Business Development http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building Business Development RSS 1.0 feed. daily 1 Business Development http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building http://www.socialedge.org/logo.png Climbing The Green Ladder: The Power of Partnerships http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2009/12/02/climbing-the-green-ladder-the-power-of-partnerships Hosted by Shari Aaron & Amy Fetzer (December 2009) green ladderThere is no one route to sustainability and, as the old adage says, two heads (or three, four or five) are better than one.

Many businesses and individuals within them are making progress in sustainability because these employees have started meaningful conversations with those who come from “across the aisle.” They have engaged in conversations with colleagues across disciplines and departments, joined forces with competitors and co-created solutions with customers. Forward-thinking business leaders have sat down with groups who are concerned about social and environmental issues – such as NGO’s, non-profits and social entrepreneurs to develop meaningful solutions.

The great news for business leaders is that partnering with NGO’s, non-profits or social entrepreneurs doesn’t just salve your conscience, it can help to strengthen business.  It’s important to find effective ways to work together.

A great example is College Summit and Deloitte.  J. B. Schramm from College Summit teamed up with Deloitte to roll out a mentoring and support service that helps underprivileged high school students obtain college degrees and improve career prospects.  In US high schools, close to 50% of African-American and Latino students drop out between 9th and 12th grade. College Summit, run by social entrepreneur J. B. Schramm, wanted to help disadvantaged American high-school students to graduate from high school, go to college and get good jobs through his College Summit program.

As a leader in the professional services field, Deloitte is focused not only on recruiting high quality graduates but also on increasing diversity as their teams work in every corner of the US and around the world. Deloitte believes that an educated, diverse workforce is fundamental to business competitiveness. By these organizations working together, it allowed the program to ratchet up its impact in a way that neither organization could have achieved on its own.

These kind of partnerships lead to beneficial back scratching --business needs the talents, passion and understanding of the social entrepreneur and nonprofit professional to help them become more sustainable.

Guidelines to effective collaborations:

  • Be open
  • Identify your goals
  • Identify potential collaborators
  • Expand your networking
  • Check your “fit”
  • Work out your strategy
  • Assign tasks and responsibilities and be clear about ownership
  • Retain your independence


Questions:

  • Have you fully explored companies that might be a good match for needing your expertise and talents?
  • Do you approach your business meetings in a way that is professional and business-like yet open and honest, sharing your goals and aspirations?
  • Have you established adequate benchmarks and metrics to keep your work focused and objective?
  • If a previous relationship with a business organization didn't work out, do you assume that none can work and therefore have given up trying?  Is it time to revisit your strategy and start to reach out again?
     

Join sustainability and market research experts Amy Fetzer and Shari Aaron in the conversation.

 

]]> 2009-12-02T11:30:00-05:00 2010-02-24T05:43:06-05:00 Social Edge Gen-Y: The Social Innovation Generation http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2009/11/12/generation-y2019s-global-development-strategy Hosted by Saul Garlick (November 2009) generationy_300.jpgMy generation doesn’t want to “paint a wall” or “pile bricks” in the developing world. Generation Y wants to do more.

Generation Y’s thirst is to create something lasting that works – sustainable projects that will continue to affect the lives of those in rural communities for years to come. My generation is creating a daycare center in South Africa that will attract students by providing lunch that it grows in its own garden. 

My generation wants to create something from conception to completion – from design to implementation.  My generation is creating a demonstration farm complete with a solar drip irrigation system that connects rural Kenyan farmers with modern farming technologies to replicate on their own land.

My generation wants to incorporate what it learns from its experience abroad about leveraging community resources to create sustainable development into its careers – as policymakers, as entrepreneurs, as eventual philanthropists.

The Associated Press this month reported:  “Parents in some of Africa's poorest countries are cutting back on school, clothes and basic medical care just to give their children a meal once a day.”

To address these issues, funds abound, but social change does not. Young people provide an untapped resource to redirect this ineffectual course. Their idealism and open-mindedness to new solutions create opportunities to empower communities to develop and own solutions to poverty. Generation Y is the generation of social innovation.

When I started ThinkImpact, an organization that has connected American college students and recent graduates from dozens of campuses nationwide with rural villages abroad to help reduce poverty through designing and implementing innovative projects, everyone had doubts that we’d be able to attract the best and the brightest to leave home for a year, to live in what are sometimes literal mud huts and to succeed in creating something sustainable. But there’s no shortage of young people – members of Generation Y – who want to alleviate poverty – as a career.

  • How can the next generation of funders better meet the demand for funding long-term projects, instead of short-term experiences?
  • How can we provide real opportunities for career development for these recent graduates when they are living in some of the most remote locations to help them go from their experience abroad to a career in development and social innovation?
  • How can we improve the “paint a wall programs” that currently exist and integrate them into new programs that allow more ingenuity and a longer term commitment, and thereby better suit Generation Y?

Join Saul Garlick, Founder and Executive Director of ThinkImpact, in the conversation.

]]> 2009-11-12T13:45:00-05:00 2010-02-24T05:32:32-05:00 Social Edge Help! Maximizing Volunteer Impact http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2009/09/10/help-maximizing-volunteer-impact Hosted by Charles "hipbone" Cameron (September 2009) mozillaserviceweek_300.jpgOur topic this week is how social entrepreneurs can most effectively leverage pro bono and volunteer support. Our goal is to gather positive but realistic advice about volunteers -- about ways we can harness their enthusiasm and energy to gain impact and bring projects to completion.
 
It's Mozilla Service Week this week, and that's their focus, too. "Be the Difference," their headline proclaims in big bold type. And the pitch continues:

 

We believe the Internet should make life better. Join us the week of September 14-21, 2009, as we take action to make a difference in our communities, our world, our Web.

You can see two buttons prominently displayed:

I want to help >> find out how
I need help >> get help now

 
The accompanying text explains the idea:


During the week of September 14-21, 2009, we're asking individuals to step up and make a difference by using the Web to better their community. We're looking for people who want to share, give, engage, create, and collaborate by offering their time and talent to local organizations and people who need their help.
 
Mozilla believes everyone should know how to use the Internet, have easy access to it, and have a good experience when they're online. By utilizing our community's talents for writing, designing, programming, developing, and all-around technical know-how, we believe we can make the Web a better place for everyone.


Those two buttons, "I want to help" and "I need help", are like the human condition in miniature. We could each wear one or both of them, I think, and it's perhaps not so surprising that here on the Net they become two very simple options, hard to miss.
 
If I'm not mistaken, the folks at DoGoodr are taking a similar approach, with their two main tabs reading "Need Help Posts" and "Offer Help Posts".
 
So what's up?
 
We need one another. And we can help one another. And there needs to be a way to match up those two things.
 
Here on The Edge this week, and this month, I'd like to point you to those two buttons at Mozilla Service Week, and those two tabs at DoGoodr -- but also invite you to talk here about what has worked for you, and what problems you've seen, in working with volunteers.
 

  • What are your tips from the trenches?
  • What are the realistic costs of managing volunteer work? How much staff times does it take in terms of training, management, etc?
  • And what are the very real benefits of volunteer work?
  • How have volunteers contributed to your project specific efforts?
  • From the volunteer perspective, what have you been able to offer, what have you accomplished?
  • And what problems, if any, arose? Lack of clarity as to goal or means? Sheer burnout?

 
Mozilla Service Week 's Featured Partners are Idealist.org, betterplace.org and OneWebDay. Here at Social Edge, we're among the Friends of Mozilla Service Week, along with such varied folks as All for Good, ChristianVolunteering.org, DemocracyInAction, DonorsChoose.org, The Extraordinaries, GiveIndia, Google, Grassroots.org, Pledgebank, PopTech, TechSoup Global and Zazengo.

Those two buttons aren't just buttons on a Web page -- they're doors opening on a social movement that has the potential to radically transform a vast diversity of human situations.

Which button do you need to press? Let's talk this through!

 

 

]]> 2009-09-10T15:50:00-04:00 2010-02-24T05:33:11-05:00 Social Edge An insane job description? http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2009/09/02/an-insane-job-description Hosted by Curtis Chang (September 2009) insane job description 300My firm, Consulting Within Reach, serves social ventures of all sizes. But I have a special place in my heart for the aspirations – and challenges – for the small to midsize nonprofit that is rapidly growing.

I’ve always thought the executive directors of such organizations should have much larger business cards. They should carry around large cardboard placards with room for the additional titles placed upon them:
 
·   Chief Financial Officer
·   Chief Information Officer
·   Chief Development Officer
·   Director of Marketing
·   Director of Human Resources
·   Director of Strategic Planning
·   … and many more.
 
Insane job descriptions are especially prevalent among growing nonprofits. The external impact of a dynamic organization’s almost always outstrips its internal capacity – often by a long shot. As a result, the executive leader is busy trying to master new internal organizational areas while directing the expanding mission.

It’s a bit like trying to add new parts to your car while you’re driving it.  At a high speed.

Why is this the case? Who is responsible?

·   Funders who don’t appreciate the value of investing in capacity?
·   Board members who don’t chip in more with their labor (while reviewing the ED according to an insane job description)?
·   Executive directors themselves for not setting better boundaries?

And even more importantly, what is the most effective solution? 

Let me propose one thought for the executive directors out there: wishing we could just get more money for new staff can’t be the main solution.

First, wishing isn’t a great recipe for solutions.

Second, this assumes that there is high quality talent willing to work on your staff, especially at your most coveted positions.  For instance, there are over 14,108 nonprofits in my local region, the San Francisco Bay Area. Are there really 14,108 excellent Directors of Development out there?

Third, let’s say I snap my fingers and give you enough money to hire another FTE.  Where would that go? And what critical areas of expertise does that decision still leave uncovered?

What do you think? Is there more fundamental rethinking needed about how expertise gets deployed in our sector? For instance, are there ways to share expertise more efficiently?

Are there practical suggestions you have coming from your experience with an insane job description?

Join Curtis Chang, CEO of Consulting Within Reach in the discussion. And tell us about your own job description.

]]> 2009-09-02T15:50:00-04:00 2010-02-24T05:33:15-05:00 Social Edge Cross-Sector Partnering http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2009/06/18/partnering-with-governments Hosted by Hanniah Tariq (July 2009) partneringwithgovernments_300.jpgCross-Sector Partnering and the capacity of the Public Sector

‘Partnering for sustainable development’ is a term that is used across the sectors to denote a hopeful way forward in face of the spiraling situation of poverty, conflict and social decline in many developing regions.

