attracted me to switch careers from engineering to advertising years ago…I’m still so far from becoming like the storytellers I so admire. This short film makes Ferdinand Dimadura one such storyteller. I won’t spoil it by telling you what’s in it, but I will say that people have been inspired to share this video so much that it has been viewed nearly 10 million times. In fact, I found this from my aunt who forwarded it to my entire extended family! View this…

  • Three mobile solutions to development challenges

    editors
    30 Jun 2009 | 8:00 am
    Two thirds of the world’s 3.3 billion mobile phones are owned in developing countries. Social changemakers recognize this opportunity to reach those in need with information, tips, and resources that would otherwise be inaccessible at large scale. Here, we profile three innovative uses of mobile technology to combat developing world challenges. A Twitter tip informed me of Project Masiluleke in South Africa. Due to the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, individuals avoid getting tested and 90% of those infected are not getting treatment. In the KwaZulu Natal province, >40%…

  • The Great Darfur Smokeout

    editors
    1 May 2009 | 1:52 am
    The Acumen Fund blog this week posted a call for solutions to the energy challenges posed by wood-burning stoves responsible for much of the black carbon causing 18 percent of global warming, according to the New York Times. Much of the third world uses wood as fuel because it is widely available and free, but the stoves they use to burn the wood are inefficient and produce large amounts of smoke and soot, causing major health and pollution problems. Acumen Fund’s main criticisms of alternative stoves like rocket stoves and solar cookers are as follows: There are lots of stove…
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    Jolkona Foundation Blog

  • Fostering businesses in Low-income Communities

    Guest
    23 Oct 2009 | 12:11 am
    Submitted by Jorji Knickrehm, Grants Manager at Washington Community Alliance for Self-Help (or Washington CASH). Figuring out how to foster new small businesses in low income communities is an ongoing passion here at Washington CASH. Yesterday, all twelve of our program staffers packed themselves into a small conference room, and tinkered for 4 hours with the [...]

  • 2009 Machik Summer Enrichment Program: A Volunteer’s Perspective

    Guest
    8 Oct 2009 | 9:04 am
    This post was contributed by Ian Anderson, Machik Intern and Summer Enrichment Program Coordinator A mixture of excitement and uncertainty hung in the air as the volunteers for the Machik Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) met in Chengdu for the first time before students arrived and classes began. We were volunteer teachers and facilitators from diverse backgrounds: Tibetans, [...]

  • Pre-Peru Economic Musings

    Julia
    6 Oct 2009 | 6:17 pm
    I’m heading out for Peru tomorrow to check out Cusco and Machu Picchu, completely sans guilt about missing a week of class.  Being an anthropology major allows me to justify just about any sort of travel as “experiential learning,” especially in this case since I have a test on Incan culture and religion the day [...]

  • Women Saving Women… from “Honor Killing”

    Guest
    23 Sep 2009 | 7:27 am
    This post was contributed by Yifat Susskind, MADRE’s Policy & Communications Director. MADRE is one of Jolkona Foundation’s partner organizations.  Yesterday I had coffee and a good long talk with Yanar Mohommad, MADRE’s partner and the director of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI). It was Yanar who first launched the OWFI women’s shelters that [...]

  • Fighting malaria with $5 nets…

    Guest
    16 Sep 2009 | 8:33 am
    Health is a pivotal step towards the economic development and sustainability of communities. For children in many villages in India, health care, particularly preventative care, is almost unheard of and limited to either poorly staffed government health centers or private clinics, usually run by con artists or unqualified apprentices. While there are many ways to [...]
 
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    BradleyWill - Empowering Young Entrepreneurs

  • VIDEO INTERVIEW: Gary Vaynerchuk Meets Unstrapp’d

    bradley will
    2 Nov 2009 | 1:20 pm
    Share and Enjoy:

  • The Hottest TV Show for Young Entrepreneurs

    bradley will
    21 Oct 2009 | 8:40 am
    Last week I was featured on The Rise To The Top, the hottest TV show for young entrepreneurs.  What an honor.  I was actually a huge fan before I came on the show and my friend David Garland (who I met in St. Louis for the first time on the Go-Giver Tour) does a tremendous [...]

  • How to Create Geo-Targeted Facebook Events

    bradley will
    10 Oct 2009 | 4:38 pm
    Share and Enjoy:

  • Sick of Making Mistakes 3 Times Over?

    bradley will
    21 Sep 2009 | 8:03 am
    Entrepreneurship is a hard game to play by yourself.  Actually, there is no game by yourself.  Crack out your Monopoly board game, pick your favorite shiny piece and roll the dice.  See how much fun you will have playing by yourself.  Business is a game just like Monopoly. You have to learn how to play [...]

  • 10 Reasons Young Entrepreneurs Fail

    bradley will
    8 Sep 2009 | 11:02 am
    We hear all too much about what you have to do to become successful.  I have discovered one proven way to become successful…Fail often. How do I know this?  Well, we won’t get into that right now.  I have come to terms with distinct character traits that hold back young entrepreneurs and when repeated, will definitely [...]
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    What Do You Stand For?

  • Warming Up to Causes Online

    5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    Temperatures are dropping and the holiday season is approaching, causing an outbreak of the warm and fuzzies. Yes, the giving season is upon us, and this year is already proving to be the most digitally driven to-date. Nearly every holiday cause campaign underway has an online component, thanks, in part, to growing consumer comfort interacting with brands via new media up 32 percent from 2008.Despite all the glittery online promotions, its important to recognize consumers are still hesitant to donate online. The 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study showed some American new media users are…

  • The Power of Positivity

    29 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pm
    The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is taking a results-driven approach to promoting American investments in global health efforts by releasing an advertisement centered on impact. The video, part of the Living Proof Project, will strike a chord with policy-makers, philanthropists and citizens alike not by centering on unmet need, but by highlighting true and measureable change: Polio cases reduced by 99%; Mother-to-child HIV prevention in 16 million pregnancies; Malaria cases down 50% in 29 countries. This approach instills confidence that funding saves lives.  Aimed at…

  • Nonprofit Taglines Enhance Brand Power

    26 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pm
    Last week, 13 winners of the 2009 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards were announced, giving due credit to this often-overlooked but powerful marketing element. Over 4,800 nonprofit professionals voted for taglines that best delivered the vision and mission of the organization, putting power in the hands of practitioners who live and breathe nonprofit branding. Winners spanned a range of issues and represented organizations that focus on local, national and international causes, indicating that any nonprofit can benefit from a clearly communicated brand. A theme among the…

