November 16, 2009
Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector

Paul Higgins: An interesting paper on the future of the sector and five trends that are driving change

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November 9, 2009
Great Question from Seth Godin

Upside vs. downside

How much of time, staffing and money does your organization spend on creating incredible experiences (vs. avoiding bad outcomes)?

At the hospital, it’s probably 5% on the upside (the doctor who puts in the stitches, say) and 95% on the downside (all the avoidance of infection or lawsuits, records to keep, forms to sign). Most of the people you interact with in a hospital aren’t there to help you get what you came for (to get better) they’re there to help you avoid getting worse. At an avant garde art show, on the other hand, perhaps 95% of the effort goes into creating and presenting shocking ideas, with just 5% devoted to keeping the place warm or avoiding falls and spills as you walk in.

Which is probably as it should be.

But what about you and your organization?

Paul Higgins: This is a great question to be asking inside your organisation or for consultants and mentors to be asking from the outside.

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November 3, 2009
Four Years After Founding, Kiva Hits $100 Million In Microloans Proving that microloans can help to change the world one little bit at a time, Kiva.org hit a major milestone today. Since it’s founding four years ago, it has now made possible $100 million in microloans between individual lenders and entrepreneurs all around the world.

Four Years After Founding, Kiva Hits $100 Million In Microloans

Proving that microloans can help to change the world one little bit at a time, Kiva.org hit a major milestone today. Since it’s founding four years ago, it has now made possible $100 million in microloans between individual lenders and entrepreneurs all around the world.

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October 29, 2009
Catalista

Catalista helps you find timely and local volunteer opportunities, rate them and share your good deed with the world.

Read to kids, deliver meals to the elderly, clean up a park or give $10. No matter what you do, pitching in makes a difference.

Catalista is available on iPhone,  iPod Touch, T-Mobile G1 and MyTouch.

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October 14, 2009
New iPhone App Makes Jobs For Refugees In Dedaab Kenya It might sound like a pretty outlandish idea that an iPhone application can provide jobs for refugees in Kenya, but the folks behind the Give Work App are dreaming big! Give Work is a joint effort between Samasource, a non-profit organization working to provide Internet-based jobs for poor people around the world, and CrowdFlower, a San Francisco based company that provides accessible outsourced labor as an online service. Dadaab, Kenya is home to extreme poverty and the largest refugee camp in the world. Through the Give Work system, refugees in Dadaab receive Internet training and well-paying, dignified jobs.

New iPhone App Makes Jobs For Refugees In Dedaab Kenya

It might sound like a pretty outlandish idea that an iPhone application can provide jobs for refugees in Kenya, but the folks behind the Give Work App are dreaming big!

Give Work is a joint effort between Samasource, a non-profit organization working to provide Internet-based jobs for poor people around the world, and CrowdFlower, a San Francisco based company that provides accessible outsourced labor as an online service. Dadaab, Kenya is home to extreme poverty and the largest refugee camp in the world. Through the Give Work system, refugees in Dadaab receive Internet training and well-paying, dignified jobs.

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