Practically speaking, governments in the developing world have a lot to gain from engaging in multi-sector partnerships for sustainable development (extending/improving services, delegating responsibility and accessing more capital among others). Evidence from all over the world suggests that governments in the developing world have much to achieve from partnering and that such initiatives are being used to carry out many important functions including expanding or improving some of the traditionally government specific duties.

However, in order to best avail of this opportunity that brings together the best of every sector for a common goal, each actor will have to evaluate what it brings to the table and how to make it work in a collaborative way.  One of the biggest obstacles to cross-sector partnerships has been observed to be problems relating to the government role in them. This is due to the dual nature of its role in that when endowed with the capacity to partner well, the government as an actor in a multi-sector partnership brings some very important capabilities/legitimacy to the mix; however, when hampered by institutional problems and bureaucracy it can be the one actor that other sectors are the least disposed to partner with.

Conversely, some skills that have been observed to be useful for the public sector in effective partnering with other sectors include:
•    the ability to access the grass roots awareness of the civil society and NGO’s to recognize critical social needs,
•    the faculty and channels to prioritize these societal problems to the private sector, and,
•    the capacity to negotiate and collaborate effectively with other sectors.

However, there are several other skills that the public sector will have to build to be able to capitalize on the partnership model for sustainable development that need to be identified and work done to build capacity on them. 
 
Clearly cross-sector partnerships are one of the most viable ways forward for developing countries, however it is critical to evaluate how ready the sectors are for partnering and what can be done to improve their competence for collaboration in order for cross-sector partnering to fulfill its potential promise.  Hence the questions raised about the government role at this point are:

•    What are the skills that can be counted as Good Partnering Skills for the public sector?
•    Are there any particular desirable skills for Partnering with the private sector?
•    Are there any specific required skills for partnering with the NGO sector/civil society?
•    What can be done to build the capacity of the public sector for effective partnering?

Hanniah Tariq is a doctoral candidate in Economic and Social Innovation at the University of Buckingham Business School, and Integral Enterprise Research Associate for TRANS4M (Four World Center for Social Innovation) in Geneva. Join her in the conversation.

]]> 2009-06-18T18:05:00-04:00 2010-02-24T05:44:36-05:00 Social Edge Partnering with Business http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2009/02/27/partnering-with-business Hosted by Rod Schwartz (May-June 2009) partneringwithbusiness_300.pngPartnering with Business…or Dancing with the Devil?

Last November I wrote about a UK social enterprise called the Bright Ideas Trust which secured partnerships with Bank of America, The Prince’s Trust and a host of others.   These firms provide critical financial support, credibility and a range of other services. 

Technology firms such as Microsoft and Salesforce.com actively assist charities and social entrepreneurs, with free products. Sure, it may be in their selfish interest to “hook” these firms on their products, but in the process, don’t social entrepreneurs gain access to valuable resources?

When we at ClearlySo work with professional service vendors to develop products for our social business clients, this is another way of “partnering” with businesses, and each party is considered to gain something from the exchange. 

Normally the above are all considered “appropriate” business partnerships.  

But in Bangladesh, Grameen struck a “dream partnership” with Norwegian phone company Telenor to roll out a highly successful joint venture. The deal now has turned sour.  What went wrong with this business “partnership”? Do partners turn nasty when the fruits of cooperation are great?  Not very “social”, is it?

Telecoms firms are active all over the developing world, often working with local partners.  Is this exploitation or cooperation, and what factors will help determine which it will be?  Can social entrepreneurs do anything to ensure fairness? 

Are certain specific firms simply out of bounds for social enterprises? When The Body Shop sold out to L’Oréal (part-owned by Nestlé) observers reacted with rage.  “A step too far for an ‘ethical’ company”. It’s one thing for Ben & Jerry’s to be purchased by Unilever, but Nestlé…... 

What about other sectors? Defence contractors? Tobacco manufacturers? Or banks—today’s bête noire? Are some industry groups just beyond the pale? Can any self-respecting social enterprise engage in a partnership with these? 

What about energy companies—should social enterprises not engage with the well-regarded Shell Foundation because of some of the historically unpopular activities of its parent?  If BSkyB (Rupert Murdoch’s business in the UK) is a leader in certain aspects of working with social business—how should we view this, cynically or positively?

Partnerships with business, are they worth it or too problematic? Join Rod Schwartz, CEO of ClearlySo, in the conversation.
 

]]> 2009-02-27T14:30:00-05:00 2010-02-24T05:33:27-05:00 Social Edge Desperately Seeking Hybrid Funds http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2008/08/14/desperately-seeking-hybrid-funds Hosted by Villy Wang, President & CEO of BAYCAT (September 2008) investor relations
Genetically speaking, hybrids are the offspring of two different breeds or species produced through human manipulation for specific desirable characteristics of both.  Whether this makes you think of tangelos (a mix of grapefruit & tangerine), or fuel-saving automobiles (gas & electric), or even golf clubs (iron & wood), it’s always about finding the best of both worlds. 

Enter the world of the hybrid nonprofit social enterprises, which creates the need for hybrid business models, hybrid funding, and thus hybrid professionals!

Specifically when it comes to raising money, even the vocabulary “fundraising” or “development director” versus “investing” or “investment relations manager” connotes different processes and personnel with different skill sets.  What really is the difference between writing a grant and a business proposal in the world of the hybrid nonprofit social enterprise? 

Although traditional grant makers are impressed that an organization has diverse sources of funding that include earned income, it is not necessarily a requirement for funding.  When do grants become investments that require a ROI?  In our hybrid nonprofit social enterprise at BAYCAT, clients enjoy the fact that their “fees” are really “investments” that further a social purpose that is also supported by public and private grants.  In fact, the growing trend is that our clients who pay us a fee also become donors, or vice versa.  Thus, a new hybrid “clienor” or “donorent” is born.  (yes, you heard these terms first on Social Edge!)

And as you scale your operations, who cultivates, manages and supports these relationships?  Do hybrid nonprofit social enterprises have to invest greater resources in establishing a traditional development department, an investor relations team and a sales/client management division?  

Perhaps one way to think about this issue is that the fundraising/investment world is really at a non-existent or nascent stage for social enterprises, and that is why we work so hard at hybrid fund development tactics: 

Wherever you go in the world, most social entrepreneurs are acutely aware of the problem of the “missing middle” – the gap between the traditional funding of nonprofit ventures through grants…and the more substantial financial investments necessary for rapid expansion.  The Power of Unreasonable People, John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan

Therefore, as we develop new sources of ‘hybrid’ funding, isn’t it just as important to develop a pool of hybrid fundraising/money making professionals?  

  • How can we run our nonprofit social enterprises efficiently so we can manage donors, investors, clients and clienors/donorents?
  • Where do we find these hybrid fund developers?  
  • What do we call them and pay them?
  • How do we stay competitive with the marketplace?

Join Villy Wang, President & CEO of BAYCAT, in the conversation. ]]> 2008-08-14T14:25:07-07:00 2010-02-24T05:33:30-05:00 Social Edge Partnerships for Global Solutions http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2007/10/01/partnerships-for-global-solutions Hosted by Edith Asibey (October 2007) Edith Asibey (Asibey Consulting) is no stranger to global issues. She has advocated for universal access to education, poverty alleviation and sustainable development in the Global South and the U.S. The scope and urgency of these challenges has alerted Edith to the need for effective partnerships for global solutions.


Building upon my participation in the 2007 edition of the Clinton Global Initiative, I am hosting this conversation about effective partnerships to tackle the world’s biggest challenges: what works, what doesn’t and why?

Partnerships are at the core of the Clinton Global Initiative. During the three-day conference there were numerous examples of the different partnerships that CGI is enabling. 

But at a more basic level, the building blocks for a partnership were best summarized by President Clinton during his opening remarks:

“The premise of CGI is that we are faced with complex problems that government is either not solving or that government alone can not solve […]

What brought us together and what connects us, as nearly as I can determine, are three basic convictions: First, just about everybody in this room believes that our common humanity is more important than our interests and differences […] Second, we seem to all accept our share of responsibility for correcting as much as we can the current challenges of the world and passing along a better world to our children. 

Third, we actually believe we can do it.  We believe we can make a difference.”

Let’s expand upon President Clinton’s description and explore what it takes to build successful partnerships:
-    What are the key ingredients for partnerships that work?  What lessons can be learned?  Are there replicable experiences?
-    Is innovation a must-have for successful partnerships?
-    Should partnerships always involve governments to ensure long-term implementation and scale?
-    We often hear that many partnerships are motivated by public-relations interests; is that good or bad?

Join Edith Asibey in the conversation. ]]> 2007-10-01T15:07:20-07:00 2007-10-02T10:45:53-07:00 Social Edge Volunteers for International NPOs (Part 3) http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2007/09/10/volunteers-for-international-npos-part-3 Hosted by Patrick O'Heffernan (September 2007) Sources of Internsvolunteers

Part 1 (Hiring Volunteers) is here.
Part 2 (Resources for Training and Managing Volunteers) is here.

Many NPOs and FPO's use programs that train existing volunteers and staff either in topical areas, like sustainable development, or in broad skills like leadership and international negotiation. 

Some of these programs are also sources of interns for NGOs. I will describe two of the best I know of –one US and one international- and ask members of the community to post  the names and URLs of others they know.

One of the most comprehensive international programs is Leadership for Environment and Development, or LEAD International.  Based in London and operating through offices in 14 countries, this 16- year old organization trains mid-level staff or volunteers from NGOs, corporations, media, and government in sustainable development and leadership in a global context.  The training is designed to focus on strengthening knowledge of sustainable development and enhancing key leadership skills among new groups of leaders. The majority of training is undertaken at the regional level, with additional inter-regional and international components available. A key part of the training is meeting and working with others from around the world and developing a global network of useful contacts. LEAD also offers training and leadership consulting to for-profit and non profit organizations.  The LEAD website offers free case studies NGOs can use in their internal training.

In the US, the 64-year old Coro Center for Leadership, founded in San Francisco but now operating through independent offices in seven cities, trains rising high school students and recent college graduates in leadership and civic engagement through projects and internships. Applicants must go through a rigorous national selection process. Those selected become Coro Fellows in Public Policy. 