  • Money Where Their Mouse Is

    22 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pm
    Cones latest research, the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study, shows consumers are actively engaging with companies and nonprofits through new media channels but are they putting their money where their mouse is? The answer is divided.  When it comes to corporate responsibility practices, 62 percent of new media users polled believe they can influence business decisions by voicing opinions via new media channels. And although they report contributing their point-of-view on an issue (24%) or contacting a company directly to share feedback and grievances (23%), new media users are…

  • 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study

    19 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pm
    Do consumers want to engage with companies and brands through new media? Do they think they can influence corporate responsibility practices online? Are they supporting social and environmental causes via new media? According to the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study, the answer is a resounding yes with a few caveats along the way. The new research released today explores American new media users interactions with brands, their engagement with corporate responsibility practices and their support of social and environmental issues. This survey builds on Cones 2008 Business in Social Media…
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    A Volunteer's Guide to Changing the World

  • Are you really reaching THAT many people?!

    5 Nov 2009 | 3:53 pm
    Holy cow: 8% of internet users account for 85% of all clicks!

  • 4 Great How-to Web sites

    4 Nov 2009 | 4:19 pm
    Next time you need help with something, try finding the answers at one of these great sites:Instructables.comInstructables is a web-based documentation platform where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with othersHowcast.comHowcast engages consumers to watch and share free, useful how-to videos and guides produced in-house at Howcast Studios, as well as by innovative media partners, trusted brands, and individual contributorseHow.comeHow.com is an online community dedicated to providing visitors like you the ability to research, share, and…

  • The Passion to Thrive

    3 Nov 2009 | 3:25 pm
    A just read a great blog post by Jon Gordon, forwarded from my good friend Shelley Sprouffske. The blog post is titled The Passion to Thrive and I have copied it below for your convenience. The blog post discusses how passion will allow you, and your organization to thrive today, and into the future. The post will show you why you need to be passionate, and after reading, I quickly brainstormed all the different things I could try being passionate about:Your constituentsYour workYour causeYour projectYour readingYour learningYour volunteersYour co-workersYour managementetc...What if you…

  • Are You Using People-like-them?

    30 Oct 2009 | 3:07 pm
    When a significant event happens to a person, they want information immediately. Not just published information, but real, relevant information. Often times this information does NOT come from your nonprofit, the media, or other publishing organizations, instead, and just as easily, it can come from people just like you.Check out this video uploaded to the net with tips about how to apply makeup when you go through chemotherapy.It turns out that sometimes to most relevant resource from information that your constituents need, will NOT come from you or your organization. It will come from…

  • 10 Marketing Tips for the Web

    28 Oct 2009 | 4:10 pm
    Mashable published a great post today about using the Web to improve your marketing, and I recommend you check it out by clicking here. The post is geared for "small businesses", but the takeaways are relevant for nonprofits.The tips are:Use FacebookUse TwitterUse a blogUse LinkedinParticipate on other blogsUse mobile social networks and other local strategiesTrack comments and conversations about your organizationUse various forms of multimediaMaintain brand consistencyLeverage combinations of social media toolsA word of caution: make sure your Web based marketing is accomplishing a specific…
 
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    Kiva Stories from the Field

  • CCT Borrowers Often Work in the Sidelines

    Prem Thomas
    6 Nov 2009 | 10:46 pm
    By Prem Thomas, KF9, Manila, Philippines After visiting many Kiva CCT borrowers, I noticed a trend that the primary business requiring a loan is not the only source of income. In the Philippines side jobs are referred to as “sidelines” or “extra income”. I have met a teachers who also sell clothing, farmers who rent out their plows to neighbors and a TV repair shop that sells ice in plastic bags during hot months. Of the CCT borrowers I’ve met, about half will have some sort of sideline. Myrna Valencia used her entire Kiva loan to purchase inventory for her…

  • The Most Bizarre Client Interview (Part 2 of 2)

    evacwu
    6 Nov 2009 | 7:38 pm
    By Eva Wu, KF9 Philippines Bizarre is probably not the best word to describe this client interview, but without a doubt we were intrigued and utterly fascinated by the alien-looking blob we saw sitting pretty before us. Corroi, HSPFI’s Kiva Coordinator and I found ourselves staring at a live (or semi-live) sea cucumber during a visit to HSPFI client and Kiva borrower Ann Lagrada on Camiguin Island. (This is the second part of my “most memorable client interviews on Camiguin” series – check out “The Most Beautiful Client Interview (Part 1 of 2)” if you…

  • My Motorcycle Diary from Guayaquil

    Kimia
    6 Nov 2009 | 1:45 pm
    By Kimia Raafat, KF9 Ecuador Last week, I blogged about D-MIRO’s influence in the peri-urban zones of Guayaquil.  There is no way to describe the dedicated D-MIRO staff members and the lengths they go to reach those marginalized from the traditional financial system. So I opted to film a sample day! Here is “My Motorcycle Diary”: Fun Facts about Ecuador: Ecuador’s currency is the US dollar.  In 2000, Ecuador discontinued their 116-year-old currency (the sucre) in order to ”rein in runaway inflation, encourage investment and reverse capital…

  • Verb rules and road duels

    robpacker
    5 Nov 2009 | 9:22 pm
    By Rob Packer, KF9 Kyrgyzstan As anyone who’s had a brush with Russian will tell you, going somewhere and using the Russian language to describe it is traumatic. It’s a nosy language I feel likes to keep tabs on me and wants to know all kinds of personal details like if I’m walking or running, driving or taking a plane, if I’ll be taking a rucksack or a trolley case, whether I come here often or don’t plan on coming back. I’ve been doing these mental acrobatics for the past month, and although the pleasures of the Russian language should carry a health warning, the more dubious…

  • A Slice of the Pie

    Victoria
    5 Nov 2009 | 12:12 pm
    By Victoria Kabak, KF9, Nicaragua Before I left for my placement as a Kiva Fellow in Nicaragua, I was browsing my microfinance institution’s web site, trying to see what I could learn from it and to familiarize myself with the organization, AFODENIC, a bit more. I clicked on a link in the left sidebar called “Fuentes de Financiamiento,” or “Sources of Funding.” After the page loaded, I realized that, subconsciously and perhaps naïvely, I had been expecting to see a particular logo we know so well, that comforting, familiar green logo, with its leafy K and its…
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    Change Your Life | The Change Blog

