Tag Archive for 'socialchange'

Great reads from around the web on January 13th

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I come across so many great conversations, ideas, and resources all over the web every day. Here are some of the most interesting things I’ve found recently (as of January 13th). You can join the conversations in the comments, or click through to the original posts to find what others are saying.

To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

  • Transformative Collaboration « Alison & Associates – Alison Rapping has a terrific, comprehensive blog post today all about jump starting collaborations. It's a must-read! "Collaboration. It was the hottest “buzz word” of the last decade — And if you ask ten people to describe it, you could get ten very different answers. Collaborations are going to be a driving force in building stronger relationships and stronger communities. In the new decade we are in the “perfect collaboration storm:” energy around our “community visions”, enormous critical community needs, myriad of new nonprofit organizations, and desire for greater impact. This can only happen if we work together. Our community is whole and interconnected; we can’t create a powerful vision in silos."
  • Zoetica: Connecting Organizations with Their Networks – Congrats to Beth Kanter, Geoff Livingston and Kami Watson Huyse on the launch of their new adventure: Zoetica! "Zoetica serves nonprofits and socially conscious companies with top-tier, word-of-mouth communication services. A social enterprise, Zoetica provides superior communication consulting, training, and strategy to help mindful organizations affect social change."
  • GreatNonprofits: Find non-profits and charities to review, donate, or volunteer. – "GreatNonprofits and Guidestar want to hear about the great nonprofits providing job training or job placement in your communities. Tell us about YOUR experience – how are these organizations having an impact? Which ones are great? Which ones need improvement? Participate in this campaign to recognize the top-rated nonprofits developing your community through job training or job placement." Deadline: January 31, 2010
  • Surprise! Only 5% of Websites Have a Twitter or Facebook Link – Online Fundraising, Advocacy, and Social Media – frogloop – "Factual, an “open data repository” analyzed 4 million websites via data from Common Crawl, a non-profit group designed to crawl the web and provide data for anyone to use." Check out the stats highlighted by Allyson Kapin in this short but interesting post!
  • Nominees for the Osocio’s Best Campaign of 2009 announced – Osocio, Social Advertising and Non-profit Campaigns – "Osocio is happy to announce a list of ten nominees for the Osocio’s Best Campaign of 2009 award. Osocio has started selecting best campaigns featured on our blog, because we want to put the most creative and innovative social ads into spotlights. So that non-profit organizations can learn and benefit from these best practices. This is the Top 10 list of the best social campaigns featured on Osocio in 2009. One of these campaigns will become the Osocio’s Best Campaign of 2009."
Published on January 13, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 5 Comments

Great reads from around the web on November 18th

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I come across so many great conversations, ideas, and resources across the web ever day. Here are some of the most interesting things I’ve found recently (as of November 18th). You can join the conversations in the comments, or click through to the original posts to find what others are saying.

To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

  • 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference | NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network – Have you registered yet for the Nonprofit Technology Conference? This is one of the best opportunities each year to meet others from the nonprofit technology sector, learn what other organizations are up to, what's new and what's next! I'll be there and hope you will be, too :)
  • What is your conversation strategy? | Powered by John Haydon – John Haydon has an excellent post today to get you thinking more strategically about your use of social media, and not just what tools to use but what to say once you're using them! "When most businesses and non-profits start using social media, they start with “small talk” with their communities. They politely reply to tweets, express appreciation to donors, respond as quickly as possible to customer support issues, and generally try to add value to their network. But all to often, they fail to move beyond the “small talk” and create meaningful discussions that their communities are dying to have."
  • Whuffie Webinar – "What if you had access to the latest big ideas from the corporate world, distilled into a 10 minute video that was 6.5 more memorable than other ways of learning? What if you then had access to one of the leaders in the not-for-profit world who would show you how to take these principles and apply them to your day to day activities? What if all of this was free, every month?" You do! Check out this great webinar series from Polar Unlimited.
  • Idealist.org: Imagine, Connect, Act – Idealist is trying something. They want to see what could happen if we serious commit to working together, on an offline. "It's time for the world's idealists to work together, online and in person. The first step in this campaign is to ask you to take a few minutes to read this proposal. What you'll find there is a vision for this network, a path and a timeline to build it, and an invitation to be part of this movement from the very start. Then, to share your thoughts and join the 1,361 people in 91 countries who are making this happen, please sign up here."
  • YouTube – Direct's Channel – "YouTube Direct allows you to embed the upload functionality of YouTube directly into your own site, enabling your organization to request, review, and re-broadcast user-submitted videos with ease. News organizations can ask for citizen reporting; nonprofits can call-out for support videos around social campaigns; businesses can ask users to submit promotional videos about your brand. With YouTube Direct, the opportunities to connect directly with the YouTube community are endless."
Published on November 18, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 19 Comments

