PhilanTopic

Bill Gates at the 92nd Street Y

I had a chance to see Bill Gates being interviewed by Matthew Bishop, New York bureau chief for The Economist and co-author of Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich Can Save the World (read our interview with him here), the other night at the 92nd Street Y here in New York.

Security was surprisingly light, and the Y's wood-paneled concert hall offered a suitably dignified setting for the well-attended event, though both men walked on stage tieless and in good humor. Bishop, who devotes a whole chapter to Gates and the Gates Foundation in his book, almost immediately referenced the February TED talk at which Gates, to illustrate a point, released a swarm of mosquitoes into the audience. Then Bishop, to much laughter, pulled out a can of insect repellent and set it down on the table between them. (You can see the aerosol can in the picture above.)

From there, the conversation moved briskly. At one point, Gates, a man clearly comfortable in his own skin and with his own wealth, dismissed Bishop's suggestion that the global financial crisis had been caused by "the rich" and rejected the notion that he -- or any person of wealth -- should view philanthropy as a path to redemption.

Other takeaways from the evening:

• It's possible but unlikely malaria will be eliminated by 2025; resistance and the evolving nature of the pathogen makes that difficult. At the same time, much is being done (bed net campaigns, etc.) to control the disease and limit its toll, in terms of deaths and lost productivity, in the developing world, and Gates expects that to continue.
• Polio, now down to about 2,000-3,000 cases a year (most of them in Nigeria, India, and a few other places), is likely to be the second disease (after smallpox) to be eradicated from human populations. It is difficult, and expensive, to eliminate those last few cases, but it will happen.
• An effective vaccine for AIDS will probably be the most expensive vaccine ever developed, and we're unlikely to see one in the next ten years, though maybe in twenty. But Gates is confident one will be developed in his lifetime.
• Gates has no regrets about the foundation's focus on specific diseases as opposed to taking a more "holistic" approach to public health problems. As he told Bishop, in the developing world the first thirty days of life are where you lose the greatest number of children, and the diseases the foundation is targeting are responsible for causing many of those deaths. As you reduce the number of childhood deaths -- down from 12.5 million in 1990 to under 9 million today -- parents respond by having fewer children and spending more money on educating the children they do have. Lower birthrates and a better educated populace leads to more opportunity and economic growth, which feeds back into public health initiatives. So, Gates added, in a sense you could say our approach is holistic, in that everything we do is related.
• Unlike governments, which change on a regular basis, or business, which tends to focus on the profit expectations of shareholders, foundations are well-suited to funding risky research and unproven approaches because they can stay the course over the many years and even decades it takes to achieve big, hairy, audacious goals (my phrase). And because of our assets and scale, said Gates, we have to tackle big problems.
• It's easy to criticize the lack of clear, understandable metrics in social change work, but at the end of the day the field (i.e., foundations and their nonprofit partners) is pretty good at identifying and moving into areas where traditional market signals don't exist or have failed.
• Entrepeneurship is inherent in human nature and will flourish when structural impediments -- corruption, lack of infrastructure and/or rule of law -- are removed. In the U.S., there are immense opportunities emerging for entrepreneurs in science-related fields.

Gates's final word of advice to other philanthropists in the audience (and there were more than a few there, including a couple of billionaire hedge fund types) was direct and to the point: Pick something you love and don't spread yourself too thin.

Come to think of it, good advice for anyone.

(Photo credit: Joyce Culver for the 92nd Street Y)

-- Mitch Nauffts

Weekend Link Roundup (September 26 - 27, 2009)

Here's this week's roundup of new and noteworthy posts from and about the nonprofit sector....

Arts and Culture

Over at the Createquity blog, Ian David Moss offers a detailed examination of Americans for the Arts' 2007 economic impact survey Arts & Economic Prosperity III and its finding that "the nonprofit arts sector is responsible for $166.2 billion in economic activity nationwide." His conclusion: "A&EP III is a serious study, one worthy of our attention and use for advocacy and research purposes. However, some of its potential impact is undermined by the hyperbolic language with which it is often presented to the press and politicians...." (Thanks for the tip, Ian).

Communications/Marketing

In the fourth installment of his "Connecting" series, Philanthropy Journal publisher Todd Cohen argues that stories "capture the indispensable role that nonprofits and charitable giving play in our communities" and can also "teach, inspire and engage." But in order to do so, says Cohen, they need to be clear, authentic, and genuine.

As part of the Case Foundation's Gear Up for Giving initiative, a month-long series of social media tutorials, Marnie Webb, co-CEO of TechSoup Global, lists five ways that nonprofits can build stronger relationships with their supporters:

1. Write them a note. For no reason at all.
2. Show up at their party.
3. Give your supporters something special.
4. Give them something else to do.
5. Ask for feedback and change because of it.

Diversity

For the next three weeks, Rosetta Thurman will profile Hispanic-American nonprofit leaders on her blog in observance of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Last week, Thurman posted the first and second installments in her series, highlighting the affinity group Hispanics in Philanthropy and posting an interview with Ian Bautista, president of United Neighborhood Centers of America.

On the Greater New Orleans Foundation's Second Line blog, guest contributor Martin Gutierrez, executive director of Neighborhood and Community Services, celebrates the contributions that Hispanics have made to the post-Katrina recovery of communities in the Greater New Orleans area.

Economy

"Isn't it time to ask how ideas from the non-profit world can improve business?" writes Seattle Times reporter Kristi Heim on her Business of Giving blog. The economic crisis has proven that "the market is [not] the best judge of success or failure," adds Heim. How then can nonprofits help the business world reinvent itself? Matthew Bishop, co-author of Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich Can Save the World, offered a few ideas in a recent talk, which Heim includes in her post.

Fundraising

Can money buy happiness? According to a recent op-ed in the Dallas Morning News, it can. On her Non-Profit Marketing blog, Katya Andresen connects the Morning News piece to charity and reminds fundraising professionals that they are not only in the business of doing good; they're in the business of making people feel great.

On a similar note, Gift Hub blogger Phil Cubeta admonishes fundraisers to rise above their own agendas and serve, rather than solicit, donors. Writes Cubeta:

If [fundraisers] want...a seat at the planning table where the big dollars are planned, they too will have to serve not solicit the donor. They do that by letting go of a personal agenda long enough to learn what motivates the donor, to recommend advisory work when needed, and to suggest a mission match and charitable tools when and only when they fit in the larger planning picture....

And on the Donor Power Blog, Jeff Brooks says that you shouldn't believe everything you hear about the imminent demise of direct mail.

Health

On the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation blog, Margaret Stanley, former executive director of the Puget Sound Health Alliance, suggests that they key to healthcare reform may involve forging bonds and achieving consensus among local organizations and stakeholders.

International Affairs/Development

Can microfinance institutions sustain their business models in a down economy? Perhaps, says John Liebhardt on the Global Voices Online blog, thanks to the emergence of social media technology. Writes Liebhardt:

The marriage of microlending and social media works two ways. First it allows a disparate group of people, perhaps the entrepreneurs, to communicate and become organized. Secondly, it allows them to reach out and relay their message with the larger world. Microlending organizations have latched on to this, leveraging technology to make sure potential lenders can put a face to recipients’ stories. Perhaps these personal bonds originate from the Grameen Bank, which began lending funds on the basis of trust and used peer pressure to insure the loans were repaid. Or, perhaps microlenders online use interpersonal connections as a bulwark against compassion fatigue....

