Have Fun • Do Good

Midlife Food Crisis: What Is Your Food Story?

2009-11-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

I've been having a little bit of a midlife food crisis. Ever since I saw Alicia Silverstone on The Joy Behar Show talking about her new book The Kind Diet, there has been this little voice in my head bugging me each time I'm choosing what to eat that says, "Eat less animal products."

You have to understand, I was a vegetarian, and then a vegan for most of my twenties, and then a full on meat eater in my 30s (Thought: maybe my body likes different diets for different decades?). We don't cook a lot of meat at home, but I do love milk and eggs, and once in a while, a good hamburger.

You can see why I'm feeling a little confused.

Anyway, I've been eating a lot less animal products lately, and have been cooking up a storm with my Veganomicon (I recently made her chili cornmeal-crusted tofu, which was delish), and my How It All Vegan and The Garden of Vegan. I'm being flexible in social situations, or when eating out, and just seeing how it goes, and how I feel.

If any movie was going to convince you to become at least a vegetarian it is Food Inc., which I watched this weekend, and highly recommend. I've included the trailer below to give you a taste.

So tell me, how do you make the food choices you make, whether it is to be a meat eater, a vegetarian, a vegan, a flexitarian, or whatever? I'd love to hear your stories.

Come On, U.S., Give the Kids Their Rights

2009-11-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

November 20, 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). According to UNICEF, "The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights."

Only two United Nations member states have not ratified it: Somalia and the United States.

Did you just say, "What?" Yeah, me too.

I'm not entirely sure why the U.S. hasn't ratified the Convention. It seems like a no-brainer. According to The Huffington Post article, Obama Administration Seeks To Join U.N. Rights Of The Child Convention, "[O]pponents in the U.S. have long argued that it could open the door to outside interference from government and U.N. officials in what they say are parents' rights to raise a child as they see fit."

I know the Obama Administration has a ton on its plate right now, but I mean, come on--it's children's rights: things like non-discrimination, protection from abuse, and protection for children without families, refugee children, and children with disabilities. Do we really need to think hard about this one?

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has launched an online petition urging President Obama and the U.S. Congress to ratify the agreement. Amnesty International also has a sample letter template you can send to your Senator, and has created an unofficial summary of the 42 main provisions of the Convention for you to peruse.

If you know of a good reason why we shouldn't ratify this let me know, 'cause I can't think of one.

Related blogs:

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.
Full disclosure: I have donated to Amnesty International and UNICEF.

children
rights

People Powered Movement Photo Contest

2009-11-04T14:09:00.000-08:00

I'm a big walker. Because of where we live, I can walk to the grocery store, drug store, post office, gym, library, doctor's office, and the BART, which will take me into San Francisco, where I can walk some more.

Consequently, I was pretty excited when the Alliance for Biking and Walking asked me to spread the word about their People Powered Movement Photo Contest.

The Alliance for Biking and Walking creates, strengthens, and unites state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations. One resource its member organizations have requested is high quality images of biking and walking to use in their communications.

In response, the Alliance is holding a People Powered Movement Photo Contest. The contest will help them build a biking and walking advocacy photo library that will provide free, high quality images of biking and walking to Alliance member organizations.

Anyone can submit up to 20 images in 7 categories (biking, walking, biking and walking, complete streets, advocates in action, youth, or inspirational) for a chance to win an all-expense paid bike trip to Tuscany, and a year's supply of Clif Bars.

The two runners-up will win a Breezer Uptown 8, or a Dahon folding commuter. There are also first, second, and third place prizes in each of the seven categories. The winning images will be published in the 2010 March/April issue of Momentum Magazine. The deadline to submit your photo(s) is November 31, 2009.

Check out the cute video below for photo ideas and inspiration:

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

bike
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advocacy
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Turn Your Book Club Into a Social Action Club with Kristof and WuDunn's Half the Sky

2009-10-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, "lays out an agenda for the world's women and three major abuses: sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence including honor killings and mass rape; maternal mortality, which needlessly claims one woman a minute."

Even though Kristof and WuDunn focus on solutions as well as problems around these issues, reading about them might feel overwhelming. Why not transform that overwhelm into action by registering your book club with the Mercy Corps Half the Sky Book Club?

You'll receive discussion questions from Kristof and WuDunn, handmade bookmarks from India, and updates on Half the Sky news and events. Plus, the book club that, "compiles the most impressive record of activism by June 15, 2010 will receive a visit and discussion session with Kristof and WuDunn."

Here's how it works:

Go to One Table, a Mercy Corps campaign to fight hunger by investing in women.
Fill out the registration form for your book club.
Read the book!
Host an event to discuss the book and raise funds and awareness for Mercy Corps programs that help women around the world.

Even if you don't belong to a book club, you can still get together a group of 6-10 friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, or online pals to read the book and take some kind of action together.

Update: Here's a resource I learned about after the post was published, EngenderHealth’s online Reader’s Companion for Half The Sky.

Related posts

Aid Group Taps Book Clubs to Help Raise Money and Awareness by Caroline Preston on philanthropy.com.
Mercy Corps, Nicholas Kristof Encourage Book Clubs To Fundraise And Get Active on the Huffington Post.
Book Club Activists Unite! by Linda Mason on The Huffington Post.
Holding Up Half the Sky by Joanne Bamberger on BlogHer.
Book Report: Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn by Tammy Oler on tammyoler.com.

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

Nicholas Kristof
Sheryl WuDunn
women
Mercy Corps
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Have Fun Do Good Link Love: Echoing Green, Jobs for Change, Julia Cameron and 29 Gifts

2009-10-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

NEWS

This week, Echoing Green partnered with Jobs for Change on a new Be Bold Podcast. In the first edition of this partnership, I interviewed Erin O'Connor Jones, the Director of Candidate Services and Managing Associate at Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group.

I talked with Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way, this month for the Arts and Healing Network's podcast:

The Artist's Way Every Day: A Chat with author, Julia Cameron

I have 3 new posts up on the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship blog:

And 2 interviews on The Extraordinaries blog:

And 6 news posts on the WE Volunteer blog:

Whew! It's been a been a busy few weeks!

LINK LOVE

Bay Area folks, join me November 15th for Jennifer Lee's Right-Brain Business Plan Workshop in Oakland. Early registration deadline is Nov. 1st.

Green Blogger Convention To Kick Off In Los Angeles Next Month on Ecorazzi.

Interesting WorldChanging post, Just Launched: Journal of Participatory Medicine.

We Inspire Grant: One year of creative services to one U.S. nonprofit (valued up to $75,000).

If you missed my friend Cami Walker of 29 Gifts on the Today Show, you can watch it online. Bay Area folks can go to the 29 Gifts book launch party in San Francisco November 14th.

19 Free Webinars for Nonprofits - November 2009 on Wild Apricot Blog.

10 Tips for an Effective Nonprofit or Do-Good Facebook Fan Page by Beth Kanter on BlogHer.

7 Tips for Measuring the Success of Your Blog on Beth's Blog

Create a Listening Dashboard for your Organization on NetSquared.

20 Twitter Hashtags for Social Entrepreneurs, Nonprofits and Activists on SocialEarth.

THE BIG LIST of social entrepreneurs on Twitter.

Connecting Creative Women Entrepreneurs

2009-10-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Lee, Kimberly Wilson, Lisa Sonora Beam and I were on a call the other day talking about how fun it would be to put together an event for creative women entrepreneurs to connect, create, and learn together. We came up with our own description of what an event like that would look like, but we want to hear your thoughts and opinions, too.

We put together a six-question survey to find out what your ideal creative women entrepreneur event would look like. By providing your feedback, you can enter in a raffle to be one of four winners to receive either a half hour of social media consulting with me, a copy of the Right Brain Business Plan e-Book by Jennifer, a copy of The Creative Entrepreneur by Lisa, or a copy of Hip Tranquil Chick by Kimberly.

Click here to take the survey by November 16.

Thanks so much for your input! We’ll be designing an experience that caters to you, and is what we wish we had along our journeys. That’s why we’re excited to create it!

entrepreneur
creativity
women
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Love Animals? 9 Animal Rights Organization Blogs for Your Weekend Reading

2009-10-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's the fact that I've been spending a lot of time with our cat this week, or because I've been trying out a bunch of recipes from my Veganomicon cookbook, but I've been thinking a lot about animals lately.

Do we want a second pet? Would I enjoy being a vegetarian, or vegan again? How long will polar bears be around?

While mulling these questions, I surfed through a variety of animal rights organizations' blogs thanks to Stephanie Ernst's post, Major Players in Animal Rights: Organizations, on the Change.org's Animal Rights Blog.

Thought I'd share some of the blogs that caught my eye with all of you fellow animal lovers (:

• ASPCA Blog
• Born Free USA Blog
• Gene Baur's Bloggings, President and Co-founder of Farm Sanctuary's blog
• Lib Now!, the Institute for Critical Animal Studies blog
• MFA Blog, Mercy for Animals blog
• The PETA Files
• Sanctuary Trails, the Farm Sanctuary blog
• The Vegetarian Resource Group Blog
• Wayne Pacelle: A Humane Nation, President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States' blog

Photos by me. Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

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5 Tips for Finding Time to Cook

2009-10-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of The New York Times Magazine article last weekend about Jamie Oliver, Putting America's Diet on a Diet, was when after Oliver made Mini Shell Pasta With a Creamy Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce for his two daughters and the article's author, Alex Witchel observed:

"He [Oliver] is not a diet cop; he’s about scratch cooking, which to him means avoiding processed and fast food, learning pride of ownership, encouraging sparks of creativity and finding a reason to gather family and friends in one place."

I just love that sentiment, that eating "healthy" is less about what you are eating (i.e. organic, carbs, no carbs, meat, no meat, fat, no fat, etc.), but about eating "scratch cooking" with other people.

I love to cook. If I have time to cook dinner, I know that my day is just the right amount of busy. Today was one of those days. Although neither my husband and I are vegans (I was one a long time ago), I still like vegan cookbooks. Inspired by a Joy Behar interview last week with Alicia Silverstone about her book, The Kind Diet (Behar's face while tasting the vegan food Alicia brought was hilarious), and by this month being VeganMoFo's Vegan Month of Food, I thought I'd try a few new recipes from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero, a birthday gift from my in-laws this year.