Each Fellow is assigned to a series of month-long consulting projects across a variety of sectors in public affairs, such as government, business, political campaigns, organized labor, media and non-profits. They also undertake group and individual projects.  Coro also offers training programs to US-based corporations and non profits and places interns in both for and non-profit organizations for a small fee.  

LEAD International, Coro and other similar programs have developed extensive networks of graduates that provide job leads, referrals, reviews, and assistance on projects.  These networks that are often cited by graduates as the aspect of training with the most long-term value to both graduates and the organizations they work for. 

So what organization is your favorite source of interns?  Click here and tell us. ]]> 2007-09-10T11:12:55-07:00 2007-09-18T09:15:40-07:00 Social Edge Volunteers for International NPOs (Part 2) http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2007/08/20/volunteers-for-international-npos-part-2 Hosted by Patrick O'Heffernan (August 2007) Resources for Training and Managing Volunteers
volunteer2_300.jpg
Part 1 (Hiring Volunteers) is here.

Many NPO’s and NGO's could not function without volunteers. To some a volunteer is a person who comes into the office a few hours every week; for others, it means hundreds of individuals or professionals who are the NGO's day-to-day operation. Excellent sources for an overview of volunteer management are the Free Management Library, ServiceLeader and Volunteer Resource of the Points of Light Foundation..

Volunteer management begins with recruitment and selection. Always recruit with a carefully written job description detailing the tasks, level of expertise and education needed for the job. Selection can be done by reviewing an application form, conducting interview or doing background check. See the Canadian organization CASAanet for guidelines on background checks, and Energize Inc. for tips on interviewing.

Formal training can range from having an experienced volunteer train new ones on the job – an excellent process – to giving actual classes. Be careful about creating expectations for training. Since receiving training may be a motivation for some volunteers you must be clear that it is not given in exchange for the volunteer's time but so that they can carry out their role more efficiently. Training should be designed by and involve the staff members who will supervise the volunteers or who work in the same area. For help and information on training volunteers, see the UK site CharityDays, and the US-based Senior Corps Tech Center on motivating and training volunteers.

Managing volunteers involves insuring they show up, know and do their job, understand and follow your organization's rules, and fit into the organization without causing problems. The first three can be handled with training. Fitting in is best handled by screening out potential problems in the interview process. Since the motivation for volunteering can range from wanting to give back to looking for a mate, you must recognize and exclude potential volunteers who can interfere with the organization's mission by antagonizing staff or funders, gossiping, or otherwise engaging in inappropriate behavior. See Energize, Inc. and the World Volunteer Web for hints.

My preferred management method is to assign a staff member the role of Volunteer Coordinator, which may be a full-time job or be full time during recruitment and interviewing and then part-time during management.  The Volunteer Coordinator manages the volunteers through training, volunteer meetings, monitoring their work and their punctuality, motivating them with events, awards, and recognition, and if necessary, retraining or even dismissing those volunteers who engage in inappropriate activities. 

A special case for volunteer management is the use of volunteer professionals such as doctors or computer specialists or attorneys. Professionals rarely need close supervision but often require support in the form of information, access to files, contacts, as well as a basic grounding in the organization's mission and protocols. In addition to the volunteer management sources mentioned above, an excellent example of how an organization recruits, trains and manages professionals is United For Sight.

Let us know how you manage volunteers. Click here and join Patrick O’Heffernan in the conversation. ]]> 2007-08-20T09:48:40-07:00 2010-02-24T05:35:13-05:00 Social Edge Volunteers for International NPOs (Part 1) http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2007/08/14/volunteers-for-international-npos-part-1 Hosted by Patrick O’Heffernan (August 2007) here.

Does your non-profit organization (NPO) use volunteers? Many do and the recruiting, training and managing of volunteers are important skills – almost as important as fundraising.
volunteers
The first step is to determine which you need –volunteers or interns. Volunteers are people who serve the community or organization without compensation, motivated by altruism, a desire to meet people, religious convictions or because it makes them feel good (which it does!).

Interns work in a temporary position in businesses, government or for NPOs receiving on-the-job training. Interns may be paid and receive college or job credit, although internships in NPOs are often unpaid or subsidized by another organization. Typically, interns require a more organized training and management program than volunteers to meet the terms of their internship.

Many organizations train volunteers and provide them to NPOs: large programs like the U.S. Peace Corps, Rotary International or the UN Volunteers, and smaller ones like V.I.E., focused on a single skill set or on a single region or village. You can find a partial index of organizations that recruit, train or provide volunteers around the world at ServiceLeader.

You may also consider joining the International Volunteer Programs Association so that potential volunteers can find you in their database.

You should also investigate Global Volunteers, an American NPO founded in 1984 to promote peace through international understanding by sending volunteers to assist with rural work projects around the world. Global Volunteers has special consultative status with UN ECOSOC and invites applications from NGOs that meet its criteria.

You should also be familiar with the Berlin-based International Cultural Youth Exchange. With offices, national committees and community service networks worldwide, ICYE is one of the largest youth exchange/volunteer organizations in the world. It promotes intercultural learning and voluntary service through home stays combined with community projects. NGOs that wish to register with ICYE as a host should get in touch directly with the ICYE National Committee in their country or fill in the Expression of Interest Form on the website.

A new area of volunteerism is volunteer tourism (VT) – combining a vacation with community service. VT is controversial because many of the organizations involved are for-profit and some critics maintain that the focus is often more on tourism than volunteering. But the organizations involved range from universities to travel agencies and often provide uniquely qualified and hardworking volunteers. NGOs should check out the volunteer tourism industry magazines Brave New Traveler or Transitions Abroad (both with a western point of view) for an overview.

You should also check Charity Guide, a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to facilitating flexible volunteer opportunities, both through VT and general volunteering. Although most of the site is dedicated to actions individuals can take independently, it also refers potential volunteers who want to work with specific organizations. If you want to be considered for referrals, you should contact the management team.

Finally, if you know exactly what kind of volunteers you need and prefer not to go through an organization or association or rely on volunteering tourists, you should post your volunteer position on Idealist.

Add to this toolbox and join Patrick O’Heffernan in the conversation. ]]> 2007-08-14T09:23:45-07:00 2010-02-24T05:35:15-05:00 Social Edge Black Swans http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2007/05/08/black-swans Hosted by Charles "Hipbone" Cameron (May 2007) Working with the Unexpecteds

Nassim Nicholas Taleb just published The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.  It is one of those books -- like Gladwell's Tipping Point or Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds -- that adds a new and often counterintuitive idea into the general mind-soup. 

In Taleb's case, the new and counterintuitive idea is that it's not what we know which might help us navigate the future, but what we don't.

To focus this approach on our concerns here as social entrepreneurs: one strong implication of the book is that the next extraordinarily successful venture – in our field as in the wider economic sphere – will be one that doesn't look all that obvious at first glance.

So how will we – as individuals, as funders, as a movement, recognize it?

Here's Taleb on entrepreneurship:

The next killing in the restaurant business needs to be an idea that is not easily conceived of by the current population of restaurateurs.  It has to be at some distance from expectations.  The more unexpected the success of such a venture, the smaller the number of
competitors, and the more successful the entrepreneur who implements the idea.  The same applies to the shoe and book businesses or any kind of entrepreneurship.

Put like that, it seems fairly obvious – though it's not the way we usually look at things, not the way we "work".

I'd like to explore the implications of that paragraph with the social entrepreneurial community.  I think there's a great conversation to be had here, because Taleb's pitch for the "idea not easily conceived of" needs to be balanced, or perhaps followed, by the idea of the "second-mover advantage".

The thing is, we know how to be second movers – all we have to do is watch and learn.  But here are my questions:

• How do we recognize a positive black swan opportunity?
• How do we convey its benefit to others, since it's non-obvious by definition?
• How can venture and foundation folk nurture black swans?
• How can we ride them?

Join Charles "Hipbone" Cameron in the conversation. ]]> 2007-05-08T06:06:36-07:00 2010-02-24T05:35:19-05:00 Social Edge Play around, procrastinate, make a mess... http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2007/01/16/play-around-procrastinate-make-a-mess Hosted by Charles Cameron (January 2007) playaroundprocrastinatemakeamess

This event with the somewhat quirky title is really about styles of management, both personal and institutional -- and the idea is that there's much to be gained from counter-intuitive strategies.

Charles "Hipbone" Cameron offered to host this item after reading a very positive LA Times review of Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman's new book, A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder--How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place.

That review in turn triggered fond memories of James Ogilvy's Living Without a Goal, and behind them both, the don't push the river Taoist philosophy of Lao Tze and Chuang Tze, which is at once humorous, profound, and deeply counter-intuitive.

There are, he tells us, a thousand books supporting effort, organization, tidiness, planning, timeliness and so forth -- but none of them would be necessary if humans weren't also so predisposed to be inefficient, disorganized, untidy, unplanned and procrastinating, a side of things which may have a great contribution to make but which is seldom recommended by those who want their lives purpose-driven and full of effective traits.

According to Charles "Hipbone" Cameron, some of you may already be masters of taking randomness (often called chaos) and bringing it into order -- but for those whose orderliness precludes the random, there's much to be said for loosening the tie, opening the top button of the shirt, rolling up the sleeves and getting messy, erratic, relaxed, inquisitive, all jazzed up and drifty.

It's a form of listening. It lets reality to speak to us in ways that question our otherwise sacred assumptions. It allows "emergent properties" to, well, "emerge" from systems. And it's fun.

Einstein was a master of this "way" -- and in fact it's something you'll often find in absolutely top flight people. But it's not often discusssed, perhaps because it runs so counter to the grain of all the other advice we ever receive.

Let's talk about it. Let's discuss messy desks, failures to make deadlines that turned out for the best, chance encounters that brought purpose to our lives or the lives of those around us.

What's your story? I'll tell you mine...

amanuel melles - Jan 16, 2007 8:58 pm (# Total: 25)
With people, with ideas, in action

What matters is results

Thanks for bringing up this issue. As a director, I never worry about my staff's cluttered desks. Everyone has his or her own way of getting "organized"...what matters to me is the bottomline: that what I expect them to do, is done. Of course, people waste more time trying to find materials they need in a cluttered work environment. But people often compensate by the additional time they spend to ensure their work is completed.

