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December 21, 2007

Social Responsibility: Activist Facebooking and Virtual Gifting

In my latest post on education, I discussed research at the Parsons School of Design on educational games that address social issues. Harnessing technology to promote social awareness is certainly not a new phenomenon. In fact, anyone with an e-mail account likely experiences it quite often, usually in the form of a petition in support or in opposition of some event or proposal.

The problem with this method of drawing attention to causes, however, is that it doesn't have legitimacy. Many such petitions are glorified chain letters with false claims. The urban legends reference site Snopes even has a section devoted to these petitions.

Continue reading "Social Responsibility: Activist Facebooking and Virtual Gifting"

Posted by April Joyner at 6:00 PM | 1 Comment

September 24, 2007

One Laptop Per Child: Failure is not an Option

The news that the XO Laptop developed by the One Laptop Per Child foundation is launching a buy-one-get-one sale to encourage first world consumers to help fund laptops for children in developing countries has spawned an eager chorus of nay-sayers quick to label the project a failure.

“The design was too top down!” They’re saying. “Not market-tested with kids in the countries it was intended for!” “Better they should have cell-phones!”

Tell that to the kid in Nigeria who told OLPC founder Nick Negroponte that he “valued his laptop more than his life.” Or the one who refused to give his broken laptop back to be repaired for fear he’d never see it again.

Continue reading "One Laptop Per Child: Failure is not an Option"

Posted by Linda Tischler at 5:37 PM | 8 Comments

May 17, 2007

Social Capitalists--Enter Now!

Registration is now open for the 5th annual Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards, which identify and celebrate the top social entrepreneurs in the nation. This year, we're introducing an experiment: we're accepting applications from some for-profit businesses as well as non-profits. Registration takes two minutes; just go here before June 4.

Since 2003, hundreds of organizations have participated in the Social Capitalist Awards evaluation, and dozens have been recognized as winners—true innovators that deliver outstanding impact in their fields.

As in past years, there are two ways to enter. Our board of experts will nominate one slate of organizations, which we’ll then ask to participate. Or you can nominate your own organization. Both sorts of nominations will be evaluated on the same terms: We’ll ask you to submit an application that includes two years of operating and financial data, as well as a statement of mission and objectives and answers to questions that will help us assess your strategy and activities. For more information on our methodology, go to here.

Continue reading "Social Capitalists--Enter Now!"

Posted by Keith Hammonds at 12:58 PM | Add Comment

May 9, 2007

Is Fidelity Investing in Darfur Genocide?

On the news last night I saw this commercial which criticizes Fidelity for making investments that indirectly fuel the genocide in Darfur. According to those that created the commercial, the ubiquitous SaveDarfur.org and Get Fidelity Out of Sudan, Fidelity invests in two Chinese oil companies that do business in the Sudan -- PetroChina and Sinopec. Financial details on these investments ($1.3 Billion in stock), as well as other companies' investments, can be found at Get Fidelity Out of Sudan's website.

While I had vaguely heard about the rally here in Manhattan last month, I didn't realize it was tied to Fidelity. Nor did I know that Harvard stopped investing with PetroChina two years ago for this reason. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is also being pressured to divest from PetroChina ($2.8 Billion according to Get Fidelity Out of Sudan). It is amazing what you don't see on the news -- and then catch during the commercials. I have investments with Fidelity and I am considering ending them in light of this information.

Do you think investment decisions should be motivated by political and moral issues? And should such socially-minded investing (or divesting in Harvard's case) be considered social capitalism?

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 2:50 PM | 7 Comments

April 19, 2007

Greener Mountain Coffee

"How can we even think of saving chimpanzees if the humans around them are struggling to survive?" That was the question posed by Dr. Jane Goodall, who's devoted 47 years of her life studying chimps in the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, and who's finding ways to help both now through the sales of specialty grounds through Green Mountain Coffee. Yep, that ever-green staple of overcaffeinated eco-conscious consumers has found a new champion in one of the most renowned anthropologists this side of Louis Leakey.

I know what you're saying: Who hasn't written about using one of the vices of the first world to help improve the fortunes of the Third World? And I don't mean this. We've all heard about fair-trade coffee now, even written about it in this magazine. So it was nice to see a new take on an old idea.