I made three dishes (pictured above) A Hummus Recipe, Corn and Edamame-Sesame Salad, and Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies. The cookies were of course my favorite because I have a crazy sweet tooth.

Finding time to go grocery shopping and cook can be tough. Some weeks are easier than others. A few things I do to find time and motivation to cook are:

1. Plan when I am going to shop and cook. Just like you have to plan when you're going to make time to exercise, you have to do the same with shopping and cooking. I try to go shopping twice a week, once on the weekend and once mid-week.

2. Pick recipes, or foods that sound fun to make. I'm a recipe person myself and part of the reason I like making new recipes is that it feels like you get a surprise at the end--How will it taste? What will it look like? Will this be my newest favorite dish? I own a lot of cookbooks, but I also get them out from the library, ask friends for recipes, and search for new recipes on epicurious and Food Network.

If you aren't a recipe person, pick a food (Epicurious has a Peak-Season Map where you can see what foods are in season near you) that sounds fun to build a dish around.

3. Keep my grocery list in my phone. My favorite iPhone application right now is Grocery iQ. Every time I notice we need something I just add it to my list on Grocery iQ, that way if I find myself unexpectedly near a store I can grab a few things.

4. Always have the fixings on hand for one dish that doesn't use perishable ingredients. I found the recipe for Midnight Pasta with Tuna, Pancetta and Spinach in a Food & Wine Magazine stuffed in the front pocket of a plane seat over five years ago. It has become one of my standbys because it's easy to keep the ingredients for it on hand: spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, pancetta or bacon (I use Morningstar Farms Veggie Bacon Strips, which keep in the freezer for a long time), crushed red pepper, frozen chopped spinach, oil-packed tuna, white wine, and salt.

5. Make food for friends. When it's just my husband and me, or just one of us at home, we sometimes get lazy with cooking, but if we have people over it motivates us to cook. You can organize a meal swap with friends if you don't like to eat the same leftovers for days afterwards, and sites like MealBaby make it easy to organize meals for a sick friend, and might motivate you to make dinner for them, and you at the same time.

Below are links to some of the cookbooks I turn to again and again. What are some of your favs?

Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson
Pretty much anything by the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten
Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons by Nava Atlas
How it All Vegan! by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard
The Garden of Vegan by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard
Debra's Natural Gourmet Cookbook by Debra Stark

home cooking
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Why Women Are the Market for Changing the World, and How to Reach Them: Interview with The She Spot co-author, Lisa Witter

2009-10-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

If you are in charge of communications for your nonprofit or NGO, I recommend you read The She Spot: Why Women Are the Market for Changing the World, and How to Reach Them by Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen. In the edited transcript of my September 1st interview with co-author Lisa Witter for the Big Vision Podcast, she discusses how nonprofits can use four principles from the book, Care, Connect, Control, and Cultivate to get the word out about their cause.

Lisa is the Chief Operating Officer of Fenton Communications, the largest public interest communications firm in the country. She heads the firm’s practice in women’s issues and global affairs for clients including Women for Women International, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai, MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Global Fund for Women, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, David and Lucille Packard Foundation and many others. She is a co-founder of the award-winning SheSource.org, an online brain trust of women experts designed to close the gender gap among commentators in the news media.

Our conversation began with Lisa talking about why she and co-author Lisa Chen wrote The She Spot: Why Women are the Market for Changing the World, and How to Reach Them.

Lisa Witter: Over the years, Lisa and I, we've been working together for more than nine years, really have had an opportunity to look at how philanthropy is changing and the role that women are playing in society. And we've done that through working with a lot of "women's issues" clients. I'm not really sure what women's issues are, besides breast cancer and ovarian cancer, but you know what I mean when I say it. And we found out that a lot of organizations would come in and they would talk about their target audience as a monolithic gender. We knew that the trends were showing that women give more, women are engaged more, women vote more, women are twice as likely to pass on information, and women make 83 percent of the consumer decisions. So,we just knew that if you wanted to make social change, you had to understand how to connect with women and how to motivate women.

Yet, the NGOs that we were working with didn't understand that at all. They thought, men and women, sort of the same. We would see them do things like put pink marketing campaigns together, but we knew that that wouldn't work for a certain amount of women. So we decided to look at what the private sector had learned, and layer that on top of the social-change sector.

Britt Bravo: In the book you advise nonprofits and political campaigns to use the rule of the four Cs to reach women. I'd love to talk about each of those Cs. The first C is care. Can you talk about what you mean by care, and some examples of organizations that have used this concept of care effectively?

Yes. The four Cs are the critical piece to the book. The first part of what we were trying to talk about in the book is making the case for why women should be your target audience. Like I said, we have more money, we vote more, we are engaged more in volunteerism. In fact, the prototype of what a volunteer is, is a working mother, right? Women are engaged in their community. They're giving, they're voting, they're super-powerful, and they're making consumer decisions. Now that we've made the argument that you should pay attention to women, how do you reach them? How do you move them?

The four Cs are Care, Connect, Control, and Cultivate. Care is pretty easy. Care is the first, easiest one. I think it's the one that organizations get most instinctively.

The first part of care is to put a face on your organization. Just don't have it be some organization online where you see graphics of bar charts and research reports, but not real human beings. MoveOn.org was one of the first organizations that really pioneered this with technology. When you get an email from MoveOn.org, it's from a human being. So, it would be from Joan, Wes, and Eli, or from Adam and Ilyse. Real people were behind the organization. And that's really important. Women want to be engaged in something where real people are at.

The next is to keep it simple, but keep it real. They want to cut to the chase. They're busy. Use real examples of real people. That's critical with women. They want to hear stories of people that look just like them. Women are more skeptical of advertising than men are because they feel like someone's trying to get one up on them, and so they want to know that real people are engaged in an organization, and that they're hearing real-life stories.

The next is sort of counter intuitive. I think a lot of people think that if you talk to women, all you have to do is show the cute little fuzzy puppy in the corner and they'll give money. That's not true, actually. Women really want the details of an organization. They want to be able to go online and find out what the organization is doing, how their budgets are run, who's involved in the background, and what legislation they're passing. They're really the tougher customer than when it comes to men.

With women, you want to appeal to people's sense of group affiliation. It may be a mom group affiliation. It may be an environmentalist group affiliation. It may be animal rights. But this sense of creating a collective community is more important to women than it is men. It's just natural in our brains, if you look at the brain science and everything around that, women want to build community.

And the last thing with care is something that people forget a lot about with women. When we wrote the book, Borat was out, the movie that sort of typifies schadenfreude. People were saying to me, "Lisa, did you see Borat?" And I said, "No, I didn't. I don't find it funny." And they'd said, "Well, lighten up! It's really funny." And I would say, "I don't think it's funny."

Well, that's because women have a different sense of what humor is. Women don't think making fun of other people is funny. That's not what we think is funny. What we do think is funny is making fun of ourselves, or finding things tongue-in-cheeky, or just other types of humor.

I think it's important, even though we're working on really serious issues, to use humor as much as possible. Not many groups do it. A while ago, a video came out online called The Meatrix which used flying animals to defend mass production of meat and promote vegetarianism. That sort of humor is really important to women.

Now, the second C is connect. Can you talk about what you mean by that? And is that connecting online? Offline? What's an organization that's using it well to get their message across?

Connect is really the advantage of what women bring. Women do connect. They want to connect. They're using social networking more than men and they instinctually connect more. Again, it goes back to our brain science. The reason why we were able to write this book in a new way is because for the first time we actually have brain science that tells us the difference between men and women.

We know for a fact that there are major differences, and what the ramifications are in our marketing. Women truly value community connection, and so if you can connect women to one another you deepen their brand loyalty to you. That's super important.

When you connect people by harnessing their collective creativity, that's really important. So, how do you get ideas from people, and how do people share information? That's really important.

One organization that does this I think better than any organization I've seen is Women For Women International. Women for Women International is an organization that helps survivors of war rebuild their lives, and more than just rebuild their own lives, they rebuild countries by rebuilding their own lives.

They have a sponsorship program where I'm a sister. Britt, I believe you're a sister, too.

I am.

We write letters back and forth to one another. I sponsor her for a low monthly fee, and we write letters back and forth to one another. We build deep connections. I learn about women in Rwanda, and they learn about my life. I ask parenting advice, and she asks me what it's like to go into an office every day. That sort of deep connection not only creates more satisfaction for the donor, but it creates deep brand loyalty to the organization, and that's one of the reasons why Women for Women has been so successful.

Everyone's so excited about social networking. Is there a [nonprofit] organization you've seen that uses online social networking effectively in connecting women online? Or is it just that everyone thinks that you can connect women online effectively, and it's not happening?

To be honest with you, I don't think people have figured it out quite yet. I think there are pieces here and there that people are using, things that pop up like MomsRising; for example, is an organization that does a lot of online organizing. But I don't think anyone's been able to really create a social networking experience, from an NGO perspective, that's really working, beyond the Obama campaign. The Obama campaign did it, but without calling out women as their target audience. They appealed to women in what they did, but they didn't call it a woman-to-woman campaign, and that's fine too.

I think that's important for marketers, that if you're going to reach women you don't necessarily need to run campaigns to say, "I'm going to reach women." Women will automatically be drawn to campaigns that connect people to one another.

That leads us to the third C, cultivate. What does that mean, cultivate, and what's an example of using cultivate for an effective campaign?

Well, cultivate is another C that is really distinct to women. One of the background stories in doing the research for the book was I was asking a political fundraiser friend of mine, "What's the experience like for you as a fundraiser in cultivating women donors versus men donors for political donations?" My woman fundraiser, who's a strong feminist, said to me, "Oh, I don't bother with women donors."

Wow.

I said, "Why?" She said, "It takes too long to cultivate them. For them to give that big check, they want to know too many details. They ask too many questions, and they want too much engagement. As a political fundraiser, I just want their money, and to get out."