Natural ecosystems are often regenerated through random and choatic events (coral reefs bleaching; forest fires). The reality of today's workplace and organizations (artificial ecosystems) is that order,  tidiness and strategic planning are rewarded. We don't know how to handle messy, creative and usually productive  staff.

amanuel


zoe brooks - Jan 17, 2007 2:35 am (# Total: 25)
East Oxford Action

Creativity = organised mess

My husband worked for a number of the top publishing firms and tells me he could always tell how creative and original the company was by the messiness of the desks - the messier the more creative. I spent several years working in community arts and theatre and my observation supports my husband's position.

Creativity often comes from the juxtaposition of apparently unrelated ideas. Even the time "wasted" tidying up my desk is important to me, I find the random shuffling of papers allows me to see connections. Once the papers are filed they cease to exist. That is not to say that order is not also needed - there is a need for people who tidy up and organise within any organisation and moreover creativity is after all about bringing a new order to chaos. But for too long the tidy police have been patrolling offices!

ClaraJ - Jan 17, 2007 4:14 am (# Total: 25)
Founder: Be Good, Give Goooood (tm?), Promote Good

Adding +/- 10-20% for the ultimate designer

Purposeful random chaos/play/procrastination introduce and allow for the ultimate designer (energy or incarnate) into the creative process. It is INDEED "a form of listening" (Cameron) and a way to ask for help in "LINKING apparently unrelated ideas." (Brooks)

??? I'm a theist.. hipbone... would you elaborate on what you mean by the "don't push the river" Taoist philosophy? The river is a great image.. one that I use in my personal definition of spirituality.. taken from a quote by Tolstoy.

Namaste Chiara

Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Jan 17, 2007 11:27 am (# Total: 25)
HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates

responding to your terrific responses

Hey, I'm impressed. I expected this topic would either be attacked by the forces of tidiness and timeliness, or ignored -- and lo, three of you have written in taking positive attitudes to the disgracefully untidy suggestion I've made! ; )



  • Amanuel, I thank you for the mention of corals and fires, and for your comment that (normally) "order, tidiness and strategic planning are rewarded". Perhaops Abrahamson and Freedman's book will loosen things up a bit -- but isn't it encouraging to see others here with a high tolerance, and even respect, for cluttered desks and creative minds? The correlation between the two is instructive!

    One of the most brilliant minds I've ever met, a senior researcher and modeling software developer at the Brookings Institution, has a desk piled high with books and papers which overflow across the floor -- up to the same height -- for sveral feet on either sidxe of the desk. Most impressive.



  • Zoe: great to read you here. East Oxford? somewhere out past Magdalen bridge, then? Headington, Cowley? Oxford's my once-upon-a-time home town.

    You write:
      Creativity often comes from the juxtaposition of apparently unrelated ideas.
    That's absolutely right,and we can go a little further and specify that the juxtaposition comes about through an analogy or homology between the two disparate ideas... That juxtaposition, indeed, is the precise target of my HipBone Games:


  • Clara:

    Please allow me to hold my response to you over for another post -- I have a rather long quote I'd like to deliver, and fear it would overwhelm this one!

    • Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Jan 17, 2007 11:53 am (# Total: 25)
    HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates

    Re: [Clara] Adding +/- 10-20% for the ultimate designer

    Hi Clara:

    You asked:
      would you elaborate on what you mean by the "don't push the river" Taoist philosophy?
    I think the best way I can express it is via a quote from Alan Watts and Al Huang's book, Tao: The Watercourse Way:
      Because ink is mostly water, Chinese calligraphy – controlling the flow of water with the soft brush as distinct from the hard pen – requires that you go with the flow. If you hesitate, hold the brush too long in one place, or hurry, or try to correct what you have written, the blemishes are all too obvious. But if you write well there is at the same time the sensation that the work is happening on its own, that the brush is writing all by itself – as a river, by following the line of least resistance, makes elegant curves. The beauty of Chinese calligraphy is thus the same beauty which we recognize in moving water, in foam, spray, eddies, and waves, as well as in clouds, flames, and weavings of smoke in sunlight. The Chinese call this kind of beauty the following of li, an ideogram which referred originally to the grain in jade and wood... Li is the pattern of behavior which comes about when one is in accord with the Tao, the watercourse of nature.
    Taoism as a philosophy aims for the natural flow (think also of Milhalyi Csikszentmihalyi's book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience) of the river or watercourse, for a path or way that neither "tries too hard" nor "gives up in despair" -- but rather, in a delicate and continuously sensed balance, moves through life without undue stress and with innate gracefulness.

    The watercourse way is not "as the crow flies" -- direct and rigid as a line drawn with a straight edge -- nor is it tortured by its own complexity. If I can put it this way, it allows for eddies and picks up stray leaves as it flows ever onwards...

    ClaraJ - Jan 17, 2007 12:17 pm (# Total: 25)
    Founder: Be Good, Give Goooood (tm?), Promote Good

    Very cool

    Love the ink image! Have not done calligraphy... but remembering the scene from "crouching tiger" & remembering the calligraphy at the asian museums I've been to... you are exactly right!

    The funny thing is this watercourse way as you describe it... I learned its management style from my ED at Sanctuary Arts Center - an art center for homeless youth - Leslie had a way of managing by the Holy Spirit (that would be the Christian equivalent metaphor to what you're talking about... the Father/Son parts of the trinity has a "as the crow flies" qualities about it... but listening to the Holy Spirit of the trinity... well, you HAVE to listen to how the "Way" is operating *already* in our lives. For profit Msft taught me the "as the crow flies" management style. Not for profit SAC taught me the "watercourse" management style.

    There's also another favorite Taoist saying ... there are 3 kinds of leadership: those who are anonymous, those who are loved, and those who are feared. Well, based on my experience, you can only lead anonymously by paying GR8 attention to the WAY - whether that's Taoist or the Holy Spirit of the Trinity.

    Clara

    tutormentor - Jan 18, 2007 7:32 am (# Total: 25)
    Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection

    Cluttered desk - sign of entrepreneur?

    Some random thoughts on this topic.

    I vote for the cluttered desk. Give me flat space, I fill it with papers and books. In the book titled The Spider and the Star fish there is a reference to how some people thrive in ambiguity and others require structure.

    I've read management books that talk of stages of growth. When your in the creative stage there is lots of ambuguity because you're building something new, and generally don't have lots of help doing it. As the organization grows, the need for structure, and the resources to provide structure grow. That's becasue a larger organization needs to find organized ways to keep everyone focused on the same goals. Maybe this goes overboard and stiffles innovation. That's probably another discussion.

    The idea of going with the flow is an important one. I'm constantly reaching out to people all over the country/world. Yet, I can't control how fast they respond. I have to go with the flow.

    However, I think the role of the entrepreneur, or the innovator, is to sometimes dig a canal, and change the flow of the river. If we keep doing what we have done in the past (flow of the river), we keep getting the same results.

    ClaraJ - Jan 18, 2007 7:45 am (# Total: 25)
    Founder: Be Good, Give Goooood (tm?), Promote Good

    Paragliding Management Style

    True, social justice agents have to know when to change the flow of the river... however... I think.. if we want the kind of change akin to the Berlin Wall (a peaceful revolution) vs. the civil rights movement (a peaceful yet violent revolution), then I think the answer lies not so much in digging a canal, as to know when to change flows of river. A paraglider moves from air current to air current - so the sign of an anonymous leader is one who moves from river to river depending on a divinely inspired calling. MLK Jr. had it! And so did Gandhi!

    And still, yet, sometimes, I agree, changing flows or brushes is not sufficient. There are times we have to grunt and dig a canal - but then we have to be prepared for massive resistance from the water. The higher the good, the greater the evil that resurrects in all of us.

    Amen.

    tutormentor - Jan 18, 2007 12:58 pm (# Total: 25)
    Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection

    Quote from How to Change the World

    I'm reading this book now and one quote that got my attention was "In the fight for an ideal, we face those who are deceptive, envious and incompetent. The man who is firm pays no mind to such poeople and wastes no time counting them. For he who marches toward the light need not worry about what occurs in the darkness."

    This was praise of Prof. Ennio Amaral, who through his wwork made it possible for poor people in the fields of Brazil to gain access to electric energy benefits.

    Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Jan 21, 2007 6:33 pm (# Total: 25)
    HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates

    Re: [ClaraJ] Very cool / Paragliding

    Re: [ClaraJ] Very cool / Paragliding

    I have to admit I'm not too surprised to see your suggested link between the Taoist "watercourse way"” and Christian "Holy Spirit" – but then I got my degree in theology, so I lean that way anyway. And Tao is one of the suggested translations of Logos in Chinese. Having said which, I wanted to sidestep that issue and keep on the mess, randomness and procrastination line of inquiry, which is why I was a bit quiet for a while on first reading your post.



  • On the subject of knowing when to change flows of river -- I think that’s a great question, and we’re very fortunate to have two brilliant documents from Donella Meadows on the subject:

    Places to Intervene in a System
    http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid790.php
      An astonishingly important paper for anyone hoping to change the way things are, this is Dana’s classic account of where interventions will have the greatest impact. Using Jay Forrester’s systems theory as her basis, she shows that the greatest impact doesn’t come by influencing quantities (numbers, material stocks and flows) but from playing with the rules of the system (incentives, punishment, constraints), the power of self-organization, the goals of the system, and above all the mindset or paradigm out of which the goals, rules, feedback structure arise.
    Dancing with Systems: What to do when systems resist change
    http://www.sustainabilityinstitute.org/pubs/Dancing.html
      This is an excerpt from Donella Meadows's unfinished last book. She suggests that while systems thinking says the future can't be predicted, it can be envisioned and brought lovingly into being. Systems can't be controlled, but they can be designed and redesigned. We can't surge forward with certainty into a world of no surprises, but we can expect surprises and learn from them and even profit from them. We can't impose our will upon a system, but we can listen to what the system tells us, and discover how its properties and our values can work together to bring forth something much better than could ever be produced by our will alone. A brilliant essay in favor of a fully human and humane understanding of complex situations, problems.
    -- and note the "watercourse way" thinking that’s present there, too!

    • Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Jan 21, 2007 6:41 pm (# Total: 25)
    HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates

    Re: [Tutormentor] Cluttered desk / Quote

    Dan:

    Hello once again:
      When your in the creative stage there is lots of ambuguity because you're building something new, and generally don't have lots of help doing it. As the organization grows, the need for structure, and the resources to provide structure grow. That's becasue a larger organization needs to find organized ways to keep everyone focused on the same goals. Maybe this goes overboard and stiffles innovation. That's probably another discussion.
    Yes, but an important one. The anthropologist Victor Turner [in his masterpiece, The Ritual Process] argued that St Francis was trying to create a permanently “liminal” community – one where the creative stage would continue past his own death – in the form of the Franciscan order, but that such an attempt is doomed to failure, and that even before he died the Order was self-organizing in ways that undercut his original sense of values.