"With all the technology supporting these sites, however," adds Liebhardt, one has to wonder "whether these schemes will pass the sustainability test that often separates good development projects from just good ideas....

(H/t: AFP blog)

Katrina

On the Foundation Center's Philanthropy Front and Center–Atlanta blog, Asia Hadley shares what she saw on a recent visit to New Orleans and asks, Where did the money go? As Hadley notes, a new Foundation Center report, Giving in the Aftermath of the 2005 Gulf Coast Hurricanes (2007-2009), attempts to answer that question and, in so doing, reveals "a shift in the focus of service providers and grantmakers from immediate relief to recovery and rebuilding." But as Hadley also notes, less affluent parts of the city still have a long way to go.

Leadership

Writing on the eJewish Philanthropy blog, Steven Windmueller argues that "we are experiencing the greatest institutional crisis since the 1930s" and that "thinking outside the box" may not be enough to lead organizations through the current crisis as the "box" itself has become a moving target. In the "new normal," adds Windmueller, complexity is the name of the game, nothing is sacred, and values-driven leadership must be embraced as an essential feature of successful institutions.

Philanthropy

"From the standpoint of foundation giving, more than half of the impact of the stock market crash has yet to be felt," writes Sean Stannard-Stockton on his Tactical Philanthropy blog. Indeed, says Stannard-Stockton, the

full effect of the financial crises will not hit the foundation sector until next year. When it does, the thing that will matter most to the social sector will be whether the influence of the collective expertise of foundation employees is greatly diminished or whether foundations step up to the plate and find creative ways to get their knowledge into the hands of major donors....

Social Entrepreneurship

The MacArthur Foundation has announced its 2009 fellows. And among the many terms used to describe these talented people, "social entrepreneur" fits best, says Nathaniel Whitemore on the Change.org blog. "[The winners] share a capacity to think differently and look for creative solutions," writes Whittemore, and "an unwillingness to accept the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be." Sounds like a pretty good definition of a social entrepreneur to us.

Social Media

On the Social Edge site, publisher and CauseWired author Tom Watson explains how this year's meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative became "a virtual boombox empowering women" thanks in part to social media wielded by celebs, bloggers, and journalists from traditional media outlets.

We can all learn from the social messenger framework developed by David Lipscomb, founder and president of communications firm Redpen21, says social media expert Beth Kanter. The idea, writes Kanter, is that nonprofits should not only use social media to listen and engage, but also think about how engagement supports their overall communications goals.

Technology

The Huffington Post has launched a new technology portal. Kicking things off, Robin Caldwell, managing editor at BlackWeb20, weighs in with a post about the "missing faces in technology and innovation." Writes Caldwell:

As we inch closer to Web 3.0, the question of ownership will be directly tied to who has access to the necessary tools to build on the "land." And if memory serves me correctly, the one who owns the land is the one who holds the power.

So why is it that I see the same names and faces -- none of which look like mine -- positioned as thought leaders and innovators in Web 2.0? Why do I see the same faces as representative of the power in technology

I've been informed on more than one occasion that we're hard to find....

[But] we're here. Now you know. And once you know, you're accountable....

And in part two of her forward-looking "Decoding the Future" series, Lucy Bernholz argues that cloud technology and peer to peer networks are on the verge of changing expectations about philanthropic data and the behaviors associated with those expectations. These changes, says Bernholz, "coupled with changes in the public and private sectors, are pushing a transition to a 'social economy' made up of interdependent public, private and philanthropic capital and creators of social goods." Good stuff, as always.

That's it for now. What did we miss? Drop us a line at rnm@foundationcenter.org. And have a great week!

-- Regina Mahone

Weekend Link Roundup (September 19 - 20, 2009)

This week's roundup of new and noteworthy posts from and about the nonprofit sector....

Communications/Marketing

Marketing expert Seth Godin riled up a few people earlier this week by suggesting that the problem with nonprofits is that they tend to resist the very thing they profess to be about: change. Writes Godin:

When was the last time you had an interaction with a non-profit (there's that word again) that blew you away?

Please don't tell me it's about a lack of resources. The opportunities online are basically free, and if you don't have a ton of volunteers happy to help you, then you're not working on something important enough. The only reason not to turn this over to hordes of crowds eager to help you is that it means giving up total control and bureaucracy. Which is scary because it leads to change.

If you spend any time reading marketing blogs, you'll find thousands of case studies of small (and large) innovative businesses that are shaking things up and making things happen. And not enough of these stories are about non-profits. If your non-profit isn't acting with as much energy and guts as it takes to get funded in Silicon Valley or featured on Digg, then you're failing in your duty to make change....

Writing on the CauseWired blog, Tom Watson, author of the book of the same name, says that just because the meme that "nonprofits are afraid of change" has been around for a while doesn't mean it's accurate. On the contrary, says Watson, many nonprofits "hate change less than vast swaths of the corporate world." Sure, Watson adds, control and bureaucracy can be big problems with nonprofits. But

does anyone now living believe that the most philanthropic nation in the history of the world should devolve its nonprofit and service sector into a crowd-sourced cyberlibertarian throw of the dice at utopia....

It's a great line, and Watson's rebuttal to Godin has sparked a great conversation (more than thirty comments and half a dozen follow-up posts by other bloggers), which you can follow here.

On the Have Fun Do Good blog, Britt Bravo reminds nonprofits about the ways they can use blogs to engage their audiences:

1. Share your expertise
2. Share breaking news within your field
3. Share the story behind your brand
4. Share your community's opinions
5. Share notes and photos from events
6. Share notes and photos from the field
7. Share organizational news as it happens
8. Use it as your website

Economy

Gen Y blogger Rosetta Thurman addresses a subject near and dear to her heart: the plight of young nonprofit professionals in an economy that no longer generates a sufficient number of jobs. Thurman cites the following stats from a recent AFL-CIO report:

• More than half of young workers earn less than $30,000;
• More than one in three young workers say they are currently living at home with their parents;
• 31 percent of young workers do not have health insurance coverage;
• One-third of young workers cannot pay the bills and seven in ten do not have enough saved to cover two months of living expenses.

"There are so many opportunities for the younger generation of nonprofit workers to contribute to the success of organizations imperiled by the recession, but we’re clearly missing them," adds Thurman. "This is why if you are a young nonprofit professional, you must be prepared to be your own best advocate. No one is going to do it for you, especially in these difficult economic times.

Nonprofits aren't the only institutions struggling to keep their doors open. Public library systems all over the country have been curtailing their hours and services, and some are in danger of closing, writes Allison Jones on her Entry Level Living blog. And that's a tragedy, says Jones, not just because we're losing free access to books; "we also risk losing safe public spaces for community meetings...and most importantly, personal growth."

Fundraising

Technology has not only changed the way organizations communicate online but also the nature of "do-gooding" and how Americans take action in support of charitable causes, writes Cynthia Gibson. "Membership may be moving from check-writing to signing up for email lists," she adds, "but that

may reflect a new generation of young people who’ve grown up with technology and are using it to go around traditional institutions and make change in ways they believe are more cost-efficient and get results more quickly. Rather than writing checks to big institutions or taking to the streets in protest, young people who care about an issue can whip up a powerful protest movement [online]....