Which is a really interesting observation if you think back on Hillary Clinton's fund-raising and Barack Obama's fund-raising. Hillary had a go-after-the-big-donor approach, and Obama had the build-the-big-donors-by-getting-lots-of-little-donors approach. That's really key for women.

When you're thinking about cultivating with women, you need to think long-term. You can't think small: three-month, four-month, six-month. You need to think in a four-year period, how do I take a woman who is going to ask more questions, who is maybe going to want to volunteer before they make an investment, who doesn't see fundraising as transactional, who sees fundraising as actually an investment in an organization?

You need to think long-term and create fundraising and activation programs for women that are deeper and meaningful. You just can't ask for her money. She wants her advice to be asked. She wants for her creativity to be tapped.

Again, it's more labor-intensive, but the thing is that once you get women on board, they're much more likely to be loyal to the organization. Again, that's where this long-term cultivation approach is really important.

Women actually care even more deeply where the money goes. They're looking at the details of what's being spent on program versus administration. We can go into a whole conversation about what's healthy or not healthy about that from a not-for-profit perspective, but you should know that that's what donors are looking for.

An organization called Room to Read is a great organization. You go to the front page of their website, and they show exactly how they're spending their money. That's what women donors are looking for.

You also want to be able to demonstrate your impact right away. That's where an organization like Kiva.org is a wonderful spot for women and really gets women marketing without saying. "We're pink, and we market to women."

You can go on and be a loan partner with another community, and give to a woman or a man that you can see who they are. You can see your impact with your donation, and your engagement right away. Kiva's a great example.

The next thing is you want to make her feel part of a group or a movement, again, something bigger than herself. The Innocence Project, again, very different, not an online organization at all. They're an organization that helps exonerate wrongly convicted people who are up for the death penalty through new DNA evidence.

They have a simple ticker on the top of their website that says, over the course of their existence how many people they have removed from death row. As a supporter of the Innocence Project, that makes me feel part of something bigger. That makes me feel like, "Wow. Through my engagement, through other people's engagement, we've really brought justice and saved these people's lives."

They can be little things, like putting a ticker on your website, to much bigger things, like developing an entire organization around some of these cultivation principles.

The fourth C is actually the one I found the most interesting, because it doesn't surprise me that women care, that they like to connect, that maybe they take a little while to cultivate. But this idea of control I thought was very interesting, and I just never would have thought of it. Can you talk about that last C, and this idea of control, and an example or two of some organizations or campaigns that have used it well?

Well, Britt, I love the control piece. Every time I talk about it, Lisa Chen and I start having Janet Jackson in our head. We can't help but want to sing the song. Maybe that dates us a little bit. But it's really true. This idea of control for women is so important in their lives. Why is that so? Well, lots of women don't feel like they have control, whether it be because they're a working mother, or a single mom, or they feel wage discrimination, or they're torn in so many directions because they're taking care of their parents.

Also, they care deeply about the planet. When they make a purchase, they're much more likely than men to be a consumer that looks for a beneficial product not only for their family, but for the world too. The notion is that they go through life feeling a bit out of control, and they want to know that what they're doing is having an impact.

What does that mean for a nonprofit? Well, I have two small children; two and five months. I read children's books a lot. One is The Little Engine That Could and the other is Chicken Little. What women are looking for is the Little Engine That Could message; the, "I think I can. I think I can. I have control. If I do these things, if I am engaged, I can see impact in my community."

It can't be so big like, "Save the Oceans." I can't even get my head around how to save the oceans, but I can save the swordfish and I want positive messaging. One of the things we know with the psychology of women, in my experience too, being the coach of little girls, is you coach girls and boys differently. Girls want that positive reinforcement. It's really critical to them. "The sky is falling. Oh, my God. The world is gonna end." That reminds women of the lack of control they have in their lives.

This positive approach to messaging is really important. CARE, an international development and relief organization, has an, "I Am Powerful" campaign, and it shows women being powerful and it shows them in control. That's what women donors are looking for.

Another piece that women, not just donors, but activists, and people engaged in social change, are looking for is a two-for-one. How can they incorporate making the world a better place into their day to day lives?

The Environmental Defense Fund came up with the two-for-one of a Seafood Selector card. We know that women do the majority of the shopping. We know that women care about food. And we also know that when they make a purchase, they want it to impact their family as well as the environment.

They put out these seafood cards, which you carry in your wallet, and you can pick which fish isn't being over fished, which fish has the lower mercury content, etc. That's the two-for-one engagement.

Another example of that is Heifer International. They provide people opportunities to buy a llama and give it as a gift to someone. Now, I'm in my mid 30's, and I swear I'm a professional wedding goer. I cannot get another one of my 30-year-old girlfriends a toaster. They don't need it.

What I do buy them is a flock of sheep, a swarm of bees, or a llama because it makes me feel good, it makes them feel good, and it makes the world a better place. Women in particular are looking for these two-for-one ways to have an impact.

You're the COO of Fenton Communications. I don't know if you know, but I also do career coaching and I can't tell you how many people want to use their business, marketing, and advertising skills for good, and you get to do that, which seems pretty special and amazing. Can you talk a little bit about the path that brought you to this work that I think so many people would love to have?

It is a privilege and an honor to do work that motivates me every day when I get up and work with extraordinary people both as clients and as colleagues. My path was a little untraditional. Not to go to far back, but when I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to help people. I was also a deeply competitive athlete. My nickname was "animal." I like to win. I went to church as a little girl and I was taught that you should give back. Service was key. I was a candy striper in an ER room. I helped sick people, and I realized that it was too painful for me to watch individuals suffering. I just wasn't tough enough, to be honest.

Then, I wanted to be a lawyer and I realized the legal system wasn't a place where I felt like I could have a lot of impact on individual people's lives. I interned for a public defender.

I thought, "Wow. Where can I have impact?" Well, if you put winning and helping people together, you get to politics pretty quickly. I spent the first five or six years of my career running political campaigns, being involved in ballot measures, and doing all sort of things.

Then, leading up to the Bush/Gore first election, I got recruited away from - I was Chief of Staff for a City Council member in Seattle. I really thought I was going to run for office, that my path would be to be an elected official.

I got recruited to run a campaign against the privatization of social security for 140 women's organizations, and I moved to Washington, I did grassroots organizing, I did television, and I did media. I did policy reports, and analysis and research.

I realized in my year internship in the political mecca that there were great researchers, there were great grassroots organizers, there were great fundraisers, but there weren't great communications people.

I decided that that's what I wanted to contribute was to try to make myself a great communications person so I could have impact.

When I moved to Washington, I was the only person I knew with a PalmPilot. I grew up in Seattle, so technology wasn't a new thing to me. Through the years, it's been really fun to grow my communication skills and see the role that communications play be even more front and center in the work that we do.

I'm an accidental person. I don't like PR, I don't like media relations - "Ugh, who wants to do that?" But then, I fell in love with the power of communications to make social changes.

What advice do you have for people who are listening, or who read about this on the blog if they are a communications and marketing person? I think you're right that in the past that's been relegated to not important, and not worth spending money on, within the nonprofit arena particularly. Now, it's gaining more and more importance. What advice do you have for folks who want to use those skills for good?

I think there are a number of things that you can do. I think that if they want to work in the field, meaning the NGO field, on your resume you have to show some sort of commitment; some deeper, personal commitment, not just a professional commitment to it. If that's joining a board, if that's volunteering, there are lots of different ways to show that. I think that they should follow the NGO trends and follow people like you who are doing really good work in the space. I think they may want to consider blogging about some of their experiences from the private sector to the nonprofit sector.

There's so much that we have to learn from the innovations that the private sector has been doing in marketing. I think there's great transitions to be made for those people.

The She Spot came out in the summer of '08. So, it would've been written before that, really before we hit the super seriousness of this economic climate. Has the advice that you give in the book changed? How would you tell nonprofits, in terms of marketing, how they can reach women and men to raise money in this kind of climate? How should they be framing their marketing and their outreach?

Well, it's a great question, Britt. A good example is Women Moving Millions which is an initiative by the Women's Funding Network to bring forth million dollar donors to invest in women and girls. They set out a goal to raise, I believe it was $135 million dollars, through million dollar, or more women's gifts.

They, even through the recession, beat their fundraising goals by nearly more than, I believe $40 million dollars. What that says to me is, "We see that women are deeply committed to philanthropy".

Women in particular, like to give to those who need it most. If you are at an organization serving the basic needs of people, this is your time to do cultivation of women donors, and to work with women donors, because that is what appeals to them, the critical needs of people.

There is a real opportunity for you to cultivate new donors and to dig deeper with donors, even if their pocketbooks have been hit. They understand the need to give to people when they need it most.

In general, using these principles is going to help anyone at anytime. I really do not see NGO's being as sophisticated about understanding women donors, or even identifying women as key to their membership and advocacy drives as they should. I think part of that is people just not recognizing the power that women have in society right now.

I think part of that is people being scared about the power that women may have in society, and fears that it will sort of backlash in the other direction. And I think that there is this deeper down thing in us a that if we recognize women as different, somehow that means that women aren't equal.

That's not at all what we're saying with The She Spot. What we're saying is that men and women are different. We celebrate that. Not every woman is different in the same way. We have our cultural differences. We have our sexual preference differences. We have our sexual identities. We have our ages. There are lots of things, even within the women bubble.

For example, there are lots of things about me that people would consider male traits. Anyone named "Animal" is a pretty tough competitor. There are things that are different between us, and I want us to celebrate that. I want us to know the differences, and really take advantage of that for the issues we care about.

Twenty percent of the profits from The She Spot go to two organizations that you mentioned earlier, Women for Women International and MomsRising.org. So, that's a good motivation for folks to pick up a copy of the book. There are so many great organizations out there. How come you chose these two?

Well, there are so many reasons why. One, we felt that giving some of our money back was just appropriate and we wanted to lead by example of giving. It is an honor to give to both of them. Women for Women, one, because I think the work that they do is so ground-breaking and smart, and in the spirit of The She Spot. Als,o Zainab Salbi, their founder and president, cares about me. We're friends and she has taken an interest in the work that I do, and even invited me to travel with her in Rwanda and experience the program there.

