Philanthropy2173

Philanthropy and Public Policy

I usually write about public policy that shapes philanthropy. But this notice in Mike Allen's Playbook newsletter of June 7, 2010 caught my attention on the much broader issue of philanthropy's role regarding public policies writ large. "TOM DASCHLE AND VICTORIA KENNEDY, the late senator&

FutureLab

NetChange Week (#ncwk) is underway in Toronto, at the MaRS Discovery District. The MaRS Center is a location-based incubator, accelerator, learning community and set of tools that mix technology, innovation and social enterprise. NetChange Week is a conference + skills exchange + problem solving/brainstorm space. Beth Kanter gave the opening keynote,

New solutions from data and crowds

I'm two-thirds of the way through Clay Shirky's new book - Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in the Connected Age - and I wasn't planning on writing about it until I was done. But in a perfect meta-example of both my point and the

Money chasing ideas

Marketplaces. Ecosystems. Industries. Sectors. These are some of the names we use to describe philanthropy and nonprofits. All of them their have limits. For example, while competition for funding is a factor, there is not a true marketplace of nonprofits. While ecosystem is a friendlier metaphor, healthy ecosystems thrive on

Data as platform for improving health

The innovation around data and social change continues - live today the Institute of Medicine, HHS and the White House are kicking off a new initiative to make health data more useful for people and communities. The event, which is being live-cast here, http://videocast.nih.gov, will feature new

Big News in Data

I just got the word - SubsidyScope - an incredibly important project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, has just launched its site on the nonprofit sector. As the site describes it: "Subsidyscope presents government data and summary statistics on federal  spending and subsidies in the nonprofit sector. Our work

"Oprah Closes Charity and Opens Store"

"Oprah Closes Charity and Opens Store" That headline, from Examiner.com, sums up so much about this moment. As part of my New America Foundation Fellowship I'm writing a book about the changing nature of our social sector. Technology, which I've published about at

Beyond open data

I'm in the basement of The World Bank building in DC, listening to Beth Noveck and Hans Rosling talk about #opendata and "Mindset Upgrades for a Multipolar World." One slide from Rosling shows a sideview of a garden. Underneath the ground surface are "root balls&

Apps, Games, Challenges and all that

(Note to email readers - there is a photo and slidedeck in this post. May need to read on the site. Thanks) For the last several months I've been starting my presentations or speeches with a plea for folks to turn ON their cell phones. First, I bet

Recoding the public good

Flickr Creative Commons, JeromeLeslie I have been on the road and in all day meetings for three days. I now have a 6 hour flight (minus my much needed 3 hour "nap") to try to get to inbox zero. This post will wander through the themes and ideas

Ozone of Information

Here's the intro video to the DataJam that the Chronicle of Philanthropy produced. If you're reading this in email, or want to see the story the Chronicle included on their site, please click here. Thanks to everyone who made it to the Philanthropy  DataJam, virtually and

Disrupting Philanthropy: The Data Jam

Thanks to everyone who made it to the Philanthropy DataJam, virtually and in person. The video of the event is available here. There were about 1500 of you on and off the livestream over the course of the meeting - wow! Here's the intro video that the Chronicle

Data deficits and surfeits

(Photo courtesy of LogoMan at logomorphosis) This morning I heard this (totally typical) set of reports on the radio about the doings in financial markets: Around 6 am pdt: "The Dow is up 42 points, on news of a report that the Eurozone economy is still expected to expand

Disrupting Philanthropy: Changing the Rules

I'm thrilled to announce this upcoming conversation in New York City on May 11 about the changing policy, technology, and data landscape for philanthropy. Changing the rules to change the world As part of the seminar series hosted by the Stanford University Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society,

Who is in, who is out?

Crowdsourcing changes the lines that define the "inside" and "outside" of an organization. This is the real revolution of Ushahidi and similar tools - the awareness that the people in the situation are a source of information about the situation, whether it be a snowstorm in

Philanthropy DataJam!

"What would you do  with philanthropic grants data if you could get it easily, mash it up with  other sources, and build apps or other tools that could help you make sense of  it?" That is the  question for this event at The New America Foundation on May

What Should the Secretary of State Ask?

The Chronicle of Philanthropy flagged this story from Hattiesburg, Mississippi yesterday about a plan by the Secretary of State to review the 38000 nonprofits registered in the State. The headline and story made me think about Rob Reich's "Anything Goes" research on the rate (98+ %) at

Considering assumptions

Cartoon by Joel Pett (http://www.kentucky.com/2010/04/10/1218472/100411pett.html) I had a chance to meet some of the folks from Sana, one of the winners of the Vodafone Wireless Innovation Challenge that were announced yesterday at the Global Philanthropy Forum. Sana, formerly known as MocaMobile,

Conference confluence update

The great volcanic disruption continues - with impact on millions of people's lives. It has also accelerated a lot of well-planned conferences into even better, more integrated use of livestreaming, twitter, etc.. The funniest new media comment on the volcano? Those following updates on Twitter are urged to

A confluence of conferences

I made it out of the UK on the last plane to leave Heathrow before all air space was shut down. Having had the honor of being in Oxford during the Oxford Internet Institute's Unleashing Philanthropy conference (slides and speech here, tweets at #oiiphil), OxfordJam and the Skoll

Data are the new platform for change

I had the great honor of spending a day learning with several Internet entrepreneurs, leading online giving marketplace managers in the UK, Dame Stephanie Shirley - the UK Ambassador for Philanthropy, and several scholars at the Oxford Internet Institute on Wednesday, 14 April. You can find the slides from the

April in Oxford

Here's what is happening this week in the not-so-sleepy little town of Oxford, England. Skoll World Forum 2010. Since 2004 the Forum has brought together the many worlds of  social entrepreneurs. Running from April 14-16, by invitation only, the Forum includes widely recognized speakers, selected delegates, and Skoll

Executive choices and nonprofit ratings

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the "right ways" to review, rate, measure, and analyze nonprofit organizations. In the aftermath of January's devastating earthquake in Haiti both trade and mainstream blogs and the press were full of recommendations of nonprofits for donors'

cloud

Clouds and Infostructure*

I'm not a professional techie, so I was honored to be asked for my  thoughts on "clouds" and the social sector by the tech-smarties over at  NTEN. Here's the piece  they recently ran - alongside insights from folks at Microsoft  and NetSquared - real

manifesto

More on the manifesto

Thanks to everyone who has added to and improved (and voted on) ideas in my "Modest Manifesto for Open Philanthropy." A few more thoughts from me (which I also will go back and post into original) * Data on embedded giving (affiliate marketing, cause-related giving - whatever you want