Author Archive

RarePlanet Educates, Crowdsources Green Online Best Practices

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

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I was recently joined RarePlanet’s advisory board after hearing about their cool vision. The concept puts environmental campaign managers into a social network where they share and learn best practices in online community management. It’s a two year program, and if successful, community managers earn a communications masters degree from the University of Texas – El Paso.

The range of topics is pretty diverse, from more sustainable agriculture and better management of a protected area to water conservation projects and even a 350 group. Though it’s early in the life of RarePlanet, the effort already has 1000 community members.

What I really like about RarePlanet is its focus on extended community of community managers, academics, super engaged conservationists and other hyper engaged people in the green movement. The long term vision is to create a place where campaigns can be dynamically crowdsourced by those who actually have experience doing them. It reminds me a lot of mastermind groups, where executives meet with other executives to drive their business forward.

Each campaign has a description, a theory of change, and a symbol of pride, which allows community members to share the concepts. Additionally, RarePlanet community users to share various campaigns with select social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Delicious.

It will be exciting to see if RarePlanet can become a leading source for collaborative green communications strategy and learning. I hope you will join us there, too.

Geoff Livingston is a regular contributor to the Live Earth blog.

Popularity: 2% [?]

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Posted in Cause, Green | 3 Comments »

The El Show Episode 24: Finding Happiness

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

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Episode 24 of the El Show was an unusual one. We decided to take a show and discuss happiness, whether or not we are happy, and how we have found this elusive emotion that everyone wants.

Here’s a breakdown of Episode 24:

  • SxSW 2010: Geoff’s take on the spirit of the interactive juggernaut
  • Richard’s vacation and how Miami is a nice relaxing time for him
  • Happiness, how do we find it?
  • Pleasure through work and sex/love: Is it happiness? If not, what is happiness in those work/critical life elements?
  • Spiritual paths to happinesss
  • And happiness in the future: What do we think it looks like?

Download or listen to the El Show Episode 24 today! Also available on iTunes!

Warning: Some serious cursing in the happiness episode ;)

Popularity: 3% [?]

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Introducing the Zoetica iPhone Application

Friday, March 12th, 2010

jpeg Icon.jpgToday we launched the Zoetica iPhone application, which provides a complication of nonprofit tech blog feeds handpicked by our CEO Beth Kanter.

Now anyone can read the best #nptech minds and their social media tips from their iPhone (download now). Content feeds included on the application include:

We want to thank AppMakr for partnering with us to build and develop this iPhone application. If you do download, and you have feedback on the application, please let us now.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Choose the LIVESTRONG Tattoo

Thursday, March 11th, 2010


As many of you know, I am raising money for cancer research in honor of two family members by donating some real estate on my body for a LIVESTRONG tattoo. John Haydon has umped the ante and joined the fundraiser. The response has been outstanding, and we are looking at roughly $500 a day so far in cancer research.

Will we make our goal of $5k? It’s going to be tight, but with a few big hits, who knows? Best to prepare…

In that vein, if successful my tattoo will happen on Sunday night at 10:00 p.m. in Austin at Golden Apple Tattoo Studios (come on by if you’d like). John will get his later on in the week. We need help choosing the design. Here are the three we like… Please choose your favorite, or add a new design in the comments section. And don’t forget to donate.

1)

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2)

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3)

LIVESTRONG.FINAL_Page_07.jpg

Popularity: 10% [?]

Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments »

TrashTalk

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

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TrashTalk is a new initiative from the SENSEable City Lab and inspired by the NYC Green Initiative that’s studying waste management (image by Nevada Tumbleweed). Specifically, the effort seeks to use technology to understand our removal chain as well our supply chain.

The effort uses hundreds of small, smart, location aware tags to examine how we get rid of waste. In the end, the minute details could provide great amounts of data that could yield a more sustainable future.

As we move forward, understanding waste will be a critical component of green life. A recent CauseCast article noted there are three kinds of waste:

1. Primary packaging is what we handle as consumers.

2. Secondary packaging is the term used for the larger cases or boxes that group quantities of primary packaged goods for distribution.

3. Transit packaging refers to the wooden boards, plastic wrapping, and containers that load, transport, and unload these goods.

Recycling has been a past topic, and one that can seriously impact our carbon footprint. In fact, we already see a savings of 300 million tons of carbon a year in the U.S.

There’s so much focus on producing new sustainable products it seems like we forget how important it is to be mindful about what we already consume. I like it when I see initiatives like this with a robot that helps to intelligently recycle plastics. This seems to be the best of both worlds.

What do you think? How can we best address reusing our current products for long-term sustainability.

Popularity: 6% [?]