So much about life is about relationships and authenticity, and the authenticity of how she goes through the world is so important to me. I wanted to give back to her, and do in other ways.

MomsRising, the same thing. I think what Joan Blades has done with MoveOn.org, and then understanding the importance of marketing to women during life cycles. One of the things we talk about is the importance of reaching women in different life cycle changes.

Motherhood is one of the biggest life cycle changes that we go through, if we decide to have children. Eighty percent of women do. It's not something that I say, that every women should be a mom, but if you are going to be a mom, it's an important opportunity for us to engage mothers in social change.

They are doing great innovative work and great online organizing, and I have deep respect. Joan Blades has been a personal friend, and supporter, and caretaker of my dreams. I like to support people who are authentic like that.

Finally, is there just anything else that you didn't get to talk about? About your work, The She Spot, the power of women to change the world?

Well, Britt, I know that you have a special interest and expertise and secret sauce in technology. One of my passions is, "How do you utilize technology to improve the world, and really bring out the best in human beings?" Allison Fine, who is a great author and speaker on social innovation and technology, gave us a quote for the book about how email doesn't have a burka, and how computers aren't feminist. A computer doesn't discriminate against you if you're a women.

My point is, now is women's time to use technology. More women are online. More women are blogging. More women are doing online gaming. More women are doing social networking. It's really our time as people who are trying to ignite and develop social change campaigns to realize and break that old barrier in our mind that technology is a man's tool. It's not.

When we unleash new types of thinking for engaging people in authentic ways that are not top down, that are really wisdom of crowds, I really believe we'll see breakthroughs in the social change that we want to see. I appreciate your being one of the leaders in the field.

Awww, thanks. Well thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me. The book is fantastic. You are doing great work with Fenton, and so I really appreciate you sharing your wisdom with the Big Vision podcast listeners and the people who will read the transcript.

I encourage people to go to SheSpotter.com and engage. If you see examples of organizations that are doing this well, who are using a principle or some of the principles, let us know. We want to work with the community to call out people who are doing well. We have some plans coming up for a potential SheSpotter Conference and perhaps even some SheSpotter awards in 2010.

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

women
activism
philanthropy
nonprofit
volunteerism
marketing
social change

My Blog Action Day Post: Climate Change and Poverty

2009-10-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

Even though tomorrow, October 15th, is Blog Action Day, an annual event when bloggers write about the same issue on the same day, today is the best day for me to put up my post, so here it goes! I figure it's already October 15th in some parts of the world, so it's ok (:

This year's Blog Action Day issue is climate change. Personally, I'm interested in the connection between climate change and poverty.

According to the Carbonfund.org post, Report Shows Poverty Linked to Climate Change:

"A study, published in an August issue of Environmental Research Letters, has shown that climate change will have a disproportionate impact on the world’s poor, pushing them further into poverty. The study examined the potential economic impact of adverse climate events, such as heat waves, drought and heavy rains on households in developing countries."

The humanitarian organization, CARE, has a whole Climate Change Information Center microsite at www.careclimatechange.org. According to the site, the people CARE works with are telling them that climate change is already causing:

More people to suffer from hunger;
More people to live without access to adequate water;
An increase in health threats;
A decline in the productivity of natural resource based livelihoods; and
An increase in the frequency, scale and intensity of conflicts over natural resources.

Oxfam International also has a climate change campaign, and a Climate Change blog.

Oxfam America wants supporters to send an email to President Obama asking him to, "make the US a leader [during the United Nations Climate Change Conference] in crafting an equitable global treaty that provides substantial financing for poor and vulnerable communities to adapt to climate change." Oxfam UK is asking its supporters to send similar emails to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

I have to tell you that reading about this stuff makes me feel a bit discouraged, but I was heartened to find the post, The next urban crisis: poverty and climate change on the World Bank's Development in a Changing Climate blog, that mentions the launch of the Rockefeller Foundation's Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network.

The Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network, "aims to catalyze attention, funding, and action on building climate change resilience for poor and vulnerable people by creating robust models and methodologies for assessing and addressing risk through active engagement and analysis of various cities."

What other projects and innovations have you heard about that are being developed to help poor people who will be, and are affected by climate change?

You can still sign up to participate in Blog Action Day on blogactionday.org, and follow their latest news on the Blog Action Day blog.

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

Blog Action Day
climate change
poverty

10 Elements of an Effective Nonprofit or Do-Good Blog

2009-10-10T07:02:00.000-07:00

If after asking yourself the 10 Questions to Get You Started Using Social Media for Your Nonprofit or Do-Good Project, you've decided that a blog is good tool for you, consider incorporating the following 10 elements of an effective nonprofit, or do-good blog into your blogging strategy:

1. Make it easy to subscribe

Have an rss feed.
Allow email subscription (Feedburner or Feedblitz will help you do this).
Put a prompt to subscribe by rss and email at the top of your blog.

2. Make it easy to share

Use an AddThis or ShareThis button on the bottom of each post.
Place an AddThis or ShareThis button on the top of the blog.
If you are using Facebook, share your blog's feed in your Facebook news feed with the Notes application.
If you are using Twitter, share links to new blog posts (you can shorten the urls with bit.ly).

3. Make it easy to put faces and names to blog posts

Posts should say, by your name, not by admin, or by the name of your organization.
Provide a link to a page with bios for bloggers. If your blogging platform doesn't allow you to do that, have bloggers include a one-line bio at the end of their posts.

4. Make it easy to find out more information about your organization, or project

If your blog has its own website, separate from you organization or project's website, create an "About Us" page for your blog that describes the mission of your organization or project, and links back to its home page.
If your blog is integrated into your main website, make sure it is easy to navigate back and forth between the blog and your home page.

5. Make it easy to skim, but irresistible read

Use images with every post.
Write titles that tell the reader whether or not the post has information that is relevant to them.
Use bold, italics, bullets and numbered lists to break up the page.
Don't be afraid of white space.
Keep it short. People read between 250-300 words per minute.

6. Link to other bloggers

Use Google Blog Search, Alltop and Technorati to find blogs that write about similar topics to yours.
Have a "blogroll," a list of blogs that write about your issue.
Link to other blogs' posts within your posts, even if they have a different opinion to yours, it could start a great discussion.
Post weekly roundups of blog posts about your issue. You'll build community and provide a useful information filtering service for your readers.

7. Facilitate commenting

Allow commenting.
Moderate your comments if you are concerned about inappropriate remarks, or spam.
If they are civil, allow comments that are critical of your organization. If the conversation becomes too heated, you can always take it over to email.
If you receive a comment, acknowledge it, even if your reply is brief.

8. Post about a range topics (i.e. it's not just about you)

You could write about:

Breaking news in your field.
Interviews (written, audio, video).
Notes, photos and presentations from events.
Staff and supporters' opinions.
The story behind your organization/project.
Notes and photos from your work in the field.
Press mentions.
Requests for feedback and ideas.
Calls to action.
Guest blog posts.
How to lists.
Organizational/project news.

9. Engage your community and participate in other online communities

Read other blogs. Use Google Blog Search, Alltop and Technorati to find blogs that write about similar topics to yours.
Respond to comments.
Comment on other blogs that write about your topic and link to your posts. You can track who is linking to you and writing about your issue by using services like Google Analytics or SiteMeter. Set up a Google Alert for your blog's URL, the name of your blog, the name of your organization, and your issue too.
Hold and participate in online contests, challenges, blog carnivals and memes.
Ask readers to share opinions, resources, and content (blog posts, photos, audio, video).

10. Track your impact

Possible ways to measure impact are (just pick a few):

Subscribers (you can see this by burning your feed with Feedburner).
Visits, page views, links and referrals (you can see these with Google Analytics or SiteMeter).
Number of comments.
Content contributed by readers (i.e. posts, photos, video).
New donors, volunteers, or members who found you through your blog.
Donations made from a link to your donation page from your blog.
Press that found you through your blog.
Relationships that were formed through your blog.

Next week, Beth Kanter will be continuing this BlogHer series about getting started using social media for your nonprofit, or do-good project with posts about social networking, connecting offline and online action, and raising money on social networks. You can follow her BlogHer blog at www.blogher.com/blog/beth-kanter

Related posts:

The Joy Diet: My Cat is My Teacher

2009-10-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

Last month I posted about how I was joining Jamie Ridler Studios' blogging book club, The Next Chapter, while they read The Joy Diet. Each week, participants read one chapter of the book and post on Fridays about their experience.

I have to admit, I feel a bit shy writing about this as I don't often write about feelings, or a lot of personal stuff here, but it's always good to try new things.

I've read three chapters of The Joy Diet over the past 3 weeks: Nothing, Truth & Desire. My takeaways:

Nothing: I need to go to bed earlier. By the end of my daily 15 minutes of sitting and doing nothing I'm almost asleep.

Truth: I need to be more compassionate with myself; consquently, I think I will be more compassionate with others.

Desire: I need to make more time to have fun. I have no trouble making time to "do good," but I think a part of me thinks having fun isn't a priority--that is going to change!

Finally, as I sit each day for my 15 minutes and contemplate the book's questions about truth and desire, our cat, Dora, is my constant companion. I've decided that she is already on The Joy Diet. She does nothing 95% of the time, has no trouble being truthful (she meows with us a lot about what she wants), and she does whatever she desires (playing, sleeping, eating, cuddling, gazing out the window, etc.).

I'm looking forward to seeing what she can teach me this week as I read the fourth chapter, Creativity.

The Joy Diet
book
blogging

Image: Our cat, Dora.

Have Fun Do Good Link Love: Volunteerism on TV, Theatres Using Social Media & Tons of Contests

2009-10-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

NEWS

I'll be speaking about podcasting at the Community Technology Network Meetup in San Francisco on October 22nd.