Great reads from around the web on November 16th

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I come across so many great conversations, ideas, and resources across the web ever day. Here are some of the most interesting things I’ve found recently (as of November 16th). You can join the conversations in the comments, or click through to the original posts to find what others are saying.

To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

  • Global Entrepreneurship Week – This week is Global Entrepreneurship Week! Find out how you can take part from wherever you are around the world! "Global Entrepreneurship Week takes place from 16 – 22 November 2009. It’s a worldwide movement of entrepreneurial people, with millions unleashing their enterprising talents and turning their ideas into reality."
  • http://idealist.org/ICA/root/en/Static/TheVision/default – Idealist has shared a vision and a call to action: Imagine, Connect, Act. Saying that "It's time fo rthe world's idealists to work together (seriously)." I couldn't agree more! Check it out: "What if by looking at the world from a different point of view we can quickly build a network of people and organizations that will allow us to make the most of what each of us has to offer, online and in person? What you'll find here is a vision for this network, a path and a timeline to get there, and an invitation to be part of this movement from the very start."
  • JPMorgan Chase: Chase and Facebook Launch Innovative Giving Program for Small and Local Charities – "For the first time ever, Facebook®: users will be able to choose from more than 500,000 small and local charities to decide which community organizations they want to receive donations totaling millions of dollars from a corporate philanthropy fund. Chase and Facebook today announced the launch of Chase Community Giving: You Decide What Matters, a grassroots campaign to inspire a new way of corporate philanthropy."
  • Nonprofit Tagline Report: Getting Attention Blog – The updated guide shows nonprofits top tagline approaches for stronger messaging, and features a directory of over 2,500 nonprofit tagline examples for organizations to use in creating strong messages. "The 2009 Report provides everything an organization needs to jump start its tagline development process: Why a Nonprofit’s Name Isn’t Enough; How a Strong Tagline Benefits Your Organization – Useful for developing support among colleagues and leadership; The 10 Have-Tos for Successful Taglines; Using Words that Work; The 7 Deadly Sins, 9 Snores and 5 Best Ways to Antagonize Your Audience – What not to do; Research, Create, Revise, Test, Repeat – The right steps to take to craft a potent tagline." Download the report!
  • Beth Asked a Question « A. Fine Blog – "Beth asked a question on her blog the other day: Do we have examples of using nonprofits using social media for: Volunteer or board recruitment strategy; Outreach or educational program delivery; Crowdsourcing ideas for program development; Professional development; Integrated in other areas? The answer is that there are a growing number of examples of organizations, and individuals, using social media as part of their programs not just part of fundraising and communications efforts."
Published on November 16, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

UniversalGiving: Impact, with a little help from friends (SocialActions)

Published in case studies and socialchange. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , .

“First, we’re strictly nonprofit.”  That’s how UniversalGiving begins when describing it’s work.  But, what it should really say is, “we may be non-profit, but we are not non-impact.”  Or at least something like that!  Why? UniversalGiving is making great impact on communities around the world, both in the work, funds or volunteer efforts contributed to individuals and groups via their platform, but also in effectively and passionately empowering donors and volunteers to contribute.  Additionally, UniversalGiving is a member of Social Actions, ensuring that their opportunities to make a difference are heard and seen in even more places around the Web.

What is UniversalGiving?

“UniversalGiving™ is an award-winning marketplace which allows people to volunteer and donate to top performing projects in more than 70 countries around the world.”

It’s a marketplace, really, of opportunities to take actions for social benefit in various topics you may be after—want to donate money and leave it at that? would you rather connect with a group or individual in need half way around the world? maybe you want to join forces for a longer-term project for real impact. People simply choose a country of interest (such as China or Thailand) and an area of interest (such as education or the environment) and find a list of vetted opportunities to which they can donate money or give their time.

