One Woman. One Mission. To Go to One Charity Event Each Week For 1 Year. And thus was born Challenge 52.

On Saturday I went out for coffee with Stephanie Fisher of Challenge 52. Her mission? To go to one charity event every week for a year. She’s gone to 3 events so far, and she intends to go to equal amounts of Black tie and BBQ events! How did I find out about Stephanie? She’s on TWITTER! I love Twitter! You should really follow me. If you retweet me, I’ll try to find something of yours to retweet, if it’s relevant for nonprofits.

The Why
Stephanie is doing this because she wants to relate what these nonprofits are doing, in simple terms, so that people can relate and participate. She wants to find the personal story in each event that is told so she can relate it back to the people who read her blog, and encourage giving to these nonprofits.

So this is free PR for you, if you have an Austin nonprofit, you should give her a reduced price ticket and get her to write about your event.

Background on Stephanie
Stephanie is from Indiana. She moved to Austin five years ago. She’s a single mom, and she has two children, 9 and 5, and they LOVE her project so far!

She has organized many events herself and currently works as an accountant. She has done strategic planning consulting for nonprofits and would like to do more of this.

Her Process
She does talk with the event organizers sometimes a week or two before the event, and usually they’re really stressed out. She asks them several questions:

1. What are your goals with this event? Awareness? A dollar amount?
2. Why did your organization get started?
3. What are you getting out of this?
4. Who are you making a difference for?

Then she calls to follow up after the event and ask if the event was successful, and generally so far the organizers are being VAGUE.

I asked her if she generally learns anything from the organizers, but she said, “No, not really.” And some of the events she’s been to, it’s the first time they’ve put them on, and they have not had the message front and center, and it’s been difficult to figure out how to give. It’s hard for her not to say, “Let me help you” but she’s managing to hold herself back so far!

Where to find her
Her event schedule is here. She’s looking forward to the Ghoulwill Ball in Austin in October for Goodwill. Their theme is “Resurrecting the 80s.” Stephanie said that people really commit to their costumes. I’m guessing that with a name like Ghoulwill, this year there will be a lot of Michael Jackson zombies.

Have you ever heard of anyone doing anything like this?

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“Yes, we disabled the alarms on the Deepwater Horizon. Oh, like you’ve never hit the snooze button? http://ow.ly/2fQ6x” 1:57 PM Jul 23rd @BPGlobalPR

Today British Petroleum announced a new CEO, Robert Dudley, an American, meant to appease the millions of Americans without livelihoods now, and the millions of environmental activists up in arms about the devastation in the gulf.

He said they would remain strong on their pledge to pay reparations to the citizens of the gulf, AND KEEP DRILLING. Well, it seems like Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has struck again.

So the concept of CSR, as far as I see it, is that you throw some volunteers or money at a relief effort for a tragedy that you may or may not have caused and suddenly you have purchased the indulgences to act exactly as you please, with no need for morals any longer.

What is even more unconscionable is that this is the second such disaster and CEO musical chairs that has been caused by BP in the last five years.

Yes, in 2005, BP had a big blowup at a Texas City oil refinery and some leakage of oil in Alaska as well. So their then CEO, John Browne, was forced to step down, and Mr. Tony Hayward took his place. We all know how well THAT worked out.

My favorite line from The New York Times Article today is, “Mr. Hayward, asked how he felt about the oil spill given that he pledged to improve safety standards in light of the Texas City explosion, said he “was determined not to have a repeat” of such an accident but “sometimes you step off the pavement and get hit by a bus.””

Wow. That is really incredible. Mr. Hayward is STILL NOT ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY for this oil spill. You’d think that if you were BP CEO, you could improve safety standards. That it would be, kind of, your job. Especially since you just stepped in after a previous disaster when your oil equipment wasn’t safe enough, and pledged to “not have a repeat” of the accident. And now he’s going to continue to work for BP, and get his over $14 million dollar payout.

What is wrong with our concept of corporate social responsibility? Basically, everything. But we shouldn’t stop there. We also need to take away corporate personhood, and do as Ecuador has done, and make Mother Nature a person in court with equal rights.

I was reading the Philanthrocapitalism blog yesterday, which is written by an Economist editor, Matthew Bishop, and he asked, “Is CSR evil”? He calls it “Short Term Thinking” that plagues companies. That’s so understated that it’s almost insulting. How about we call it, “We’re going to Rape, Plunder and Pillage your entire life and you don’t have a choice”? I guess that doesn’t really roll off the tongue.