  • Focusing Your Mind On The Difficult

    Armen Shirvanian
    4 Nov 2009 | 5:48 am
    Image courtesy of jin.thai Competitively, that which is easy gets you very little. If it is easy, anyone can do it, so it is of low value. Tying your shoes in a special way will get you no recognition from anyone except maybe a kindergartener. Doing a couple of simple math problems to review for a placement test won’t help you much. The point of tests and the free market is to separate those that go a bit further. Average Difficulty Actions Lead To Adequate Gains Doing items at a medium level of difficulty will get you somewhat valuable gains. Running 3 miles to train for a…

  • Planning is Good, Doing is Better

    JC
    30 Oct 2009 | 6:15 am
    Image courtesy of Muha A few months back, during a conversation with one of my mentors, he said something that I will remember for the rest of my life.  “All this planning and focusing is good, but doing is better” was the exact phrase that came out of his mouth.  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  It was one of those “aha” moments we get every so often. Now the reason he was saying this to me is because I had been working on a semi large project for that past month or so and I was really close to finishing it.  However, I had stalled somewhat and found myself in a state of…

  • How Getting Used To Silence Can Help Your Productivity

    Christopher R. Edgar
    26 Oct 2009 | 6:25 am
    Image courtesy of anoldent Sitting alone in a quiet place can be a difficult experience.  Without distractions, we can feel bombarded by unpleasant thoughts and emotions.  All the ways we’re unhappy about ourselves and our lives come raging back into our awareness when there’s space for them to come up. It’s no surprise, then, that our culture is hostile to silence.  Everywhere we go, it seems, we’re confronted with some kind of noise—whether it’s background music in stores and restaurants, cars and airplanes going by, or something else.  And when we’re alone, we often find…

  • Why You Struggle to Connect With Others

    John Anyasor
    19 Oct 2009 | 6:15 am
    Image courtesy of James Jordan In this day and age, it’s quite apparent that people are connecting everywhere. From the local pub to the cafe across the street, from the stands at the little league baseball field to one of the seemingly infinite number of online chat rooms, people are constantly connecting with each other. Gone are the days of never talking to strangers. Gone are the days when people proclaimed that all chat rooms are dangerous. Gone are the days when your social circle was limited to your coworkers around the water cooler. Thanks to our advances in communication, we…

  • 3 Shortcuts to Faster, Easier Change

    Ali Hale
    15 Oct 2009 | 5:17 am
    Image courtesy of Sator Arepo It takes time to make positive changes in our lives. Often, it’s not the external circumstances which are hardest to change – but our internal state. It only takes a few seconds to hand in your resignation letter and quit your job, but it can take months of slowly building your courage (and your emergency fund) before you get to that point. And all too often, we feel as though we’re not making any real progress at all. Perhaps we’re trying to change a habit, but keep slipping back into old ways. Maybe we’re not sure what we want to…
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    Change.org's Sustainable Food Blog

  • No Farms, No Food

    Greg Plotkin
    6 Nov 2009 | 12:30 pm
    More than being a cute tag line for the organization that employs me, the phrase "No Farms, No Food" represents an often overlooked and forgotten component of maintaining a sustainable food supply. With all the talk about Genetically Modified seeds, organic vs. conventional agriculture, and the physical and environmental horror of industrialized meat production, the one conversation that is consistently left off the table is protecting the land base that all kinds of agriculture (no matter what your definition of "sustainable" is) depends on. Despite a surge of interest in farming in the…

  • Global Warming's Evil Twin: Agricultural Land Use

    Katherine Gustafson
    6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am
    The world is stuck on the tracks and there are trains coming in both directions. One headlight represents climate change. The other light is us, a booming global population that needs more and more food every year. One train demands that we preserve our forests, the other that we slash and burn them. One demands that we decrease pollution, the other that we add more and more fossil fuels to our soil. At least unless we change things -- a lot of things -- very drastically. We are already yanking on the brake of the climate train, though not nearly hard enough. The other train, though, is…

  • Today: Live Chat with USDA Official on Farm to School Program

    Katherine Gustafson
    5 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am
    Sign on to the USDA's live-chat Website at 3 p.m. EST today to join the conversation with US Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan about the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative. According to an agency press release, in this, her second chat, she will be addressing the topic of "farm to school," a program centered around serving fresh local produce and other farm products in schools. The program connects local agriculturalists with new markets for their goods while simultaneously teaching children about regional food systems and healthy eating. "Know Your Farmer, Know Your…

  • Tests Reveal Poison in Nearly All Campbell's Soup

    Robin Beck
    4 Nov 2009 | 1:16 pm
    The food processing world is reeling right now one day after a shocking new series of tests released by Consumer Reports revealed that many leading brands of canned foods contain Bisphenol A (BPA)—a toxic chemical linked to health risks including reproductive abnormalities, neurological effects, heightened risk of breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, heart disease and other serious health problems. BPA is used in the lining of cans and the toxin leaches from the lining into the food. According to Consumer Reports just a couple of servings of canned food can exceed scientific limits on…

  • Are SUVs More Eco-Friendly Than Dogs?

    Mike Smith
    4 Nov 2009 | 12:50 pm
    Is it time to chew on the chihuahua? Robert and Brenda Vale think it might be in their new book "Time To Eat The Dog." They consider the eco-impact of pets, and determine that when you look at the emissions data of an animal's consumption of both cereals and meats, it show that an SUV is twice as eco-friendly as owning a dog. This is largely down to the amount of meat that dogs eat; you'd need to feed your dog a vegetarian diet to be absolved of some of your sins, but the eco-pawprint is still a big one. Michael Pollan weighed it to a similar debate recently, explaining that "A vegan in a…
 
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    Social Work/Social Action

  • Aaron Burr's Lost Hamilton Rap is Found, Finally

    3 Nov 2009 | 9:42 am

  • New Study

    2 Nov 2009 | 6:51 pm
    Familiar findings.Estimating the Risk of Food Stamp Use and Impoverishment During ChildhoodMark R. Rank, PhD; Thomas A. Hirschl, PhD Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009;163(11):994-999.ABSTRACTObjective To estimate the lifetime risk that an Americanchild will reside in a household receiving food stamps and,as a result, will encounter poverty and a heightened exposureto food insecurity.Design Thirty years of longitudinal data from the PanelStudy of Income Dynamics survey data set.Setting Nationally representative sample of the US population.Participants Approximately 90 000 childhood yearsof…

  • The Opt-Out

    2 Nov 2009 | 7:37 am

  • A Panoply of Policy Papers

    1 Nov 2009 | 8:44 am
    Well, actually, they're books reviews (but I seemed to need the alliteration today -- dreary out). All are from the most recent NYRB, and all are worth your attention (the first two, especially). The subjects:Criminal JusticeEducationClimate ChangeAnd then, as a reward, read this lovely essay on Dorothea Lange.

