Google recommends.... Yesterday (May 7) when I typed "Myanmar relief" into my Google search box I was taken directly to a page that gave me the option of giving to Unicef or DirectRelief. This wasn't a bunch of links, sponsored and otherwise, as it is today. This was
appc Pattern recognition at Investors Circle There is a community supported agriculture program in Denmark in which 150 co-worker farmers serve 50,000 homes with organic produce brought direct from field to house. It is believed to be the largest such effort anywhere in the world. In community supported agriculture the customers are also investors -
buzzword Buzzwords decoded I’ll be upfront with you – I started the buzzwords list as a cheap way to look for trends. But everyone keeps asking me about it – are they good or bad? How do you find them? What do they mean? So, in the spirit of “please don’t take this
21/64 More gen crossing At the Global Philanthropy Forum the featured group was The Elders. At the Council on Foundations the biggest splash came from the Next Gen organizers (EPIP, Resource Generation, Changemakers, 21/64, etc). Should we assume from this n of 2 that: • Foundations are run by old folks so younger people
21/64 der Trans Gen (Photos by G Kasper, courtesy of Resource Generation. The sign says "Equity for All" and was part of a posterboard titled "The Future of Philanthropy" with dozens of photos of COF participants holding signs of what they wanted to make that future look like.) What does
bcorp Failure Nau The social business Nau is closing down. Why? It could not raise the capital it needed to keep growing. As the founders write in their going away letter: "Just as we could not have predicted the sudden groundswell of environmental consciousness that blossomed at the time we launched our
cof2008 The whole world gathers May 10 is Pangea Day. If you think the COF is big, check this out. You can go to the movies with the whole world. Tags: pangeaday, cof2008, philanthropy
cof2008 Considering measurements and measurers Who are you? How do you know? Psychologists love questions of identity and all its multiple dimensions - from attitudes to behavior. Geneticists are also ready to weigh in, from different perspectives and with different data. Demographers will chime in - disaggregating you along various dimensions and then adding you
cof2008 Crowdsourced buzzes and communities I've been asked a few times lately - where are the 2008 buzzwords? The answer is: we're working on them. We've turned to crowdsourcing them this year so please feel free to email me/post a comment with the philanthropic buzzwords you've
cof2008 Blog mob Sean Stannard Stockton is organizing a team of bloggers to cover the Council on Foundations' upcoming conference. I think this is a great idea - well done, Sean. It is a great example of crowdsourcing coverage, and I am particularly impressed that a blogger made this happen on his
digitalmedia Philanthropic gaming Maybe the age of philanthropic reality shows is over. Why might I say this, other than wishful thinking? Because the age of philanthropic reality-based gaming is upon us. Per this announcement about an angel investment on TechCrunch (thanks Denise): "Akoha What is reality-based gaming? Well, it combines a game
dml Learning from our future "How can I possibly keep up with all the blogs, tweets, texts, books, papers, and news I'm supposed to be following?" Every time I present at or sit in on a conference or workshop discussion about technology I hear this question. It is usually, though not
merck The price of trust I have a much longer post on health disparities, race, and insidious marketing techniques that mis-appropriate people's trust people, but I'm still working on it. However, this evening, I heard this story on the radio (KQED, broadcast of All Things Considered) and had to get this
innovation Your digital age My SSIR blog post from yesterday updates the philanthropy adoption cycle I first posted here. Versions 1.0 and 1.1 of this are somewhat tongue in cheek (yes, I am trying to provoke some kind of discussion) I am seriously thinking about the paths and timing and cycles and
goldmanprize The difference between dreams and nightmares - Goldman Prize 2 By now, you've read about the winners of the Goldman Prize. You've also seen the full page ad taken out by Chevron, claiming the Foundation was duped (that is my word, Chevron says the foundation was "misled" by two "con men.") You
chipchase Gaming for Gorillas Since I am working out some ideas on how and why and when philanthropic foundations adopt technology and because I am on the advisory board of Games4Change and because I am going to the Goldman Environmental Prizes celebration tonight and because I thought this NYT story on mobile phone anthropologist
goldmanprize Goldman Environmental Prizes Here are the winners of the 2008 Goldman Prize: (I'll have more to say tomorrow, after the big celebration). North America Jesús León Santos, 42, Mexico: In Oaxaca, where unsustainable land-use practices have made it one of the world’s most highly-eroded areas, León initiated a land renewal
givingchannel GPF 2008 Videos Available Here are videos of sessions from the 2008 Global Philanthropy Forum. We'll be going over to The Giving Channel soon. Tags: gpf, gpf2008, givingchannel
BernholzLaw Introducing "Bernholz's Law" of philanthropic adaptation I've written about prediction markets before - these are idea exchanges (my term) that let interested parties buy/sell/trade positions on ideas or social issues. Prediction markets is the nice, vogue term for betting on the outcome of an issue - it melds voting, betting, and trading
Organizing - 2008 edition Photo credit: NY Daily News, Valasquez In case you missed it, the Olympic torch relay, protest, and redirect that took over the streets of San Francisco on Wednesday was largely facilitated by cellphones and text messaging. In Global Philanthropy Forum-speak this would be called "web-based, purpose-driven social networking"
gpf Global Philanthropy Forum 2008 This conference, now in its 7th year, continues to be one of the best gatherings of doers, funders, and thinkers. What I have always appreciated about this event, regular conference caveats aside, is that it makes a real effort to live up to its name - it strives for global
It wasn't even April Fools day I checked the date of the post when I saw the headline that NBC is planning a superhero series called The Philanthropist. Wasn't posted on April Fools day, so who knows if its real or not. Yesterday, as I waited in the airport, I watched the captions scroll
climate change Solutions (not an April's Fools joke) First the good news. Then the bad news. Then the good, then the bad, and so on and so on and so on. I'm not the only who is feeling this way - on Saturday this was the lead-in to a front page NY Times story: "More
knowledge The Future of Foundations The Open Social Foundation is a new : "non-profit entity jointly proposed by Yahoo!, MySpace, and Google. The goal of the OpenSocial Foundation is to ensure the sustainable and open development of the OpenSocial initiative and related intellectual property." You can read the proposal for the foundation here and
ideas Questions, not answers, on open source philanthropy I wrote a book chapter about open source philanthropy. It is in The World We Want, edited by Peter Karoff and Jane Maddox and includes an interview with me called, "Open Sesame: Networks of Cooperation and Open Source Solutions." It presented seven building blocks for bringing open source
