What would you ask? (WWYA)

Nathaniel Whittemore has a nice discussion going on over at change.org – “What is the one thing you need to know before giving to charity this year?” The posts are all interesting, and comments are also helpful – here are some paraphrased excerpts – read the post/comments for the full discussion: Who plans the programs [...]

San Francisco Event – "Technology Empowers the Poorest"

“Technology Empowers the Poorest” WEDNESDAY, May 21, 7:00 p.m.Cowell Theater, Fort Mason, San FranciscoSponsored by the Long Now Foundation Iqbal Quadir is the legendary founder of GrameenPhone, which transformed his home country of Bangladesh in the 1990s and led the way for the cellphone revolution throughout the developing world. Currently Quadir heads the Legatum Center [...]

More improvements for social idea markets

This post on improving markets for social ideas mentioned InnoCentive – an online marketplace connecting people with ideas to institutions that can make them real (in both social and commercial spheres). The CEO of InnoCentive just added a comment, which you can read here, but he notes two things they are working on: “First, in [...]

Improving marketplace(s) for social ideas

I recently participated in a discussion about risk and innovation in Jewish philanthropy at the JFN iJew conference. I also serve on the advisory board of a project called the Jewish Professional Co-op – which is in the ever-familiar stage of transitioning from pilot to reality, from project to organization. What is interesting to me [...]

Project Enterprise – Your Turn to Vote!

The judges (me included) have done our part – now its your turn. Choose from among the four posted finalists and vote here for the PBS NOW Project Enterprise winner. Polls are open until October 31st. The winning group will receive coverage on the website and be part of an upcoming episode of NOW’s Enterprising [...]

Top Ten (OK, Eleven) Questions

Asking and listening are more important skills than knowing and saying. Guy Kawasaki knows a lot about startup companies and technology evangelism. – In an interview with David Bornstein, author of How to Change The World, Kawasaki demonstrates his skill at asking good questions (even though he miscounts them). Here are the questions: Question: Are [...]

Capital Market Development

I’ve written about B corporations here and here. This is a new effort to register “public benefit companies” and help solve the commercial/nonprofit hybrid dilemma. And to do much more. This is from B Corporation’s web site on how it plans to support new B corporations. Capital Markets (access and development) The Capital Markets Council [...]

We all get older…

And some of us get better as we age. Here is the list of 15 finalists for the Civic Ventures Purpose Prize, which honors social innovators over age 60. Social entrepreneurism. Its not just for kids. Tags: philanthropy, socialentrepreneurs

Becoming a B (Corporation)

When I founded Blueprint Research & Design ten years ago, the question I asked myself, and everyone asked me was “why didn’t I set it up as a nonprofit?” After all, we provide independent research and strategy advice to philanthropic foundations and individuals – all of our clients are either charitable individuals, philanthropic entities or [...]

Scaling Kenyan Health Clinics

Questions for Liza Kimbo, Sustainable Healthcare Foundation Barriers to grow clinics within and beyond Kenya Current data for Sustainable Healthcare Foundation:Built 64 outlets in 6 years670,000 people treated per year Goals:To grow to 250 outlets and provide 2 million treatments per yearModel is infinitely scalable – franchise provides control and is well understood. Most needed [...]