  • Some Health Care Links

    31 Oct 2009 | 7:48 am
    For useful background as we approach the finish line??FRONTLINE: Sick Around the World (a TV documentary highlighting the comparison between the US and other nations' approached to health care)NRP: Interview with T.R. Reid, "Looking Overseas for the Healing of America"Washington Post, T.R. Reid, "5 Myths About Health Care Around the World"For ongoing analysis as bills move through Congress, see Ezra Klein, Kaiser Health News and CBPP.Finally, The Commonwealth Fund compares the two current bills (click on "Interactive Features" for a nifty comparison tool. Yes, I said nifty. Sue me.)
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    SocialEarth

  • Three More Reasons for Social Enterprises to Embrace Profit

    Mike Shoemaker
    6 Nov 2009 | 5:07 am
    It’s true that many social entrepreneurs enter the space, often from the non-profit sector, with the intention of doing good, first and foremost. Making a profit is a secondary concern, if that, and the idea of focusing on profitability can even make some social entrepreneurs quite uncomfortable. However, if social entrepreneurs want to be successful, [...]

  • The Latin Grammy Awards and… Musical Responsibility?

    Mike Shoemaker
    5 Nov 2009 | 4:48 am
    Music has an uncanny ability to engage our emotions in ways that impact our behavior.  Its influence is often subtle and sub-conscious; it can make us happy, excited, anxious, relaxed, somber, and sad, all without us fully realizing it.  In fact, we can all probably think of a song whose melody and lyrics have as [...]

  • So You Wanna Be a Rock Star? Teach English.

    Ashley
    5 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am
    - Being an English teacher in a foreign country is rarely assumed to be on par with being a rock star, but sometimes I have to second-guess myself. I am somewhat famous in my school in Spain. The kids come up to me constantly to touch my hair, marvel at my tattoos, and pepper me with [...]

  • Redefining Philanthropy: Introducing The Citizen Effect

    Amy
    4 Nov 2009 | 5:34 am
    I’m tired of philanthropy. That is, the current understanding of it. Even the word “donor” has this stodgy air to it that makes me want to yawn. The entire concept wrapped around donations, cold calls, mailings, capital campaigns remind me of how I felt in my computer class during my freshman year of college. “This [...]

  • The Clinton Global Initiative and Investing in Changemakers

    Iman
    3 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am
    The plight of women and girls in the developing world is a book of sobering stories with very few happy endings. Year after year, we are reminded of some of the most jarring injustices of our time, most of which go unrecognized, let alone unpunished. And yet, hope for action is on the horizon. [...]
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    Andrew Wolk

  • Performance Measurement – It’s Now or Never!

    Andrew
    4 Nov 2009 | 8:20 am
    Nonprofit performance measurement (also known by the names evaluation, metrics, outcomes, and logic models, among others) seems to be on the tip of everyone’s tongues these days. The ‘measurement movement’ is not new – some might say it started well over a decade ago when the logic model came into fashion. What’s new today is that many different stakeholders are simultaneously bringing their perspectives, models, and ideas for requirements to the table. And so, while in the past it may have theoretically been possible to determine the right decisions “by gut” and to raise…

  • The Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund

    Andrew
    30 Oct 2009 | 1:02 pm
    One of the most exciting examples of government applying the principles of social innovation for accelerated social impact is the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) Investing in Innovation, or i3, Fund (formerly known as the “What Works” fund). As the name suggests, the fund exists to identify and “support local efforts to start or expand research-based innovative programs that help close the achievement gap and improve outcomes for students.” If you haven’t had a chance to read up on it, see the DOE’s fact sheet, check out this great post by Learning Point Associates that…

  • Does Measurement = Randomized Control Trials?

    Andrew
    27 Oct 2009 | 2:44 pm
    There is a debate going on about how to identify and invest in the highest-performing nonprofits – with a great emphasis on randomized control trial (RCT) studies. The RCT, a research methodology that involves randomly selecting subjects from a larger test group to receive an experimental product or service, is undoubtedly a rigorous way of determining whether a cause and effect relationship exists between a given service and a desired outcome. The current interest in RCTs is an encouraging sign of the growing momentum for linking nonprofit funding to proven results and investing in what…

  • Debriefing SOCAP09

    Andrew
    8 Sep 2009 | 12:58 pm
    It was really amazing to be at the SOCAP09 conference last week, and I wanted to share some great resources for those who weren’t able to attend and want to learn more about the conversations that took place there. The Pop!Tech blog has great summaries of different sessions during Day 1 and Day 2, all of which are quite interesting.  If you’d like to learn specifically about Sonal Shah’s keynote and the panel discussion I participated in on “Social Innovation and the Administration,” click here. We talked a lot about cross-sector partnerships, finding champions…

  • People, Ideas, and Why I’m Going to SOCAP09

    Andrew
    27 Aug 2009 | 9:11 am
    Next week I’ll be heading out to San Francisco to attend the SOCAP09 (Social Capital Markets) conference. This marks the 2nd year of the conference, and boy have they already made quite a splash! Last year, despite the recession, it was sold out. This year looks to be the same…and with a stellar line up of programming and people. Why am I going? Kevin Jones, a founder of SOCAP as well as Good Capital, has a knack for bringing together great people, interesting content, all while utilizing the latest technology. On the people side, representatives from all three sectors will be there,…
 