Fifteen years ago, Goodall flew over the park, and was shocked to see the rampant deforestation in the areas immediately surrounding it, especially in the higher elevations. Not only did this cause massive erosion, but it also isolated the chimps into "islands," lessening their chances of survival, especially considering their numbers have dwindled from more than a million in the '60s to around 150,000 today.
But the deforestation is caused by the poverty of the local population, who, trying to eke out a living, use the trees for firewood. So her institute set about looking for ways to help them as a way to indirectly help the chimps, through microcredit loans to education to farmland revitalization projects.

During this process, she also discovered that Tanzanian coffee growers in the area were producing some high-quality beans near the park, but due to the remoteness of the area and the market economics, were mixing them with lower-quality beans and selling them to middlemen in bulk.

Not only do these beans grow best at higher elevations adjacent to the park, but they also thrive when partially shaded by other trees. By incentivising the growers to cultivate more of these beans, it would also encourage them to reforest the areas around the park, effectively giving the chimps a little more breathing room, and acting as a natural buffer between them and the local villages. So the Jane Goodall Institute found a partner in Green Mountain Coffee who buys the beans directly from the growers, and has created a special line called "Gombe Mountain Reserve."

During her talk, Goodall proved to be a very charming and funny woman. She described her early interest in primates and Africa was sparked when she was a child and was regaled by tales of Tarzan. "Of course he married that other, stupid Jane," she said. After promoting the partnership with Green Mountain, Goodall, a coffee lover herself, gamely demonstrated to the room full of reporters how she filters coffee in a pinch by using her pantyhose. When you're out in the jungle that long, you've got to get creative.

And the coffee? Not bad, but then, for $17.95 for 12 ounces, it'd better be good.

Posted by Michael Prospero at 10:52 AM | Add Comment

April 4, 2007

John Wood Brings Social Capitalism to Oprah

Yesterday John Wood was a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Wood is the founder of Room to Read, an organization that has been a winner of our Social Capitalists Awards every year since Fast Company and the Monitor Group began the Awards in 2004.

John Wood told Oprah about a vacation to Nepal and encountering poverty so insidious, that there weren't even schools for children to learn in. Wood left his job as a marketing director at Microsoft and founded Room to Read. The organization has helped open hundreds of schools and thousands of libraries across Asia. Wood tells the story in more detail in his book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.

Room to Read is currently working with Oprah on a donation drive where the public can help the nonprofit buy books to continue its mission. You can read more about the book drive and Room to Read here. The organization has been a remarkable success and shows what a social capitalist can achieve. I think any company can learn from its example.

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 10:49 AM | 1 Comment

March 6, 2007

Socially Responsible?

Last night, Ben and Jerry, the founders of the ice cream company, were on the Colbert Report. Besides promoting their new flavor "Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream," they took a moment to get serious. Ben Cohen held up a cloth disk (which turned out to be a kind of Frisbee). It had a pie chart that displayed that half of the federal budget goes to the Pentagon, leaving little else for social causes. He then implored people to go to TrueMajority.org to learn more.

Continue reading "Socially Responsible?"

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 12:01 PM | 10 Comments

January 26, 2007

OneVoice at Davos

There's always the potential for drama, and for progress, when leaders confront the authentic voices of their people. That's what happened yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, at a panel on the Middle East conflict featuring Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel's vice premier Shimon Peres, and Israeli foreign affairs minister Tzipi Livni.

OneVoice, one of the Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award winners, organized and presented videos from hundreds of youths gathered in Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Tel Aviv. One after another, student leaders demanded peace, an end to the conflict via the so-called two-state solution.

It's powerful stuff. You can watch the proceedings at Davos here.

Posted by Keith Hammonds at 8:39 AM | 1 Comment

December 21, 2006

Fast Company Readers -- Not Anti-Social

Our current issue of Fast Company magazine, #111 for December/January, is our 2007 Social Capitalists Awards issue. When the story went live on November 20 we published a poll on our homepage asking, "Is your company socially responsible?" The results at first glance were very positive. In the first 30 days of the question appearing online, 212 FastCompany.com readers responded, with 65% responding "Yes" and the other 35% responding "No." Nearly two-thirds of the respondents felt that they work at a socially responsible company.