A new paper by the Monitor Institute, Working Wikily 2.0: Social Change with a Network Mindset, suggests nonprofits will have to begin working with a network mindset -- embracing principles like openness, transparency, decentralized decision-making, and distributed action -- and that doing so can help funders and activists increase their impact....

Health

Bob Ottenhoff, president and CEO of GuideStar, takes a closer look at how nonprofit medical cooperatives might work.

International Affairs/Development

At the GiveWell blog, Holden Karnofsky argues that "repayment rate" should not be the only metric used to evaluate the impact of microfinance institutions.

Journalism/Media

Wrriting on his blog, Geoff Dougherty, editor at the Chi-Town Daily News, explains why he and his colleagues are abandoning the site and their nonprofit businesses model to launch a new, for-profit local news venture. Jim Barnett, a copy editor at the Washington Post who blogs at the Nieman Journalism Lab site, thinks Dougherty et al are throwing in the towel too soon. Writes Barnett:

The hard truth...is that it takes more than four years to build a donor base and diversify sources of revenue to sustain a nonprofit. The fact that Dougherty got to $300,000 in just four years is a major accomplishment. Sure, it's easy to look at an outfit like ProPublica and wish that you too could find a benefactor willing to put up $10 million a year to pay for your newsroom. But that kind of one-stop shopping isn’t a business model; it's a lightning strike -- something that the people who run ProPublica know better than anybody....

I don't doubt that Dougherty and his team knocked on every door they thought possible before giving up on CTDN. But the great strength of the nonprofit model, I believe, is that it puts the needs of the newsroom ahead of all others. More importantly, it treats socially responsible journalism not as a product, but as a cause greater than any individual institution that serves it....

(H/t: Give and Take)

Philanthropy

Writing on the Second Line blog, Albert Ruesga, president/CEO of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, asks: What's the line between public and private responsibility when it comes to providing healthcare, education, and other services for the poor? And: Is it the proper role of foundations to plug the gaps created by retreating public funds?

Weighin in with another thought-provoking post, Lucy Bernholz argues that "data are the new platform for change" and "will continue to fundamentally alter how philanthropic capital flows."

Public Affairs

Alan Khazei, founder of Be the Change -- an organization that played a major role in securing passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act earlier this year -- has announced that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat occupied for forty-three years by Senator Kennedy. Does he have a chance? asks Nathaniel Whittemore, who concludes that "It's hard to say...."

Social Media

As part of the Case Foundation's Gear Up for Giving program, Katya Andresen lists six common mistakes nonprofit organizations make when getting involved in social marketing:

1. We fear losing control
2. We think social networking is a way to get our message out
3. We see dollar signs
4. We fail to set small, achievable goals
5. We forget to set some ground rules
6. We give up when we make mistakes.

Is Twitter a micro-blogging site? Allison Fine thinks it functions more like a social network, "where interesting ideas and exchanges are happening that we can participate in, or watch, just as we would at a neighborhood diner."

Last but not least, YouTube, the video-hosting site, has taken its nonprofit program to the next level and now allows nonprofits to annotate their videos with "Donate" or "Sign this Petition" links. Guest blogging on Beth Kanetr's blog, Michael Hoffman, CEO of See3 Communications provides additional background on the new feature, including this video.

What did we forget? Drop us a note at rnm@foundationcenter.org. Have a great week!

-- Regina Mahone

2009 Clinton Global Intiative Annual Meeting

As I have for the past couple of years, I'll be blogging the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City next week. Billed as "the only venue where business, government, and civil-sector leaders work together to plan and launch specific projects to address global economic, environmental, and social challenges," this year's CGI meeting will overlap with the 64th session of the UN General Assembly and the G-20 summit (Sept.24-25) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and, per usual, will feature a Who's Who of public-, private-, and third-sector leaders.

Here's the schedule:

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Opening Plenary: A Call To Action
Time: 4:00 – 5:45 P.M.

The opening plenary will frame the agenda for the three days to follow. World leaders will identify critical areas for action and collaboration across a multitude of sectors, ranging from education, energy and climate change to global health and the reduction of poverty. Recognizing the stresses that stakeholders are feeling due to the economic downturn, CGI's four program areas will stress achievable ways to empower communities; harness innovation for development; strengthen infrastructure; develop human capital; finance a sustainable future; and invest in girls and women.

• William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President, United States of America; Founding Chair, Clinton Global Initiative
• Her Excellency Michelle Bachelet, President of the Republic of Chile
• The Honorable Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia
• Mike Duke, President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
• Muhtar Kent, President and CEO, Coca-Cola Company

Special Session: The G20 and its Impact on Global Challenges
Time: 6:00 – 7:00 P.M.

With a focus on major modern challenges -- growing populations, natural resource scarcity, global warming, dynamic global and financial markets, strains on social systems, and incomplete economic opportunity for billions of people -- this session will enable G20 Heads of State who represent the largest economies in the world to preview their positions in advance of the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Special Session: Approaches to Innovation
Time: 9:00 - 10:30 A.M.

At a time when the world finds itself on an unsustainable course, facing an increasing number of complex challenges for which traditional approaches are no longer sufficient, innovation -- the transformation of ideas into new strategies, products and practices -- stands as a key to addressing many of the issues confronting us today, from energy and education to healthcare and the environment. During this session, innovation experts will discuss the importance of innovation as a vehicle for building a sustainable future. Where does innovation begin? What should be the role of government in promoting and facilitating innovation? Which countries are leading the charge, and how do you best position yourself and your organization to take advantage? This panel will provide a broad introduction to innovation, various approaches to cultivate it, and implications for those who pursue it and those who don't.

• John Kao, Chairman and Founder, Institute for Large Scale Innovation

Plenary: Investing in Girls and Women
Time: 10:45 - 12:15 P.M.

Even though women make up 50 percent of the world's population, girls and women continuously lack the same access as men to education, health care, jobs, and the political arena. Smart businesses appreciate that increased support for girls and women is integral to fostering successful markets for the future. Innovative programs are already producing remarkable results, and far-seeing countries and organizations are finding that reaching out to girls and women deepens confidence, creates opportunity, and raises profits. This panel will examine a few notable success stories.

• Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
• Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director, World Bank
• Zainab Salbi, Founder and CEO, Women for Women International
• Diane Sawyer, Co-Anchor, Good Morning America, ABC Broadcasting
• Rex Tillerson, Chief Executive Officer, ExxonMobil Corporation
• Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Women’s Issues, U.S. State Department

Plenary Session: Harnessing Innovation for Development
Time: 1:00 - 2:15 P.M.

2008 will come to be recognized as the turning point, when a series of crises gripped the planet: the spike in oil prices, the world food shortage, and the global financial meltdown. Add these crises to the list of ongoing mega-problems and it becomes clear that innovation on a massive scale is required to move us toward a more sustainable world. This plenary will explore the innovation strategies needed to effectively address the planetary crisis we now face.