I have 3 new posts up on WE tv's WE Volunteer blog:

And 1 new post on the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship blog:
5 Ways Theatres Can Use Social Media

LINK LOVE

Did you know that now you don't need an iPhone to micro-volunteer with The Extraordinaries? Check it out at www.beextra.org/widget.
Share your service hero story. It might be featured during a week of volunteer and service related television programming happening October 19-25th as part of the Entertainment Industry Foundation's iParticipate initiative.
To celebrate EIF's iParticipate initiative, The Chronicle of Philanthropy's VolunTV Challenge is inviting individuals and charity organizations to think of ideas for how volunteerism could be incorporated into their favorite TV shows. Send in your story pitches in writing or video. You could win a $5,000 or $2,500 donation in your name to the charity of your choice.
Enter the 2009 America's Giving Challenge. You could win a donation of up to $50,000 for your favorite cause.
Nominate and vote for your favorite Changemaker on Change.org.
Join DonorsChoose's 2009 Social Media Challenge to raise money for education.

Staycation Notes: Pick a Theme. Howabout Tea Tasting?

2009-10-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

The past two weekends the hubs and I have been celebrating our anniversary with an extended staycation. Staycations are not only affordable, they're also a great way to support your local businesses.

One of the themes of our staycation was tea tasting. It started with a trip to Crown and Crumpet in San Francisco, a tea salon in Ghiradelli Square. Yes, the hubs is a good sport to go with me to such a cute, pink place (:

He had the Crown & Crumpet Private Blend, and I had their Paris tea (bergamot and vanilla) which was so good we had to buy a little bag of it to take home. We also had our first crumpets, which were freakalicious.

Our second tea tasting stop was the Numi Tea Garden in Oakland. Regular readers and Big Vision Podcast listeners might remember that I interviewed Numi Tea Co-Founder, Reem Rahim, for the Big Vision Podcast in January 2007. Numi Tea is an environmentally and socially responsible tea company based in Oakland (but you can buy their tea nationally).

The hubs had a super yummy darjeeling tea. I had the Jasmine Lovers flowering tea. Mine was the prettiest. His was the tastiest. They serve the tea on little wooden boxes and do a whole ceremony as they prepare it. Our tea hostess also told us about Numi's newest product line of organic puerh tea, and gave us some free samples to take home.

Our last stop was the Imperial Tea Garden Court in Berkeley where we were able to have a tasty lunch with our tea. I tried their Rose Garden Dragon Well tea in a Gaiwan (covered cup). The hubs had an iced Morrocan Mint.

I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to drink the tea with the cover slightly ajar, but eventually got the hang of it. The best part was the tea's yummy rose fragrance.

Our two weekends of tea tasting adventures were fun, and got me excited to find other local tea houses locally, and when we travel.

The next time you want to take a staycation, why not pick a theme for your adventures like bakery sampling, or a bookstore tour, or picnics in public green spaces, or city landmark exploration?

Happy stacationing!

staycation
tea
local
vacation

10 Questions to Get You Started Using Social Media for Your Nonprofit or Do-Good Project

2009-10-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

One of the most common questions I'm asked as a social media consultant is, "Which tool is the best?" Unfortunately, there isn't an easy answer to that question. If you have a do-good project, or a small nonprofit that you want to promote, fundraise for, or build an online community around using social media, your first step is to create a plan.

If the idea of creating a social media plan sounds scary to you, just think of it as: 10 Questions to Get You Started Using Social Media for Your Nonprofit or Do-Good Project.

1. What is the goal I'm trying to achieve by using social media? Raise awareness? Build web traffic? Attract new donors? Raise money for a specific campaign or initiative? Increase membership?

2. Who is my audience? Who are you trying to reach? Are they new members, or your tried and true supporters? Are they already tech savvy, or will they need training to use the tools? What are their interests? How old are they? (Be careful making assumptions about age. Did you know that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is people who are 35 years old and older?).

3. What are people already saying about my cause, or organization?
Search on Google, Google Blog Search, Technorati, Twitter Search, and Social Mention for your cause, the name of your organization (if you have one), and the URL of your website (if you have one). Search on Facebook too to see if anyone has already created a Facebook Page for your cause or organization. You might find that the online community you want to create already exists. You may be able to achieve your goal, and reach your audience simply by commenting and participating on social networks that already exist.

4. How much time do I have to spend on social media? Check out Beth Kanter's post, How Much Time Does It Take to Do Social Media? to help you estimate how much time you might need, and compare it with the time you have to give. Also, what is the time line for the project? Is it for a short-term campaign, or part of your organization's long-term strategic, communications, or development plan?

5. How much money do I have to spend on social media? Many social media tools are free, or low cost to use. Basically, the more features, functions and customization you want, the more you'll pay. Your biggest cost will be your time, or a staff person's time.

6. What skills do I have? Are you, or the staff person who will be in charge of social media, using social media already, or will training be needed? Are you a natural writer? A blog may be a place to start. Do you love connecting people? A social network like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Ning might be a tool to leverage your talents. If you are a visual person, check out photo or video sharing.

7. What social media tool(s) should I use? Given your goal, the audience you want to reach, what is being said about your cause or organization online, and your time, money, and skills, what social media tools are the best fit for you?:

Blog (i.e. WordPress, Blogger)
Podcast (i.e. Libsyn, Hipcast)
Video sharing (i.e. YouTube, Vimeo)
Photo sharing (i.e. Flickr, Photobucket)
Microblogging: Twitter, Tumblr
Social networking (i.e. Facebook, Ning)
Social bookmarking (i.e. StumbleUpon, Delicious)
Wiki (i.e. Wikispaces, PBworks)

Using more tools isn't necessarily better. Putting limited resources towards building community around one tool will be more effective than barely engaging on multiple platforms. That said, many tools work well together. For example, videos can be embedded in blog posts, which can be fed into your Facebook newsfeed.

8. How will you measure success? Based on your goal for using social media, how will you measure your impact? How will you know if the tools you chose are working for you? Below is a sampler of ways you could measure success. Pick 2-3 to track on a regular basis:

Subscribers
Page views
Page visits
Downloads
Referrals/links
Comments
Bookmarks
Actions taken
Money raised
Number of donors
Campaigns created by supporters
Content created by supporters
Community growth and strength
Individual relationship growth and strength

9. What is your exit, or growth plan? There are no guarantees that using social media will help you achieve your goals, so when choose your tools, think about how you could stop using them gracefully if they don't work for you. Do you know how to delete your Facebook Page? If your blog is integrated into your website, can it easily be removed? Where will people be redirected to if they come to a site that no longer exists?

On the other hand, what if you are wildly successful and build a bustling online community, or an avid group of subscribers to your Youtube channel? Will the tools you've chosen allow you to grow?

10. How can I have fun using social media? This might seem like a silly question, but the number of clients I work with who come to me and sigh, "So, I guess I have to start a blog," is astonishing. No one wants to read a gloomy blogger, or interact with a reluctant Facebook friend, or subscribe to a YouTube channel that is never updated. Social media tools are social. They require your interacting with other people so pick a tool, or tools that sound interesting to you, and have fun!

For more information about creating a social media plan for your nonprofit or do-good project, check out:

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

nonprofit
plan
social

Have Fun Do Good Link Love: Right Brain Business Plan, Blog Action Day, and Oprah

2009-09-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

NEWS

Below is a roundup of blog posts and podcast interviews I've published since my last Have Fun Do Good Link Love (where did the month go?):

6 posts on WEtv's WE Volunteer blog:

3 posts on the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship blog:

MoveOn.org and Crowdsourcing: A Chat with Peter Koechley on The Extraordiaries blog

The 16th episode of Echoing Green's Be Bold Podcast: Create a Career with Impact (I'm the show's host).

4 Steps for Selling Your Art: Interview with Alyson B. Stanfield, ArtBizCoach.com on the Arts and Healing Podcast

LINK LOVE

The October 1st episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show will feature New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, and his wife his wife Sheryl WuDunn talking about their book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.
Change.org is hiring bloggers.
Blog Action Day is October 15th. This year's theme is climate change.
The Case Foundation, Causes, and PARADE are joining together to present the 2009 America’s Giving Challenge, a national competition launching on October 7.
77 ways to build community in your neighborhood from Our Blocks.
How charities harness social media for a social impact from CSMonitor.com
New Craiglist Foundation Nonprofit Boot Camp Podcasts:
-Rethinking Back Office Functions
-Randi Zuckerberg & Marjorie Weingrow
-Change The World For Ten Bucks
-Finding Abundance in a Challenging Environment
Van Jones Breaks Silence On Resignation: 'Nothing But Love For Obama'

Change Starts at Home: Empowering Women to Change the World

2009-09-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

While reading through profiles of local women entrepreneurs in the new CRAVE SF Bay Area guide this week, I marked the page for Change Starts at Home to share with y'all.

Change Starts at Home is a website that, "educates, inspires, and empowers women to change the world by easily making changes in their own lives." One of its regular features is monthly profiles of changemakers like:

Alex Martin, who wore the same brown dress, that she made herself, for a year.
Raegan Payne, author of The Good Muse, who is trying to volunteer for 50 organizations before 2010, and blog about each experience.
Jennifer Caldwell, Founder of Hope to Action: Women for a Greener Planet.

The site also shares other economic, environmental and socially themed stories like:

Home Green Home by Amy Gregg of Mom Go Green.
Peace, Love & Soap: Mom of Two Turned Entrepreneur by Change Starts at Home founder, Laura Rose, about the homemade soap company, Peace, Love & Soap.
How to Go Green by blogger Nadine Weil of Heart of Green.

If you have an article you would like to submit to Change Starts at Home, or a nonprofit that you would like them to know about, email them at submissions@changestartsathome.com.

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

women
changemakers
blog
green
nonprofit

Blogging & Storytelling PowerPoint

2009-09-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

I just finished co-presenting a "Storytelling" session at NTEN's WeAreMedia Webinar with Michael Hoffman of See3 Communications. Michael talked about how nonprofits can use video to tell their stories, and I talked about blogging.

You can see PowerPoints and notes from all of the sessions (Listening/Engaging, Storytelling, Generating Buzz, and Online Networking) on the WeAreMedia wiki, and I've embedded my Blogging and Storytelling presentation below.