But, this was not the first time this poll had appeared on the homepage. On January 13 I asked the same question, for the 2006 Social Capitalists Awards featured in January's issue. At first glance the earlier poll showed and upward trend--the first 30 days of that poll resulted with 346 votes, with 48.5% responding "Yes" and 51.5% responding "No." Comparing the positive votes, that is a tangible jump from 48.5% to 65%. This would be remarkable if it stood up to greater scrutiny.

Continue reading "Fast Company Readers -- Not Anti-Social"

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 2:41 PM | 4 Comments

November 20, 2006

Socap's Class of '07

They're here: the 2007 Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award winners. 43 organizations that are changing the world with new ideas, incredible passion, and surprising management savvy.

Check out Hands On Network, which in 2005 worked with a host of big businesses to marshall 168,000 employee-volunteers to put in more than 1.4 million hours of service. Or look at First Book, which has put more than 40 million new books into kids' hands since 1992.

There's more -- 41 more winners, actually. We've worked for months with Monitor Group to identify the top social entrepreneurs in the nation. And you can follow the individual organization links to donate directly to the ones you think are having the most impact, thanks to our partner, Network for Good.

That's what the Social Capitalist Awards project, now in its fourth year, is all about: Identifying the social entrepreneurs most worthy of investment -- and holding them accountable for their results. Congratulations to all.

Posted by Keith Hammonds at 11:51 AM | Add Comment

October 26, 2006

Credit For All

For Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank who just won the Nobel Peace Prize, access to credit is a human right. Providing credit to the world’s poor, Yunus believes, clashes with the profit-maximizing goal of conventional banks. However, entrepreneurs, such as eBay chairman Pierre Omidyar, are looking to transform microfinance institutions into revenue-driven businesses that raise money in the capital markets instead of depending on donations.

That conflict – between "pure do-gooders and profit-minded do-gooders" – is the focus of Connie Bruck’s article “Millions for Millions” in the latest issue of The New Yorker.

There’s nothing wrong with the desire to both help the poor and make money doing it. However, as Bruck’s article points out, the microfinance debate transcends the question of motivation and comes down to whether the core mission of microfinance institutions -- alleviating poverty -- can be distorted by the pursuit of higher profits. “The Yunus faction worries about “mission drift,” saying that, as the drive for profitability increases, only the so-called “less poor” (as opposed to the very poor) will qualify for loans,” Bruck wrote.

When Yunus started giving out credit to the poor, he didn’t discriminate between the “very poor” and those “less poor.” The bank he founded serves everyone, beggars included. And it’s essential for microfinance institutions, whether commercial or nonprofit, to make that same commitment and never default on it.

Posted by Polya Lesova at 2:41 PM | 1 Comment

September 25, 2006

The Greening of Rupert Murdoch

Attendees of last week's meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative were asked to make specific commitments toward advancing solutions to global problems such as poverty, religious and ethnic conflict and climate change. While Richard Branson's planned investment of approximately $3 billion in renewable energy initiatives has taken a large share of the press, companies not immediately identified with humanitarian or green causes also accepted Clinton's challenge.

Wal-Mart plans to leverage its purchasing power to reduce waste by encouraging environmentally friendly packaging. In Nicaragua, Merck plans to immunize 600,000 infants a year against rotavirus. But no global problem-solving plan was more surprising than Rupert Murdoch's announcement, reported in the Financial Times, that he aims to tackle climate change by making News Corp. carbon neutral.

Continue reading "The Greening of Rupert Murdoch"

Posted by Leslie Taylor at 6:20 PM | 5 Comments

August 15, 2006

Where There's a Will, There's a Social Enterprise.

One of the hallmarks of Fast Company is a "business not-as-usual" ethic.

I don't think anything captures that more than the exploration of social enterprise and the Social Capitalist awards - two examples that set Fast Company apart.

The range of expressions of social enterprise prompt debate/discussion locally and internationally. So it’s interesting to read a social enterprise reference coming out of the 16th International AIDS Conference.