• Matthew Bishop, New York bureau chief and American business editor, The Economist
• Al Gore, Co-Founder and Chairman, Generation Investment Management
• Jack Ma, Chairman and CEO, Alibaba Group,/li>
• Judith Rodin, President, Rockefeller Foundation
• Muhammad Yunus, Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank
• Robert Zoellick, President, World Bank Group

Special Session: From CEO to NGO
Time: 5:00 – 6:00 P.M.

During this session, former executives will come together to discuss the importance of philanthropy and how their background in the private sector has allowed them to effectively run nonprofit organizations and foundations. Now that their main focus is on improving the global community not their bottom line, what advice do they have for the private sector? And what do they know from their current work that they wish they had known when they were running multi-million dollar enterprises?

• Eli Broad, Founder, Broad Foundation
• Chrystia Freeland, U.S. Managing Editor, Financial Times
• Ted Turner, Chairman, Turner Enterprises, Inc.
• Bob Wright, Co-Founder, Autism Speaks; Senior Advisor, Lee Equity Partners

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Plenary Session: Strengthening Infrastructure
Time: 9:00 – 10:00 A.M.

Strong and vibrant infrastructure is central to solving pressing global challenges, from improving healthcare delivery and reducing poverty and hunger to fixing slums and responding to global warming. But today we are seriously under-investing in the world's physical and institutional infrastructure. Public works investments and new information technology can provide a foundation for recovery by facilitating job creation, unleashing private-sector investment, and promoting an equitable transition to a lower-carbon and more prosperous global economy. This plenary will explore how strategic public investment in smarter infrastructure can create opportunities for industry, address deep social needs, promote effective public-private collaboration, and jumpstart the world economy.

• Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General, United Nations; Chairman, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
• John T. Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco
• Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO, Renault Nissan
• Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric
• Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour

Plenary Session: Creating Good Jobs and Strong Communities
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 P.M.

Access to education, health care, and work is an essential foundation for a prosperous community. It is more important than ever in the face of the recession, which has cost 50 million jobs and pushed millions back into poverty. Yet some 180 million children work instead of attending school. Many in school fail to achieve their potential because of a lack of teachers. Even in developed countries, young people do not get the education they need to succeed in the high-tech knowledge economy that will determine future competitiveness. But there are inspiring examples of partnerships between companies, governments and civic leaders who are building opportunity in a way that makes sound business sense. This session will identify practical ways for more partners to act.

• Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
• Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Chairman and CEO, Carlson Companies
• Nicholas D. Kristof, Columnist, The New York Times; Co-Author, Half the Sky
• Andrew Liveris, President, CEO and Chairman, Dow Chemical Company
• Carlos Slim Helú, Chairman and CEO, Grupo Carso
• Hilda Solis, United States Secretary of Labor

Friday, September 25, 2009

Plenary Session: Moving from Crisis to Opportunity – Financing an Equitable Future Time: 9:00 – 10:00 A.M.

The plenary will address how to move beyond the current economic and financial crisis to tap innovative sources of financing that can provide stable, ethical, and scalable funding for organizations addressing the world's most challenging problems.

• Fazel Abed, Founder and Chairman, BRAC
• Maria Bartiromo, Anchor, CNBC
• James Dimon, Chairman and CEO, JP Morgan Chase & Co.
• Peter Sands, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered PLC

Closing Plenary Session
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 P.M.

The closing plenary will highlight progress over the past five years, showcase the accomplishments of the 2009 Annual Meeting, and inspire attendees to continue their work via Commitments to Action in the year ahead with a keynote address from Hillary R. Clinton, United States Secretary of State, and closing remarks from President Clinton.

###

Should be an interesting three days. And the CGI team always does an excellent job with the live feed. Stay tuned for details.

-- Mitch Nauffts

ANNOUNCEMENT: Greater New Orleans Foundation Launches Community IMPACT Program

We've had a great response to the Newsmaker interview we did with Albert Ruesga, president and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Foundation. So before interest in post-recovery Katrina efforts begins to fade, we'd like to take a moment to publicize a new program just announced by the foundation.

The Community IMPACT Program will award $1 million in grants in six areas -- arts and culture, children and youth, civic engagement and nonprofit support, education, health, and human and social services -- to nonprofit organizations serving the thirteen-parish Greater New Orleans metro region. According a press release issued by the foundation, the ultimate goal of the program is "to create a resilient, sustainable, vibrant, and equitable region in which individuals and families flourish and in which the special character of the New Orleans region and its people is preserved, celebrated, and given the means to develop."

More from the release:

Who can apply?
Nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations that serve the Greater New Orleans region. Organizations that are not tax-exempt but have a fiscal agent relationship with a 501(c)(3) organization are also eligible.

How to apply?

1. Submit a two- to three-page Letter of Intent by September 22, 2009. To review what the Letter of Intent should include, click here. Hard copies of the information can also be picked up at the Greater New Orleans Foundation offices, 1055 St. Charles Avenue, Suite 100. GNOF will review all Letters of Intent and will notify organizations invited to complete a full application by October 12, 2009.
2. Those invited to submit a full application will be asked to submit their proposals by November 2, 2009. Awards will be announced by December 11, 2009.

Obviously, this is good news for the region and for nonprofits working to serve those who live there. But as Tony Pipa, a frequent contributor to PhilanTopic, reminded me in a comment he made in an earlier thread, there's a lot left to do. Writes Tony:

[W]hile I think there have been particular instances of philanthropy performing admirably, I think there is also much room for improvement in that response overall, and I hope that the sector takes an unvarnished look at its response and learns from the lessons. In regards to federal involvement, it's not so much whether there will continue to be support, but how that support is deployed and whether it gets to the people, businesses, and communities that really need it.

In answer to your question, many foundations (even some of the ones you mention) are wrapping up their commitments in the Gulf Coast, figuring that they've "done their part" for the recovery. If they take a second look at the Gulf Coast, though, I think they'd recognize that with the amount of creative community-problem solving going on, there are many lessons for them to learn by investing there that they could apply in other places. It requires looking at New Orleans and the Coast with new eyes, not as a region still trying to recover from crisis but as one looking to the future with energy and innovation....

We all know that foundations and individual donors were hit hard by the financial crisis. And while portfolios have recovered some of their losses and the economy may be bottoming, the future is uncertain. As Tony suggests, however, it is way too early to declare "Mission accomplished" in the Gulf. "Full recovery," still years away, should be our starting point, not a final goal. The "region was poor before the storms," Ruesga told me when I spoke to him. "The city suffered from so-called white flight in the '70s and '80s, and the region as a whole, being largely rural, suffered from years of public underinvestment."

I don't know about you, but I believe the affluent and well-to-do have done just fine over the last thirty years. It's time we turned our attention and really invested -- in thoughtful, creative, and sustainable ways -- in the poor and most vulnerable among us.

--Mitch Nauffts

Ted on Sunday: Remembering Ted Kennedy

And so it ends.

With yesterday's sad, meticulously scripted, and moving sendoff to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the decades-long fascination that many of us had with the Kennedys of Massachusetts has been laid to rest. For as long as the American experiment remains viable, other families will rise to political power and prominence, joining the likes of the Adamses, Roosevelts, Tafts, and Bushes. The family name might be Martinez or Kim or Cohen, for that is part of the genius of America, as the Kennedys themselves so ably demonstrated. But just as we're unlikely to see a phenomenon like the Beatles again, or the kind of cinematic excellence that illuminated American movie theaters in the late '60s and early '70s, the Kennedy story and its grip on the American imagination will remain unrivaled.

