Archive for philanthropy
Patient Philanthropy in Northern Ireland
The recent news out of Northern Ireland, although momentarily obscured by the March 17 celebrations, signals such a profound change in attitudes there that it made me stop and think. A number of years, all right decades, ago, I first got involved in philanthropy because of the terrible conditions in Northern Ireland. “The Troubles,” and various eruptions of inter-religious and political conflict had caught children in the cross-fire, figuratively and literally. Children trapped in gritty neighborhoods, walled off from their counterparts of a different religion, had few safe places to play, and grew up with no opportunity to encounter other faces, different viewpoints.
Many Americans, with wonderful intentions, began to bring children from Northern Ireland to live with their families for summer holidays. Their hope was that the guests would begin to understand a more open outlook, and at least enjoy a brief respite from the violence and hatred that pervaded their lives. Elsewhere, in Irish-American communities, funds were raised for the care of children in the North, and for the welfare of families whose husbands and fathers were imprisoned or killed in the conflict – which took thousands of lives and inflicted pain on countless others.
The problem with these collections, though, was that some of them were simply vehicles to raise money for guns – literally perpetuating the problem, not the solution. And even the well-intentioned holidays for children had a downside: often the child returned home to resentment from siblings or playmates. And the conditions from which they’d had a brief respite hadn’t changed. Yet these children bore the burden of expectations that they’d be individual ambassadors for peace, all on their own.
The CauseWired Roundup
-
Susan Carey Dempsey: "A hopeful sign for philanthropy is that those who are making the biggest mark in the field are using their recognition to encourage others to follow suit. And it couldn’t come at a better time. With markets gyrating, companies disappearing, and wealth vanishing down the Madoff rabbit-hole, some nonprofits are holding their breath, others cutting staff and postponing building plans, still others closing their doors."
-
Allan Benamer: "Think of this as a hierarchy of things your nonprofit should probably have in place before you can get to doing social media. There’s no doubt that each level represents a moving part that may require a nonprofit’s focus from time to time. That’s the nature of how nonprofits work. However, for the small nonprofit still spinning up their operations, it’s best to approach this pyramid from the bottom up as you really cannot move towards social media without everything else working."
-
Thousands of dancers jammed a major London train station in a Facebook-driven "flashmob" mimicking an advertisement for a phone company.
-
On 12 February 2009 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water.
-
Today, we are unveiling the Dell Social Innovation Competition site. It is a place where university students from around the globe can make a difference in the world by putting great ideas into action. To make it happen, we partnered with the RGK Center at the University of Texas and the team at salesforce.com.
-
From Beth: "Trendwatching has released its February report called "Generation Generosity" They sum it up as: "Giving is the new taking, and sharing is the new giving.n fact, for many, sharing a passion and receiving recognition have replaced 'taking' as the new status symbol. Businesses should follow this societal/behavioral shift, however much it may oppose their decades-old devotion to me, myself and I.”
-
Kiva announced yesterday, the official launch of the Kiva API and our new developer website, build.kiva.org. With the introduction of the Kiva API, we begin a new era of building Kiva.org.
-
Peter Deitz: "For anyone following the evolution of social media for social change, the emergence of Facebook and Ning as complementary tools for engaging people in making a difference is quite exciting."
Philanthropy and nonprofit management expert Susan Carey Dempsey is the editor-in-chief of onPhilanthropy.com. 
Veteran consultant, journalist and entrepreneur Tom Watson is the author of CauseWired: Plugging In, Getting Involved, Changing the World, a new book about online social activism. 
Social media and philanthropy evaluation expert Allison Fine is the author of Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age. 
Veteran development consultant Stephen Manzi is a recognized national leader in nonprofit management and fundraising strategy. 