According to the Globe and Mail, in the article Tiny grants, big hope in AIDS fight,

In the Mashuru area of Kenya, a single woman with HIV who had no source of income now runs a small general store, is self-sufficient and, most importantly, is eating properly, thanks to a $140 grant from World Vision.In the same region, a group of 15 women have used a $1,400 grant from the humanitarian organization to expand a small business of rearing goats for sale at market, using the added profit to care for HIV orphans and vulnerable children in their village.

...

Continue reading "Where There's a Will, There's a Social Enterprise."

Posted by Peter Rees at 6:18 PM | 1 Comment

July 20, 2006

And Then There's Dr. V

Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy died July 7 in Madurai, India. "Dr. V" was the subject of a wonderful profile in Fast Company by Harriet Rubin a few years back. He founded the Aravind Eye Hospital in 1976, aiming to eradicate needless blindness in the Indian state of Tamilnadu. The basic idea: It costs Aravind $10 to do a cataract procedure that costs $1650 in the United States. And it takes 10 minutes.

As Dr. V told Harriet: "In America, there are powerful marketing devices to sell products like Coca-Cola and hamburgers. All I want to sell is good eyesight, and there are millions of people who need it." The idea for Aravind was born from that vision of McDonald's. "If Coca-Cola can sell billions of sodas and McDonald's can sell billions of burgers," asks Dr. V., "why can't Aravind sell millions of sight-restoring operations, and, eventually, the belief in human perfection? With sight, people could be freed from hunger, fear, and poverty. You could perfect the body, then perfect the mind and the soul, and raise people's level of thinking and acting."

"In the third world, a blind person is referred to as 'a mouth without hands,' " Dr. V said. "He is detrimental to his family and to the whole village. But all he needs is a 10-minute operation. One week the bandages go on, the next week they go off. High bang for the buck. But people don't realize that the surgery is available, or that they can afford it because it's free. We have to sell them first on the need."

In 2005, the five Aravind hospitals in India saw 1.7 million patients and performed nearly a quarter of a million surgical and laser procedures.

Posted by Keith Hammonds at 9:06 AM | 113 Comments

July 13, 2006

Social Responsibility Gone Bad

One non-profit lobbies for tax-reform. Another non-profit airs a commercial criticizing the powers-that-be for an electricity shortage in California. Seems legit, right? But, what do you think when it turns out these non-profit lobby groups are backed by corporations? One could view it as social responsibility gone bad, non-profits funded by corporations and secretly acting as their mouthpieces.

Social responsibility isn't about manipulating a market to go your way. It should be about using your name and your corporate power to get positive changes made that do not directly impact your business. Bill Gates doesn't improve schools and make the students slaves to Microsoft, nor does Jeffrey Swartz of Timberland aid City Year to create boot aficionados.

What are the ethics of companies funding non-profits? And what do you think about Pfizer, Intuit and others that manipulated the system?

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 5:19 PM | 3 Comments

June 7, 2006

Driving Employees to Hybrids

Sure, sales of hybrid cars are going strong, but in case buyers need added incentive, a Boston Globe article published today highlights new perks being offered by some companies to their employees for owning a hybrid car.

Bank of America is giving $3,000 to employees in Boston, Los Angeles, and Charlotte, NC who buy a hybrid. Google pays $5,000, or $2,500 toward a lease. Timberland offers $2,000 ­ and a reserved parking spot near the front of its headquarters in Stratham, NH. Insurance company St. Paul Travelers discounts employee car insurance by 10% in every New England state except Massachusetts. The city of New Haven, meanwhile, lets hybrid car owners park for free at meters.

Combined with federal tax credits, these incentives are meant to combat the price gap between traditional gasoline powered automobiles and hybrids, which run on both electric and gasoline.

Posted by Melanie Brooks at 5:05 PM | 1 Comment

February 24, 2006

Google Gets Brilliant

Google this week hired Dr. Larry Brilliant to lead the company's philanthropic arm, Google.org. Besides his work in public health (he helped eliminate smallpox in India), Brilliant has a technical background, having founded the early online community the Well and Wi-Fi company Cometa. This diversity should help set the direction for Google.org, a $1 billion charitable foundation.

Brilliant has the opportunity to push the unspoken corollary to Google's "Don't Be Evil" motto--"Be Good." While many have criticized Google's move to create a censored version of its search site in China, Brilliant's efforts with Google.org could at least help counterbalance the negativity resulting from such business moves.