I was born in Massachusetts and am old enough to remember where I was (sitting in a kindergarten classroom) the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. My memory of that day, and the days that followed, are as vivid as any I have. By the time Robert Kennedy was murdered five years later, my family was living in northeast Ohio, Taft country, and, after the initial shock wore off, our thoughts turned to Ted, the sole surviving Kennedy brother. His eulogy for RFK at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City in June 1968, a soaring piece of rhetoric that has lost none of its power to inspire, signaled another passing of the torch. And we knew, in our bleeding liberal hearts, that it made Ted a marked man.

He knew it, too. As he repeatedly told reporters in Alaska after learning his brother had been killed: "They're going to shoot my a** off the way they shot Bobby's." Still, as Garry Wills writes in his 1986 book The Kennedy Imprisonment:

He rarely showed fear...; seemed, indeed, too jaunty to some -- with the effort that heaves several lives' weight into the air again. After Robert was killed, he told his aide Dun Gifford: "I can't let go. We have a job to do. If I let go, Ethel will let go. And my mother will let go, and all my sisters...."

He didn't let go; he soldiered on, persevered in the great liberal program staked out by his brother John and championed so compellingly by his brother Bobby in the hundred days of his 1968 presidential primary run. The psychic toll must have been unbearable. Wills again:

Once brother drew on brother for fresh strength; now brother drains brother, all the dead inhabiting the one that has lived on. Edward has managed to outlast three brothers without ever catching up to one of them. Just as he seems to overtake them, their glory either recedes from him, or fades in the public's eyes. It was pretty evanescent stuff to begin with, the glory; but one can hardly look to him for that perception. To show ingratitude toward the ghosts would just make them harder to shake off. Meanwhile, he inherits all their children, while his own partly slip away from him, victims of his own victimhood, and of his wife's....

Chappaquidick. His oldest son Teddy's bone cancer, which cost young Ted a leg at the age of twelve. The failed presidential primary run against Jimmy Carter in 1980, a campaign that featured an unprepared and, at times, seemingly uninterested Kennedy, but one that put some of his ghosts to rest. The carousing and drinking and end of his marriage to Joan. Redemption, in the form of second wife Vicki, a renewed interest in and commitment to his Senate work, ever-deeper bonds with his surviving sisters, his children, nieces and nephews and grandchildren. A final passing of the torch to a young, eloquent senator from Illinois, a grim cancer diagnosis, and a last year filled with moments, big and small, of grace and humanity.

It was an extraordinary life, a life that touched thousands -- as anyone could see who tuned in to the funeral service in Boston, watched the stately procession through the streets of Washington of the hearse bearing the senator's body or the emotional scene on the steps of the Capitol, where friends, colleagues, and staff, past and present, gathered in oppressive heat to say a final farewell. He touched millions more through the legislation he crafted and championed over the course of a 47-year career in the Senate.

I'll leave it to the senator's conservative critics to enumerate Ted Kennedy's -- indeed, the Kennedy family's -- failings. It's easy to mock and criticize, and there will be no shortage of such critiques over the coming weeks.

But on this day, four years after the levees broke in New Orleans and put a human face on levels of poverty and inequality that most of us thought had been eradicated decades ago, I'll honor Ted Kennedy's memory -- and the memory of his brothers and his sister Eunice and the entire Kennedy family, a family to whom much was given and which has given much back in return -- because of what he, and they, believed in and continue to fight for: fairness and compassion for the most vulnerable in society and equal opportunity for all.

Rest in peace, Senator. You did good.

-- Mitch Nauffts

Weekend Link Roundup (August 29 - 30, 2009)

This week's roundup of new and noteworthy posts from and about the nonprofit sector...

Communications/Marketing

Mick Koster, senior consultant at Strategic Partners, suggests that development officers apply a right-brained approach when "selling" their organization to donors. Writes Koster, "Rather than listing 'ingredients,' uncover the emotional connection your donors and donor prospects have to your organization." (Thanks for the tip, Judy.)

Disaster Relief

To mark the fourth anniversary of the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, the Foundation Center has launched a Focus on Gulf Coast Hurricane Relief page complete with maps, podcasts, news, and research related to ongoing recovery efforts.

Education

In the lead up to International Literacy Day on September 8, the Digital Philanthropy blog will highlight a number of education-focused nonprofits that are working to improve literacy around the world.

Health

Nonprofit bloggers have been paying homage to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy ever since the 77-year-old "lion of the Senate" passed away on August 25. (The Chronicle of Philanthropy's Give and Take blog has a roundup of posts.) One of those bloggers, Tim Foley, suggests on Change.org that the best way to honor Kennedy’s legacy is to finish what he started by "finally passing universal health care." Writes Foley:

Every time since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid that we have sought to expand health care coverage for our citizens, Ted was on the front lines. He bargained with the Nixon White House and nearly crafted a bipartisan compromise in the early 1970s. He feuded with Carter on health care, and launched his own run for the presidency in part to achieve that goal. When Bill Clinton's plan was moved in the Senate, Ted was sponsor and lead advocate. And, of course, his still-untimely death comes at a moment when his last great work -- one last bill to make good on the promise of his career, making quality, affordable health care a guaranteed right for every American, not a privilege based on income, or employment, or race, or class -- stands at the crossroads in the United States Senate.

As we take on the task of completing his unfinished work, we have ringing in our ears his final statement on what has truly been the cause of his career, delivered in writing to celebrate that bill passing out of committee....

Impact/Effectiveness

A recent article on the UK-based Third Sector site notes that the English Charity Commission has accused two schools -- St Anselm's School Trust and Highfield Priory School -- of "offering too few scholarships and bursaries" to justify their nonprofit status. On the New Philanthropy Capital blog, John Copps argues that it is time for UK charities to "reclaim the debate on public benefit." But on this side of the pond, Matthew Bishop and Michael Green, co-authors of Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich Can Save the World, suggest that "the debate has generated more heat than light." Write Bishop and Green:

In the end, we get the charity sector we deserve. If donors don't ask tough questions about real impact and put their money where it achieves the most, weak charities will muddle along and the growth of good charities will be stunted. That is why we think that impact-focused philanthrocapitalists, along with philanthropic intermediaries like NPC, Kiva.org, and GlobalGiving, have the potential to do more to drive a step-change in the effectiveness of charities than regulation....

In case you missed the debate about "slacktivism" -- "the act of doing something that requires very little effort and has only the perceived effect of impact" -- Ali Cherry, guest blogging on Beth Kanter's blog provides seven perspectives on the issue.

The recently released Civic Health Index found that 72 percent of those surveyed had cut back on civic engagement activities. But on the Social Citizens blog, Kristin Ivie notes that "social engagement through social networking sites, as well as through church and friends, can have a significant impact...." Writes Ivie:

This [would seem] to refute the arguments that social media is just encouraging slacktivism by allowing people to edit their avatar or join a Facebook group without really having engaged. The Civic Health Index shows that with each type of offline engagement -- from giving food or money to someone in need to volunteering to joining a public meeting to discuss an issue -- those who used social media for civic purposes were always more involved that those who did not....