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Winning Online Competitions: A Coalition of the Giving

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

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Zoetica has decided not to counsel potential clients on how to win contests like Pepsi Refresh, but many of you are asking for tips. That’s why when the opportunity came up to publish this guest post by Dan Morrison, CEO of Citizen Effect, I said yes. Hopefully, some folks will find it useful.

Philanthropy competitions are the new fad and mode for giving away millions of dollars to innovative organizations trying to save the world. Last year the Chase Giving Challenge gave away $5 million to 100 nonprofits and this year Pepsi allocated $20 million of its Super Bowl ad budget to launch its Pepsi Refresh Project that is giving away a total of $1.2 million a month to innovative ideas that will save the world.

While most of you have never heard of Scott Beale and Atlas Corp. you need to for two reasons. Atlas Corp is creating a new spin on the Peace Corp that will benefit your organization, and Scott is kicking your butts in these online giving competitions.

In the last 2 years, Scott and Atlas Corp have won $325,000 from online competitions, including $125,000 from the Chase Giving Challenge. And he just did it again by winning one of the ten $50,000 prizes from the Pepsi Refresh Project. This is impressive. But it is borderline unbelievable when you consider Atlas Corp’s 2009 budget was $400.000, they only have 1,700 friends on Facebook, 1,215 followers on Twitter, and an email list of about 12,000 people.

So how did they do it? Scott’s plan to win the Pepsi contest was ingenious and will likely have Chase, Pepsi and other online contests rethinking their rules in the future. Introducing the “Coalition of the Giving.”

The recipe for forming the Coalition of the Giving is simple: part good-hearted collaboration, part reality-TV show Survivor, and part persistence (or spam, depending on your threshold for receiving emails, Facebook updates and Tweets).

The Pepsi Refresh Project included hundreds of ideas from all over the country and Scott knew he would need more than Atlas Corp supporters to win. So how could Scott get people to vote for Atlas Corp that had never heard of them before, much less care about their mission?

Easy, ask another organization competing in the Pepsi Refresh Project to market Atlas Corp to their supporters. This was possible because every voter was given ten votes a day, but each voter could only vote once for a specific organization. That left nine useless votes… unless you could form a coalition and trade votes in a “I’ll vote for you if you vote for me” arrangement.

Scott found six other organizations competing in the contest (two vying for $50K, three for $25K, and one for $250K) and told them that every time he asked someone to vote for Atlas Corp, he would also ask them to vote for everyone in the coalition, as long as they did the same. Here again, Pepsi’s rules worked in Scott’s favor because there were ten prizes of $50,000, so it was not a “winner take all” competition and open to benefiting a collaboration.

Pepsi does not share the number of votes, but let’ assume that 70% of Scott’s supporters still only vote for Atlas Corp. That means that 30% of his supporters will vote for other coalition members. Thirty percent does not seem like a lot but multiply that by six and consider that everyone can vote every day. If Atlas Corp is able to pick up ten voters that vote every day through the coalition, that is 280 votes over the course of the February contest. That may not allow someone to go from worst to first, but it is highly likely that it can move you from a contender to a winner.

The results tell the tale. Six of the seven coalition partners won, that is a combined $225,000 for the coalition.

The strategy was ingenious in part because it was selfish as much it was selfless. Rather than just a “vote for me” play, Atlas Corp adopted a “vote for me and consider these other guys,” play. The better the coalition members did in the standings, the stronger the incentive was to continue with the plan and not defect because if they did, they would be dropped from the coalition and loose all those potential votes.

I am not sure voting contests are the most efficient way to allocate millions of dollars for innovative ideas since they reward innovative voter mobilization strategies rather than innovative projects. But at least in the case of Atlas Corp, both were rewarded, and we all learned a lesson that sometimes collaboration is better than competition. Thank you Scott and best of luck in the next competition, we will be watching.

For more information on Atlas Corp, email Scott Beale at scott@atlascorps.org and learn more about Atlas Corps at www.atlascorps.org. For more information on the author, email Dan Morrison, CEO and Founder of www.CitizenEffect.org, at dan.morrison@CitizenEffect.org.

Popularity: 20% [?]

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Tattooing My Body “LIVESTRONG” for Cancer Research

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Updated 3/14 at 10:30 a.m.: WE MADE IT! We have raised $5125. Thank you to the more than 100 donors!

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As some of you know, I have a close relative came down with cancer last year (he chooses to remain unnamed, but his cancer is now in remission). It turns out that my Cousin Paula (photo below) also came down with breast cancer last year, too (also in remission). That’s why I have decided to donate a little piece of my body to fundraise for cancer research with the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

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If I successfully raise $5,000 by midnight on Sunday, I will literally get the LIVESTRONG brand tattooed on my body in Austin at SxSW on Monday. Here’s the donation page, please contribute today. Further, changeblogger and friend John Haydon has committed to getting his own tattoo if we reach $6500 in donations!