Fast Company has long supported social capitalists, of course. But is the hiring of Brilliant purely good? Mostly PR? Or can it be both?

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 3:44 PM | 7 Comments

February 1, 2006

Saatchi Saves the World

Okay, they're not really saving the world. But they're attempting to make a small dent by handing over $50,000 in cash and $50,000 in marketing services to someone with an idea that has the "greatest world changing potential," whether it be on an individual, societal or global scale. Oh, and guess who gets to judge? Baz Luhrmann, Lou Reed, Philip Glass, and a few other cerebral artists.

Last Thursday night I had the pleasure of meeting the 11 finalists at a swanky stark-white cocktail party where the winner would be unveiled. Amid sushi rolls and champagne I mingled with the innovators behind Wikipedia, Subvocal Speech Recognition (a NASA project that allows neural communication without speech), Photo-Form Tactile Graphics (a 2-dimensional image for blind people), Optical Stretcher (laser beams to detect cancer cells), Bio-Solar Energy Nanodevices (use spinach to convert sunlight to electrical energy) and what I thought was the absolute coolest -- "The Frozen Ark Project" -- The University of Nottingham's Institute of Genetics' initiative to create a DNA archive of all the earth's endangered species.

The winner of the "4th Saatchi & Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas" went to Concrete Canvas's Peter Brewin and William Crawford -- two post-grad industrial design engineering studients from London's Royal College of Art. The innovation: a deployable hardened shelter intended for disaster relief (like, say hypothetically speaking, tsunamis and hurricanes). In less than 40 minutes a novice can transform the 500 lb sack made of a cement impregnated fabric bonded to the external surface of an inflatable plastic inner into--get this-- a shelter that can last up to 10 years.

Finally the ad industry does something useful--even if it is just an attempt to help brand Saatchi its party line: "the Ideas company."

Posted by Danielle Sacks at 11:58 AM | 5 Comments

January 18, 2006

Social Swag

Want to feel good, fast? Spend four hours in a room with the top social entrepreneurs in the nation. On January 12, Fast Company and our partner Monitor Group hosted the third annual Social Capitalist Awards celebration in New York, and it was a very cool affair.

All 25 winners showed--Martin Fisher from Kickstart, Chris Elias from PATH, Wendy Kopp from Teach for America, Earl Martin Phalen from BELL--as did leading lights from the philanthropic world. And there was real buzz: These are completely smart people with outrageous energy and persistent dissatisfaction with the status quo.

For the winners, we prepared (as FC contributing writer Cheryl Dahle described them) "the first-ever socially responsible bling baskets." Tote bags made by Zimbabwean artisans of recycled bottle caps, imported and donated by World of Good. Inside, donated wares from Ben & Jerry's, Timberland, Clif Bar, ABC Home, Sambazon, and others.

The baskets were assembled by workers from Reciprocity Foundation, a NYC organization that matches hundreds of artistic homeless youths with mentors from the fields of design, fashion and media. It also helps participants secure internships, full-time jobs, and help with college applications and placement.

Just a ton of energy in the room--and proof that entrepreneurship in the citizen sector is a growth business.

Posted by Keith Hammonds at 1:51 PM | 1 Comment

November 14, 2005

Growing up and Giving Back

James Hong, founder of the dotcom boom darling HotOrNot.com, has launched another venture -- and one with a purpose more promising than rating people's attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 10. Ten over 100 encourages people to donate 10% of money made over $100,000 a year to charity. People participating in the project might want to consider the winners of Fast Company's Social Capitalist Awards -- organizations doing good business, as well as good works. How much do you and your business give back? Do you think the 10 over 100 guideline is a worthwhile goal?

Posted by Heath Row at 9:12 AM | Add Comment

October 31, 2005

Food Service, Social Service

Imagine a restaurant at which you aren't allowed to pay your bill but can agree to pay the bill of a party seated in the future. And your bill was paid for by someone who ate there before you arrived. Such is the idea behind the Seva Cafe in a high-end shopping district in Ahmedabad, India.

The "pay-it-forward" restaurant also posts its receipts on a wall, donates tips to charity, and encourages patrons to volunteer at the cafe -- as well as eat there. Volunteers examine some of the ideas behind the project, as well as the evolution of the experience.