Enjoy!

Blogging And Storytelling

View more presentations from Britt Bravo.

nonprofit
nptech
nten
wearemedia
blog
blogging

9 Tips for Effective Fundraising Letters

2009-09-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

A friend recently wrote to ask:

"Do you have any resources that offer tips on how to write an effective appeal for donations? I'm in charge of writing the annual appeal letter, and I'm beginning to sweat!"

I've never written a fundraising letter, except for the note I wrote to my Facebook pals asking them to donate to my Birthday Wish Cause, but here's some advice from other folks about how to write effective fundraising letters:

The Chronicle of Philanthropy's article, Dear Fund Raiser: Your Appeal is Boring, reports that as part of his doctoral studies, Frank Dickerson, "analyzed more than 1.5 million words of online and printed fund-raising texts to determine how effectively fund raisers communicate with their audiences." His conclusion: fundraising letters are often cold, boring, and academic when they should be warm, friendly, and full of engaging stories.

Tip 1: Be warm and friendly.
Tip 2: Tell stories.

In her post on eJewish Philanthropy, How to Write a Powerful Fundraising Appeal: A Lesson from Keshet, Gail Hyman posts a long list of tips including:

Tip 3: Use a personalized greeting (i.e. Dear Britt).
Tip 4: Bold key phrases to make it easy for readers to scan the letter.
Tip 5: Have a clear call to action.

In her post, Marketing 101: How to Write a Fundraising Letter, Katya Andresen of Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog, analyzes the first lines of three fundraising letters. Katya advises, "an A+ letter grabs you from the first line by speaking to your values and presenting you with a compelling reason to act that is relevant to those values. It feels personal."

Tip 6: Make your first line(s) count.

Joanne Fritz's article, How to Write Better Fundraising Materials on About.com about Tom Ahern's book, How to Write Fundraising Materials That Raise More Money is full of good advice including:

Tip 7: Use lots of photos.
Tip 8: Share something new the reader might not know (i.e. a statistic, or an emerging trend).
Tip 9: Answer readers' questions (i.e. How will my money be spent?).

What other advice and/or resources do you have for my first-time fundraiser friend?

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com

Flickr photo credit: Money, Money, Money uploaded by borman818

philanthropy
fundraising
nonprofit
appeal
letter
advice

I'm Starting the Joy Diet

2009-09-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

Jamie Ridler Studios has this fun, online book blogging event she hosts every once in a while called The Next Chapter. I decided to join the group this time while they read The Joy Diet by Martha Beck.

Each week I'll read a chapter from the book, and write a short post about it here--at least, that is my intention (:

This first chapter is about "Nothing." For 15 minutes each day this week I'm supposed to do nothing. No-thing. Nada. I'm telling your right now, it's not going to be easy for me, which is why it is a good idea to try!

For more information, and to join this session of The Next Chapter, click here.

Wish me luck doing nothing!

joy
book club
blog
Martha Beck

8 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Blogs

2009-09-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

Next week I'll be teaching a session about blogging during a nonprofit social media webinar, We Are Media, presented by NTEN. As part of my preparation, it seems like a good time to update my 2006 post, 10 Ways Nonprofits Can Us Blogs, and my 2007 post, 10 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Blogs and Bloggers to Support Their Cause.

I've consolidated down to 8 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Blogs, and added new examples. What "ways" am I missing?

1. Share your expertise

Think about all of the brainpower and expertise within your organization's staff, board and volunteers. Why not share their knowledge on your blog?

Example: The Environmental Defense Fund's blog, Climate 411, "is the voice of the experts at Environmental Defense Fund, providing plain-English explanations of climate change science, technology, policy, and news."

Example: Volunteer Match's Engaging Volunteers blog is running a series about Boomer Engagement: Build Your Organization's Capacity, Even in Times of Scarcity.

Example: The Case Foundation's Blog includes posts from multiple staff members, including Jean Case, and guest bloggers.

2. Share breaking news within your field

Chances are someone on your staff is already bookmarking and forwarding news stories about your issue each day. Take it a step further and share their news story links on your blog.

Example: The Chronicle of Philanthropy's blog, Give and Take, provides fantastic daily roundups about nonprofits and philanthropy.

Example: Service Nation's Change Wire blog posts weekly, Monday Service News Roundups.

3. Share the story behind your brand

Whether you are a large, established organization, or a small grassroots project, you are constantly asking your supporters to trust that you will use their money and time to do good. One way to build trust is to write with an authentic and personal voice on your organization's blog. Share your challenges and successes. Share your reasons for working there. Share who you really are (photos from the staff holiday party excluded).

Example: When Kjerstin Erickson, Founder of FORGE, blogged about her organization's struggles on Social Edge, she received an outpouring of support, plus stories in the San Francisco Chronicle and Wall Street Journal.

Example: The Extraordinaries' occasionally publishes posts with photos of when their staff are waiting for something (i.e. post office line, doctor's appt.) as examples of when you could be using their micro-volunteer iPhone application.

Example: Echoing Green's Spark Blog, which usually covers news about social entrepreneurship and their Fellowship program, posted last spring how it took, "Three Echoing Green staffers, two good Samaritan cheerleaders, and one brave man," to rescue a cat hiding under a van outside their offices.

4. Share your community's opinions

For better or worse, your supporters have opinions. Why not provide a space for them to share their ideas and resources on your blog? There are two ways this can happen:. 1. allow comments. 2. allow the community to contribute to the blog.

Example: Anyone can publish a blog post on the NetSquared Community Blog and Social Actions' social network, my.socialactions.com.

Example: The Acumen Fund blog recently posted that, "Based on some feedback from our readers," they are going to change the focus of their blog. "We have had conversations on and offline about the value of our blog series, and it seems as though we are becoming a little too didactic (fair argument). So as a result, we have decided to take your advice and focus on something a little more practical."

5. Share notes and photos from events

Each year one or more members of your staff probably goes to a conference, or perhaps your organization puts on events. Either way, share your notes, photos, and presentations from the events as a service to your supporters, and to document them for your staff.

Example: Diana Ayton-Shenker recently posted on the Fast Forward Fund blog, "I'm looking forward to the upcoming Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) where I'll be blogging both for FFF and on Change.org." She asked her readers, "What are the top questions or issues you'd like to see raised at CGI re: next-gen social investors, innovators, and change-makers? Who are the top people you'd want to meet?"

Example: The Craigslist Foundation announces podcast recordings from their Nonprofit Boot Camp on their blog each week.

6. Share notes and photos from the field

Although a lot gets done behind a desk in a nonprofit, usually the heart and soul of your work is in the field. Posting photos and stories "on the ground" can be an exciting way to engage your supporters in your work.

Example: Rainforest Action Network posted photos and videos from a banner drop at Niagra Falls on their blog, The Understory.

Example: UNICEF USA uses its blog, FieldNotes, to, "quickly report from the field, alert you to media coverage of interest, and share the success of UNICEF's lifesaving work around the globe."

Example: Interplast's volunteers publish blog posts and photos about the surgeries they assist with like the post, Fernando, by Loan Le, a volunteer anesthesiologist.

7. Share organizational news as it happens

The beauty of a blog post, unlike an e-newsletter or print newsletter, is that it can be written and published quickly and immediately. You can even go back into a post after it's published and add an update. Your blog shouldn't include only news about your organization, but it should definitely include some. Efficiency tip: Recycle the posts your write on the blog into your electronic and print newsletter.

Example: Green for All posted about how Green for All Supports Local Green Jobs Corps in Tennessee.

Example: First Book posted about Baking and Books: Baking for Good Supports First Book.

8. Use it as your website

Blogs can be a great website option for a small organization that may have limited funds and/or limited tech expertise. Plus, Google loves links and updated content, which is what blogs are all about, so having a blog can help your search ranking.

Example: Urban Sprouts uses a Blogger blog as its website. They use blog posts as website pages, and have links for supporters to volunteer, donate, and RSVP for garden tours in the sidebar.

Full disclosure: I have affiliations with many of the nonprofits mentioned above.
Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

nonprofit
blog

Nurturing Inner City Entrepreneurs: Jose Corona of Inner City Advisors

2009-09-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

"One of the things that we make sure that everyone understands from the beginning is that we have a give back clause. The more successful you are, the more you have to give back." -- Jose Corona, Inner City Advisors

Jose Corona is the Executive Director of Inner City Advisors, a nonprofit that helps build sustainable and responsible inner city businesses that create quality jobs, reinvest in the community, and contribute to the local economy. Their clients include companies like Blue Bottle Coffee, Numi Organic Tea, Premier Organics, and Revolution Foods.

Prior to Inner City Advisors, Jose served as the development director for five years at the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that provides microenterprise business technical assistance and neighborhood planning services to small businesses. He was recently named 2009 Young Professional of the Year by the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

Jose sits on various economic development boards: the Oakland Workforce Investment Board, the Bay Area Business Advisory Board of Directors for the Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco, and the OneCalifornia Bank Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of The East Bay, OBDC Small Business Finance, and People's Grocery.

Below is an edited transcript of my Big Vision Podcast interview with Jose in late August. To start, Jose talked about what Inner City Advisors is, and what makes them special. You can also listen to our conversation on iTunes.

Jose Corona: Inner City Advisors is an organization here in Oakland that was founded in 1996 by Professor Michael Porter at Harvard Business School. He created an initiative in 1996 called the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. His whole premise was to see how you use the market and business to revitalize neighborhoods. What we do here in Oakland, and throughout the Bay Area, is we work with inner city companies that not only have a scalable model, but also have a social responsibility aspect built into their business model. We don't seek out socially responsible companies. We look at companies that are doing good.

How we define doing good is how they benefit the community where they operate: hiring people in the communities, paying above living wages. We feel that that is the strategy to drive economic development and community development in a neighborhood.

What makes us special, I think, is the caliber of consulting that we do. We have a talented group of entrepreneurs that we work with all the way from Numi Organic Tea to Blue Bottle Coffee, to Premier Organics, and many others in different sectors. They are socially responsible and environmentally responsible companies, but are in need of some additional assistance, mostly strategic advice, that helps them scale to the next level.