It's Done!

Last year’s SxSW tattoo

livestrong.jpg Before you laugh too much (OK, go ahead), I just want explain a little bit. The family cancers caused me to become interested in related charities. . There was a possibility of a three year old toddler without a parent, and how we were all going to help out the surviving parent. After my cousin Paula was diagnosed for breast cancer (early stage), she could not get health care coverage for three months. I believe we can change this.

And yes, I am no stranger to tattoos. This would be my seventh, and yes, I can live with LIVESTRONG on my body. I don’t think this is everyone’s cup of tea (see related post)…

So on to SxSW. And with your help, a nice contribution for cancer research and a new tattoo.

P.S. Check out this blog post about the LIVESTRONG brand, where I discussed people tattooing LIVESTRONG on their bodies!

Popularity: 67% [?]

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Posted in Cause | 205 Comments »

Photos from the End of the World

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

The Magellan Strait

At the end of Latin America, across the Strait of Magellan (pictured above) you will find an island called Tierra del Fuego, the island of fire. Part Chile, part Argentina, this magical land plays home to the end of the Andes. As you can see, they just seem to drop into the Ocean down by the Beagle Channel.

Beagle Channel

You realize Ushuia, the city, is the last port of call before the three day boat ride to Antartica. It’s also the southern most city in the world. It’s kind of stunning and wild to think about.

Heading to Antartica

Tierra del Fuego is an incredible place, sizable and yet surreal. There’s a bizarre feel of calmness to it.

The Surreal Sun on the Beagle Channel

And the wildlife is just amazing as you can see below. I hope you can visit some day. Or if you prefer, check out the whole photo set on Flickr

Penguin Colony

Penguin

Tierra del Fuego Bird - Garza Bruja

King Crab - The Beagle Channel Verson

Sea Lion Family

Dirty Birds I

Popularity: 8% [?]

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Run for Water: Two Weeks Into Training

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Beagle Channel

I work out a lot and 6k or 3.73 miles doesn’t seem like a long distance, but running is a completely different kind of exercise. So I decided to train in advance of Washington, DC’s Dow Live Earth Run for Water on April 18.

Why 6K? It’s symbolic of the distance Africans traverse every day for fresh water, a major daily task. The Dow/Live Earth effort will benefit a ton of charities working on water issues.

I began running and cross-training per the Active plan recommended by Live Earth.

My legs were so sore the first run! I actually ended up going to Fleet Feet and getting new shoes, which have much more cushion. Since then no problems…

Last week during my business trip I took the shoes to the Bay Area. All in all Yesterday was my fifth run, and I am a little ahead of schedule with 30 minutes of running down. I estimate my pace at a mile every 10-12 minutes, so I am roughly 2/3 of the way there.

I feel confident that the 6k will be a piece of cake. Best yet, and I am actually starting to enjoy running.

Geoff Livingston is a regular contributor to the Live Earth blog.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Posted in Green, Me, Myself and I | No Comments »

Disrupting Philanthropy Report: A Conversation

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

The Disrupting Philanthropy Conversation at Pew

Today, Lucy Bernholtz, Edwards Skloot, and Barry Varela hosted a conversation at the Pew Conference room on their recent Disrupting Philanthropy Report. In attendance where folks from some of the largest foundations and technology companies in the world. The following is a liveblogged account of the conversation.

We opened the panel with a discussion about Haiti. Fifteen of the sixteen roundtable members found out about the earthquake online as opposed to a broadcast or traditional print outlet. The DNA of the way of thinking has changed… Ushahidi is a classic example of our new reality, which is being shared and openly discussed now. Here’s why digital matters as outlined by report co-author Lucy Bernholtz at the event:

We are experiencing a rejuvenated market zeitgeist in resolving societal problems as a result of technology. There’s a whole series of more granular issues from measurement and transparency to data and how can it be used externally. There are four critical aspects the the Disrupting Philanthropy Research.

  • 1) Data is the new platform for change (Ushahidi). Low cost of organizations, public movements, etc. have created a data deluge.
  • 2) There’s a real idealogical battle about who produces social good, including the commons, charities, foundations, businesses, etc. They are all inter-related in a networked way.
  • 3) This new networked reality demands new governance models about participation for organizations with authenticity
  • 4) The biggest question, what’s the biggest limitations of crowds and clouds? Where does this end? How do we make decisions? How do we share information?
  • The Conversation on Data

    Edward Skloot, Lucy Bernholtz, and Barry Varela
    From left to right, Edward Skloot, Lucy Bernholtz, and Barry Varela.