We need to start asking, why aren’t we instilling the golden rule into our accountants, stockbrokers, CEOs and MBAs?

Why are we making “at will employment” the rule, giving people no legal recourse to being fired? Why aren’t we protecting our workers, strengthening our unions, and making safety standards real, instead of just paying lip service to them?

It’s not “short term thinking” we need to eliminate, Mr. Bishop, it’s the sociopathic lack of any concern for anyone other than the company and its image.

We need to dissolve British Petroleum and stop our dependence on oil. We need to FORGET OUR BRANDS and start trying to SAVE OUR WORLD. Thank you Leroy Stick, for putting it so succinctly.

Why aren’t you more angry? What can you do about this?

See more pictures of the spill here

BP Kills. Don't give them your money.

Global Humanitarian Discussions features interviews with passionate individuals implementing groundbreaking humanitarian campaigns around the globe. Especially those who go out of their way to contribute of themselves towards development projects globally, including projects stretching across oceans and continents within communities of people living very different lifestyles.

I loved talking with Megan Schiebe, a native of South Africa, who has many fascinating things to say about international aid, volunteering, and the plight of refugees. We talked about why people give, my new fundraising video game, and more.

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The reason I find this fascinating is that it used to be “Us versus Them,” where us was the “little people,” and them was big business. Now I think we need to include nonprofits in the category of “big business.” Save the Children just made $455 million in 2008, according to Guidestar.org. The nonprofit industry represents $1 Trillion dollars in America every year. But is this trickling down to “the little people”? No.

Now Ralph Nader just came out with a book called “Only the Super Rich Can Save Us.” He writes, “Why not include the super rich in our revolution? Let them lead, let them use their money to create worldwide change!” In Nader’s fictional book, Warren Buffet calls a meeting in Hawaii of all of the world’s richest people, and asks them to help save the world.

And now it looks like life is imitating art, because Bill Gates and Warren Buffet just got together and asked the world’s billionaires to donate half of their money to charitable causes.

From the AP’s Josh Funk on the Huffington Post, “The handful of billionaires approached so far have embraced the campaign, said Stonesifer, a close friend of Gates who offered to speak about the effort. Four wealthy couples have already announced their pledges, including Los Angeles philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest of Philadelphia, John and Ann Doerr of Menlo Park, Calif., and John and Tasha Mortgridge of San Jose, Calif.”

Buffet himself has promised to donate 99% of his $46 billion fortune to charity when he dies. Gates has done something similar, and most of their money will go to foundations to disperse as they see fit.

From Nader’s interview with Monica Hatcher of the Miami Herald in November, 2009:

Q: “In the book, the character Max Palevsky, venture capitalist and computer technology pioneer, has an obsession with what is called civic anomie — or, as you describe, the failure of citizens to exert even minor efforts to combat injustices they perceive as harming them. When and how did Americans become so complacent?”

A: Part of it is growing up with many hours of television that empties the sidewalks and the town meetings and city council meetings. Then there are the long commutes, low pay and often having to take a job and a half; people don’t have time. Also there are very few civic skills and civic experiences provided in our schools. If people don’t spend time on their civic responsibilities, they don’t spend time on making a democracy function. They feel powerless. They don’t like what they see — politicians are in low repute, major necessities of the country are not addressed, major possibilities like efficient and renewable energy over the years until recently are not addressed and people get frustrated. Many become discouraged and they realize because they haven’t put in the time in organizing the neighborhoods and all that, they don’t have much power with city hall. That turns into apathy and resignation and withdrawal.

Q: In light of the near collapse of the financial system and the scandal involving corporate bailouts and large executive bonuses, if Americans were to ever snap out of this anomie, wouldn’t this be the time? Do you see any signs of significant civic uprising?

A: No, because the money is not there. I keep emphasizing the resources. If 10 multibillionaires of advanced age really want to turn the healthcare system around and they put a billion dollars in meticulously organizing the 435 congressional districts for full Medicare for all and exposing even more the horrors of the present system of so many people dying who can’t afford health insurance, we would get it. What is a billion dollars for a group of billionaires who together are worth $70 billion? That’s the biggest single message of the book: You have to have smarts, good people, good strategies, good timing — but little happens if there is no money.

As we speak, 2,000 lobbyists are coursing over Congress from the drug industry, the health insurance companies and the hospital chains. They are working full time to try to get their way, and there isn’t one full-time lobbyist for the most popular reform — single-payer, full Medicare for all — on Capitol Hill. So you can multiply that — military budget, preferential taxes for the rich and the powerful, lack of attention to public service repair and modernization of infrastructure. There is almost nobody there, no citizens organized back in the congressional districts.