    Turner makes it clear why the liminal is a necessary refreshement to the normal, but cannot possibly replace it. It's a fascinating I'm drifting close to religious studies again. Let's get back to(wards) business!
      I think the role of the entrepreneur, or the innovator, is to sometimes dig a canal, and change the flow of the river. If we keep doing what we have done in the past (flow of the river), we keep getting the same results.
    I’d rephrase that to say the flow sometimes mandates the digging of canals in new and unexpected directions <grin>. Otherwise, I heartily agree.

    beautiful complexity - Jan 24, 2007 5:54 am (# Total: 25)
    Learning at the Intersection of Art, Enterprise & the Environment

    Messy Desks and Liminal Moments

    As a social & environmental entrepreneur I found myself recently at the liminal moment in time between 2 years of my setting up of a complex project (alone and with little help) and the next phase where people have come to the table to help create a bigger vision.  My desk has been so messy for the past 6 months I have abandoned it in favor of the less distracting dining room table.  Last week I found myself sort of stuck and mindlessly started to clean up one of my shelves.  I came across an old notebook from several years ago, way before my current project was even dreamed of.  I was astonished to find things in that book that directly relate to my current project and the exact stage I find myself at.  The first line in the book is, "All beginnings are mysteries, the mystery of creation" Henri Amiel.  A few pages in I found something I must have copied down from some book or webpage, The 5 componets of Creativity - Foraging, Reflecting, Adopting, Nurturing and Knuckling Down - All of these actions suggest messiness rather than neat and tidy well managed and lineal processes.  My philosophy at the moment is to create, it hardly matters what, but the act of creation seems to keep me in the flow.


    Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Jan 25, 2007 9:58 am (# Total: 25)
    HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates

    messy car poem

    Here for your general enjoyment is a poem that, shall we say, leans towards the miracle of messiness? It's about car ownership and family...

    I wish I could get the software here to do a triple indent, so that the poem itself could be set off with a wide margin and white space all around it -- poetry deserves that kind of treatment IMO.

    But anyway, the poem...

    The Rules of the New Car
    by Wesley McNair

    After I got married and became
    the stepfather of two children, just before
    we had two more, I bought it, the bright
    blue sorrowful car that slowly turned
    to scratches and the flat black spots
    of gum in the seats and stains impossible
    to remove from the floor mats. Never again,
    I said as our kids, four of them by now,
    climbed into the new car. This time,
    there will be rules. The first to go
    was the rule I made for myself about
    cleaning it once a week, though why,
    I shouted at the kids in the rearview mirror,
    should I have to clean if they would just
    remember to fold their hands. Three years
    later, it was the same car I had before,
    except for the dent my wife put in the grille
    when, ignoring the regulation about snacks,
    she reached for a bag of chips on her way
    home from work and hit a tow truck. Oh,
    the ache I felt for broken rules,
    and the beautiful car that had been lost,
    and the car that we now had, on soft
    shocks in the driveway, still unpaid for.
    Then one day, for no particular reason except
    that the car was loaded down with wood
    for the fireplace at my in-laws’ camp
    and groceries and sheets and clothes
    for the week, my wife in the passenger seat,
    the dog lightly panting beside the kids in the back,
    all innocent anticipation, waiting for me
    to join them, I opened the door to my life.

    Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Jan 25, 2007 10:07 am (# Total: 25)
    HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates

    Re: [beautiful complexity] Messy Desks and Liminal Moments

    Wonderful post!

    Is the Boyne River (of the Boyne River Project, which I learned about in your member's bio) the same river in Ireland which gave us the celebrated Battle of the Boyne? Your facility sounds remarkable indeed. Very much my kind of place.

    Cordelia Salter-Nour - Jan 26, 2007 12:39 am (# Total: 25)
    eShopAfrica.com

    squalor versus mess!

    Like others in this discussion I believe in a healthy, creative mess... but the car poem touches on squalor which is a different thing.

    I was lucky with my children - they grew up in West Africa where any food mess was immediately located by ants who patrolled every square inch of the house 24/7. 

    No eating cookies in bed for my kids.... in the night the ants would be there to clean up the smallest crumb.  If you left a candy bar lying around within minutes it would be covered in ants. Highly recommended to create hygiene awareness!


    Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Jan 26, 2007 10:38 am (# Total: 25)
    HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates

    Re: [Cordelia] squalor versus mess!

    Ha! Actually I agree, mess can be creative, gum (in general, affixed to furniture etc) isn't. But it's interesting, the army of ants which you see as virtuously cleaning up the crumbs would be viewed by my wife as far worse than crumbs themselves. In Southern California context.

    Myself, I'm busy at the computer...

    Cordelia Salter-Nour - Jan 30, 2007 4:45 am (# Total: 25)
    eShopAfrica.com

    Re: [Cordelia] squalor versus mess!

    I didn't really think of them as my cleaners... more as my squalid behaviour detectives

    your wife may have personal reasons not to like ants but in fact ants are very clean... members of their colonies are designated as cleaners and ants that farm produce anti-biotics to protect their crops (or should that be ant-i-biotic?)

    don't think your computer is safe either... at various times I had colonies of ants setting up residence inside my scanner, speakers and laptop... they would just move in overnight

    but as the combined weight of ants is greater than the weight of humans I figure they're here to stay!


    beautiful complexity - Jan 30, 2007 2:58 pm (# Total: 25)
    Learning at the Intersection of Art, Enterprise & the Environment

    Boyne River

    No Charles - its one of 2 Boyne Rivers in Southern Ontario.  The facilities include the first several miles of pristine source water from several small rivulettes and streams (very messy arrangement of water flowing down through a valley)  Great trout fishing & a fish hatchery to boot!  This Boyne River is about collaboration not the divisions created by the Battle of the Boyne.

    Marguerite - Jan 30, 2007 9:05 pm (# Total: 25)

    Messy Mind

    Hi Charles -

    Long time no post here. But forget the messy desk -- I have a messy mind. It goes in about 10 different directions at a time and I never know which one to follow. 

    I seem to always have at least two and sometimes four or five different projects or thought paths going at one time.  I read the same way -- four or five different books laying scattered around the house -- I read a chapter from one then another.  Just can't seem to stay with one thing for long or my mind just goes blank. 

    But the "multi-tasking" works for me in that somehow things seem to fit together and flow -- you know something from one project or thought or book will cross-link with something else and then patterns start to emerge and make sense from what seemed in the beginning to be a jumbled chaotic and unrelated mess. 

    I go to sleep at night and never remember dreaming, but in the morning most times with the first thoughts of the day a complete picture of something I was puzzling about will emerge. 

    My thoughts tumble out in the same jumbled manner as I skip from one subject to another in conversation -- drives people around me nuts trying to figure out where I'm at, but it works for me.  Which is why my live-in companion is my dog Sweet Pea -- she just keeps listening as long as I scratch her back, and life is rosy. 

    I've been referre to by several former companions as:  "The crazy lady". 

    Well, catch you later -- I'm off to see the wizard.

    Wish I had your knack for keeping these discussions going. You always seem to know the right thing to say/write.  Amazing.

     

     

     

     

          

     

     

       

     


    Eva-Marie - Jan 31, 2007 5:09 am (# Total: 25)

    Dear Marguerite,

    I read your article and was deeply impressed.

    Everything has two sides.

    Of course changing from one theme to another can be a sign of fatigue and less concentration, but on the other hand it can be a sign of creativity as well. It can possibly enreach life and believe me, not only yours. So if people can´t follow your associations maybe it is not primarily your fault.

    By the way, in working with my patients it was very helpfully to to be empathically with them, because I could see the picture in front of my eyes and after getting one peace of the puzzle I could often take the conclusion about the story behind the story. 

    Friendly Regards

    Eva-Marie

     

     


    Marguerite - Jan 31, 2007 9:13 pm (# Total: 25)

    Everything has two sides (and more)

    Hi Eva-Marie,

    Thanks for your gentle and perceptive comments. 

    You're right about the creativity part and its allowed me to put very large projects together in a very short time while everyone else is still at step one, and to solve problems that seemingly have no answers.  So, it wasn't my intent to come across as complaining, except men do seem to like dumb blondes better.  But there is always the exception to the rule.

    Anyway, like with the "cluttered desk" a "messy  mind" creates chaos, but there is an order within chaos that emerges if you let it. And that's where change begins on the edge of chaos.  So what I was saying is that we should encourage the chaos and then just sit back, relax and watch to see where the multi-dimensional patterns are emerging and let the sub-conscious or the intuitive mind bring them together in a natural and organic manner. Be open to letting life take us down a path instead of trying to create the path. Yet always being in control enough to make a  conscious choice to reach out and tweek it if we see a better way.

    In this way we're enouraging both sides of the brain to get involved.  Whereas our current educational system emphasizes left-brain linear thinking.  And left-brain linear can't manage reality because it fails to see the whole dynamic of the situation.

    So, most of us are driving down the freeway of life able to see out of only one side of our vehicle.  And, we wonder why we keep crashing.  Two marvelous books on this are:  Smart Moves - Why Learning Isn't All In Your Head and Brain Dominance by neuroscientist, Dr.Carla Hannaford. 

    As a therapist,? Eva-Marie it's marvelous that you are able to work with your clients from a holodynamic plane where the view is expansive. 

     

     

     


    arabianmonkey - Feb 1, 2007 11:29 am (# Total: 25)
    filmmakers change everything!

    Thundering in....and breaking out

    In a community undergoing enormous transformation, with a cultural challenge towards diversity and embracing change, I've found myself adamant to engage in the 'system', while maintaining a disheveled attitude and packaging, and total individuality. I’ve also noticed that I get their attention more as they inspect and dissect my exterior - then we start talking. The true shock comes when I say, "Go ahead, just change everything. What’s the worst that’s going to happen?”