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    Fuel for the Field

  • Changing the game

    Carla Javits
    2 Nov 2009 | 11:06 am
    The Huffington Post recently released their list of top ten “game-changers” in philanthropy – you can vote for one “ultimate game changer” – who are using new media as a foundation to create real change. The list includes blogger and inspirational thought leader, Lucy Bernholz. Among many hot topics she has raised, her suggestion for a “Philanthropy Policy Project” recently galvanized a whole new conversation. It also includes Perla Ni, the mastermind behind greatnonprofits.org, a website that makes the nonprofit world more transparent so that people and institutions can…

  • MBA Student, Interrupted – Guest Post by Stephen McCann

    Carla Javits
    13 Oct 2009 | 2:54 pm
    Introduction by Carla I. Javits Outstanding leadership is a central factor that distinguishes any successful enterprise; this is certainly true in the social sector.  REDF started its signature Farber Program a decade ago to provide hands-on experience in job-creation social enterprises for MBA students and graduates who want to contribute and learn through summer internships and one year fellowships in the social sector. More than one hundred people have now participated in REDF’s selective Farber Program.  It combines the excitement of project-planning and product development for social…

  • Seizing the opportunity for real innovation

    Carla Javits
    21 Sep 2009 | 4:30 pm
    Sonal Shah, President Obama’s inaugural Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation, was here in the heartland of innovation for a whirlwind trip beginning with her appearance at SoCAP 2009 at Ft. Mason, and then meeting with a REDF-assembled group of leaders from REDF’s board and advisory council, social enterprise, business, foundations, and government who shared with her the role and value of social enterprise in job creation. The next day Tessie Guillermo, the visionary leader of ZeroDivide gathered local foundations and nonprofits to offer her suggestions to improve…

  • Reflections on SOCAP 2009

    Carla Javits
    10 Sep 2009 | 1:01 pm
    While it would have been in the category of “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” a few years ago – there is now a White House Office of Social Innovation led by the savvy Sonal Shah, who recently moved to D.C. after working at Google right here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The dictionary definition of innovation is a ‘new method, custom, or device’ – all badly needed to stop the degradation of the planet’s environment, and the way we’ve squandered productivity in this most optimistic and productive of nations (and around the world) by limiting the opportunities of too many…

  • Job creation is the name of the game

    Carla Javits
    3 Sep 2009 | 12:06 pm
    The end of summer is always hot in more ways than one. Questions about the future hang in the humid air. Will unemployment get unstuck  from the stratosphere? Will spines be strong enough to pass health care reform? Will policymakers keep fantasizing that private philanthropy will bail out slashed public budgets? Will the social sector be creative and courageous enough to examine and improve what we do in the face of change and uncertainty? Harbingers of the future can be found in an unlikely place – the current issue of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Community Development…
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    Social Velocity

  • Why Do People Give?

    Nell Edgington
    6 Nov 2009 | 10:34 am
    There is a great discussion going on at the Tactical Philanthropy blog centered around the new book The Art of Giving: Where the Soul Meets a Business Plan by Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon who argue that philanthropists (big and small) should take a more strategic approach to giving.  The discussion that has followed the three posts so far gives fascinating insight into the reasons that people give.  Katya Andresen at Network for Good, nicely summarizes the two broad reasons that people give: 1) for personal return on investment (recognition, feels good, status, increase in network)…

  • Philanthropy Drives Arts Education Forward in Austin

    Nell Edgington
    3 Nov 2009 | 10:55 am
    The kick-off of Austin’s MindPop collaboration was this morning.  MindPop, which I’ve written about before, is a collaboration of a handful of leading Austin philanthropists hoping to improve access to arts education for all Austin children.  They want to understand what is holding our kids back from learning about and experiencing the arts and what needs to change in the infrastructure of the city in order to fill those gaps. The project has 3 phases: Gap Analysis to determine what is missing in the arts education ecosystem in Austin Creation of 4 bold goals to solve those gaps…

  • Making a Vision for Change a Reality

    Nell Edgington
    29 Oct 2009 | 10:29 am
    One of the many things I love about my job is meeting social entrepreneurs (who often don’t even know that they are social entrepreneurs) who have amazing, game-changing ideas for solving social problems.  Their creativity, vision, passion and commitment are truly inspiring. But the thing that strikes me about some of them, and the main reason I started Social Velocity, is that they don’t know how to make that idea, that solution, a reality.  We can’t expect that the same people who come up with great ideas or have a grand vision for change also have ALL of the skills…

  • Calculating the Cost of Fundraising

    Nell Edgington
    27 Oct 2009 | 9:59 am
    It seems that almost every nonprofit I talk to either has or would like to have some sort of fundraising event.  There is a rampant misconception that a successful fundraising event can be the answer to a nonprofit’s money woes.  That is sadly not the case. Events do not make money for nonprofits.  Sure, they might generate some gross revenue, but when you look at the net revenue raised and the cost to raise a dollar, they break even if you are lucky and lose money if you are not.  And those two calculations, net revenue and cost to raise a dollar, if employed by more nonprofits,…

  • Discussing the Future

    Nell Edgington
    16 Oct 2009 | 12:26 pm
    So this is kind of interesting, and I’m not sure yet what to make of it.  Independent Sector, a coalition of 600 charities, foundations, and corporate giving programs working to strengthen the nonprofit sector, has launched an online forum, called FutureLab to answer the question: “What can we do right now, as a nonprofit community, to create a better, more vibrant 2020?”  They are attempting to spur a “national conversation to explore the challenges and possibilities that will affect the nonprofit and foundation community for years to come and to develop…
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    SSIR Articles

  • Recreating Fine Arts Institutions

    lynch_loreal@gsb.stanford.edu
    3 Nov 2009 | 5:12 pm
    By some measures, the fine arts have been enjoying a boom. The number of U.S. nonprofit arts organizations has grown exponentially, from a few thousand in the 1960s to more than 50,000 today. Not only are there more organizations, many individual institutions have grown significantly in size. Bolstered by ever-larger donations and endowments, leading symphonies, museums, and theaters have built larger and more opulent spaces and vastly increased their programming. To support these new endeavors, institutions have bulked up their infrastructures. Many organizations that had 10 to 20 employees…

  • Public-Private Alliances Transform Aid

    lynch_loreal@gsb.stanford.edu
    26 Oct 2009 | 9:02 pm
    In 1994, 800,000 Rwandans were murdered in the last genocide of the 20th century. When Paul Kagame became president of Rwanda, the nation’s economy was still in shambles, with few resources other than its people and its coff ee crop. But Rwanda’s coff ee beans were of such poor quality and unappealing taste that they were sold at the lowest possible prices. Traders made most of the modest profits, leaving growers impoverished. To make Rwanda’s coff ee crop more profitable, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Rwandan government organized an unusual…