This is why we have to be good fundraisers for our causes. Because without the money, nothing happens. We need to be empowered advocates and fundraisers to help people understand that they do have power and they CAN make change.

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In the next few days, I’m going to take you through six common misconceptions, what I’ve noticed about what is keeping us from solving the problem of domestic violence, of poverty, of racism, of inequality, of sexism, of corporate abuse, of childhood obesity, of environmentalism, of all of the causes that we care about solving.

Our problem is basically ideological.

Common Misconception One “Charities should not take risks. They are taking risks with earmarked funds. They should be cautious.”

So we are punishing courage, rewarding timidity.

This is directly related to the idea that charities should not make mistakes. A mistake means a charity is wasting money and waste is immoral.

Have you ever been punished in a nonprofit for making a mistake, even a small one, that has cost you your job?

A nonprofit friend writes in: “Once one of our appeal letters wasn’t photocopied correctly by a volunteer. I didn’t check every single letter before they were stuffed into envelopes. This letter went to a community partner who expressed her disappointment to my boss. So I was fired.”

Is this right? Is this fair? Why do such small mistakes mean that we are no longer allowed to work at a nonprofit?

The more that charities take calculated risks, the better the chance that they will break new ground. The more mistakes a charity makes in good faith, the faster it will learn and the quicker it will be able to solve complex problems This is the only path to solving problems, one must fail upward.

If you are a nonprofit leader, how can you reward people for asking questions, and for making mistakes?

Follow Wild Woman Fundraising on Twitter!

I want to know what you want. Please tell me. Takes 5 mins. Tops.

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The Wing Asian Museum, Seattle

I am about to fly out the window with delight! Lend an ear to Alison Fine’s quick 15 minute interview with Nina K. Simon, author of The Participatory Museum, and Rob Stein, chief information officer at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which covers innovations for how arts groups and museums can engage with visitors and donors online.

Example One: The Wing Museum, in Seattle, A COMMUNITY MUSEUM
The Wing Museum is a participatory community based museum, which means that community members create each exhibit, become board members, docents, and volunteers. There is a very strong community network around the museum, which the museum facilitates, and in turn the community nourishes the museum. I love this! This is how nonprofit should be. Woven into the fabric of the community, and led by the community, not just sucked dry for money.

I think Seattle has to be one of the top cities for museum innovation in America. When I was there in 2009, there was an African exhibit on the top floor of the Seattle Art Museum, and they had some ritual instruments from an African tribe. The tribe actually participated in the creation of the exhibit, explaining what the instruments did, and how to arrange them in the exhibit. This is the first time I’ve ever seen this happen, and I hope that this leads to greater curation collaboration between Indian tribes in North America and museums.

Example Two: TOTAL TRANSPARENCY from The Indianapolis Museum! Scary, and Good!

You are not going to believe this. The Indianapolis Museum Put a magnifying glass onto their website which shows how the museum operates! Behold.

Total transparency! Scary and Good!

They show how they achieve their goals, and they are extremely open with it. They not only show how many visitors, but their energy conservation efforts. They even show the total size of the endowment.
Further, it’s not a flat page, but a user can see the trends over time. And they even have a development page. Check it out!

Development Transparency

They’ve only had 56 new memberships so far this year. That’s not so hot. But they’re OPEN about it. That makes me trust them. The reason this makes me tapdance is because so many nonprofits don’t understand the need for transparency, or don’t think they have the resources to do it, when in reality, with the age of nonprofit scandals rising, transparency is going to distinguish the nonprofits who want to engage with their communities versus the ones that want to remain closed, hierarchical, and silent.

Top Tips: Experiments have to extend from online to onsite. They need to be equally friendly and open in person. And be willing to admit your mistakes.

If you want to learn more, Nina Simon’s Got a book
And you can read it free.

Conclusion: This interview makes me happy for several reasons.

1. It shows that Museums can stop lamenting the lack of visitors and the downfall of society and understand that they need to engage the community in new ways. And there’s a whole book you can read about it on how to do it. For free.

2. This method of engaging the community to create exhibits and to show exactly what’s going on, good or bad, makes me feel that we are entering a more “participatory democracy” kind of phase for museums, instead of a top down hierarchical phase that we’ve had in the past. And that’s a good thing.