I’ve been watching volunteer opportunities related to technology and am so excited to jump in!

What is the Impact?

For those of you that like the number overviews, here are a few numbers to consider:

  • more than $ 1.5 million has passed through www.universalgiving.org
  • nearly 10,000 people have volunteered
  • more than 70 countries served

UniversalGiving + Social Actions

As readers of this blog probably know, I’m really excited about the work Social Actions is doing to help connect the sources of actions and opportunities across the web to push them further.  Social Actions is “an open source database of actions people can take on any issue. The actions in our database are aggregated from across the social web and include everything from volunteer opportunities to micro credit loans.”

UniversalGiving has partnered with Social Actions to ensure that the volunteer and giving opportunities they vet and promote on their platform can be found by even more people, in more places online.  I think these partnerships are so exciting because I know how many people are willing, interested, and ready to contribute to social impact projects, whether big or small, near or far—but they just don’t know how to find the ones that match their interestes or skills.  This partnership means, then, that there is a higher chance interested people can find opportunities from UniversalGiving without having to know them!

By collaborating with Social Actions, UniversalGiving also gets to benefit from things like the Change the Web Challenge that saw many new applications for the Social Actions feeds – meaning new applications that could put Social Actions data (whether a general feed of information, or specific search criteria, or one specific action) in public places online like Facebook, blogs, and more.  Again, more people can now find UniversalGiving opportunities without even trying! :)

With the impact of that partnership in mind, I want to share two of the responses UniversalGiving has received from participants:

“Universal Giving is an instrumental partner to Sports Gift and our mission to provide sports to impoverished children.  Universal Giving helps us reach people across the country to tell them about volunteer opportunities, our community service programs and other charitable giving opportunities. Universal Giving has made a direct and significant impact on our ability to provide the gift of sports to thousands of children living in poverty around the world!” – Keven Baxter of Sports Gift

“Because we’re a relatively small NGO with a fairly specialized focus, it’s been great to be a part of UniversalGiving and gain the additional exposure to potential donors that we may have never otherwise reached.  Also, UniversalGiving’s ability to process a high volume of contributions from an intensive online donation drive, something beyond the capacity of my organization, allowed us to benefit from an MTV Networks employee giving campaign, even though it came about on very short notice.  UniversalGiving also provided MTV with the donation data they requested, quickly and efficiently, which secured a substantial corporate match for us.  UniversalGiving proved to be a great advocate for my organization.” – Michael Hayes of Solar Cookers International

Clearly, UniversalGiving is doing a good job making positive impact around the world.  I’m very excited to see them partner with Social Actions to make this impact reach even further and involve more people.  What I’m most excited about, though, is watching UniversalGiving’s work grow!

Connect & Learn more

You can follow UniversalGiving or Social Actions on Twitter, follow stories on their blogs (UG blog or SA blog) or visit their websites to learn more:

Published on August 28, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 6 Comments

NPTech Conversations in SXSW Panels

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sxswpanelpicker-lgThe SXSW Panel Picker is now open for your thumbs up or down on the thousands of panels proposed for next year’s SXSWInteractive festival.

What’s SXSWi?

SXSW Interactive features five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders and an unbeatable line up of special programs showcasing the best new websites, video games and startup ideas the community has to offer.  Learn more at:  http://sxw.com/interactive

NPTech Panels Want Your Votes!

There are many exciting proposals available for your vote.  You can view all of the panels (from all categories) at http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/

I am part of 3 proposals and would love your support if you think any of them are interesting and worthy of some stage time at the 2010 SXSW event!

Can Social Media Change Global Consciousness?

Description: We know that social media has wired the globe for friend lists, business connections, and supporting social causes, but can it do more? Can social media create a permanent shift in global consciousness, one that will change the way we all think and live?

Read more from Mark Lovett (panel moderator) and John Haydon (fellow panelist).

Vote for this panel!

Crowdsourcing for Innovative Social Change

Description: Social media builds buzz and raises money, but what about real, on-the-ground change? The Social Change Challenge will crowdsource innovative ideas from nonprofits to change the world. We’ll share big ideas for using social media for nonprofit program delivery and some good tips for crowdsourcing for social change.

Read more from Beth Kanter (panel moderator).

Vote for this panel!