I think where we get our competitive advantage is that the caliber of our advisors is far and above any kind of advice that you find out there. And we do it for free. We are pretty selective on the companies that we work with, and because we offer it for free is we are pretty limited on our capacity.

Britt Bravo: So, if I came to you and said, "Hey, I have this business that I want to start. I'm going to be green. I'm going to be great here in Oakland. First of all, how would you choose me, or not choose me? If you did choose me, what do I get?"

We look for several things. The companies that we look at are companies that first of all, we believe in. We're all about building relationships, so we have to believe in the entrepreneur, or the team that comes to us. If you came to us with an exciting idea and we felt a connection to you, and felt that you were the right entrepreneur to take it to that level, that's how we start.

Then we look for, of course, location. It has to be an inner city community. We define that as a low to moderate income location, essentially. If you look at somewhere like Oakland, it's everywhere but the hills. Everything below 580 is inner city community.

We look at the potential to scale, not only financially, but more importantly, to create jobs. We don't work with start-ups. You have to have shown some track record of success, or at least have been in operation for a minimum of two years.

The due diligence that we do is pretty extensive. We look at financial statements. We look at business plans. We interview the teams. We go to your site. We try to get a good feel for what your company is like, and what their potential for growth is.

There is an application process. There is a due diligence process where a committee from the Board does more extensive due diligence on your company. Once that passes, and the Board approves you as a portfolio company, what you get is a team of advisors.

Each company that we work with gets between three and four experts based on your industry, or the area of need. For example, if you are a food company, you would get someone like Jim Harris who is a board member of ICA.

He is a former COO of Scharffen Berger Chocolate. He has a track record of success. He has grown companies. He has advised other companies on how to grow. He's been an entrepreneur himself. You're getting advice from someone who has been there and done that. It is not someone who just came out of business school who learned everything from the academic perspective, from the theory. We really try to give our advice from the practical side of it. It is someone who has that practical experience in running a business, or working with people and helping them grow a business.

You get ongoing support that is not on a limited time basis, but is on an ongoing basis. As long as you are growing, as long as you are creating jobs, we continue to help you. The advisors are working with you on a monthly basis, on a quarterly basis doing presentations to the Board, and we track your impact.

We make sure that you are growing both financially, that you are creating jobs, and that you are giving back to your community. That is very important to us, and we outline that from the beginning. We actually have an MOU, a term sheet, that we sign with each of our companies that outlines what you can expect from ICA, and what we expect from you.

One of the things that we make sure that everyone understands from the beginning is that we have a give back clause. The more successful you are, the more you have to give back. That's our expectation. If it's too onerous for the company, then that's good, because it is not the right company for us.

We are looking for the company that really wants to give back to the community, and give back to the community locally too. There are a lot of companies that give to international causes, which is great. We love it. We love people that look for fair trade for the farmers overseas, and supporting a bamboo village in China. That is all good and great. On top of that, we expect you to give to your community here.

If you're in Oakland, how are you benefiting the community of Oakland? That's our expectation. Are you hiring locally? Are you using local suppliers? How much do you pay? Do you provide health benefits? Do you support your local educational systems? All of those kinds of things at a local basis are really important to us.

We outline those from the beginning. Most of the companies that come to us are already there, so it is not a hard sell. It's just encouraging them in how to do it better, and how to do it strategically so that it fits within their business.

When I looked on your site I saw Extreme Pizza, which at least here, is kind of a biggish company, I mean, there is more than one store, and then there's Bluebottle Coffee, which is also big, and Numi Tea. Those are pretty established brands. Is there a particular size that you work with?

Our sweet spot is companies between one and three million. Most of the companies that come to us are at, or about a million. Numi has been in our portfolio for about four years. We've seen their growth. They are at a point where we consider them a partner company.

What that means to us is a company that has reached 15 million in revenues, has been profitable for four consecutive quarters, and has been cash positive for four consecutive quarters. That's why we do the tracking. To us, that's a successful company. At that point, they can afford services.

We'd rather invest our limited resources in smaller entrepreneurs that need assistance. Bigger companies that have grown and are of scale like Numi and Extreme Pizza are great examples of success for us, but at that point, they can afford services.

They're still part of the ICA family, and they are not totally moved out of the network, but they are at a different level. Again, it's how do we focus on the companies that can really benefit from the advice that we provide? Mostly, it is the smaller companies.

What are the benefits for a company to be in the inner city? You're working with companies that are already here, but do you ever do anything to convince people that they should be here in the first place?

We don't do a lot of attraction services. We don't get companies that are outside of the inner city to locate in the inner city. We really look at the companies that are already here. What we do, and why we focus on the inner city from the beginning is based on Michael Porter's philosophy that there is an inherent competitive advantage to being in the inner city.

Look at somewhere like the city of Oakland. Look at the BART system. The hub of it is Oakland. There is access to transportation. The proximity to the port is very important. There is the proximity to academic institutions in an inner city. There is an available workforce. The reality is that it is sometimes relatively cheaper real estate. There are a lot of advantages of a business locating in an inner city.

The other thing is that a lot of inner cities are part of empowerment zones or enterprise zones where companies that are at a certain scale and profitable can benefit from tax credits, both from the payroll side, if you hire from the inner city, but also if you locate in the enterprise zones. So, there are tax benefits.

Our whole strategy is how do you garnish the competitive advantages of being located in the inner city.

What are the challenges specific to having an enterprise in an inner city?

The biggest challenge that we face, and it's not specific to ICA's companies, is really the perception of what an inner city is. When you mention what an inner city is, a lot of people have a negative connotation. High crime. Dilapidated conditions. The public safety issue is huge. Companies don't want to locate in the inner city because they want safety for their employees.

Just like any other city that we work in, they all have their safety issues. They all have their challenges, but a lot of it is perception. I personally believe that it has a lot to do with the media. They capture the negative stories of the inner city. Why not tell stories about the great things that are happening there like the great companies that are creating a lot of jobs and thriving, and doing great things not only locally, but around the world.

It is those negative perceptions about the inner city that we have to deal with every day. You asked earlier about if we ever get companies that are interested in locating here. We do. That is one of the things that we have to address. How real is the perception that is out there about the crime?

It's real, but it is like any other city. It's like any other urban center that you go to. Every urban community is going to have it. The last thing I'll say about it is that we look at the inner city as an asset rather than as a deficit. The perception in the media is always about the negative perceptions. We look at what are the great things about the inner city. If you look at a business, how can you be a part of that, and revitalize that community?

What is the path that brought you to this work? How'd you get here?

That's a very long story. I came from an entrepreneur family. My dad was, still is, a farm owner. He came in the '70s when there was still the Bracero Program in Mexico. He came in during the summers to work in the strawberry fields in Salinas Valley in the Watsonville area, and then came back.

He is the example of the American dream. He came here, became legal, started buying land, and leveraged the little bit he had back then to create a very successful enterprise in the strawberry business in the Salinas Valley. He put all of my brothers through college.

I went to UC Davis with a biology and chemistry major. I thought that I wanted to be a doctor, so I went to dental school for a year. I hated it and dropped out; and then I got recruited to do some HR work at Macy's. I went through HR there, and eventually became the Bay Area Regional Director of Operations for 12 stores in the Bay Area.

I learned a lot, but I wanted to be connected to, "What's my impact as a person, what's the impact that I'm creating?" Macy's was great, and I think the corporate sector taught me a lot of great skills. But, I wanted to see my direct impact in the communities that I was serving.

A friend of mine was running an organization in San Francisco called the Mission Economic Development Agency. They worked mostly with Latino mom and pop shops in the Mission district. I was there for six years as the Director of Development. I did fundraising. Then I got recruited over here at Inner City Advisors.

I think what I love about this is that it really gets my entrepreneur spirit out there. I love working with entrepreneurs. I love their stories. I love their drive. I know that I can never be an entrepreneur. It is a whole different animal. You talk to the founders of these companies, and hear about how much they work. They live and breathe their business 24x7. We all do that in our own work, but an entrepreneur is relentless. I see that in my dad, and that's how I got attracted to that. I just love their drive.

The work that I am doing right now, for me, it's the perfect job that I want to be doing. What's better than seeing great entrepreneurs building thriving communities as a strategy for community and economic development. You start with one business, and you move to a community, and eventually the vision of ICA is how do we create thriving communities throughout the Bay Area, throughout the state, and throughout the US. How do we get to what we do, do it better, and do it on a much larger scale. That is our inherent challenge. How do we think big? What does big really mean for us?

How do you build strong entrepreneurs? You've talked a little bit about their inherent qualities - a lot of passion, a lot of drive. Kind of like artists, a lot of passion and drive can create great things, but they aren't necessarily sustainable over time. What does an entrepreneur need to build something that's strong and is going to last?

I'm a personal believer that you can't teach someone to be an entrepreneur. You can nurture them, and I think that's what we do. You can go to school and learn about how to run a business, but being a business owner is very different from being an entrepreneur, in my opinion.

I don't think you can teach someone to be an entrepreneur. Someone is born with it. Just like someone is born with a great skill to be an athlete, a world-class athlete, I think entrepreneurs are born that way. What we do is just nurture that, and provide and surround them with the right resources that are going to help them develop their entrepreneurial spirit.

When we look at an entrepreneur and are looking at whether they fit our profile, we have what we call the ICE factor, the Inner City Entrepreneur factor. It's really getting to know the person, the entrepreneur and saying, "Do they really want this? Do they really have that entrepreneurial spirit that's going to create change?" Or are they just a lifestyle kind of business? Are they going to be comfortable with just getting to a certain level, and then taking care of their families and themselves, which is great, but, we are looking for that entrepreneur that's going to want to scale and create change and be more than just that business.

A real entrepreneur has a larger vision. It's more about someone like Ahmed and Reem Rahim at Numi. It's more than just tea, and their business, Numi Organic Tea, it's a larger vision. How do you improve the world? How do you improve the planet? Tea, from the health perspective. They have a large vision. They're artists so they think big.