A worthy idea!

Posted by Heath Row at 12:36 PM | 6 Comments

September 30, 2005

Capitalize on Social Work

A $100 dollar laptop? MIT's prototype is an innovation that could have real social ramifications for developing countries. It could be a huge bridge across the digital divide between our countries and others. Of course, it could be effective in the American education system as well.

The story also mentions that there may be a commercial model made available for $200. This would be wonderful as well, particularly for those who have a desktop and wouldn't mind a cheap laptop for work or travel (like myself). It could also make the models given through charitable channels more accepted by society, especially within the highly critical world of children and teens.

I think social capitalism has the biggest impact when the social aspect does not overtake the capitalism. Civic-minded projects need a mainstream component that earns money to help fuel the charity. Without that, it is an uphill battle and the project will have a diminished impact.

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 12:42 PM | 4 Comments

August 9, 2005

How Innovative Leadership Impacts Customer Experience: Part 2

This may sound like the beginning of a bad joke: What do you get when you combine:

• A nuclear engineer
• A rap artist
• An FBI agent
• An AOL / Time Warner executive
• A professional stand-up comedian

How about a church leadership team? As an experience architect, I've been exploring ways that innovative leadership is imprinted on customer experience. New Life Christian Church is a great case study. It's one of those unique places where the customer experience definitely reflects the drive and innovation of its leaders... and there's something to be learned for all.

Continue reading "How Innovative Leadership Impacts Customer Experience: Part 2"

Posted by Leigh from LivePath.net at 7:39 PM | Add Comment

Opportunity in Market Failure

As an addition to an earlier post Social Impact and Profit, I want to point to a recent paper by Stanford's James Phills who takes a closer look at the role of the social entrepreneur in the marketplace.

In Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failures, Phills writes:

Continue reading "Opportunity in Market Failure"

Posted by Peter Rees at 3:20 PM | 1 Comment

August 8, 2005

How Innovative Leadership Impacts Customer Experience - Part 1

We've talked a lot about innovative leadership. As an experience architect, I'm also interested in how innovative leadership is reflected in customer experience. Let me hear from you on this one.

I'll start us off by contributing some information about a company called Honest Tea, which relates to Peter Rees' post on Social Impact and Profit.

Honest Tea's Co-Founder Seth Goldman's passion for quality, community, culture and socially responsible trade is reflected in the products he makes. As an innovative tea aficionado, Seth introduced high quality, less sweet teas, bottled with social conscience to the market in 1998. His teas and newly launched lemonades are now sold at national retailers and health food stores around the country.

Continue reading "How Innovative Leadership Impacts Customer Experience - Part 1"

Posted by Leigh from LivePath.net at 10:57 PM | 2 Comments

Innovative Leadership - A Definition and Roll Call

Thanks for inviting me to BlogJam, heath. As I geared up for the main topic: innovative leadership, I began to think about the nature of leadership and innovation. I thought thought it'd be interesting to start a collaborative roll call of innovative leaders. We've all got our own definitions, so to start on a level field, I started my exploration by looking up two definitions on Dictionary.com (shortened and reformatted for display purposes):

Innovate (Word Net definition: n 1: to create (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation [syn: invention] 2: to create something in the mind [syn: invention, excogitation, conception, design] 3: the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new...

Lead: 1: To show the way to by going in advance; 2: To guide or direct in a course [syn: guide]; 3: a) To serve as a route for; b) To be a channel or conduit for; 4: To guide the behavior or opinion of; to induce; 5: a) To direct the performance or activities of; b) To inspire the conduct of; 6: To play a principal or guiding role in; 7: a) To go or be at the head of...

By definition Innovation is a creative act that has implicit leadership characteristics. Leadership itself does not necessarily require innovation.

Continue reading "Innovative Leadership - A Definition and Roll Call"

Posted by Leigh from LivePath.net at 4:19 PM | 4 Comments

June 14, 2005

Kudos to Social Capitalists

Congratulations to 2005 Social Capitalist Award winner First Book for winning one of four $100,000 grand prize grants from the Yale School of Management and Goldman Sachs Foundation Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures' Third National Business Plan Competition for Nonprofit Organizations. Keep up the good work!