  • Behind the Curve

    lynch_loreal@gsb.stanford.edu
    9 Oct 2009 | 12:27 am
    In 2004, the US. government-backed Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) certified the West African nation of Senegal as eligible to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid. Initially, Senegal seemed like an excellent choice for a grant from the MCC, which targets aid to poor countries that are committed to good governance, free markets, and investments in people. Senegal is one of the few African states that has never had a coup d’état. And since the nation became independent from France in 1960, Senegal’s leaders have peacefully transferred power two times—most…

  • Q&A: Fred Krupp

    lynch_loreal@gsb.stanford.edu
    1 Oct 2009 | 12:58 am
    By any measure, Fred Krupp’s 24-year tenure as president of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has been a success. The organization’s budget has jumped from $3 million to more than $100 million, the staff has grown from 50 to 400, and membership has expanded from 40,000 to more than 500,000. More important, under Krupp’s leadership EDF has become one of the most important power brokers in the environmental arena. Krupp has accomplished all of this by relentlessly focusing on an important insight— that economic incentives can be used to entice businesses to behave in environmentally…

  • Podcasts

    lynch_loreal@gsb.stanford.edu
    24 Sep 2009 | 12:01 am
 
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    America Forward

  • Audio available from CNCS briefing call on the Social Innovation Fund

    America Forward
    19 Oct 2009 | 7:34 am
    Last week the Corporation for National and Community Service hosted a briefing call on the Social Innovation Fund. Marta Urquilla, Senior Adviser for Social Innovation, and Bob Grimm, Director of Research and Policy Development, represented the Corporation on the call, reviewing the Fund’s structure as outlined in the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and answering questions that had been submitted in advance by listeners. If you were unable to participate last week, an audio recording is available for download on the CNCS website.

  • President announces his intent to nominate CNCS CEO

    America Forward
    2 Oct 2009 | 3:08 pm
    We are pleased to share that President Obama has announced his intention to nominate Patrick Corvington for the position of Chief Executive Officer at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). Patrick is a recognized leader and expert on nonprofit sector leadership and capacity issues, new and emerging philanthropy, evaluation and performance measurement, and volunteerism. He possesses the skills, experience, and networks to capitalize on the opportunity before us—to more strategically direct resources, both human and financial, toward proven solutions and promising new…

  • America Forward and the Service Community Salute Senator Tom Harkin

    America Forward
    9 Sep 2009 | 11:50 am
    Last week, America Forward partnered with ServiceNation and Voices for National Service to recognize Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) at an event in his home state of Iowa for his commitment to national service and social innovation.  Senator Harkin is a true champion, and his leadership—especially in the appropriations process for the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and the Social Innovation Fund—has been critical in the effort to expand service opportunities and foster innovation and impact in the social sector. The event brought together more than 200 citizens involved in service in…

  • President Obama on the Passing of Senator Ted Kennedy

    America Forward
    27 Aug 2009 | 8:18 am
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  • America Forward Remembers Senator Edward Kennedy

    America Forward
    27 Aug 2009 | 8:15 am
    We are truly saddened at the news of Senator Edward Kennedy’s death. Not only has the nation lost a true statesman and public servant, but the service movement has lost its leading champion. Senator Kennedy believed deeply in our nation’s social entrepreneurs and in the power of young people to solve problems and make a difference in our world. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act is a testament to the Senator’s leadership on these issues, and it will go down in history as a signature part of his legacy. Our hearts go out to his family, friends, and colleagues.
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    Innovate2Uplift.net

  • Green is Profitable. Green is Healthy.

    Sidney
    15 Oct 2009 | 8:55 pm
    Today, I am joining with bloggers from 11,512 other blogs (and counting) to write about climate change for Blog Action Day 2009.  I chose to write about green buildings and sustainable practices as one key element to fighting climate change. Last week, I attended a session at the Council on Foundations Fall Conference of Community Foundations [...]

  • Making Room for Movement Building

    Sidney
    12 Oct 2009 | 8:23 pm
    This is a repost of an October 6 entry in the Council on Foundations, Fall Conference of Community Foundations blog.  In his book, Tribes, bestselling author, speaker, and entrepreneur Seth Godin argues that lasting and substantive change begins with a group of people connected to each other, to a leader, and to an idea. A close look at [...]

  • Changemakers Table: Social Innovators I follow (8.28.09)

    Sidney
    28 Aug 2009 | 6:48 pm
    Since I created my first blog post in January 2009 , I’ve been blessed to meet the most awesome, brilliant, engaging, and inspiring people.  Spend a few minutes of conversation with them and you’ll be amazed at the instantaneous boost of inspiration and energy you receive.  I sometimes wonder what it would be like to [...]

  • Raising the Buzz: At the table with Pilar Stella

    Sidney
    9 Aug 2009 | 5:24 pm
    “Comfort” is momentary and only accessible by some.  “Peace” endures and is accessible by all.  Spend a few moments with Pilar Stella (@PilarStella) and the conversation will inevitably illuminate the existential difference between the words “peace” and “comfort.”  She has found “peace” with her life’s quest to make the world a better place by creating [...]

  • SocialEarth Post: Nodal Networking for Social Innovators

    Sidney
    27 Jul 2009 | 7:54 pm
    Today, I am excited to become apart of the SocialEarth.org (@socialearth) content contributors as a guest blogger.  The title of the post is From Tweeps to Peeps:  Nodal Networking for Social Innovators. SocialEarth is a site where domestic and international nonprofits, for profits, foundations, businesses, venture capitalists, and social entrepreneurs can find rich content and [...]
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    Not Only for Profit

  • How about tax incentives for investing in social enterprise?

