Lucy Bernholz

"What Capital When" An online conversation about social capital

My colleagues and I at Blueprint Research & Design are launching a new experiment (for us) - a blog hosted conversation about what types of philanthropic/social capital make sense and when. This is not new territory - there are lots of experts, lots of experience, lots of resources, and

Top 2010 trend? Using twitter to ask what the top 2010 trend will be

(photo by pdsphil, Creative Commons, Flickr) I think the trend of crowdsourcing trends has just jumped the shark. OK - that's it. I'm done asking others to identify trends for me. Now that we have a wiki to identify fundraising scenarios for 2020, a twitter hashtag

More data platforms for philanthropy

(Photo by Andrew Roddewig, New Clarion Media, http://burnhamplan100.uchicago.edu/multimedia/image_gallery/detail/2256) Data are getting their moment in the sun. Data visualization (also known as infographics) like this unemployment map from The New York Times, may be part of the reason reading newspapers on the web

Open organizations

(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,

Mixing data with your values

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"

The 2009 Embedded Giving Challenge

(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)

The downsides of transparency

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

Huffington post

Huff Post Game Changers in Philanthropy

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

Crowdsourcing ideas

There are at least three efforts underway that I am aware of that could serve as useful, crowdsourced idea lists for funders and or policymakers interested in leveraging someone else's due diligence. In my mind, these are good examples of being able to "listen in on"

Networks that made change happen

(Photo by Noah Sussman, Creative Commons license on Flickr) I'm looking for examples of networks that have made some kind of positive social change happen. Ideally these are networks that: * Consist of unaffiliated individuals, not coalitions or alliances of existing nonprofits * Made something concrete, and socially positive, happen

Independent Sector: FutureLab

Here's some info on Independent Sector's FutureLab - a worthwhile and intriguing experiment about the future of the sector. If you participate it will be that much more worthwhile and intriguing. I've joined in and have been reading and learning from the comments on

Decoding the Future - part 3

(photo from NASA - http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov) This post begins with an apology. To all those who requested draft 1.5 of the technology and philanthropy paper, and to whom it was scheduled to be sent on October 9 - apologies. Simply put - it is not ready

Structure Labs on hybrid ventures

I've written a lot about hybrid organizational forms for social change - from L3Cs to B Corporations to social enterprises. I want to draw your attention to a series of workshops for entrepreneurs and others thinking about these forms. Here's the blurb from Criterion Ventures, which

More maps of the sector

Here are two more sets of maps to add to our growing atlas of the social sector. These were created and shared by the folks noted below - they were kind enough to share, please give them credit if you use their work. First, thanks to Lisa Richter of GPS

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Why don't foundations build a DocumentCloud?

(photo from http://imgs.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ybenjamin/index) I tweeted this question yesterday and quite a few people passed it on - Why don't foundations build a document cloud? What is a document cloud, you ask? DocumentCloud is an online resource of source documents for investigative

datavisualization

More maps of Do-ers And Donors V 3

Wow - this map thing is taking off. I should have started here - with the great maps from the Skoll SocialEdge, SocialActions session at #SoCap09. At this rate we're going to have to plan a gallery tour of "maps of the social sector." If you

donorsdoers

Do-ers and Donors v 2

Your comments on the first version of my map of the social sector are fabulous - check it all out here. And special thanks to Tim Ogden, who shared his version of this idea from some years ago. It is below. If you have other versions that you'd

communityphilanthropy

Equity Advancing Equity

Impact Investing is a growth field. It builds from socially responsible investing, double bottom line approaches, mission/program related investing, and drives, potentially, lots more capital to the production of social good. Some of the roots of impact investing come from efforts to redress inequities in access to capital. The

Donors and do-ers

What do you think of this as a way of visualizing the landscape of capital providers and enterprises in the social sector? Is it helpful? Can you help me improve it? Thanks. Tags: philanthropy, social sector, futures, trends, visual

Impact Investing Index

(Photo from Flickr, Biking Nikon PDX, Creative Commons License) I have a basic question. How big is the current impact investing market? Somewhere between $4 billion - $2.71 trillion. Well, that narrows it down. Not. In this recent article in Forbes, Jed Emerson, the father of Blended Value, says:

betterworldbooks

A transition in embedded giving

Maybe you are not done with talking about embedded giving, but I sure thought I was. Or hoped I was. After all, this was the buzzword without equal way back in 2007. But sure enough, I still get interview requests about the concept. I still get email pitches and PR

2010 Futures - add these to the curated list!

You all are just amazing! As if the dozens of answers already noted to my question "What single idea, entity, practice, trend, force or innovation will matter most to the social sector in 2010?  " weren't enough, here are more from twitter, sent to me via email

2010

Wither 2010: Your answers, curated!

Last night my family and I had the great pleasure of hanging out with Beth Kanter and her family. Beth (@kanter) and I both have 9 year old sons named Harry - what other indicator do you need that we should get together? Among other things, we chatted about what

2010: what matters. Your answers

(photo from http://healthyinfluence.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/white-green-tom-sawyer-sign.jpg) Last week I asked this question, on this blog and on twitter: “What trend, change, entity, or idea will matter most to the social sector in 2010?” Here are your answers. Thanks for sending them in. Please keep

Philanthropic Futures: 2010

What single idea, entity, practice, trend, force or innovation will matter most to the social sector in 2010? I'm collecting your answers and ideas to this question and will include them, with attribution, in a monograph on the future of philanthropy to be published Q4 in 2009. Sean