We want to capture that and we want to nurture that kind of spirit. We do it both through personal mentoring, but also with the right skill sets. A lot of them, like you said, have great passion, great drive. We just need to nurture that business savvy part of it.

So, how do you create a smarter entrepreneur? Not to say that they're not smart already, but just become smarter from the business perspective of it. It's a lot of nurturing that we do. We're not creating entrepreneurs. We're just nurturing them to be better.

What can a city, like Oakland or other cities like it, what can they do to help nurture and support entrepreneurs?

That's a good question. I think one of the things that is missing from cities are policies that support the creation of an environment for a company to thrive and to grow. Too often policy makers and governments make it more difficult for someone to do business in their city than easier.

I think that government really should facilitate an environment that nurtures business development, and then get out of the way. Businesses care about their communities and their cities. They want to do good. They want to improve their communities from the economic perspective, diversity, and social perspective.

So, for me, it's how do policy makers make it easier, make policies that support the growth of entrepreneurs - support them with the resources, with the right policies, with the right environment, and with capital?

How do you support that, and how do you combine that to create strong entrepreneurs? From the small mom and pop shops and taquerias to the larger businesses, and the corporations that are out here. I think there has to be a balance where you put your resources. Too often we give the resources to the communities that have the loudest voice. That's where I think we're missing the boat as stakeholders, and as policy makers.

The inherent problem with the business owners is that they're running their business. They don't have time to raise a stink and go to city hall meetings. That's why you have more homeowners going to these meetings. The business owners are running their business, and that's what they should be doing.

How do we make it easier as a city for them to run their business? It's a challenge, and I don't have the answer. It's something that ICA is starting to get more and more into. We're creating a business council from all of our portfolio CEOs who are coming together and thinking about what some of the policy changes are that can be addressed, and that they can tackle as a group and create that small business voice that's void right now in city halls and other governments outside of the cities. It's really creating that voice, and I think we can facilitate that. It's a big challenge.

You work with folks who are pretty well-established. What advice do you have for listeners or, when this is on the blog, readers, who are budding entrepreneurs in inner cities, wherever they might be, who are just getting started? What are the things, from your experience of working with folks who have become successful, that they need to do?

One thing that I've found that's really important in the smaller entrepreneurs is that there are a lot of resources out there. Really do your research on who can help you. The best advice you're going to get is from another entrepreneur. We don't really have a mentorship model, but how do you find someone who can be a sounding board to you? A lot of people have great ideas. How do you take ideas and put them into action?

I'm a firm believer that someone who has been there, done that, can tell you not only the best practice of how to grow your business, but also the lessons learned. You learn more about the mistakes that people have made. The earlier you find out about what those mistakes are, the better off you're going to be.

There's this saying, "It's all about who you know," I have a different angle to it. "It's really about who knows you." Surround yourself with the people that you know are going to help you grow your business. It can be a nonprofit. It can be other entrepreneurs. It can be the government. It can be other government programs. Explore everything that's out there, and then be really focused on what you want to do.

How do you take that passion that you have, if you're really an entrepreneur, and you want to build that passion? You really have to believe it. You really have to believe it, and you have to do it. Like I said earlier, I think an entrepreneur is born. If you want to be a business owner, you can be a business owner. If you want to be an entrepreneur, and create some great change and have a large vision, you can do that, but, you have to be focused, and you have to be disciplined, and you have to let go of your ego sometimes. You don't know everything.

For people who are listening, how can they support Inner City Advisors?

In many ways. We are always looking for great companies that have large visions and that want to make a lot of impact in their communities. We're Inner City Advisors so we're looking for companies in the inner city.

If there are companies out there that that you think might benefit from ICA's work, I want to encourage them to look at our website. It's going to be revamped soon. There is good information on there about the work that we do. Please refer companies to us.

Also, if there are entrepreneurs out there, or other people, who want to volunteer their time to be advisors and mentors to some of the younger entrepreneurs, we're always looking for high caliber consultants and advisors who want to give between 4-20 hours a month. We try to make it as easy as possible for people to volunteer with ICA.

If there are people out there who want to support a cause that's creating change and that's creating thriving communities, you can support us financially, either through connections through your own networks, through individuals, through foundations, or corporations. We're a nonprofit, so we rely on charitable support to continue our programs. Those are some ways that you can help.

Is there anything that you didn't get to talk about Inner City Advisors? Anything else that you would like to add?

We are a small organization with a large vision. We certainly can't do everything alone. If there are other organizations that work in similar areas, or other entrepreneurs who want to be part of this solution - be a part of the ICA family as well. Just like our entrepreneurs, we need as much help as we can get as an organization. In order to create a thriving community, and wealth and assets in the community, we need to collaborate with other organizations and businesses and individuals that can help us get to that larger vision. It's all about working together.

Full disclosure: My husband and Jose play on the same soccer team (:

Related Blogs & Blog Posts
Solutions for the Inner City
Growth Capital for Inner City Businesses on the JumpStart blog
Business Support for Inner City Areas on Nottingham City Council's blog
Inner City 100 Awards on Susan Labandibar - Activist CEO

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

inner city
entrepreneur
small business
Jose Corona
advisor
Oakland

I Stand with Van Jones. 3 Ways You Can Too.

2009-09-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

I'm deeply saddened by the resignation of Van Jones from his position as Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council for Environmental Quality.

When I went to see him speak for the first time at the Green Festival in November 2002 about, "Green Jobs, Not Packed Jails," it was the first time in a long time that I felt like the world could be changed for the better. I felt like I could make a difference; like we all could. That day was a key stepping stone on my journey to figure out how I could have fun and do good.

I could point to a lot of blog posts and articles about why Van resigned, and whose fault it is, but as Jakada Imani, the Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (that Van co-founded) wrote in an email to EBC supporters today, "Following Van's lead, we're staying focused on solutions . . ."

So, for inspiration I encourage you to listen to an interview I did with Van in April 2007 for the Big Vision Podcast online, or on iTunes. You can also read a transcript of the interview on Have Fun Do Good. It was one of the shows I got the most emails about--people said that they listened to it more than once, that it moved them, that it made them cry. I especially like the part (at around 17 min 58 sec) when he talks about the country needing a, "reverence movement":

"That ability to stand in awe and reverence for what a precious gift it is just to be alive, and just to share this planet with so many other beautiful sister and brother species and nations and neighborhoods. Just that quality of reverence, that is really the gateway through which we can begin to rediscover our capacity to do good."

You can also show your support for Van in three ways:

1. Buy (or borrow), read, and pass on his book, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Greatest Problems.
2. Sign a Stand with the Green Jobs Movement petition on Green for All.
3. Join the I Stand with Van Jones Facebook Page.

I encourage you to share your stories about how Van Jones has inspired you in the comments. I'll pull one of the stories out of a hat in a week (September 15th), and send the winner a free copy of The Green Collar Economy. (Be sure to include a way I can contact you in the comments if you win).

Van Jones

Have Fun Do Good Link Love: TED 2010 Fellowships, 9/11 Day of Service, & Indie Bookstores Using Twitter

2009-09-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

NEWS

I've got 3 new posts up on WE Volunteer:

And 1 new post up on the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship blog (GCCE): How Independent Bookstores Are Using Twitter

The 15th episode of Echoing Green's Be Bold Podcast: Create a Career with Impact is up (I'm the show's host).

Last week I posted a Big Vision Podcast interview with José Corona, the Executive Director of Inner City Advisors. You can listen to it online or download it from iTunes. I'll be publishing the transcript soon here on Have Fun Do Good.

Next month's show will feature an interview with Lisa Witter, co-author of The She Spot: Why Women are the Market for Changing the World.

LINK LOVE

Be a Blogger for Change.org! on Jobs for Change

Two new Craigslist Foundation Nonprofit Boot Camp Podcasts:

Closing All-Star Panel featuring Ami Dar, Jonathan Greenblatt, Rich Harwood, Arianna Huffington, Shirley Sagawa, Steve Wright, and guest moderator Michael Krasny
Advocacy and Lobbying 101 - Nonprofits and Public Policy: Action Needed Now with Kevin Hickey, Nayantara Mehta, Sheila Warren

Eight Steps to Community Engagement on the WiserEarth Blog

5 Fun and Fabulous Twitter Tools for Nonprofit Organizations and Activists on Nonprofits 2.0 - Change.org

September 9: Facebook Causes Webinar for Nonprofits with Susan Gordon, Causes Nonprofit Coordinator.

September 14-21: Mozilla Service Week

September 16 & 17, 2009: Online Nonprofit Technology Conference: Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission

September 25 (deadline) Applications are being accepted for the TED 2010 Fellowship program

September 30 (deadline) Enter the GreatNonprofits' Youth Thrive Awards 2009

I Love National Parks, Don't You?

2009-09-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

My husband and I love National Parks. Before we were married, we spent several Christmases in Yosemite. We got engaged at the Grand Canyon at the beginning of a road trip across the Southwest where we visited Zion, Arches and Goblin Valley (a very cool State Park). We visited the Channel Islands during our honeymoon, and camped and kayaked there for a couple nights to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday. On our wish list of parks to visit next are Acadia, Redwood and Hawai'i Volcanoes.

As you can imagine, I'm super excited about Ken Burns' new documentary, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, premiering on PBS September 27th (our wedding anniversary!). You can watch a video of Ken Burns talking about the series on Backpacker.com.

The Sierra Club will provide you with a free one-hour sneak-peak DVD if you host a house party to screen the series for your friends on Sunday, September 20th. (The deadline to sign up is September 13).

Also, if you live near a National Park, or other national public land, you can volunteer to clean up and improve it on September 26th, National Public Lands Day.

For more information about National Parks, check out the National Parks Service and the National Parks Foundation (they have a Twitter feed too, @GoParks).

Also, get inspired for your next National Park trip by viewing the photos from HuffPost Readers' Favorite National Parks, and Top Ten Best National Parks You Don't Know About.

What are your favorite National Parks?

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

Photos: My husband and I in the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and the Channel Islands.

National Parks
Ken Burns
documentary
PBS
Sierra Club