Posted by Heath Row at 12:31 PM | Add Comment

May 4, 2005

Social Capitalists, Unite!

Are you a social capitalist? We're looking for the best not-for-profit social entrepreneuring organizations in the U.S. to participate in this year's Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards. Winners get recognition in FC's January '06 issue. Follow the link for more details. Registration via our web site is open until June 1.

And on the subject, one of our '05 Social Capitalist Award winners, Vera Institute of Justice, is hosting a confab on Monday, May 9, from 6 pm to 8:30 pm, featuring four NYC winners--Vera, Witness, New Leaders for New Schools, and Scojo Foundation. It's at Vera's headquarters at 233 Broadway in Manhattan. For more info, contact Anna Kornilakis.

Posted by Keith Hammonds at 10:17 AM | Add Comment

January 13, 2005

Celebrating Social Capitalism

In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially proclaimed today as "Social Capitalist Day" in honor of the 25 groundbreaking nonprofits gracing the January issue of Fast Company. The honorees of the Social Capitalist Awards are part of the greater trend of social entrepreneurship.

Excerpted from the Proclamation:

Continue reading "Celebrating Social Capitalism"

Posted by Heath Row at 12:46 PM | 1 Comment

December 2, 2004

Juan More Time

Remember Juan Valdez, the donkey-toting cafetero (that's coffee farmer to the uninitiated) and official representative of the Columbian Coffee Federation? Well, the famed fictitious character, created in 1959, has finally returned. For the 21st Century, the brand has evolved into sleek, modern coffee bars, complete with Latin American coffee menus and Spanish-speaking baristas. The first outlet opened recently on East 57th Street in Manhattan, and it is a refreshing antidote to the Starbucks takeover of cafe life. Not only is it a cultural experience just to read the menu, but the space itself, filled with Wi-Fi users, curved blond wood, stainless steel and a green/orange/blue color scheme, is equally transformative in its simplicity and warmth. Can it be long before "nevado arequepa" rolls off the tongue as easily as caramel frappucino?

Juan Valdez literally gives its Seattle-based counterpart a run for the money. My macchiato arequipa, a blissful conconction of espresso combined with a touch of caramel-flavored milk, set me back a mere $1.75. Better yet, I ordered a "medium" � nothing venti about it. But the real draw is that the new retail outlet represents yet another step forward for Columbian coffee farmers. Because the CCF is fully owned and operated by the farmer collectives, all of the profits from the shop go directly to the 300,000 farmers, not the middlemen retailers that Columbian coffee is typically channeled through.

Posted by Lynn Moloney at 5:59 PM | 3 Comments

September 14, 2004

eBay and Social Change

The Omidyar Network was founded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife to help "more people discover their own power to make good things happen." For the most part, the online workspace for the network -- once closed but now open to the public -- encompasses discussions about business, education, healthcare, and social justice. While it's unclear what kinds of productive connections have been made through the network -- much less projects -- it appears to be a worthy effort.

Posted by Heath Row at 3:38 PM | Add Comment

September 10, 2004

A Message for the Homeless

When you live in a five-sense city like New York, you inevitably grow immune to certain things: the pungent sidewalk smells on the sweatiest of summer days; sirens screaming outside your window every hour of the night; cattle calls at Penn station. But as hardened as I become, the one thing I'll never get used to is the city's homeless.

At least once a week while riding the subway, I encounter a homeless person pitching me for change or some food. I am constantly awed by the raw talent I witness - singing or reciting spoken word; some showcasing the natural finesse of a salesman, with witticisms many of us in business only wish for. I've always wondered though - if they are able-bodied enough to do a cold pitch in front of an entire room of strangers, why can't they get a job as a dishwasher somewhere? If they would only funnel the energy they spend pitching for change into a real job...

Of course many of them might be doing that. But what I eventually realized was that without a home address or a phone number to contact them at, how could they possibly fill out a job application? Today the AP reported a story on the Community Voice Mail project, a program that first percolated in Seattle in the early 90�s. For as little as $7 a month, a homeless person can now have their own phone number and voice mail system, enabling them to follow-up on job leads. CVM reported they helped 47,000 people find jobs and housing last year. An idea so simple, yet so impactful.