    A couple days ago I met up with an old school friend over an interesting project he needed consulting on. I went to his offices - shiny, new, clean, unlived (or so they seemed, inspite of the many very serious looking people sitting behind desks, who had been there for months apparently). My mouth then said smtg without my brain's control - or so it seemed, "someone should spill a can of bright paint in here". By the time we got to his office, the energy was bouncing off the walls, we had an amazing talk and mapped out a little road ahead. I could tell he kept looking around, thinking: what just happened to my comfort zone?...but I kind of like the feeling!

    When we were kids, we explored because we could. We played hard to achieve something. And we played clever to win. We changed the play when it got predictable. And we broke the rules, because we just weren't sure. And we created chaos because we were exploring. And we made a mess to get attention.

    And sometimes that's the only way to get someone to listen - to themselves, to you, to the world around them, so that they allow themselves another angle. So that they see and hear the same things in a different way, and say, “aha”!

    As I look back on my last 18 years of work, I’ve jump started organizations and programs where many said ‘impossible’. I've thrived on chaos, and those who found it difficult to deal with reached out to me. Today I like that about myself. My disruptive theory works (most of the time). The times I decided to procrastinate, the waiting turned into golden opportunities where something so new and relevant appeared and made the world of difference.

    In today’s time stealing world, we just don’t seem to let space in. And on a planet that is obsessed with rules, we’ve forgotten how to think. And in times driven by formulae, we’ve neglected to remind ourselves that humanity by nature copes with disorder. But fear is what holds some back! So perhaps it is fear that we must address rather than messy or clean desks.

    Marguerite - Feb 1, 2007 9:12 pm (# Total: 25)

    Aha! The Fear Factor

    arabianmonkey writes in part:

    When we were kids, we explored because we could. We played hard to achieve something. And we played clever to win. We changed the play when it got predictable. And we broke the rules, because we just weren't sure. And we created chaos because we were exploring. And we made a mess to get attention.

    (snip)

    In today’s time stealing world, we just don’t seem to let space in. And on a planet that is obsessed with rules, we’ve forgotten how to think. And in times driven by formulae, we’ve neglected to remind ourselves that humanity by nature copes with disorder. But fear is what holds some back! So perhaps it is fear that we must address rather than messy or clean desks.

    I love this because it points out so perfectly that before the "education system" got a hold of us, whether that be mom and dad, or the church, or school, we were so innocent -- so full of curiosity and afraid of nothing. And then after a few raps across the knuckles and other places, or a trip to one's room or the principle's office, and the innocense and curiosity get stuffed as one learns that a cluttered desk or mind is not appropriate -- everything has to be orderly. And then the withdrawal into fear begins.   

    I'm also thinking that since the Great Depression, which few of us remember, we've not been faced with any degree of adversity here on our own soil.  And especially for the middle class we've not been challenged to any degree to really think outside of the box the fear factor has created.  But for the poverty-stricken -- that's a whole nother ball game.  

    Now my mind's jumped to another subject and I'm considering how the middle and and upper classes are going to handle global climate change and the "right in your face" kind of challenges this is bringing about.  It seems to be that those who are poverty-stricken have a lot better chance of getting through this than the average American since they are use to solving problems where no answers seem apparent --and it becomes a matter at some level of consciousness of "be creative or die".      

     

      

      

     


    ClaraJ - Feb 1, 2007 9:28 pm (# Total: 25)
    Founder: Be Good, Give Goooood (tm?), Promote Good

    Thanks

    for the Donella Meadows article, esp. the one titled Dancing with Systems. There's much to ponder in her writing.

    You studied theology? No wonder... :) How fascinating about St. Francis. His "liminalism" reminds me also of his radical stance on "poverty," so radical that he advocated against financial sustainability on an organizational level. Course other mendicant orders like the Dominicans would vote otherwise, and grow much larger than the Franciscans.

    Thank you for giving me much to ponder...

    Clara

    ClaraJ - Feb 2, 2007 11:09 am (# Total: 25)
    Founder: Be Good, Give Goooood (tm?), Promote Good

    Interplay of left and right handers

    Eva Marie,

    I agree with you about the importance of interplaying with left handers... :) One of my favorite activities is interplay where you get to balance both the left and right hand..

    Anyone who wants to "dance with systems," male or female should REALLY try out interplay. What's interplay? It is "world-wide movement dedicated to ease and fullness, peace and diversity, creativity and community, development and change. It is an easy-to-learn practice, and a set of simple but powerful ideas that can change the way you live your life. It integrates body, mind, heart and spirit. It gets you running on “all your cylinders.” It creates strong, caring communities. Find out more! www.interplay.org.

    Charles, if you love meadows, you'd love interplay. One feedback to her docs is ... it'd be nice to integrate more of the body wisdom as she suggests in her title of her paper

    People on this blog stream have mentioned how messiness encourages the incorporation of spontaneity.. and how despite the messiness... being in tune with the "way of the tao" converges the messiness into a beautiful pattern.

    Try out interplay! It's a blast! You laugh and it's quite healing. It's also what I do when my brain feels fried. I let my body take the lead then over my over-analytical brain.

    And speaking of messiness and spontaneity, I'm writing this in Big Sur on a mini retreat vacation and the first page I turned to in a poetry book was this... I find it quite appropriate to post it now.. though it is deeply personal. And Eva Marie, you should listen to your instincts.. if your soul is telling you something is too personal to post on the internet, it probably is and you shouldn't - at least at this moment. Thankfully, social edge allows you to delete and edit blogs... a key feature!!! Can't change history... but sometimes, shelving history is best for all involved.

    So here's the poem I found by Carolyn Mary Kleefeld and David Wayne Dunn in the messiness of books in this library..

    Your Quiet Godliness

    In the quiet of your godliness, can you know the thrust of your spirit's flame gave me the eyes to behold, the ears to imbibe the orchestration of the tides?

    In the quiet of your godliness, can you know the pines standing so silently tall murmur from their roots into mine?

    Your quiet godliness touches me with a creature's pulse, as deeply as the songs of the whispering stream soothe my soul

    Can you know the thrust of your spirit's flame has emblazoned my senses to unknown rhapsody?

    In the quiet of your godliness can you know?

    p.s. Charles, I'm still chewing on St. Francis.. he never advocated financial sustainability.. but his radical poverty sure ignited a social movement.. could argue had longer social impact though business wise was foolish. Something to think about. Makes me think of Bill Shore's latest book... we started thinking of social enterprises, then social entreprenuers in a business integrated sense... but people like MLK sure wasn't "business" minded.. though politically savvy and he sure ignited something. Perhaps Francis never wanted and yet wanted a the same time to cannibalize his own organization. The Dominicans flourished... so did the Jesuits... and perhaps ... that was a higher will than what Francis or us in our "human finite" view could foresee.

    I wonder if the next skoll forum has a talk on integrating faith and spirituality... there's something about religion and faith that can ignite a social movement. MLK was in the end a preacher... a generational preacher... and that served him well. Even Gandhi said that "prayer when used appropriately is the most instrumental form of action." Unbusinesslike? and totally irrational.. huh?

    Clara
    ]]>     2007-01-16T10:52:40-08:00 2010-02-24T05:35:29-05:00 Social Edge     How do you evaluate? How do you prioritize? http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2007/01/10/how-do-you-evaluate-how-do-you-prioritize Hosted by Charles 'Hipbone' Cameron (December 2006) Priorities

    By Charles “Hipbone” Cameron

    The very fact that you are a social entrepreneur, or specifically interested in social entrepreneurship, strongly suggests that you have prioritized: you have decided that you value “contribution to society” above simple profit.

    But prioritization is a key not just to the most basic of questions, “what shall I do with my life?” – but also to the finer details of doing it.

    How do you prioritize? Are you an instinctive “prioritizer,” for whom every self-help book ever written looks like a manual for other people, or do you have tricks and heuristics which allow you to keep your priorities straight, constantly checking and adjusting your priorities to fit the changing situation? Do you use a Covey planner, or follow David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity?

    How do you evaluate? How do you prioritize?

    I am interested in your thoughts on this, all the way from how you handle the small details that can get lost when you have a thousand tasks to juggle and only one hand to juggle with (the other one tied behind your back by a bureaucracy, perhaps, or just by lack of time), to the Big Question: what’s the most urgent need I can hope or help to meet?

    Do you decide on a course of action based on your own perceived skill set or preferences, based on local need, an assessment of overall global need -- or was (or is) it perhaps a personal connection, story or inspiration which steered (and steers) your life in the particular direction you have chosen?

    • How do you achieve clarity?

    • How much of your decision-making is heart, and how much mind?

    • How do you prioritize?

    Jump in the conversation.

    DR.PRABIR DUTTA - Dec 12, 2006 10:19 pm (# Total: 11)
    CALCUTTA MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

    I Prioritize

    There is nothing to prioritize to gain  immediately.I seek those to gain who need it from me.It is to be candid," a continuos process without any loss on my part".

    I make profit out of benefit yielded by my society.


    qazi - Dec 13, 2006 9:07 am (# Total: 11)

    Prioritizing is indeed a difficult art!

    Hi Charles, I first must admit that prioritizing has been and continue to be a major problem in my personal and professional life. However, I have, over the years, learned the art somewhat and here is how I try to prioritize:

    • Stephen P. Covey's 'time management matrix' in the book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" helped me a lot to differentiate among the works that are  'important and urgent ' vs. 'important but not urgent' and so on;
    • Alan Alekin's system of priority where he recommends that the highest priority work be given an 'A', and the second highest a 'B', etc. sends a very clear signal as to one's priority. As many know, even within an 'A', there could be A1, A2, etc.
    • Recently, I am prioritizing on the basis of two criteria: First I choose paid work (consulting and training) that contributes to my long-term ambition of founding a private university meant for poor but talented people in Bangladesh. Admittedly, there aren't enough engagements of this kind to pay all my bills, sp to speak. So, my second way is to work for a certain number of days  in a week (say 3 days) which may not directly contribute to my future ambition but is good enough to pay all the biills and even save some for social work.
    • Since I was at 2006 Skoll World Forum, I am hooked onto the idea of 'social business' --the particular version which Nobel learute Prof. Yunus first talked about at the Skoll Forum and recently in his Nobel lecture at Oslo. I believe that I can contribute in this area as an adjunct business school faculty(teaching this course), Ashoka Affiliate (I encourage disadvantaged kids to go in to social business) and with a serious interest in promoting higher education as a tool for reducing poverty.

    In summary, I look for work that is related to povery reduction.Thus, when I do consulting assignments in the corporate sector, I would rather take up an assignment related to corporate social responsibility(CSR) or corporate community investment(CCI), as opposed to other mainstream topics.

