CharityFocus.org: Incubator of Compassionate ActionCharityFocus is an experiment in the joy of giving. Our services enable inspired people to contribute in meaningful ways to the world around them. Together, we hope to be the change we wish to see in the world.Philanthropy of the Future -- Flow Funding- September 21, 2008 In the middle of the night, at 2AM, she woke up from a dream and thought to herself, "This is important. I need to remember this for later." Half asleep, she penned down the words on a scratch piece of paper and went back to sleep. Couple weeks later, we met and she remember the two word she wrote down: "Charity Focus." Such is how I met Marion Rockefeller Weber. Early on in our conversations, I sensed that she was very much "Tiger Team" material. :) Now, I'm..http://charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=1925 iJourney.org -- Three Sites Into One!- September 19, 2008 One of my favorite parts of CharityFocus model is that it's demand pull. We don't have to waste our time predicting, because we're always half a step behind our amibition. Or as I once said to some friends: Being volunteer run dramatically reduces your overhead and allows you to deliver services for free; and because the barrier to entry is reduced, it attracts people and shifts the traditional supply-push model to a demand-pull one. Our "business plans"...http://charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=1932 Akoha Versus HelpOthers: Playing It Forward- September 16, 2008 Several people have sent us emails about Akoha -- a new game of play-it-forward. It's a combination of various smile-card-ish ideas, all combined in a hip, dot-com-ish short of way that makes you want to say, "It's about time someone did this!" This video explains it all: My first reaction is: wow, so super cool -- how do I get started My second reaction is: it's nicely integrated version of things we've been doing for several years -- pay-it-forward a la Smile...http://charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=1921 "Dancing Queen": 4000+ Hits in Three Days, and Gratitude from Its Creator- September 15, 2008 In the three days since Dancing Queen was posted to KarmaTube as its current Video of the Week, it has received over 4000 hits. When it's not terribly difficult to find them, I try to make a habit of contacting the creators of each of our featured videos, just to let them know. And so it is that last Friday morning shortly after 9 o'clock found me reaching out to Sumit Roy, the maker of this whimsical and lovely short film (shot entirely on a Nokia cell phone and selected from a mountain of...http://charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=1928 Local BayArea Update- September 15, 2008 Dear Friends, It's been a while since I sent out a 'Local Events' update for the bay-area, but the wings of gift-economy keep spreading ... and there's much to share. Last Sunday was the (re)opening of Karma Kitchen! A lot could be said about the festivities, but perhaps these pictures capture it all. If you're up for some "growing in generosity" action, come by for a heart-warming Sunday lunch in Berkeley: Taste of Himalayas, 1700 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley,...http://charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=1922 Why Brands Don't Matter Anymore- September 14, 2008 Marshall McLuhan famous said, "The medium is the message" to imply the influences of the medium in how a message is perceived. He went so far as to say that specific content had little effect on society -- for example, broadcasting children's shows or violent programming on TV made little difference because it was the medium of TV that created the basis of our perception. (And I personally love that phrase because of its spiritual undertones; in particular, its...http://charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=1924 Hundred Dollar Kindness Ideas- September 12, 2008 When we recently received an unexpected donation of $1000, we launched an experiment. As Mark Jacobs called it, CharityFocus's Little Give. On HelpOthers.org, we posed a simple question: "If you had an extra $100, how would you use it to bring more kindness in your community" Dozens of people wrote in ideas. And then we asked the Smile Group community to add "smiles" to the ones they liked. Top of the list was an idea by...http://charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=1923 Karma Kitchen 2.0: Some Questions Answered- September 11, 2008 Will we be sustainable in a new location After a six-month hiatus do we still have enough volunteer momentum Will the restaurant’s regular guests be cool with the no-meat, no-alcohol menu Will Sunday brunches work as well as Saturday dinners did Is it too early in the day for Indo-Nepalese food Maybe -- we should switch to pancakes Just a few of the host of questions from less than a month ago. And all of them had the same answer: We Don’t Know. In true journey-people fashion, a...http://charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=1920 The Big Shift: Consumers to Contributors- September 10, 2008 Bill Miller has spent decades of his life trying to synthesize a vision for wholesome systems. For years, he said, he struggled ... until he heard about the work of CharityFocus, several weeks back at a dinner. After having read about the gift-economy in many places, he was finally face to face with a project that delivered practical results without compromising ideals. In a "sudden spark of clarity", he penned down this quick essay around a simple theme:...http://charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=1919 Of Wikipedia Definitions and Meditations at the Beach- September 8, 2008 Late last night, I arrived home feeling fresh-faced and blissful from a last-gasp-of-summer meditation gathering and dinner just steps from the beach at Far Rockaway, Queens. Several hours earlier, about twenty people--many of whom had never met one another, several of whom had never sat before, some of whom had traveled two-plus hours just to get there--had journeyed to the home of one Jocelyn Rasmussen, opera singer, voice teacher, former farm-girl-from-Saskatchewan, amazing chef,.http://charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=1917 |