    Anne Field
    6 Nov 2009 | 5:09 am
    Image by John-Morgan via Flickr Lots of people are looking for ways to increase investment in social enterprise, especially since the White House Social Innovation Office doesn’t seem that interested.  Investments, of course, are necessary for driving growth of the sector.  Here’s an idea: use the tax system as a big carrot. There are a number of possibilities, some targeted at investors, others at companies. –A lower capital gains and dividend tax rate that can prove somehow–probably through the use of performance standards or legal structure, more about this…

  • CIT’s bankruptcy message: An urgent need for creative action

    Anne Field
    3 Nov 2009 | 8:39 pm
    CIT’s recent bankruptcy filing and news of an increase in small-business bankruptcies puts a glaring spotlight on the need for government action–action on a variety of fronts. In an op-ed piece in the New York Times, Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economist. com had some good suggestions–for examples, that Congress extend now-expired tax provisions in the stimulus bill that helped struggling firms. Specifically, he wrote: To help small companies with cash flow, policy makers should also extend provisions in the current stimulus bill that allow money-losing…

  • Keep on bootstrapping, web entrepreneurs

    Anne Field
    29 Oct 2009 | 8:43 am
    Seems these  are pretty good times for startups–as long as the company is a web-based business. They have low launch costs and they’re likely to be attractive to angels. But they may not really want the money. A story in the New York Times on angel financing is what got me thinking about that idea. It says angels are investing in companies that don’t need a lot of funds and are further along in their development than might have been true previously. So, here’s what I’m thinking. Angels are making small investments in more companies–the average deal size…

  • For small businesses on the edge, the stimulus bill is a dud

    Anne Field
    27 Oct 2009 | 12:28 pm
    With all of President Obama’s recent efforts to give a new boost to SBA-backed lending, there’s an important point that’s been overlooked:  The stimulus package, overall, has been largely underwhelming for many small businesses, particularly the ones that are really struggling. Just consider this. According to a recent poll of 1,000 customers by Intuit, 98% reported they haven’t received money as a result of the stimulus bill. Now, admittedly, 74% said they haven’t taken advantage of all the benefits that are available.  But, I would argue that many of those…

  • Can Obama’s plan help struggling small manufacturers?

    Anne Field
    22 Oct 2009 | 4:05 pm
    Of all the small business sectors struggling to survive, one of the hardest-hit is manufacturing. And, of any sector, it could be the one that benefits the most from President Obama’s proposal to raise limits on SBA loans and allow community banks to borrow TARP money. That is, if the proposal is ambitious enough to accomplish anything. About manufacturing: While larger manufacturers are starting to tap corporate bond and commercial paper markets, littler folks don’t have that luxury. Usually, they rely on credit lines from small banks, but regional and community banks are not…
 
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    Social Goodies - Where Business & Evolution Intersect

  • Can a One-Person Business Really Make a Difference?

    socialgood
    2 Nov 2009 | 8:02 am
    It seems that when the phrase “social responsibility” is used in connection with business, it usually has the word “corporate” in front of it. If your enterprise isn’t a corporation, this can make socially responsible businesses seem like an exclusive club, where the one-person business isn’t welcome. Related posts:Doing Good versus Doing Well Check out the radio interview I just completed with co-authors...Socially Strategic Enterprise: Doing Well While You Do Good Did you ever see the Academy Award-winning movie “A Beautiful...Muhammad Who? (And What’s a Social…

  • Climate Change: An Example of How Marketing Messages Spread

    socialgood
    15 Oct 2009 | 2:00 am
    Word-of-Mouth is the most powerful marketing tool we have at our disposal. And businesses are not the only ones who can leverage this to their benefit. We all spread messages. Sometimes our own. But most of the time, the messages belong to someone else. Usually we're spreading those messages because of good intentions. Because we believe them to be true. And because we want to help those we love live better, make better choices, and gain a better understanding of the world. Related posts:5 Marketing Tips for Businesses that want to Change the World If I only had a nickle for every time…

  • What Color is Your Business? (or, 9 Steps to Creating a Greener Workplace)

    socialgood
    6 Oct 2009 | 10:45 am
    So where do you start? Follow this 9-Step Plan to create something that’s perfect for your office... No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
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    Entrepinoy Bank

  • 4 Easy Steps to Make Mushroom Burgers for Business

    BizMind
    6 Nov 2009 | 11:08 pm
    Filipinos love to eat burgers, either in buns or with rice. So you have large potential customer, whether they are kids who love to eat burgers for their breakfast, time constraint office workers, especially teens who love to eat burgers for merienda. Start a mushroom burger business targeting consumers who prefer their patties sans the cholesterol. For a start-up capital of P500, you can make 20 pieces of 100 grams patties working for 5 hours. If you can sell them, certainly, you will earn good money from your home-made mushroom burgers. Why this will click Mushroom burgers have become a…

  • 8 Easy Steps to Make Donuts for Business

    BizMind
    5 Nov 2009 | 11:08 pm
    Plain or fancy, donuts are a quick, easy to make some bread. Start-up capital is P1,000 working 2 to 3 hours of your day. Why this will click Donuts are so easy to make and sell, says Erlinda Ferrer Soriano, lecturer at ESF Cakes and Bread House. Mothers who usually prepare their kids’ merienda can shoot two birds with one stone by preparing more than their kids’ needs to earn more. Sell to friends and neighbors, tap coffee shops and offer donuts for concession, or accept orders. Materials Needed Only few utensils and ingredients are needed to make dough and icing. If you don’t have the…

  • Easy Way to Make Insect Repellant and Earn Money

    BizMind
    4 Nov 2009 | 11:08 pm
    Cater to the health conscious by providing them with all-natural, effective and organic insect repellants. Why this will click No matter where you are or what time of the year it is, mosquitoes will always be a bane to our existence. Catering to a niche market is an added advantage; an example would be INDIGObaby, an online baby boutique whose top-selling product is the baby-friendly Shoo Fly Don’t Bother Me insect repellant. “We added lavender to our formulation to mask the citronella, which can be quite foul-smelling,” says Denise Gonzalez, co-founder of INDIGObaby. Materials Needed *…

  • 13 Easy Steps in Making Balloon Arrangements for Business

    BizMind
    3 Nov 2009 | 11:08 pm
    Start a balloon arrangement business that provides decoration and giveaway items for social events. Start-up Capital: P900 for the materials and around P3,000 to P10,000 for the balloon-making tools, depending on whether you’ll use a hand pump, a compressor, or an airbed pump. It is better for start-ups to use a hand pump to begin with and to just get a compressor or airbed pump when the orders or booking grow bigger. You can work even only 1 to 2 hours of your day. Why this will click There’s an emerging market for alternative decorations and giveaway items such as balloon arrangements.