    A work-in-progress website of our firm's training wing can be found at http://www.futureleaders-bd.com/ 


     


    Oliver Tessier - Dec 14, 2006 6:11 pm (# Total: 11)

    planning and structure

    I consult to many organizations at once, so I am constantly balancing multiple sets of priorities. For big projects, I identify the intended outcomes, then each step toward achieving those outcomes. I put steps on a weekly timeline (in Microsoft Project) so I have a way to measure progress, and I assign them to the responsible parties (very often myself). Then I track tasks on my daily calendar, highlighting the ones that must be completed. And I follow up to make sure all the other players are on task.

    To manage client priorities, I keep lists that tell me the status of everything we are doing. After meetings, I follow up with written "To Do" lists. "Here are the highlights of our discussion. Here's what I will do by X date; here's what you will do by X date."

    To the degree I can manage it, the prioritization happens early on, during the planning process, when I can look at the competing tasks and decide if I will have the resources to complete the tasks on time, rather than at the last minute, when decisions would have to be urgent ones. And I hold onto the prioritization by monitoring progress and maintaining dialogue with the players.

    It's not foolproof; if a CEO I'm coaching fails to deliver annual goals on time, I may have a series of meetings backed up, but I try to stay ahead of projects enough to compensate for lags like that.

    Which is not to say that I don't occasionally get stuck in a really great novel and ignore the whole lot for a morning.

    Hope that's helpful.

    tutormentor - Dec 15, 2006 7:59 am (# Total: 11)
    Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection

    having a road map, or blueprint, helps

    Over the 30 years that I've been leading a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program I've begun to create a segmented understanding of each of the actions that need to happen to help a single program grow from good to great, or that would help an entire city of single programs grow from good to great.

    I have a wall in my office that shows the major categories, and some of the sub categories of actions that need to happen each year.  It stretches along about 20 feet of space, so when talking to people I ask them to think of the calvary charge in the old western movies.  It's a long line of horses with riders, and one person carrying a flag, pointing toward the enemy.

    For my organization to be successful, each horse/rider represents something that needs to happen. If I have a staff person or volunteer responsible for that action, then all I need to do is follow up to make sure they are headed in the right direction, and lead (carry the flag) to keep stretching them to do better.

    In a small organization, many roles have no one on the horse. Thus, I have to take that role. 

    What I've learned is that not every thing has to happen at the same time. Thus, I'm able to switch from one role to another at different times each day, or week, or month.  As long as I can look at the wall, and know that we're making progress toward goals, based on the time/resources we have available, then I'm confident of what we're doing.

    Another way I describe this is that my wall, or my calvary charge, is a blueprint, similar to what contractors use to build buildings.  While a calvary charge is a horizontal line, hopefully moving in one forward direction, a blueprint is a vertical stack of diagrams, and each page represents the actions of many people that must take place in the right way before the contractor can move to the next page of the construction.

    In my blueprint, the foundation, or first step, is building a database of tutor/mentor programs, and of volunteers, leaders, donors and others who are interested. If this database does not exist the city does not have an overview of where programs are operating or where they are needed.  If we don't have a list of programs and supporters, we cannot invite people to come together to build relationships, or do what's needed to help more programs be in place to help kids.

    The next step is sending invitations for people to come together, and for people to be volunteers, donors or supporters of various programs in the city.  The step after that is building a better understanding among all of the stake holders of what everyone does, and a shared understanding of some of the common needs that could be resolved if programs were working together.

    There are additional steps, but with the limited resources I have (time and money) I primarily focus on maintaining the first few steps so that I'm able to grow to the steps that follow as I get the resources to do so. 

    I look at these charts and my wall every day, and I document actions taken to achieve these goals in an OHATS section of http://www.tutormentorconnection.org.  This way I can see where I'm making progress, and where I need to spend extra time to move forward in areas where I'm not making progress.

    With this blueprint on my wall, and in my mind, I'm able to audible in any conversation I have, with anyone in the world, to connect what they do, to a role they might play, in helping me do what I do.  I do this every day in order to find volunteers, donors, or partners to be some of the sub contractors on the blueprint I've described, or riders on the horses in the calvary charge.


    Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Dec 15, 2006 8:06 am (# Total: 11)
    HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates

    First coemments

    Welcome, all!

    It's a funny thing, but I have the feeling that we're getting to grips with the second half, only, of the issue I was raising. We seem to be talking about how we annotate our priorities and organize ourselves around them once they're formed -- a valid and important topic, to be sure -- but not how we form those priorities, how we evaluate possibiities so as to know what priority they should have for us.

    Oliver -- greetings [ and I have a strange feeling we've crossed paths before this ]

    I note that in one of your documents, you talk about vision, mission and values as though mission needs to be aligned with vision, and values with (vision and) mission -- you may be speaking here of another kind of "value" to the sort I'm thinking of, but my question here is about the vlaues that allow you to form a vision.

    How, in a world of multiple needs and tensions, as a human with multiple needs and tensions, do you chose what is most significant to you? In those "moments of scanning my whole life"?

    I'd love it if we could add a little of this side of the equation -- call it "how do you evaluate" as opposed to "how do you prioritize" -- into the mix here...

    Dan:

    How did tutoring / mentoring come to have such primacy in your life?

    tutormentor - Dec 15, 2006 10:13 am (# Total: 11)
    Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection

    Tutor/mentor - a 40 year journey

    Charles, I went to college in the 60s and thus the Civil Rights movement and the War in Viet Nam were part of my learning. I studied history in college, so learned to look at what happend at one time and in one place, and apply that thinking to what is happening, or could happen in current times and where I live. Then I spent three years in the Army, in the Intelligence Corps. I learned to collect information from different sectors, rate it, and use it to solve problems.

    In 1973 I became an Advertising copywriter at the Wards HQ in Chicago, and shortly thereafter, a volunteer tutor meeting weekly with a 4th grade boy. In 1975 I became the leader of the tutor/mentor program, and by 1981 I was responsible for the creative development of all Ward national advertising and for developing the annual ad calender.

    I had no knowledge of running a tutor/mentor program, or of being a mentor when I joined this program, and I had no knowledge of advertising when I joined Wards.

    However, my background prepared me to learn from what others were doing and to apply that to innovating ways to get better at what I was doing. I was lucky to have some great mentors, and be inspired by some great ideas.

    In each of my jobs I worked on the same calendar of activites each year. Thus each year as I repeated what I did the previous year, I learned more about what I was doing, and with this experience, I could innovate more ways to do it better.

    By 1990 I had 17 years experience in both careers, and my understanding of what needs to be done to connect tutors and mentors in one organization, or many organizations, had grown to a passion.

    I was given the opportunity to leave Wards, and I converted the original tutor/mentor program to a non profit so I could earn a living doing what I had a passion to do. Not many people are so fortunate.

    Over the last 16 years I've added to what I learned from the first 17 years, but I've been able to devote 60 to 70 hours a week to what I'm learning, and I've been able to use the Internet to expand my network of who I was learning from.

    Thus, my current passion and sense of purpose comes from a lifetime of involvement.

    This is exactly what I'm trying to duplicate in my leadership of the Tutor/Mentor Connection. If we can get more business people involved in more places, and keep them involved for a lifetime, teach them to learn from what they do, and what others do, and teach them to apply this learning every day to leadership that helps kids in poverty get the support the need to move to jobs and carers, we'll create hundreds of leaders with the same sense of purpose, but with a variety of skills and networks that I don't have.

    Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Dec 18, 2006 10:10 am (# Total: 11)
    HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates

    Here's my hunch

    Thanks, Dan -- wonderful story!



  • I'm really surprised (and a little saddened) that this item hasn't taken off, and I have a hunch as to why that might be -- which I'll post here on the off-chance that it triggers renewed interest.

    The question we're tooking at here -- setting priorities -- is really in two parts:
      how do you know what you really value and what choices to make, and
      how do you organize your day / week / month to be effective?
    Here's my guess...

    The second question may seem so obvious or trivial that many of us can't quite be bothered to answer it -- "I use a daytimer, of course", or "I make lists" just doesn't seem lkike something worth saying in a world that's already overflowing with time-management self-help titles and so on.

    And the answer to the first question -- how to we value, how do we really come to understand what's important to us, and align our lives with that understanding -- may itself be more a matter of intuition and instinct than a rational process that can be easily put into words.

    That's my hunch, anyway -- that the way we come by our primary oprientation and values in life may be somehow too organic an internal process for easy explanation...

    Any comments? I'd love to know why this event has been so quiet, and what's really going on "behind the scenes"...

    • Pamela McLean - Dec 18, 2006 12:51 pm (# Total: 11)

    Charles wondered why it's quiet here.....

    Maybe others feel a bit like me on this one:

    Ref question one: how do you know what you really value and what choices to make,

    That's a deep question - would take much too long to answer....

    Ref Question two how do you organize your day / week / month to be effective?

    Personally I've nothing helpful to share there - in a word - "Badly"

    Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Dec 19, 2006 5:56 pm (# Total: 11)
    HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates

    Re; [Pam] Charles wondered why it's quiet here.....

    We'e on the front page for another week!



  • Regarding question 1: how do you know what you really value and what choices to make, Pam writes:
      That's a deep question - would take much too long to answer....
    Maybe that's a good sign, maybe that's an indicator that we're touching on something profound (rather than something so irrelevant it's easiest and best just to ignore it). Let's take a stab at it. If three of you will attempt to answer this question, I'll give my own answer, too.

    • DR.PRABIR DUTTA - Dec 20, 2006 3:42 am (# Total: 11)
    CALCUTTA MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

    gsbi2007@scu.edu

    Attached my biodata in short.

    Attachments:

    biodata.doc (35 KB)

    tutormentor - Dec 20, 2006 2:27 pm (# Total: 11)
    Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection

    Art, not science

    Charles, I'll give this a go.

    What I really value, is related to what I'm trying to accomplish, and what needs to be done every day to move toward the goal. I'd like to be working with lists and weighted priorities, but in a small organization, this is more art than science. I described my "blueprint" and "calvary charge". These are all visualizations of the many different actions and tasks that all need action in order to be successful. However, they don't all need action every day, nor could I possibly give each my attention every day.

    Thus, I prioritize by what needs attention most, based on what it is, and what value it is to the organization. This is subjective, based on my own understanding of the goals, and the importance of one action vs another.