Kate Barr, executive director of the Nonprofits Assistance Fund, argues on the Balancing the Mission Checkbook blog that donors should (and do) care more about the effectiveness of an organization, rather than the amount of money spent on overhead. Writes Barr:

I'm convinced that the reason that people care about the overhead ratio of charities is because we keep telling them that it’s important. I have an announcement to make: I am a donor to quite a few nonprofits, and I don't care what percentage of their budget is spent for overhead. I think that a lot of donors would agree....

I care that they are effective nonprofits that can tell donors what they do and why it matters. Why would a donor rather examine overhead? Before someone jumps on this point, I agree that 90% on fundraising is completely unreasonable, but that kind of organization can’t demonstrate real results anyway. So can we stop using overhead as the primary criteria for donors -- please?...

Leadership

On her blog, Rosetta Thurman offers nonprofit leaders some timely advice on how to cultivate resilience when "there's no more business as usual." Here are a few of her recommendations:

• Learn from new experiences
• Develop a spiritual practice
• Fail upward
• Take a vacation

Nonprofit Management

On the Foundation Center-Atlanta blog, library director Pattie Johnson offers some good advice to anyone thinking about starting a nonprofit.

Philanthropy

The Wall Street Journal talks to Eli Broad, founder of two Fortune 500 companies as well as the foundation that bears his name, about education reform, the democratization of the arts, and the "venture philanthropy business." (h/t Bruce Trachtenberg)

While people in general may be cutting back on their volunteering in this recession, a recent survey sponsored by the Hartford Financial Services Group found that individuals over the age of 50 are ramping up their volunteering and charitable giving. On the Philanthropy Potluck blog, Chris Murakami Noonan, communications associate at the Minnesota Council on Foundations, pulls out these key findings from the report:

• 53 percent of consumers age 50+ participate in volunteer work, compared to 45 percent for those aged 49 and younger;
• Of those who volunteer, almost 14 percent of AARP members volunteer one day per week as compared to 7.5 percent of non-AARP members;
• 76 percent of those over 50 give monetary donations to causes they support. This compares to 83 percent of AARP members over age 50, and 60 percent of those under age 49;
• The causes most favored by the 50+ group include Alzheimer’s disease, social services, the environment and military support.

On the Give and Take blog, Ian Wilhelm predicts that The Foundation, a new Canadian comedy show that "viciously" satirizes philanthropy, is likely to leave foundation executives already unhappy about NBC's summer-replacement series The Philanthropist "speechless."

In a review of the newly published Complete Idiot’s Guide to Giving Back, blogger Diane Bennett writes that the book "fails to provide enough guidance for idiots (or anyone else, for that matter) to truly evaluate the effectiveness of a charity."

On Foundations + Footings, blogger Julie White suggests that grantmakers consider providing "experimental grants" to produce more innovation in the sector. "I am not referring to the graduated grants we are used to, which start small but are intended to evolve into a larger grant," writes White. "But rather, small, focused curiosity-driven grants for the elusive 'good idea.'" (H/t: Tactical Philanthropy)

Regulation

Citing a recent news item about a nonprofit that turned down a donation from a donor who wanted his money to go towards the nonprofit's annual golf fundraiser rather than the organization's clients, Donor Power blogger Jeff Brooks argues that nonprofit organizations cannot turn away donors whose money may be "tainted." Writes Brooks:

We are in no position to cut ourselves off from [donors]....In fact, by giving them the opportunity to give, we help them toward redemption and enlightenment. Even if they're seeking neither....

Technology

Last but not least, Lucy Bernholz takes a closer look on her Philanthropy 2173 blog at how technology might change philanthropy. Some things like "mutual aid, human kindness, and altruism are not technologically bound," writes Bernholz, while "organizational charts, job titles, and professional roles in philanthropy will see a great deal of re-structuring in the next phase of innovation." In a comment on the post, Foundation Center president Brad Smith suggests that, in addition to "How did we get here?" and "Where are we going?", we should be asking a third question: "Where do we want to be going?" The resulting exchange between Bernholz and Smith is fascinating. Be sure to check it out.

And that's it. Have a great week!

-- Regina Mahone

We're All in This Together...Right?

We ran an item over the weekend about a new report issued by Generations United, a national membership organization that works to improve the lives of children, youth, and older people through intergenerational strategies, programs, and public policies.

The report documents key areas of intergenerational "policy convergence" (health care, family and medical leave, education and community engagement, family economic success,the environment) where the interests of youth, families, and older adults converge and encourages funders to adopt an intergenerational approach to their work based on a handful of concepts/principles:

• a clear definition of intergenerational solidarity that extends beyond the nuclear and extended family;
• a commitment to using an intergenerational lens when developing or influencing policy;
• a call to include the "missing middle" -- both middle-aged people and those of middle income -- in all relevant policy developments and reviews;
• a promise to explore solutions which, when possible, avoid means testing and stigmitization while involving and providing benefits to all incomes and ages;
• a commitment to promote "economies of scope" -- a single intervention that helps or positively affects multiple issues/populations;
• a social contract with children, similar to the one in place for older adults; and
• a demonstrated connection between the social contract with children and the contract with older adults.

As a fifty-something father of two who derives a ton of satisfaction from his other roles -- son, brother, uncle, nephew, volunteer coach, good neighbor -- the report resonated with me. But what are the chances that funders and nonprofits will adopt such an approach? Pretty slim, says a person who left a comment on our site earlier this afternoon, for the following reasons:

First, nonprofit organizations aren't on board. The move from age-focused service delivery to need-focused service delivery not only threatens jobs but organizational identify and survival. It's also a major shift towards serving individuals and families with the greatest unmet needs; a shift that demands greater accountability and has greater costs associated with it. Many organizations, most notably those serving older persons, are reluctant to trade comfortable missions and institutional programs for the daunting task of serving the common good.

Second, grantmaking organizations aren't on board. Board Members and Trustees are worthy and successful community stewards with expertise, wealth and influence; but they're not always the most progressive, global or visionary thinkers or leaders. There are thousands of exceptions of course, but I contend that the vast majority are unwilling or incapable of embracing the social and economic needs of society as a whole, nor should they be. Their work is admirable and the challenges of change are overwhelming and virtually unapproachable.

Finally, in the hierarchical world of nonprofit organizations, the pecking order has to be maintained for better or worse. Those at the top protect their 'industry' from harm or the erosion of brand, position or funding. We need only to look at the 'aging enterprise' to see that universal change is slow if present at all....

The anonymous commenter acknowledges, in closing, that the report's core principles "are worthy and demand our calling -- not as institutions but as individuals that question and challenge policy and practices that have outlived their usefulness or can no longer be defended." And then s/he urges us to "move beyond the language of 'intergenerational' and the baggage that accompanies it towards something more relevant and fundamental to our lives and the world today -- serving the common and collective good."

Strong stuff.

What do you think? Recognizing that there are thousands of exceptions, are most nonprofits too complacent, turf-conscious, or set in their ways to shift from an age-focused delivery model to a needs-focused model? Does the "language of intergenerational" come with baggage that hampers the sector's ability to serve the common good? And, when it comes to the collective good, are most nonprofits too focused on the trees to be able to see the forest?