Why not make it the center of the community, and let it be a useful gathering place, instead of just having the museum be shunted off to the side for special occasions? Doesn’t that sound more sustainable than having a birthday party at a Children’s museum, or an extra arts school tacked on as an afterthought? Engage children in creating exhibits! And engage community members in something they have authority with. Give people a reason to talk about your museum, to gather at your museum, to volunteer and donate there. This will make sustaining the museum itself so much easier.

And if you’re not in an arts organization, can you take these lessons and apply them to your own nonprofit? What transparency could you implement right now on your website? What measures could you take to get the word out about your next open house?

Do you know a person who loves to draw and write comics? If so, they could get up to $5,000 to publish a comic book with this grant. The Xeric Foundation grant deadline is coming up. The grant must be received by March 31st, or they can wait until the next cycle.

This foundation was started by the creators of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, remember them? These generous creators have awarded over $2 Million in grants to worthy recipients. And some beautiful comic books and graphic novels have come out as a result. In a time when many funders are cutting back their arts gifts, it’s nice to see a foundation that is still committed to giving to individuals with a dream to publish their own comic book.

More than that, there are interviews with people who have gotten Xeric grants on their website, and it gives you tips on how to cut costs as you go through your first printing experience.

Images copyright Stef Lenk (above) and Jenny Jaeckel (below)

Xeric Grant Recipient

So this morning I got up early, plunked down on the couch with a cup of tea and started reading Social by Social, a giant orange book. It was written in wiki format, so there are lots of ways you can go through the book. Here are some highlights you can use for your organization.

If you’ve ever said, What the heck, social media is so full of jargon, I don’t even know what to do, well, they’ve thought of that! Here’s a link to their jargon page.

The How-Tos part was incredibly useful.

It includes:
How to become a digital activist
How to find out what’s already been done by others
How to create a blog strategy
How to find and join conversations that are already happening
How to turn a film into a campaign
10 Search Engine Optimization tips
How to subscribe to an RSS feed
How to use Delicious.com
How to choose tags for your organization
How to use blogging to improve your search engine position
How to make and publish quick videos for the web
10 Search Engine Marketing Tips
How to make the most out of Google Adsense
How to publish a book
How to design a homepage
How to set up a virtual office
and more!

This book/wiki/resource is incredibly useful and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in broadening and deepening their knowledge of social media, or raising more money for their organization, or learning how to create a strategy to engage donors online.

Favorite quotes so far:

“The message is not about the charity, but about why the messenger cares.” -Katya Anderson

“Don’t tell me, show me.”

“A public sector that does not create platforms for its citizens to create solutions for themselves, together, will soon start to seem old, outdated and tired. It will also be far less productive and effective in creating public goods. The future of public services rests on their becoming platforms for participation and collaborations, mobilizing citizens as player-developers in creating public goods.” -Charles Leadbeater, author, We-Think.

There were also a couple of good sites that I enjoyed, such as The Nag. As I’ve heard fundraisers being described as professional nags, this appealed to me. They just redesigned their website, but they HAD an adorable interface, you can still see a screenshot if you go to the link above. This new one is simple and okay… Their tagline is still my favorite: “Changing the world one lazy-assed mouse click at a time.”

The book is available, in its entirety, FOR FREE, online, at http://socialbysocial.com.

In February, 2010 Shakira allied her nonprofit with the World Bank to launch a $300 Million initiative to help children in Colombia get access to early childhood education and care. She built 6 schools in Colombia, but more than that, she’s also building a school in Haiti right now. She seems to be one of those rare celebrities that does good because it feels good to her, she sees the need, and she responds, without caring who is watching or how it makes her look.

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There are many different concepts for celebrity nonprofits. Teaching kabballah to prison inmates. Giving kids karate lessons. But a beauty school for drug addicts?

Beyoncé and her mom Tina Knowles were in Brooklyn on March 5th, 2010 to launch The Beyoncé Cosmetology Center. Based out of the Phoenix House, a residential rehab clinic, the school will provide a seven-month training course for people trying to overcome drug addictions.

I wonder, with the Survivor Foundation already established (but apparently not doing much lately except promoting her new perfume), why Beyoncé is starting another nonprofit. Here’s my theory. She spends hundreds of hours in the salon every year due to the hundreds of different weaves that she wears, that she just naturally thought that a beauty school would be a good place for people with addictions to go. Seriously, in her new video (still below), she wears 4 weaves alone. Let alone Upgrade U, which has her wearing 6 different weaves, each of which would have taken 5-6 hours to do, minimum. You know, I think we need more activists, not cosmetologists.

What do YOU think?

Equality, not cosmetology!

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