    I think the most important thing I could pass on to others is that without a clear goal/vision in mind, and without being able to segment achieving this goal into groupings of activties that need to repeat over many days, months or  years, then sub groupings, it's not possible to sort through all of the choices each day to determine which needs attention.

    It's also not possible to recruit others to help you by taking on one or more of these actions as their own responsibility.

    ]]>     2007-01-10T08:42:45-08:00 2007-07-06T09:46:41-07:00 Social Edge     Social Edge Survey: Results and Consequences http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/business-building/archive/2007/01/10/social-edge-survey-results-and-consequences Hosted by Victor d'Allant, Executive Director of Social Edge (January 2007 - Closed) Victor d’Allant, Executive Director of Social Edge, shares the results of the audience survey and introduces you to the new Social Edge.

    To coincide with my first year at the helm of Social Edge, I hired Mission Minded, a San Francisco based research firm, to conduct a survey and better understand our audience –you.

    Back in September, some of you received a survey to help us understand how the Social Edge community felt the site served them: purely as inspiration or as a robust source of practical information? As community-builder or as a possible source of funding? We also wondered what changes Social Edge could reasonably make that would better serve our audience.

    The results recently came in, and I am eager to share them with you –whether you already participated in the survey or would like to take this opportunity to share your opinion.

    When I joined Social Edge, I thought that our online platform should become “the practical global network for social entrepreneurs.” I am proud to report that these goals, in large part, have been achieved.

    • Our audience is definitely global, with only 47% of active users coming from North America (we are physically located in California but global in scope). Approximately 22% log in from Asia, 16% from Africa and 7% from Europe. You are global citizens, and we all gather on Social Edge!

    • Most of you are leading (35%) and emerging (14%) social entrepreneurs. An additional 13% are staff members of social benefit enterprises, for a total of 62%. The remaining are consultants (11%), academic and students (8%), and 3% come from the funding community. There is no doubt that Social Edge is the online platform for social entrepreneurs and professionals in the field.

    • You seek inspiration as well as practical “how-to” tools. Overall, you tend to prefer content from experts above content from fellow members. This is why I established from the beginning of my tenure at Social Edge a strong top-down editorial voice for the site, bringing in experts as the primary source of content.

    • But Social Edge is also an online community. Member-to-member communication and interactivity are important to you. Mission Minded discovered that Social Edge users were more active than the average online community based on usability expert Jakob Nielsen’s findings: “In most online communities, 90% of members are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of members contribute a little and 1% of members account for almost all the action.” On Social Edge, 34% forward content and links to others, and 17% post comments!

    Questions for the Social Edge community:

    • Do you agree with these findings?

    • Did we miss any important point?

    • As we are about to relaunch on a new platform, what you would like to see on Social Edge 2.0?



    surya prakash.Vinjamuri - Jan 9, 2007 7:34 pm (# Total: 13)
    Life-Health Reinforcement Group

    HAPPY NEW YEAR

    Dear Victor,

    Greetings from Life-HRG!

    Immediate responses to your Q's.

    1. Do you agree with these findings?

    Have to carefully see the findings, which you have shared in gist.

    2. Did we miss any important point?

    Deffinetly we have do some homework for this.

    3. As we are about to relaunch on a new platform, what you would like to see on Social Edge 2.0?

    I love to see more new energy pumped in.

    Waiting for the launch as early as possible.

    Have wonderful feedback session.

    -surya.


     

     


    Victor - Jan 10, 2007 10:55 am (# Total: 13)

    Interactive Portal

    I am often asked whether Social Edge is a portal or an online community. My answer: both! We are a hybrid between a portal with mostly static content (like most traditional media with an online presence) and a typical online community with mostly user-generated content (like YouTube, MySpace, FaceBook, Flickr). In fact, Social Edge is an interactive portal.

    Patrick O'Heffernan - Jan 10, 2007 10:58 am (# Total: 13)

    nice work, Victor

    These data will help all of us who publish events on the site fine tune it for our audience, especially as you launch the new platform and the podcasts. Well done!

    Victor - Jan 10, 2007 12:18 pm (# Total: 13)

    Podcasts on Social Edge?

    Oui! Patrick is currently interviewing Peace Corps returned volunteers who have become social entrepreneurs. I just listend to the first one, Molly Melcher, Director of Tostan in Dakar, Senegal. Wonderful!

    As we relaunch Social Edge, we will post this great series of podcasts. Stay tuned!

    Benjamin Litalien - Jan 11, 2007 5:31 am (# Total: 13)
    President & CEO, Social Franchise Ventures, LLC

    Lessons Learned...

    Victor, congrats on running one of the most robust blogs on the web! As I review the threads there are many nuggets of value to be gleaned and I wonder if there is a way to simplfy the process. For example, when a session has been completed it might be good to have the author/sponsor provide a recap, highlight learnings and generally summarize the responses. As others research past sessions it would provide a quick guide to the content without the need to review every response.

    Also, as an organization it would be interesting if you were able to pick some of the most intriguing information that is posted and share that with the broader audience or even the social enterprise community at large.

    I don't think there is a more thorough, diverse and insightful collection of inputs for social entreprenuers than you've amassed on the SocialEdge!

    Victor - Jan 11, 2007 9:46 am (# Total: 13)

    Information Sharing?

    Benjamin is right --we should be able to find a better way to share information relevant to social entrepreneurs. One of the new features we will introduce on Social Edge 2.0 (as we call it internally) is the Edge Wiki. A wiki? Yes, as in Wikipedia. It will be the first open source online encyclopedia about social entrepreneurship. Registered Social Edge members will be able to edit the entries and even create new ones.

    tutormentor - Jan 11, 2007 1:12 pm (# Total: 13)
    Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection

    Spider and the Starfish

    It's coincidence that the book Spider and the Starfish has just been released at the same time as you are upgrading Social Edge. I've just finished reading the book and am inspired about the role of catalysts (many on Social Edge) and the potential sites like this have to create distributed ownership of important issues.

    However, I don't think this will happen as rapidly as it could be if the mix of donors/foundations remains at 3% of the total.

    In a recent discussion at http://www.gifthub.org/giving_as_field_of_practice/index.html Phil and friends talked about "getting the right people together". I think this is something that should also be part of the Social Edge vision.

    We can share great ideas and learn from each other, but unless we're introducing each other to the resources we need to put great ideas to work in more places, we're not capaitalizing on the potential of Social Edge as a catalyst for change.

    I don't think this is just the responsibility of Victor and the Skoll Foundation. In a Starfish network, this responsibility is shared.

    At the end of next year what would it take to have the mix of donors/investors be 25-30%?

    tutormentor - Jan 12, 2007 2:24 pm (# Total: 13)
    Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection

    Connecting those who can help with those who need help

    I created a web page to show a chart that I created about 10 years ago, showing how leaders, catalysts, etc. can draw the people they know into volunteer-based t utor/mentor programs throughout a geographic area, and how such people can create on-line forums like Social Edge to share ideas, collaborate, etc.  The link is http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/Partner/CC/Presentations/Leaders/pictures_history.htm

    This illustrates a role I feel the sponsors of forums like Social Edge can talk.  When I was asked why they should take this role, I said, "To whom much is given, much is expected."  Forums like Social Edge, Omidyar, and the Ohrah Winfrey Angel Network attract thousands of visitors because of the celebrity/influence of the host.

    Thus, those who have been blessed to have such a position in life, have the responsibility of connecting all of the right people with each other so that more good can come from the networking that is done.


    Victor - Jan 12, 2007 8:24 pm (# Total: 13)

    A mix of donors/investors of 25-30%?

    Social Edge currently attracts over 20,000 unique visitors per month (compared with 7,500 a year ago). How realistic is it to try to attract 6,000 from the donor community? Are there that many program officers in the first place?

    Our mission is to give social entrepreneurs tools to be more effective in their work, which in turn should help them attract the right kind of resources.

    tutormentor - Jan 14, 2007 9:24 am (# Total: 13)
    Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection

    Why not try?

    If we think of a donor/investor as more than a program officer at a foundation, then there are man more than 6,000 of these people in the world. IF Social Edge is to remain THE leader in drawing social enterpreneurs together, and in helping them be more effective in their work, it would be important to try to grow the percent total of investors.

    Otherwise, someone else will fill this role and many of those who spend time here will choose to spend that time elsewhere.

    Victor - Jan 16, 2007 4:38 pm (# Total: 13)

    Diverse and insightful collection of inputs for social entrepreneurs

    Benjamin writes that there may not be a source with "a more thorough, diverse and insightful collection of inputs for social entrepreneurs" on the Internet. Thank you.

    Ironically, that's also the challenge we are facing as we are designing the new Social Edge --how do we make sense of so much material?

    One of the key features will be a Resources Wiki --a content database that can be searched, that willbe easy to read and, for those who dare, easy to edit!

    ClaraJ - Jan 17, 2007 1:49 pm (# Total: 13)
    Founder: Be Good, Give Goooood (tm?), Promote Good

    Synchronicity of Grace

    LOVE the wikipedia feature! I just wrote a blog to hipbone and wanted to reference other blogger's "words" so I kept putting them in (). This is watercourse way operating, exactly what Charles was talking about. Great job!

    As for donor/investor mix, I tend to agree with tutormentor... isn't it true that only 15-20% of funding come from foundations - thus program officers - and >70% come from individual donors? It'd be great to have social edge attract them... there's a lot of them out there. When I introduced myself as a donor to a npo - their first reaction was "great! less paperwork!" I think there's a lot of potential there...

    p.s. however pls don't inundate me with grant proposals... there's only so much I can do....

    p.p.s. would love to see a global translator on social edge as a utility. if we are global...shouldn't we converse in global languages? n'est-ce pas? guruchi... aigoo.. per favore... hasta luego!

    Clara

    Victor - Jan 18, 2007 7:20 pm (# Total: 13)

    A global translator?

    Bien sûr, Carla, c'est une très bonne idée. Es realmente una idea muy buena .

    But the technology is not there yet. Online translation services can produce a good first draft, but not a decent translation --certainly not good enough for Social Edge.

    As an example, I tried to translate a French sentence (Les logiciels de traduction ne sont pas encore au point) and this is what I got in return: "The software of translation is not yet at the point." Not good enough.

    We would love to launch Social Edge in other languages. Maybe Social Edge 3.0?
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