Competition > Innovation > Change: Examining Competitions For Social Change

Description: Organizations, foundations, even individuals are creating social innovation competitions, hoping to drive social change projects and solutions into the global marketplace.  What are these new competitions about—are they working? How do we—innovators, entrepreneurs—know what’s going to make real-world impact and where do we start? Let’s discuss: join us!

Read more from the 4Change blog.

Vote for this panel!

Beth Kanter has a terrific round up of nonprofit technology panels proposed for SXSW.  Check out the blog post and comments here for all the links you need!

Published on August 24, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 2 Comments

4Change Chat: Revolutionary social media – social tools for revolts, protests

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The next #4change chat has been announced and I hope you can join in!

Details:

  • Date: Thursday, July 9
  • Where: Twitter (search for #4Change)
  • When: 5 – 7 pm US Eastern Time
  • Topic: Revolutionary social media: Exploring social tools for revolts, upheavals & protests

Why are we doing this and why would you want to join? Great questions:

Social media is becoming a key driver of social change, allowing for the dissemination of new ideas, the formation of new communities and coalitions and the realization of new efficiencies and reach by existing social change groups. Throughout the world activists, organizers and non-profit professionals are exploring how best to use these tools, and sharing the results using the tools themselves. However these conversations are less international and therefore less effective than they could be.

We have so much to learn from each other. From new forms of political campaigning in the United States, experiments in e-government and civic participation in England, from the fight against internet censorship in Australia and New Zealand and from start-ups in Canada and France. And beyond.

We need a platform for light-weight, easily-organized and openly accessible conversations involving people from numerous countries. Twitter, I believe, provides us with such a platform.

When do the chats take place?

Chats are on the second Thursday of each month between 5-7pm US Eastern Time (GMT-4).

Who is leading and participating in these chats?

#4Change was initially proposed by Tom Dawkins (@tomjd) in Washington DC who is joined by Todd Pitt (@zerostrategist – Washington DC), Morgan Sully (@memeshfit – Oakland, California), Natasha Judd (@tashjudd – London, England), Edward Harran (@edwardharran – Brisbane, Australia) and Vibewire (@vibewire – Sydney, Australia).

But the #4Change chats are open to everyone interested in discussing social media’s role in social change! Don’t be shy about joining—that’s one great thing about an open, public chat like this, you can follow along silently until you have something you want to say and no one will know :)

How can you follow along or join the conversation?

  1. If you want to contribute to the conversation, you’ll need to have a twitter account (it’s free).
  2. To follow the conversation (whether you are planning to contribute or not), use http://search.twitter.com or another application to search on Twitter for “#4Change”
  3. Jump in to the conversation by adding “#4Change” (without the “”) to one of your Twitter messages

Are there any rules for #Change Chats?

  1. #4Change will be structured around a series of questions which all participants can respond to. Send your questions to @tomjd without the hash tag (to keep them out of the stream) to have them considered.
  2. Introduce yourself in 1 tweet at the start or when you join.
  3. Stay on topic!
  4. Stay cool.

Join me for the chat this Thursday – looking forward to discussing the role competitions play in social change!

Published on July 7, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Creating a Compendium of Competitions for Change

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Originally posted on the 4Change blog, here.

The June #4Change chat topic focused on Challenges/Competitions for Social Change. Early on in that online chat, the request emerged for a compendium or other list of “all” the Challenges and Competitions focused on social benefit. Such an overview would let those interested in participating or facilitating a competition review the full landscape of options, characteristics of each, and so on.

So, to answer that call, the #4Change crew has started building the compendium and now it’s your turn to chip in! Here’s the link to see what we have so far.

Please contribute to the Competitions for Change Compendium!  Simply click here to add to the resource!

Published on July 2, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Taking Action on YouTube

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YouTube is set to publicly launch the “Call-To-Action Overlay” feature.  This will allow users to place calls to action (messages and links) on top of videos.  This is huge news as it means a revolutionary shift in the video platform with the largest global audience.  The Call-To-Action Overlay means users will be prompting viewers to click away from YouTube (not exactly the action a platform like YouTube is after).

It won’t be everything nonprofits are looking for though.  There are two major qualifications for use:

  • You can only place customized overlays on a video that you’ve entered into YouTube’s CPC Promoted Videos program.
  • You have to be a paying YouTube advertiser, but do not have to pay extra for the Overlays.

