While I was living in Spain in the early part of 2007, through to now, I have had the great opportunity to work Meyer Memorial Trust and Grass Commons on a new kind of wiki to benefit the nonprofit sector. It has been a long time coming and helps explain how busy and distracted I have been lately, but the public launch is now just two weeks away! Here is an exceprt from the announcement MMT put up on the website yesterday afternoon:
Like many foundations, MMT has been building a “knowledge management” system to archive information in an accessible way to help us be the best grantmakers we can be. But we’ve been approaching this task with a bigger end in mind.
Why, we asked ourselves, would we set up a system that only MMT could use when the need for good information is shared by other foundations… and nonprofit organizations and public agencies and official decision makers and citizen volunteers and… in fact, everyone working for the common good?? Wouldn’t that be a smarter investment for us to make?
What if there was a place where we could all exchange what we learn as we go about our daily business? What if nonprofits could see the data and information that foundations use in their due diligence process? What if organizations and people could easily determine which foundations’ interests match their project goals? What if foundations could quickly see what groups are working on an issue they are investigating? And so on…
Well, we are building such a place. A place where people and organizations can connect about subjects and places. A place called connectipedia…
Want to know more? Want to see connectipedia in action? Want to find out how you can be part of all this? Attend the public launch event at:
2 – 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 10
Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center
aka Ecotrust (second floor conference center)
721 NW Ninth Ave.
Portland OR 97209We would love you to be part of this event and celebration. Several renowned geeks will be there! We’re not requiring folks to register, but if you plan to attend, please send a quick rsvp email.
If you can’t make it to Ecotrust, you can still participate in the launch. We plan to webcast the event so anyone in our corner of the world can make time for connectipedia. (More details about the webcast to come.)
After June 10th, connectipedia will be open for busines!
I’m extremely excited about the unveiling of this wonderful tool. If you are in Portland, you can attend the event in person per the details above. If you are elsewhere in the world, you will be able to attend remotely via the web and be right in the thick of things with us. I’ll be sure to post details about connecting remotely as soon as they are made available. I can’t wait to have you join me in using this terrific new tool!