social change

At the Community and Corporate Social Responsibility Conference held in Ottawa earlier this month, I along with Pamela Divinsky from the Divinsky Group, and Stephanie Michele from Social Bling, led a session on how multi-levelled collaboration can drive social change.  We picked a very complex social issue – Poverty – and charged participants to think of solutions to the various causes and effects of poverty.  The idea was to generate a shared value experience by looking at poverty through a cause and effect lens.  By having multiple stakeholders look at the issue – government, private sector and individuals – we could, in essence, develop marketable strategies that could be implemented.

My career has been shaped in the charitable sector. It spans two countries, several sub-sectors and a lot of fundraising time. When I decided to launch my own company it was at the begining of the formal social enterprise discussion in the States. I realized early on that what the charities value as their business and revenue models is not what the traditional markets value.  This seems obvious, when charities talk about their business, they talk about the lives that they have saved and how they do it on so few dollars.  When companies talk about their business, they talk about profit and commodities and consumers.  So it was with great interest that I read this past week's issue of the Globe & Mail on renaming the sector from non-profit to Social Profit.

There have been a few blog posts about Steve Jobs' and his limited role in charity work. I would like to challenge these claims, not because I knew him personally, or because we were involved in the same projects. Rather, I suggest, the very culture of Apple was one that was striving towards stronger communities, by virtue of how he approached innovation and social interaction with technology. Read more »

Yup, you read that correctly, I am exploring an ideation space. I'm calling this space My Tickle Trunk.  Thank you Canadian children's show icon - Mr. Dressup! Read more »

Attached you will find a copy of the G8 Young Business Joint Declaration encouraing our countries' leaders to support, invest and encourage economic growth through the entrepreneurship of young business owners.

 

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Over the past 24 hours the term innovation has been bantered about without clear definition.  Depending on who you ask at you will get the following feedback on what innovation means to them:

• Access to new knowledge
• Access to new markets
• Access to new suppliers

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Calgary, Alberta - Two of Calgary's emerging entrepreneurs will be joining a delegation of 10 other Canadian business owners at the inaugural Young Entrepreneur G8 Summit (YE G8) in Stresa, Italy. Gena Rotstein, Founder and Philanthropic Advisor, Dexterity Consulting and Derek Major, CEO of Eligeo IT, are bucking the trends of our current global economy - these two business owners have set high, yet achievable goals for their businesses, and are well on their way to meeting those objectives.

What makes these two individuals unique? Read more »

 

This is the Chinese word for crisis - weiji.  Many new-agers believe that it is made up of two characters - danger and opportunity.  In reading an essay entitled, "Danger + Opportunity≠ Crisis" by Victor H. Mair, professor of Chinese language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania, with contributions from Denis Mair and Zhang Liqing, I learned that this is not the case.  According to Dr. Mair, the second character means incipient moment or crucial point.  As I interperate it further - it is a time in space for change to occur.

We are facing this time of Ji.  A time where as society, we have choices we can make that will further entrench us in our crisis - social, environmental, financial, etc. or choices that can elevate us out of these situations thereby "saving our neck."  It is in the latter that I see the opportunity of the Ji.

A friend of mine - Chris Hsiung, has created his business helping individuals reshape their businesses and themselves by looking at the crisis points of the human venture and shifting the thought process.  In a recent posting on his blog, Chris points out as humans we can justify anything even if it contradicts who we are as an individual. 

When we are looking at crisis management, whether it is addressing funding issues as a result of Madoff or a national stimulus package as reiterated by Obama in his speech to Congress last night, we can either choose to keep ourselves in the boxes that we have self-defined.  Or we can choose to take this JI and flip it over, turn it inside and come up with a new paradigm.

What is this new paradigm?

We can no longer depend on the traditional models that ran society, because in front of our eyes, those models are falling apart.  The people and institutions that we held as pillars are crumbling.  Many people are talking and writing about the social shifts.  The impact that Twitter is having through its Twestivals.  Or the business models that are being tested by social entrepreneurs.  Or, the new ways that people are seeking out venture capital. 

So, unlike what Victor Mair states that ji is not opportunity.  I believe that the space that surrounds ji is definitely one for opportunity.  It just depends on how we chose to use it.

Kickback: A remarkable new law reveals how you get what you want by putting others first by Robert Urbanowsk

This book was promoted at the AFP National Philanthropy Day luncheon in Calgary, Alberta in November 2008.

 

CauseWired: Plugging In, Getting Involved, Changing the World by Tom Watson

I have had this book sitting on my shelf for about a month.  It was on the holiday reading list but was pushed aside for other catching up's.  Sean Stannard-Stockton whom I have referenced in previous blog posts recently wrote a review on the book on his blog: Tactical Philanthropy.

Daniel Segal spoke at the Calgary Jewish Community Centre last week about micro-philanthropy and how to talk to your children about social impact.  His presentation, while jumping all over the map, had one key message - DUH!  Seriously, DUH, was the message.  He has worked with children and teens for the majority of his career and it is this age-group that is quick to identify opportunities, and it is the older generation that is quick to say, but will it really make a difference...

When interviewing parents, he asked them what do they want their children to accomplish.  They answered the following - be good citizens, be happy, be successful, be respected.  What did the kids say they thought their parents wanted them to achieve?  GET GOOD GRADES.  As a society we are missing something when our message is not getting translated down.  What is one way to clarify the message - let our actions lead.  If we start to model behaviours, such as citizenship and respect, our children will understand what we want from them. 

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com.

What does this have to do with micro-philanthropy?

Definition - "... is a model of philanthropy that is based on smaller, more direct interaction between "helpers" and "doers." Because of this finer level of granularity, it provides greater potential for feedback. It uses the definition of philanthropy as "love of humanity", which is broader than just charity or donating money. This opens up a broader range of activities such as volunteering, emergency response activities, mentoring, and many other patterns of uplift." (Wikipedia)

Going into a nursing home once a week with our children and visiting the elderly is a form of micro-philanthropy.  Taking an afternoon to go to the animal shelter to walk the dogs is a form of micro-philanthropy.  Taking your own pet into a nursing home and seeing how the residents respond is micro-philanthropy.  It is the little acts, that are direct between the doer and the recipient that can teach our children that we expect more from them than just getting good grades.

On Canada Day 2007 I wrote a posting on another blog about what we have in common as Canadians.  Pursuit of happiness was the topic.  As we look at what it means to be happy, actions around micro-philanthropy can help us achieve that emotion.  The look that spreads across the face of a person who is bed-ridden due to illness when the Art a la Carte volunteers enter their room with a new painting and time to visit, is so uplifting.  This was one woman's initiative to do something for those who were suffering due to cancer.  It is based on research showing that people heal faster when they are surrounded by things that MAKE THEM HAPPY.  What more can one say, if we can share happiness is this not a way to teach happiness?  If we can teach happiness will we not, as parents, have accomplished the task of modeling behaviour.

The beauty about this type of philanthropy is that ANYONE of ANY AGE can do it.  If you need ideas, drop me a line.  If you have ideas, drop me a line.  If you are in need of people to help you achieve your mission and purpose, drop me a line.

These little steps can make huge differences in our communities.