  • 8 Easy Steps to Make Cake Flowers for Business

    BizMind
    2 Nov 2009 | 11:08 pm
    For decorating debut and wedding cakes, nothing can beat icing in the form of flowers. And during kiddie parties, who hasn’t seen boys and girls quarreling over the four pieces of icing flowers from the party cake? Such is the strong market potential that can be tapped by producers of icing flowers for cakes. With a start-up capital of P1,550.00 you can make 500 pieces of cake flowers working 1 hour, aside from drying the candy flowers overnight. Why this will click You can supply icing flowers to school canteens, grocery stores, sari-sari stores, and even bakeries. Bcause making icing…
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    Kevin Asuncion's Blog - Push the World Forward

  • Catch me on Alltop!

    Kevin Asuncion
    3 Nov 2009 | 5:30 pm
    I was just recently added to Alltop, the social media site that aggregates the top blogs on a plethora of topics.  Catch me on the Social Entrepreneurship & Good channels!

  • Social Entrepreneurship: A Growing Trend on Campus

    Kevin Asuncion
    30 Oct 2009 | 3:47 pm
    A story published last week by the Wall Street Journal documents the growing trend of top flight business schools offering instruction in the discipline of social entrepreneurship.  According to the article, business school administrators offer up two possible explanations on why social entrepreneurship is gaining more ground on campus.  Some  administrators believe that the rise is attributable to a generational progression of business students who were nurtured to be socially responsible, while other prominent pundits argue that a lack of traditional jobs has spurred an interest in…

  • Scalability is not the Answer

    Kevin Asuncion
    30 Oct 2009 | 3:47 pm
    In a recent post by Nextbillion.net Emily Pittlon, PopTech! Social Innovation Fellow, asserted in response to questions of scalability, “I truly believe scalability is not the inescapable answer.  I believe it’s more important to move a million people to do one thing than make one thing and copy it a million times.”  I think she’s on to something.  Often times, when vetting potential sustainable solutions to development, the question of scalability reigns.  But I think the bigger question to be asked is how do potential solutions build local capacity to lead systemic change.  In…

  • Mobilizing Idle Assets for the Greater Good

    Kevin Asuncion
    30 Oct 2009 | 3:46 pm
    In the nearby city of Montclair, CA, a vacant lot sits idle.  For years the lot was a vibrant place of commerce and activity, but the plaza closed down in 1996.  Thirteen years later, the lot remains idle as ever.  Whenever I drive by Montclair I always bemoan the lot’s inactivity, but always find myself envisioning what it could be.  Due to the recent recession, cities around the United States are full of these very same vacant lots, unused buildings, and underutilized community assets.  It’s sad see things with so much potential go to waste, but the point here is not so much about…

  • On The Bright Side of Climate Change

    Kevin Asuncion
    15 Oct 2009 | 3:29 am
    I’m really glad to be part of Blog Action Day 2009.  It’s an honor to be part of such a large movement of folks unified under a single purpose.  I must confess I’m kinda scared that with so many people writing about the same thing on the same day that there will be some sort of black hole ripped opened on the interwebs, but let’s just hope my understanding of the physics behind how black holes  work is way off base, or we’ll have a larger problem than climate change to address. I wanted to have a little fun with this post, I think we’re going to get a lot of posts warning us…
 
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    Notes from a Sustainopreneur | on Sustainability Entrepreneurship

  • [#socialweb:#blogs] Today: Got featured on 'Social Entrepreneurship' on Alltop

    andersabrahamsson
    22 Oct 2009 | 2:32 pm
      Thanks to a quite magic interaction flowing in - a story shared later - I ended up getting featured on Alltop.And I added the badge to the sidebar!Who said that blog posts needs to be longer than this? Macroblogs could be used for tumblelog lengths too :).    [TOMORROW: Guest blogging, part two, on #Internetdagarna - screenshot preview- and, now we're talking Sustainopreneurship - Mobile Internet For All!]

  • [#causebizbook:#1mcc] One Year After Starting "Sustainopreneurship" on Wikipedia - A To-Do List

    andersabrahamsson
    17 Oct 2009 | 12:34 pm
    One year ago, I started the article on Sustainopreneurship on Wikipedia. The story about the publishing covering the first 24ish hours of its history is here. Paradoxically, I expected in the worst-case scenario a multiple-front "wiki-war" defending the article - but an anti-climax occurred when it basically has been resting untouched all upon until now. That means it actually has sifted in into general vocabulary actually usable at a higher level. Thus. It's time to upgrade all the efforts to really get the word out, and the concept really widespread. Here is a to-do list of…

  • [#causebizbook:#pledges] Testing Weekend Attention Span of my Network

    andersabrahamsson
    17 Oct 2009 | 9:41 am
    The other late night I digged deep into different crowdsourcing initiatives, tools and approaches on the net. There are alot of resources, and I will blog separately on that. Now I test my Twitter Followers, Facebook Friends and LinkedIn Network who will be the most attentive to sign my little pledge - you landed here on this blog post if you captured my message from either of the platforms! This blog post is fed automatically to Twitter with a headline notification, and to Facebook in my stream through the app Networked Blogs. If I don't reach 10 to sign the pledge by those two spaces, I…

  • [#internetdagarna] When the Internet became mobile - my blog post published yesterday

    andersabrahamsson
    17 Oct 2009 | 9:28 am
    Yesterday my guest blogging on Internetdagarna was published, and today it's the week's most popular in track/topic "Mobility". I will translate both in full here on this blog, and publish them in one blog post/flow when I've written both parts - the second pre-event blogging before my live reporting from the event takes place is in one week. It also recieved alot of great feedback - thank you all who made my spirit go up beyond the publishing! Here is the current frontpage and the spot "most popular this week".   

  • [#internetdagarna] SNEAK PREVIEW: Screenshot from tomorrow's guest blogging

    andersabrahamsson
    15 Oct 2009 | 12:01 pm
    I've been invited to http://internetdagarna.se - hosted by the Swedish .se foundation - as a live blogger to cover the track on Internet in the Mobile Phone. As a pre-event-blogging, I will blog two blog posts trying to cover the history and possible future(s) of mobile Internet. Blog posts are in Swedish, but you can always use Google Translate-Into-English bookmarklet for whatever you stumble upon, right? Or whatever language you master and prefer ;).As  you see, history really is history - found this pic in Ericsson's pic archive. I was three years old when this picture was…
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