charity

Guest blogger: Meghan Somers, Social Media and Marketing Coordinator at The Agency.  The Agency provides the marketing and PR support for Dexterity Consulting and Place2Give.

We often call Place2Give.com the eHarmony of charities. Then we get the inevitable follow up question: what do you mean by that? In honor of Valentine’s Day we thought we would share the Place2Give.com story and the rationale behind the claim that we are the eHarmony/dating website for charities.

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This is the 1cent post.

I was thinking about how the little penny can do so much when combined with a bunch of other pennies.  Leveraging.  It's what strategic donors want to see happen when they invest their charitable dollars.

And along came Andrew & Sarah Sheperd and their mom Karen.  Andrew and Sarah are kids who were inspired by We Day that occurred in Calgary a few months ago.  Within days of returning home, Sarah had recruited her brother and a group of their friends to solve a water and sanitation problem in Ngosauni, Kenya.  They designed a website to tell the story and through the power of their social network have been actively raising... PENNIES.  Yup, those little copper coins (that aren't really copper).  Their goal - 1Million pennies or $10,000.  And they are well on their way.

By linking their networks to other networks and encouraging people to open their wallets of their loose change these two young philanthropists and social change agents are changing the lives of children and their families on the other side of the world.

Got a Penny is more than fundraising for a cause.  It is a movement.  Care to join?

This morning Seth Godin wrote about the charter that non-profits have to be innovators.  It is timely that this post came out; just yesterday I was chatting with a couple community investment professionals (one energy company and one media company) about their role as funders in the social innovation space and what failure looks like to them when charities cannot or are unable to deliver on what they received funding for. Read more »

I had the wonderful opportunity to witness grassroots philanthropy  in action this weekend.  And it was fun!  Thank you to Megan Szanik and the team at Espy for such a wonderful afternoon at the #NakedEspy event in support of Prostate Cancer research and support services.  The short of it – guys raise $100 and they get $500 worth of clothing provided by Fidelity Jeans and Designal.  They were also styled by Espy Stylists – (see photos below of two the best in the city: Clark Whetstone and Jinan).  Joining the festivities were some of the YYC Food Trucks, CTV anchor Camilla de Giuseppe, Molson, and Limitless.

On July 24th I am presenting at the Rotary Club of Calgary Crowchild about my vision for my life, my community, my company and what I am doing to make it a reality.  I have decided to focus it on how I set goals for my business and where the inspiration came for Place2Give.  The presentation above highlights my professional journey and different events in my life that have shaped how I make decisions, what my expectations are for myself and those around me, and why setting the BHAG of positively influencing $1Billion of charitable transactions by 2016 is not only in reach, and planned for, but something that has been a decade in the making.

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I was recently at a Calgary+Acumen Fund event where CAWST presented on social impact investing and measuring performance of an organization.  It was a great conversation, in large part, because here was a charity that was advocating for stronger evaluation metrics before donors make charitable contributions.

When an individual evaluates a company before s/he invests there are several things that are evaluated:

• Leadership
• Financial stability
• Product
• Opportunity for financial gain
• Future plans and growth opportunities (new markets)
• Competitive landscape
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Slaktivism is a term that started appearing around the mid-'90's and is used to describe those who seek social change, but with minimum energy output. Or better said - people with a conscious who also know how to mobilize technology and social networks to make signficiant change.

I recently joined a group of Calgary’s thought leaders and social entrepreneurs in a workshop discussion on Collective Impact hosted by the Innovation UnSchool in partnership with the Innovation Exchange (IXYYC).

For years we have been talking about how charities need to collaborate more, and how funders need to fund organizations that work co-operatively towards meaningful social change, so the idea of collective impact shouldn’t be a surprise.  But it is... for many.  This idea takes collaboration to a whole new level – by bringing together organizations who, independently are striving to make shifts in complex social issues, but when mixed together with policy makers and funders, can actually move the needle forward.

This past weekend I was part of a facilitation team taking a group of individuals and organizations through a course on starting a social enterprise.  The workshop was hosted by Canada Bridges and there were about 25 individuals ranging in age, ethnicity, and most especially in the ideas that they felt they could get to market that would make meaningful social change. Read more »

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

If I am only for myself, what am I?

And, if not now, when?”  –Hillel

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