Use the comments section below to leave a comment, or leave a comment here, where the above remark was posted.

-- Mitch Nauffts

TED on Sunday: Hans Rosling on the Global HIV Pandemic

Data viz whiz Hans Rosling and his time-lapse "bubble" charts were the stars of one of our first "TED on Sunday" talks. In this fast-paced talk, the ever-energetic Rosling returns with another time-lapse presentation and some good news about the global HIV pandemic: after twenty-five years, the number of people worldwide living with HIV has stabilized at about 1 percent of the global adult population. After you've watched the talk, be sure to visit Rosling's Gapminder site, where you can view/download static and animated versions of the chart featured in the video below. (Posted: May 2009; Running time: 10:03)

Liked this talk? Try one of these:

• Bill Gates on the Importance of Being Optimistic
• Clay Shirky on the Transformed Media Landscape
• Katherine Fulton on the Future of Philanthropy
• Seth Godin on Leadership
• Barry Schwartz on the Paradox of Choice
• Alex Tabarrok on the Benefits of Globalization
• Majora Carter on Environmental Justice
• Al Gore on Climate Change
• Sylvia Earle on Saving the 'Blue Heart' the Planet'
• James Howard Kunstler on the Death of Suburbia
• Clay Shirky on Epochal Change
• Mark Bittman on How We Eat
• Hans Rosling on the Dimensions of Development
• Sir Ken Robinson on Education and Creativity

And for those who can't get enough of TED, check out Jim Simpson's post about a cool hidden feature of most TED Talks.

-- Mitch Nauffts

TED on Sunday: Bill Gates on the Importance of Being Optimistic

It should come as no surprise that the world's richest man and most visible philanthropist is a self-proclaimed optimist. But as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates argues in this TED talk, he has reason to be. The average human lifespan has doubled over the last hundred years. Infant mortality has fallen by a factor of two. Dreadful diseases such as smallpox and polio have been fully or almost fully eradicated. And, argues Gates, even greater victories lie ahead -- if we can muster the will and the resources to pursue them. (Posted: February 2009; Running time: 20:17)

Liked this talk? Try one of these:

• Clay Shirky on the Transformed Media Landscape
• Katherine Fulton on the Future of Philanthropy
• Seth Godin on Leadership
• Barry Schwartz on the Paradox of Choice
• Alex Tabarrok on the Benefits of Globalization
• Majora Carter on Environmental Justice
• Al Gore on Climate Change
• Sylvia Earle on Saving the 'Blue Heart' of the Planet
• James Howard Kunstler on the Death of Suburbia
• Clay Shirky on Epochal Change
• Mark Bittman on How We Eat
• Hans Rosling on the Dimensions of Development
• Sir Ken Robinson on Education and Creativity

And for those who can't get enough of TED, check out Jim Simpson's post about a cool hidden feature of most TED Talks.

-- Mitch Nauffts

Weekend Link Roundup (May 2 - 3, 2009)

Here's this week's roundup of noteworthy posts from and about the nonprofit sector....

Communications/Marketing

At the Donor Power Blog, Jeff Brooks deconstructs another awful nonprofit ad. (H/t Katya Andresen.)

Data Visualization

Riffing on a delightful TED talks Wordle executed by Maria Popova (of the Brain Pickings blog), Neoformix's Jeff Clark came up with this awesome -- and we do not use that word lightly -- TED Wordle. If you love Ted talks, Wordles, and/or data visualization, you'll want to check it out.

Economy

On the Nonprofit Consultant Blog, Ken Goldstein cautions smaller nonprofit organizations against accepting stimulus funds. "Consider not only your short-term money needs," writes Goldstein, "but the long-term effect of the funding, and your capacity to take on the project."

Fundraising

Writing on the Future Leaders in Philanthropy blog, Jenn Thompson says there is a way for nonprofit organizations to get something out of Causes -- the Facebook application that was damned with faint praise in a Washington Post article last week. Thompson offers this advice to anyone starting a Causes campaign:

1. Set reasonable expectations. Is money the only thing you'll measure? Is there value in word-of-mouth marketing or growing awareness of your brand?
2. Is this going to be your field of dreams? If your only plan is to build it and think they will come, then you're going to be...unsuccessful....Do you have a plan to let your constituents know that you are on Facebook? Does your website utilize simple tools like a share bar?
3. Who's making the ask? Do a little research. Find the influential people in your networks who have a following of friends and who will have a strong interest in your Cause.

Strikes us as good advice -- for any kind of fundraising campaign.

Impact

Revisiting the topic of metrics, Lucy Bernholz asks, "What happens when you measure the wrong thing?" The problem, she adds, is no longer that we're not measuring impact, it is just that we don't know which measures matter. We will get measures wrong, says Bernholz, citing two recent possibilities: an article in the Washington Post (see Fundraising, above) claiming that Facebook Causes had driven very little money to charity -- a metric disputed by Beth Kanter and others, who argue that Causes and similar tools are best for creating connections and awareness. And the case of microblogging service Twitter, where at the moment, writes Bernholz, the definition of "influence" is up for grabs. "I don't know what the best measures are of Twitter, Causes, or most other social media tools," says Bernholz.

But the debate about these measures does matter. These discussions are out in the open, the sides are (mostly) cogently argued, and folks can contribute to the discussion, learn something, and move on....This is what we need to make sense of the hundreds of ways of measuring social and environmental progress....We many not reach universal agreement on any of these things but let's get the debate, the evidence, the arguments for and against, and the determinations of what works for what out there. And keep moving forward....

Leadership

Rosetta Thurman profiles several young nonprofit leaders as a part of a new blog series, We Are the Possible.

Philanthropy

On the PhilanthroMedia blog, Dana Variano says that donors should support youth-centered efforts like Chores Mean More -- a campaign involving elementary school students in Bronxville, New York, who are donating their allowances to raise at least $2,800 for storybooks and writing supplies for the Red Rose School and Children’s Center in Kenya. The campaign, writes Variano, teaches kids important values and is likely to lead to their lifelong involvement with philanthropy and volunteering.

Public Health

Google Flu Trends, a site that uses aggregate Google search data to track flu outbreaks in the U.S. (read a short PND profile of the site here) has released a new version of the tool tailored to Mexico, the New York Times reports. And the Times itself has put together a terrific interactive map of swine flu cases worldwide.

To learn more about the H1N1 public health emergency, check out the Charity Navigator blog, which is compiling information about how the philanthropic community is responding to the growing number of cases.

Social Media

After attending the Nonprofit Technology Conference session "Confessions of a Social Media Campaigner," Peggy on the WiserEarth blog notes that it's great that nonprofits are embracing Web 2.0, but wonders whether ther are using these sites successfully.

Just published by NTEN, online ad agency Common Knowledge, and ThePort™ Network, the Nonprofit Social Network Survey Report trys to answer that question. A few of its findings:

• Commercial social networks, especially Facebook, are popular, but average community sizes remain small, and presence is relatively short.
• Nonprofits are allocating small but real resources, staff, and budget to their social networks.
• Survey respondents prefer traditional marketing channels to promote their social networks, but are experimenting with new social media channels.
• For now, there is very little real revenue generated on these communities via fundraising and advertising.