Similar to micro-lending (the practice of giving small loans to disadvantaged people in order for them to grow their own businesses), CVM is an basic idea that truly empowers people to take back the reigns on their life. What seemingly simple ideas have you come across that truly make a difference?

Posted by Danielle Sacks at 4:32 PM | 6 Comments

August 13, 2004

Fast Company, Non-Profit Style

Peter Rees's piece on corporatizing nonprofits reminds me of one of the best run, and most agile corporations I have ever come into contact with - Opportunity Enterprises (OE).

OE is a not-for-profit social service organization, with an annual budget of about $10 million, located in northwest Indiana. It serves a wide variety of the needs of people who are severely mentally or physically challenged. To maximize resource it uses TQM principles, and operates in an Open Book Management fashion with everyone knowing exactly where fund comes from, what things cost, and why decisions are made. CEO Gary Mitchell and his leadership team have done a good job of turning social service people into business people, and MBAs into social service providers.

Continue reading "Fast Company, Non-Profit Style"

Posted by Dean Schroeder at 3:41 PM | 1 Comment

August 12, 2004

Please Sir ... May I Have Some More?

I don't know about you ... but food is on my mind. Well, to be exact, food systems in Vancouver and the opportunity to nurture a social enterprise.

Greater Vancouver recently experienced a lack of eggs - a result of avian flu concerns; a glut of beef - US border was closed - apparently some one had to eat it ... Mikey was no where to be found; and, heavy metal salmon.

All timely stuff that's bolstered the creation of a Vancouver Food Policy and the efforts of Farm Folk/City Folk.

What are the opportunities for social enterprise in your city? Are there issues social enterprise should avoid?

And while I'm asking questions, does anyone know of effective food recovery programmes, or roof-top produce gardens?

Posted by Peter Rees at 12:11 PM | 4 Comments

August 11, 2004

The Live Strong Phenom

By now you've probably seen more than your fair share of yellow rubbery Live Strong bracelets adorning the wrists of everyone from neighbors to presidential candidates. As you probably know, they're $1 totems being sold in a joint partnership between Nike and the Lance Armstrong Foundation to fund cancer research. But, did you know that 8 million of these have already been sold and there are a million more on backorder? On top of that, the Wall Street Journal reports that the charity-item-turned-must-have-accessory is being sold on eBay for up to 10-times its face value (and you can bet that money ain't going to charity).

Two questions: 1. Live Strong bracelets have obviously gone over the tipping point. But how? Why? Is this a feat that can be repeated by other companies working in partnership with worthwhile charitable foundations? 2. What the hell is wrong with the people who sell them for profit on eBay?

Posted by Ryan Underwood at 5:49 PM | 22 Comments

April 22, 2004

(Social) Capital Ideas

The winners of this year's Global Social Venture Competition, a contest run by the Haas School of Business, Columbia Business School, and London Business School, were announced last week. Studying more than 125 entries by MBA students, judges selected the following as social venture plans with promise:

• Schools for Community Empowerment This team of educators has developed a model of urban renewal and empowerment that could revitalize neighborhoods, communities, and cities across the country by linking youth education with community development.
• Eco-Friendly Agricultural Products This team will manufacture organic fertilizer with high water retention properties for local farmers in arid regions, thus improving soil quality.
• Distributed Generation Technologies This team will promote renewable energy production and local energy efficiency through multi-fuel technologies.
• IAM, LLC This team will carry out real estate development and research, dedicated to improving the economic development and environmental quality of underserved urban neighborhoods.

The schools' efforts differ slightly from Fast Company's Social Capitalist Awards: The GSVC considers plans for social ventures -- businesses that have yet to launch -- and decisions are based on the potential for growth, social ROI, and blended value.

Posted by Heath Row at 4:39 PM | Add Comment

December 19, 2003

On Social Capitalism IV

A Company of Friends member in Portland, Oregon, recently emailed members about a new online community for people interested -- and involved -- in social entrepreneurship. The Skoll Foundation's Social Edge is a free service offering a library of articles and other resources, a discussion forum, online events, and a searchable directory of members -- and their discussion posts. FC Now readers interested in our new package on social capitalism might want to check it out.