    Data can be in a system, and it can be shared in all sorts of ways. Organizations are reporting to a new level of public analysis. Behaviors of organizations are being changed. Public disclosure is forcing a lot of hands, creating a new way of looking at analysis.

    The question in the new government becomes how have we incorporated the public will on this. Rendering data against archaic policies has become a tension that the Obama administration is trying to work through.

    There’s no common language to interact, no protocol to unify the data transfer. How do you code information to make it universal, but at the same time, in a way that creates power and interpretation battles? Lack of standards, data integrity and information transfer becomes a key aspect of the social web.

    Talking New Business Models

    Revenue supported social enterprises are adding disruption to the mix, and social investment changes require data and metrics. Market activity and capital behind social enterprises is demanding new standards, which may spread to the larger social cause sector.

    We discussed parallels of social enterprise and business-based social good producers involved in the sector. B Corps, L3Cs, etc. have brought code level changes to the social sector. Tax emption and deductability reshape the way people can affect social good changes.

    The Networked World of Change

    The siloed approach to affecting change is being torn down before our eyes. We are seeing a new networked ecosphere arise with social enterprises, businesses, 501c3s, governments and the public, creating new resources and ways of affecting change. It’s also creating conflict and tension. The internets are lubricating the process.

    501c3s are becoming more sustainable by focusing on what they do best within this architecture. A fundraiser can’t dig wells so to speak. Then there’s the public will to create new dynamic architectures and circumnavigate the existing structures.

    New Governance versus Old Systems of Power

    There’s an anti-organization approach. It’s a moment in time when committees versus action remains a major tension, and there incredible new momentary projects (zeitgeists) occurring. Governance within structures feel threatened, and are being revamped to some extent. At the same time, change is being forced from the outside.

    There are new ways of working that are operating outside of the system. Should the new ways of doing things be regulated, and vice versa? The panelists thought there’s a need for institutionalization, and that the new players will be forced into larger accountable governances overtime.

    I strongly disagreed (and was talked down). In my opinion, we are seeing the change that we have seen in larger for-profit markets, where innovation is occurring because technology enables people to do things differently. There’s a dissatisfaction with the larger organizations that cannot be quelled.

    In the end, we as a group agreed that it seems like the big organizations are not going away, but the new guys won’t either. Technology has enabled the change agent.

    There’s a similarity between this and the Catholic Church, and how it lost control of Christian faith in Europe due to the rise of the Gutenberg press and the ability for every man to practice with a bible at home. Today the Catholic Church is still there, but you have so many different types of Protestantism it’s amazing.

    It’s the ability to garner large dollars versus the balkanization and destabilization of governance within philanthropy. There are many possibilities. We left our morning session with many more questions than when we walked in. We ended on this note, two general themes (as pronounced by Darin McKever of the Gates Foundation):

    1) Technology leads to increased productivity and lower capital requirements

    2) Data information availability creates behavioral and attitudinal changes

    Into the Afternoon

    We then moved into the afternoon sessions with an introduction of Subsidy Scope. This new tool created by Pew will reveal government subsidies to 501C3s, a transparency initiative. We demoed the tool with searches for the American Red Cross and the National Rifle Association.

    The first discussion revolved around data and whether it’s widespread availability and the lack of ways to extrapolate could create chaos. Understanding data and mashing it up to make decisions. Once standards are in place, we can analyze it and understand it.

    Nonprofits have a capacity issue. Can they extrapolate the data and make intelligent decisions. What can be done to illuminate the story and affect better change? Packaging data goes beyond stories to policy changes.

    Data can be a platform for change, yet you need a voice. You need leaders. Data, platforms to talk, pedagogical diffusion, publicity, partnerships, and coalitions: It’s not one or the other, but all.

    Resources have changed. Money used to be the old capital, but now there’s data. There was a discussion of this as a foundation model.

    Breeding transparency and data sets can bring out trust, change and new efficiencies. There was a great discussion about whether or not it’s really affecting the way to govern.

    How do we make it more systematic? Does the movement to fund the social entrepreneurial efforts (L3Cs, etc.) really change with all of the data and tidal waves of change? What can philanthropy achieve with data? How do we archetype strategy in an era of volatile tools, movements and rapid data change. How does data availability affecting change and education of the donor and the financier?

    An interesting discussion revolved around the citizen philanthropist. How do we educate them? How do we captivate them? Organizations in the long tail like Global Giving are succeeding. Can we better examine the individual donor to help change? The data boom and the desire to play with it is creating a demand for measurement, and useful and replicable programs.

    The real challenge for change advocates is to stop challenging human nature. Use data with emotion to channel human nature and move towards an evolved, better result. Data can be used as an organizing tool. Donor advised funds such as community foundations are a great example.

    Popularity: 15% [?]

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