Allison Fine provides additional findings from the survey and suggests that the field needs a companion qualitative data collection effort to explore questions left unanswered. Fine would like to know, for example, more about what it means that social networking sites are thought of as "marketing" opportunities by many nonprofits as well as how organizations are using social networks to advance their missions.

Technology

Last but not least, Social Actions has announced the winners of this year's Change the Web challenge. Congratulations to the winners and the twenty-four finalists.

That's it for now. Have a great week!

-- Regina Mahone and Mitch Nauffts

Global Philanthropy Forum Annual Conference

A quick post to let you know that the Foundation Center is providing the information platform for GPF's 8th annual conference, which opens today in Washington, D.C.

As part of that effort, my Research and Web Services colleagues have put together five terrific slide decks filled with background statistics and examples of innovative solutions supported by philanthropy in five key areas of activity being addressed at the forum: poverty at home and abroad, access to health care, climate change, education for a global society, and reconstruction and reconciliation in post-conflict societies. Resources compiled for the conference include data on top grantmakers and grantees, significant grants awarded in recent years, and the geographical distribution of international grant dollars. Within each issue area, three to five subtopics are further illustrated by brief case studies describing creative approaches to the issue.

To learn more, check out GPF's annual conference page. Or click here to read my interview with GPF president and co-founder Jane Wales.

-- Mitch Nauffts

TED on Sunday: Hans Rosling on the Dimensions of Development

In this wildly compelling talk, Swedish researcher (and data visualization wiz) Hans Rosling argues that there many dimensions of development, that developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa have actually made dramatic progress over the last fifty years, and that the "seemingly impossible is possible." And then he does something truly amazing. Don't cut out before the end. (Filmed: March 2007, Monterey, California. Running time: 18:57.)

-- Mitch Nauffts

Grants That Make a Difference: “Ladies Night Out” Breast Cancer Screenings

Thanks to all who have shared your stories to date -- keep 'em coming! This week's story comes from Ingrid Hansen of the Mission Healthcare Foundation in Asheville, North Carolina, which received a grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust making it possible for women in the region with little or no health coverage to receive free breast cancer screenings.

Grant Recipient
Mission Healthcare Foundation, Inc.
Asheville, North Carolina

Mission
Mission Healthcare administers all corporate, private, and state/federal grants to the Mission Hospital system. The organization's goal is to improve the quality and the breadth of services offered by Mission in western North Carolina.

Grantmaker
Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

About the Grant
$165,748 awarded for 2007-09

The grant was applied toward operating funds for a collaboration that provides breast cancer screenings, education, and treatment for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women in Buncombe County.

About the Program
There are many reasons that low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women don't get regular mammograms: money, transportation, child care, work schedules. While all are understandable, none is acceptable when the issue is breast cancer and early detection can be the difference between life and death.

A community collaboration in Asheville has developed a program called Ladies Night Out to help women overcome whatever obstacles they face in seeking preventive care. The idea for the program began as an innovation of astute healthcare professionals in the region who recognized a gap in coverage between federally and locally funded programs that provide free mammograms to uninsured women. Those professionals realized that by pooling resources and recruiting help from other agencies, they could remove cost as an obstacle to regular screening. As the plan developed, they managed to bridge the funding gap and erase other practical and logistical obstacles to regular screening as well.

Ladies Night Out is a collaboration of the Breast Program at Mission Hospitals, the Buncombe County Health Center, Asheville Imaging, the YWCA of Asheville, the Housing Authority of Asheville, and the Asheville Buncombe Institute of Parity Achievement (ABIPA). ABIPA volunteers handle outreach; the YWCA provides child care and taxi vouchers if transportation is needed; Asheville Imaging sets aside one evening a month to provide mammograms at basic reimbursement rates and, along with the Breast Program, provides the facility; the Health Center nursing staff gives the exams; and volunteers from each of the organizations, along with community volunteers, staff the screening stations.

Through Ladies Night Out events, between three hundred and four hundred women are screened each year. All women who participate receive a general health exam and health education as well as a breast exam and mammogram. Diagnostic services and follow-up also are coordinated through the program. Ladies Night Out is a festive occasion complete with balloons and flowers, and pink is the color of choice -- a reminder that Ladies Night Out is serious business.

Impact of the Grant
The death rate from breast cancer is higher among underserved women because they are less likely to have it diagnosed during its early, localized stage. From October 2007 through September 2008, a total of 382 program-eligible women received breast cancer screening and health education services through the program. One hundred percent of women with abnormal results have completed follow-up diagnostics. Out of 382 women screened, 15 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and were qualified for treatment.

How did the funder and grantee work together effectively during the course of the grant project?
The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust has been receptive and flexible as new program needs emerged. For example, educational materials once provided at no cost by the state of North Carolina were discontinued, and grant funding was therefore reallocated to purchase these materials.

What makes this particular grant a good example of effective use of philanthropic funds?
The program has been a resounding success, and volunteers from the hospital, participant agencies, and the community have contributed immensely to that success. The flow of the program has been refined over the months so that participants are able to move seamlessly from signing releases to physical exams, mammograms, and sign-ups for re-screening. From the moment the ladies are greeted with a pink carnation to the fruit and veggie snacks offered while waiting for their mammograms, they are treated with dignity and respect. The program exemplifies good community collaboration, use of volunteers, and effective outreach into underserved populations. Most importantly, it saves lives through the early detection of breast cancer.

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Do you have a story about a grant that made a difference? Submit your story here, and we will continue to feature new stories on a regular basis right here on PhilanTopic, at one or more of our regional Philanthropy Front and Center blogs, and at other areas of our Web site. We also encourage you to submit stories of grants that are addressing needs associated with the current economic crisis.

IS Conference -- Opening Thoughts

Like Michael (see the post below), I'm in Philadelphia for a few days to report on and network at Independent Sector's 2008 annual conference. As the conference tagline ("Our Hopes, Our Voice, Our Future") suggests, these are uncertain times -- for the economy, for the nonprofit sector, and especially for the least advantaged and most vulnerable among us. But the election of Barack Obama as our next president and the seeming rejection of business as usual that his election implies have most people at this conference looking ahead with guarded optimism. Optimistic that the possibility of change -- in our social, economic, and geopolitical priorities; in our rancorous political discourse; in our relationship to the natural world and the systems that sustain life on the planet -- is real; and guarded in that optimism due to a sober recognition of the magnitude of the challenges we face.

There's also a sense among attendees that the election of Barack Obama represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for nonprofits and the nonprofit sector. An opportunity to reframe in broad, inclusive ways issues that are at the heart of the challenges we face. An opportunity to knock down many of the racial, sectarian, demographic, and gender barriers that divide us as a people. An opportunity to use new technologies to connect people to causes, causes to coalitions, and coalitions to action.

As IS board chair Brian Gallagher and IS president and CEO Diana Aviv put it in their message to conference attendees: "There is no better time than now for nonprofit leaders to come together to set a collective agenda -- one that will help steer our nation on a course to stability and prosperity."

It should be an interesting conference.

-- Mitch Nauffts