You can include calls to action and links in the description of your videos, but moving those options literally on top of the video can mean a lot for getting results.  According to TechCrunch,

The feature has been in testing with select partners and non-profits for some time, and the results have been extremely positive. Last March, the organization charity:water managed to raise $10,000 in a single day by including an overlay on one of its videos. A handful of politicians have also been trying it out, using it to entice voters to sign their petitions. It’s worked well enough that politicians who haven’t had access to the feature are clamoring for it.

I’m really excited to see what happens tomorrow – but also interested in groups like Call2Action that are already focused on the combination of actionable opportunities and compelling video.

Published on June 30, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Branding the RSA, and you?

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Matthew Taylor has a post up discussing an update on the internal conversations at the RSA  around the organization’s branding.

According to the RSA website:

For over 250 years the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress.  Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action.

And, as he explains,

Back to the RSA. Yesterday, we had an all staff session on branding. Over the last year we have been trying increasingly to align the RSA’s activities around a core mission. We have not yet found the pithiest way to express this mission but in essence it is ‘developing citizens for tomorrow’, in other words the RSA is about understanding and advancing human capability so that people can thrive in the future.

Matthew then shares additional branding ideas and opens the floor for discussion.  Quite a few comments concentrate on the process of creating the new branding, stressing the involvement of the RSA Fellows.

I am not a member of the RSA.  I tried to add to the conversation on Matthew’s blog but the post never appeared, whether it didn’t get through the submission queue or moderation or what have you.  So, I’m writing this post instead!

I was invited to become an RSA Fellow and was very honored at the invitation, especially after such a short time here and hopefully only the very start of the impact I’d like to make and change I’d like to support.  I have also been incredibly pleased and honored at the invitation and subsequent participation at a few RSA events.  I am not, however, at least for the time being, planning to accept the RSA Fellowship invitation, and this is why:

Branding.

The RSA, like many other organizations, suffers because of a lack of the most powerful aspect of its branding.  I do not plan to accept the Fellowship invitation because I have not, whether online or in person, from the invtation materials or conversations I’ve had with others, gained a clear understanding of what being a Fellow even means.  Furthermore, and most importantly to me, I have not been shown how a Fellowship will help me in my work at changing my community and the world.

Yes, slogans and colors, font and everything else are all important parts of the branding.  It’s true. But the RSA is missing the most important part, at least in bringing me on board: proving to me that being a Fellow will help ME and not just that my membership will help THEM.

As folks mention in the comments on Matthew’s piece, I don’t need to build my resume (for better or worse, I’m fine with it as it is).  But I am completely open to any and all, whether organization or individual, ready to help me make our local communities and the global community as great as possible.

So, RSA, “do you get it?”

(Just for clarification, I am hoping to get those answers and hoping the branding advances to answer them not just to me but to everyone, so that we can all start really collaborating for change!  I mean it, RSA, I’m with you when you’re ready.)

Published on June 26, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 6 Comments

4Change Chat focused on Competitions for Social Change

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Last Thursday night (well, at least in my time zone) was the June #4Change chat.  These monthly online discussions take place via Twitter – participants add to the conversation by tweeting messages and using the tag #4change; this lets people follow the conversation, whether they have a Twitter account or not, by following the tag #4change on search.twitter.com. This month’s topic was Challenges and Competitions for Social Innovation.

You can see the recap of the chat here.

The main 3 questions for this chat were:

  1. How can challenges/competitions be used to discover, support, and accelerate social change projects and solutions?
  2. What are the different types of competitions and which work best in driving change?
  3. How can challenges support collaboration btw projects?

We are pulling together some of the key takeaways and would love to hear from you if you watched or participated, or even if you didn’t (you can read the transcript from the chat and add your thoughts, too!).

Two key takeaways from Morgan and two from me include:

  • the potential for future collaboration with other projects should be put into the judging criteria
  • competitions can surface stories and causes that might not otherwise get any attention
  • when creating a competition or challenge, it is incredibly important to be clear about the context (who is involved, who is targeted, what the ideas will be directed towards, etc.)
  • there is a real interest in creating a compendium of competitions and their characteristics (I’ll be helping us wrangle this one and providing more details and opportunities for the community to start creating the compendium soon!)

Share your takeaways, read the transcript, and more!

Read more about #4Change, the Why, How and Who behind the monthly conversation series.

Published on June 17, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments