“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” Elizabeth Kübler-Ross
I’m not really a big quote person, but I think this one deserves the deviation.
(via Mekaelia–YNPN-NYC Partnerships Chair)
Today the Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance is collectively posting about the nonprofit sector’s response to Haiti’s disaster. Check out the list of bloggers for their posts.
I was on vacation with my family in Vermont on January 12th– mostly concerned with sledding as much as possible and eating buffalo wings and s’mores. So, upon my return to civilization I was caught off-guard by the whirlwind of the Haiti earthquake. I saw on CNN the announcement that 50,000 people were presumed dead. “What?! That cannot be right.” I could not comprehend the number of human lives lost or wrap my head around what was going on. But the number has only continued to rise and fatalities are now estimated at over 200,000. It is beyond staggering.
I find it very difficult to understand what it going on and so, I do what most people do when trying to comprehend a difficult situation: I try to empathize. Although, of course in this case that is impossible–I try my best.
I was 10 years old when Hurricane Andrew–a category 5 hurricane–hit South Florida in 1992. I remember the day before the hurricane hit: our house was boarded up with plywood, we brought all the backyard toys into the living room, I took breaks from pulling down grapefruits and avocados from our trees (so they wouldn’t break windows when the wind picked up) by jumping in the pool. We were in an evacuation zone, so we left in the early evening for my grandmother’s house. We passed the night 6 of us in my grandmother’s closet sitting on shoes.
And the next day our house–along with every other one in my neighborhood–was completely destroyed and uninhabitable.
We spent the next couple of months as vagabonds. I remember sleeping in sheets that were unknowingly covered in fiberglass and itching uncontrollably, moving from one person’s house to another, feeling lucky that my grandmother had a gas stove so we could cook and boil water. My mother, meanwhile, was literally excavating our home for anything she could find to salvage, trying to process our insurance (and document every single thing we lost) so we could have a place to live, and just making sure we had the basic necessities. Businesses and schools were closed for months–the economy obviously under duress–as residents tried to piece their lives together and make sense of a life-changing catastrophe.
Hurricane Andrew resulted in $40.7 billion (2008 USD) in property damage and 69 fatalities [Hurricane Katrina resulted in $89.6 billion (2008 USD) in property damage and 1,836 fatalities]. Fatalities from Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Katrina are each less than 1% of the current estimated fatalities in Haiti. These numbers only just begin to put the extreme devastation in Haiti into perspective. Wyclef Jean, who has been in Haiti recovering dead bodies, very appropriately describes it as the apocalypse:
What does this mean for aid? For disaster preparation? For emergency response? For sympathy? For empathy? But maybe more importantly, for collective action?
The truth of the matter is that it is impossible to understand what is happening in Haiti without being there–you can only imagine, and I know my imagination is not even scratching the surface despite my experience with a destructive natural disaster. But that doesn’t prevent action. Today the YNPN-NYC listserv has been full of benefit events from various nonprofit organizations to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti. The Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance committed to writing about the topic. Individuals around the world are donating money and raising awareness–text message donations alone have already raised USD$22 million in a week. Celebrities, including Sandra Bullock and Gisele Bundchen who have donated USD$1 million and USD$1.5 million respectively, are also making major financial contributions to the relief effort.
But perhaps the real action is a long-term commitment to relief, development, and moral support. It took South Florida years to fully recover Hurricane Andrew, New Orleans still continues to struggle post-Katrina–and this disaster is far, far worse. Young nonprofit leaders, get ready. Now is the time to step up.
As I’ve spent the last year figuring out where I want to direct my career, I have come to the conclusion that social impact metrics and performance evaluation is the path I want to take. So I was very excited when I found out that my first post as part of the Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance would be addressing just that.
I want to preface my answer by saying that I am a total nerd–so looking at numbers, evaluating statistical relationships, and quantifying values are all very exciting to me. But why do these things matter to nonprofit organizations which are providing social good? If Girls on the Run (GOTR)–”a nonprofit prevention program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running”–provides a great after-school program, does it really matter what the impact is? Shouldn’t we just be glad that they are providing this service? Continue reading
In response to some of the conversations I have been having lately—both virtually and in-person–regarding the role of competition, collaboration, and communication in the social sector, I have been trying to think about how and why these issues exist in the first place….and how they might be addressed. Now, we all know that generalizations can sometimes be unfair, but sometimes they can also be rather accurate….read on:
Competition: Nonprofits are constantly targeted by the business-minded as lacking efficiency due to the fact that NPOs are not competing in an open market. As a result, the need for innovation is removed. Which is not to say that innovation isn’t necessarily occurring in the nonprofit world, but it tends to be driven internally (as in, “Hey we feel like we want to do this”) rather than externally (as in, “Hey we have to do this if we want to survive”). The competition element is increasing, however, as nonprofit watchdogs, like Charity Navigator, and private foundations are relying on industry best-practices to evaluate the relative effectiveness of nonprofit organizations. This in turn is informing where foundations invest their funding and encourages individual donors to also do their research when giving. Continue reading
I dug out my old headlamp, had my mother ship me my sleeping bag, looked over my urban wardrobe despondently before picking out some articles that could function as “camp attire,” and boarded a flight to North Carolina for the 2009 Rockbrook Camp Reunion. I started going to Rockbrook when I was 12 years old and was a camper there for 5 years, a staff member for an additional 5—and I hadn’t been back since August 2004. As a matter of fact, as I walked down the unlit gravel path to my cabin on Friday night and was actually slightly afraid of the dark and the woods, I realized that it had been 5 years since I had been camping at all.
After 10 summers of living in rustic cabins, prowling around after dark without a flashlight, going on daily hikes, hauling boats around, wrestling with campers’ massive Kmart sleeping bags on overnight trips, and living exclusively in Chacos and Patagonia, it was hard not to laugh at myself. Here I was in my American Apparel get-up, periodically checking my Blackberry to make sure everything was fine at home with my dog, and very cautiously treading on the “uneven” and “rugged” camp trails I had spent years recklessly barreling down.
Continue reading
It only takes one person and 3 minutes to start a dance party. Imagine the possibilities…
(via Wesley)
The recession has definitely provided an opportunity for people (myself included) to freak out. With massive layoffs, high unemployment rates, plummeting real estate values, and streets lined with shuttered storefronts—just to name a few of the recession’s impacts—who wouldn’t be worried? But, as much as the recession has created a hostile environment for economic and business development for many, it has also created opportunities for others.
One such “other” is business center companies (also known as executive suites) which offer small office spaces or even cubicles for rent—for both short and long term lease—and usually offer Internet and telephone access as well as other support services. Some of these companies include: Green Desk, Wurk Environments, Rockefeller Group Business Centers, and Regus Group.
A NY Times article’s title on the growth of this sector during the recession, “For Tight Times, Office Space on Flexible Terms”, says it all: due to a new set of circumstances (i.e., lack of financial and job security), businesses and entrepreneurs are looking to low risk, low investment, creative, and affordable solutions to their everyday business operations.
Green Desk “really simplified the process of opening an office,” Mr. [John] Humphrey [co-founder of Sustainable Energy Partners, which operates out of Dumbo's Green Desk] said. “Sizing is flexible–if I grow, I can move into a larger space. And they handle office stuff, like receiving packages and making sure the Internet and phone work.”
Green Desk’s other tenants include “a calligrapher, a tour operator, an investment manager and a fashion designer.” Flexible office space is an obvious choice for entrepreneurs and new small business owners–whose numbers have been growing due to large layoffs. Small Business Labs’ top ten list, “2009 Top 10 Small Business Trends”, includes (#1) The Recession Drives Small Business Innovation and (#7) Generation Y Will Turn to Small Business, as well as:
(#4) The Number of Small Businesses Will Increase in 2009: With job losses high and traditional employment options limited, many will turn to self-employment and small business in 2009. The prior three recessions have seen small business formation rates increase. And with it easier and cheaper than ever to start small or personal businesses, we expect a strong year for small business formation – especially personal businesses. Failure rates will also increase, but not enough to offset the number of new small and personal businesses.
These three factors contribute to a growing market for flexible and affordable, yet modern office space. (See the rest of the top 10 for more information on small business trends during the recession.) Not only are these trends indicators of what small businesses should be doing now (for example, being innovative), but they also provide a description of a new, perhaps more resilient business market: (in the case of the three listed above) a potential business client in 2009 is innovative, young, and small. So what should businesses be doing? After begrudging the fact that business is bad, unemployment is high, layoffs are occuring left and right, real estate is down, and the business next door shut its doors–businesses should re-calibrate in order to take advantage of the new opportunities and trends that have grown out of the recession.
Even though I can’t skateboard, I have always been fascinated by skateboarding. Why? It’s definitely not because I fancy the idea of speeding down concrete on a slab of wood with wheels, exposed to road rash, gashes, and broken bones. It’s because skateboarding is cool. I think so and so do kids and teens.
This is the reason why I am particularly interested in organizations that have inserted “coolness” into their equation for addressing youth development. Being cool does two things: (1) It’s great marketing. Everyone wants to be a part of something that is cool. (2) It’s great program development. It shows that your organization is carefully listening to its audience. Things are considered “cool” because people are interested in them and therefore more likely to be invested in participating, resulting in service delivery and mission fulfillment.
I first read about Stoked in Time Out New York’s Cause of the Week (which, as a side note, I think is an awesome feature). Stoked is a “nonprofit action sports organization for at risk youth with the mission of developing successful teens with opportunity, knowledge, experience, and determination through the use of action sports, mentoring, and coaching.”
Stoked offers a one-year program that matches pre-screened mentors and mentees–who agree to meet a minimum of 4 hours per month and receive ongoing training and coaching by Stoked Program Managers. During the year, mentoring pairs skateboard, surf, and snowboard–what could be cooler than that? Operating out of both Los Angeles and New York City, Stoked gives urban American youth an opportunity to participate in very cool, skill-based, and age-appropriate activities that often have barriers to entry (i.e., equipment, transportation, knowledge).
On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, a 34-year-old Aussie skateboarder, Oliver Percovich, unintentionally discovered, while skateboarding around Kabul, that Afghan youth think skateboarding is cool too. The New York Times article, “Skateboarding in Afghanistan Provides a Diversion from Desolation,” describes Percovich’s mentorship to Afghan youth who have shown an interest in skateboarding. After a couple years of showing up to an empty concrete fountain with half a dozen skateboards strapped to the back of his motorcycle, Percovich started Skateistan, Afghanistan’s first co-ed skateboarding school that “engages the growing numbers of urbanized youth through skateboarding and provides new opportunities in cross-cultural interaction and education.”
The construction of Skateistan’s 1,750 square meter indoor skate complex is underway and will include professionally-manufactured ramps, two classrooms, girls’ and boys’ locker rooms, an office, and a canteen. Skateistan’s “About Us” page is particularly impressive and clearly outlines the organization’s mission and philosophy as well as the need for youth development programming in Afghanistan. They also nail the question “What are the benefits of skateboarding to youth?” right on the head:
Skateboarding in a non-competitive global sport requiring minimal supervision and resources. Achievements in skateboarding are individual and depend on balance, creativity and personal expression. Skating can be practiced anywhere there is a smooth surface and gets young people active and engaging with each other.
Both Skateistan and Stoked are using skateboarding (and in Stoke’s case snowboarding and surfing) as a means to an end: the positive development of youth. And, much of the brilliance in this approach is its irony: that skateboarding for a long time was associated with a subversive, delinquent and rebellious subculture–which made it cool.
Last week’s Economist featured a story about Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, and the quirky Zappos empire which appears to be weathering the recession with style. While the exact reasons for its success are beyond the scope of this article and this post, there are some interesting elements to the Zappos story. First: Zappos mission is unparalleled customer service. Second: Zappos prides itself on being unconventional. Third: Zappos employs some basic economic principles in nontraditional ways.
Zappos.com is an internet retail site most widely known for selling a wide variety of shoes, but has expanded to include accessories and bags. You may ask, “Why is customer service important if all people have to do is surf the internet and enter their credit card information to make a purchase?” Beacuse customer service is always important–and Tony Hsieh knows that. Interestingly, customer service is one of the first things businesses are encouraged to focus on during a recession (See this MSNBC article).
Known for its unconventional and maybe at times quixotic office culture–Zappos strives to “‘create fun and a little weirdness.’” (See the rest of their Core Values.) “Zapponians” (the affectionate term for Zappos employees) even publish an annual Culture Book, explaining what Zappos culture means to them. The Culture Book provides qualitative, subjective information about the Zappos company–and, it is written by Zappos employees. A recent post in the Zappos blog advertises that the next Zappos Culture Book will feature submissions from customers as well. What is the value added of this publication? It gives employees (and now customers) a voice, adds value to their input, increases transparency, and provides a positive and fun qualitative analysis of how the company is operating.
Zappos’ zany office culture extends into its hiring practices. A hiring policy mentioned in The Economist article that I found particularly interesting was:
[I]n their first weeks with the company, new employees are offered $2,000 to quit—a significant sum for call-centre trainees who start on $11 per hour.
That is a significant sum! But, more interestingly, is employing basic economic principles in nontraditional ways and means two things: (1) In offering the money, Zappos really doesn’t want people working there who don’t want to be. And, (2) in forgoing the money, new hires (at least call-center trainees) demonstrate that they would rather work for free for over a month (at $11 per hour and 40 hour weeks, monthly salary before taxes is $1,760) than give up their job at Zappos. This begins to outline a quantifiable reservation price for employment at Zappos and serves as a nice psychological reminder to employees that they are financially invested in their career at the company.
Is this off-the-wall approach successful? It sounds like it:
Last year it [Zappos.com] rang up a record $1 billion in sales even as other retailers were struggling.
Also, Tony Hsieh twitters! As of right this second he has 519,390 followers, and uses this social media tool to educate others about his company’s unusual practices, increase corporate transparency, and give his employees a voice. Follow him here.
Yesterday I attended the Go Green Expo, which is a trade show for environmental products and services, held (as of right now) in four cities across the country–NYC, LA, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. I met some pretty interesting people, doing pretty interesting stuff–but overall felt as though there was something missing…in any event, I will definitely try to go back next year.
One thing I found particularly interesting was the expo check-in and registration. My friend and I arrived at the check-in, and the woman behind the counter told us: “You can get in free today [the tickets were $10].” Pause. My friend and I look at each other, nodding in agreement and thinking, “Good,” because we each just bought $4 lattes at Starbucks. The woman behind the counter continues: “You can get in free today if you sign up for ConEdison’s Wind Power Program.”
ConEdison Solutions provides options for their residential and business customers to use “green” energy sources for their electricity, including their GREEN and WIND power programs. Their website says that:
WIND Power is composed of electricity exclusively generated from 100% wind power…. WIND Power is an additional 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) more than our standard offer.
Ostensibly the $10 increase in my monthly electric bill from switching to all-wind power would have covered by my waived $10 entrance fee–which, in my opinion is a pretty good deal. But, I’m not one to sign up for things willy-nilly on the street. I’m a little bit too distrustful of things that sound too good to be true….
….which is interesting, because I am in the business of “too good to be true.” A regular issue at my job is convincing small business owners that the services offered by the nonprofit organization I work for are free. However, usually this sounds “too good to be true” and capturing a client-base is difficult without establishing trust. And “trust,” in my experience, means different things to different people; but, as a general rule means not asking for something at the beginning of your relationship. What ConEdison’s WIND team had accomplished by positioning themselves at the registration booth of the Go Green Expo with a deal that sounded really good, is really creative. What a great way to introduce people to your service, and maybe even sign them up to participate. What is a little confusing to me is why I strolled by, unmoved by this proposition, when (a) I do care about the environment and (b) I do offer services that sound “too go to be true” (even though they are true) and understand this dynamic all too well. ConEdison made helping the environment very easy…why didn’t I take the bait? I should be their easiest target, the lowest hanging fruit.
Last week I came across a New York Times article, Seeking to End World Hunger, One Search at a Time, which described the creation of Hoongle. Hoongle.org is “a custom Google search engine that promises to donate 20 grains of rice per search to schools in the developing world.” This sounds very interesting, and very easy. Unlike its predecessors, Hoongle.org is not based on gimmicks (I’m liking it) and you don’t have to pay (liking it even more) or sign up for anything (fine! I’ll take the bait!).
So, in an experiment to convert myself over to a new social venture (since I had at least temporarily bypassed ConEd), I went on Hoongle.org today, only to find that the site is offline due to heavy traffic. Aha! Too good to be true! This fits the expected outcome that things that are “too good to be true” usually are. Consumers expect lower quality service, high payments, traps, contracts that you cannot get out of, and other negative side effects of electing products and services that are “too good to be true.” What does this mean for social enterprises?
Despite some obvious growing pains, people will keep finding creative ways to turn our everyday practices into social ventures. The main issue will be convincing the public (myself included) that things that sound “too good to be true” can still be true. This is a marketing issue.
Plain and simple: people distrust things that sound “too good to be true”. So, social enterprises can either (a) focus on developing relationships with their potential clients or (b) avoid marketing their products/services as ”too good to be true”. Take ConEdison, for example: Firstly, I am already their client, but my relationship with them is paying montly electric bills. We aren’t close friends and I don’t actually like paying bills. I am not going to do something just because ConEdison tells me to. Secondly, the idea of switching from a traditional electrical supply to 100% windpower with only a minimal increase in my bill just sounds “too good to be true” and way too easy to participate in, even if it is.
ConEdison does a good job of changing their public perception by participating in a number of green events and getting their name out to the green community. The Go Green Expo was the second time I’ve been approached by a ConEd WIND Power representative, and I am definitely more likely to sign up this time than I was the first time. However, toning down their ”too good to be true” marketing scheme is probably something they could work on. Green-washed cause marketing is rampant and educated social consumers want to make sure that they are investing in the real deal, even if it isn’t perfect…. yet.