Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +
Facing Social Change at the Dinner Table
Friday, September 3rd, 2010 | Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +, SocialButterfly | 1 Comment
My dad, Scott Rampy, is a free agent advocate, activist, and fundraiser working to end multiple sclerosis. He’s also humble. So he doesn’t say it in his post, but in one year, with two events, no budget, and a handful of volunteers, my dad spearheaded the effort to raise over $250k for the National MS Society–and that was just in his spare time. Below, read about his latest effort in working to crush MS and where he finds his inspiration. Reading the post and typing this intro, I have tears in my eyes. Our family’s fight is real. It’s personal. And it’s persistent.
By Scott Rampy: The word “social change” for me is intimidating. It implies that there has to be an attempt to resolve a social injustice, shortcoming or reversal of public opinion. For me, social change can be as simple as the inspiration that sits across from you at the dinner table. In my case that is Jo Rampy, my wife of 26 years. From a pure grass roots perspective, social change can be motivated by inspiration to inform others in an effort to spark a movement in a small way to solve a larger problem.
This is the case with the National MS Society. Multiple Sclerosis (aka many scars) affects nearly 400,000 people in the country and selfishly I’m focused on the one person, Jo, who deals with it everyday. She has been diagnosed with this disease for the past 7 years. MS attacks the myelin that surrounds our nerve endings in the brain that control our central nervous system. The damaged myelin forms areas of “sclerosis scars” that over time, affects ones ability to talk, see, feel, walk and concentrate.
Jo has been an athlete since the first day I met her, as she was running stadium stairs when I first noticed her. Since the diagnosis, she has maintained an active lifestyle just trading her running shoes to walking shoes. Jo walks 30-35 miles a week and regularly engages in health education to learn how to manage and live with MS. As a result of her commitment, I’ve taken the challenge to SWIM, BIKE and RUN so that someday people with MS can again.
For the past several months, I have been training for my first half iron-man in Branson, MO Sept. 19. This race is not only a tribute to the endurance and strength I observe in Jo everyday but a tribute to people that deal with MS on a daily basis… so I SWIM, I BIKE and I RUN so that they can again.
There is no cure for MS, but my goal is raise money so the research can continue to find a cure in our lifetime. My call to action is to have you join our cause and if motivated, donate $70–a dollar for each of the 70.2 miles traveled in my race. A half iron-man consists of a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run. At the writing of this post, we have raised $2,100 and have 106 members supporting the cause.
Please join, invite or donate and support a cause that will make a difference for someone dealing with MS.
Defining Sustainable Social Change
Thursday, August 26th, 2010 | Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Marketing | 1 Comment
If there’s one word that deserves to be on the “Top Words of 2010″ list, it’s the word sustainable. It seems to have an aura around it as we all work to define exactly: What is sustainable social change?
There are lots of opinions about the word. And, I’ve discovered that the word means different things to different people. The environment folks read it one way, nonprofiteers another and you have a whole other group transforming it into social innovation, social capitalism and/or social entrepreneurship.
What is clear: Is that we’re all pretty social about it. But in all seriousness, I don’t yet have a clear, simple, 140-character answer. But, I have do have some places that I go to help me refine my own thinking around sustainable social change:
B Lab, B Corporations and Social Business
In April 2010, Maryland was the first state to sign Benefit Corporation legislation, followed shortly by Vermont. This legislation was heavily lobbied by B Lab, a non-profit group that rallies businesses to serve more than a bottom line. To improve society and address a number of our problems, my mind had been circling back to influencing and impacting systems, ecosystems and networks. In others words, my interest in creating and growing sustainable business continues to increase. Sometimes for change to happen, there needs to be a change in what’s possible and accessible.
I’m all about nonprofit efforts, volunteering, fundraising, helping others lead healthier lives and improving quality of life–but at some point, for our work to have a lasting impact and a legacy for the next generation, it must be sustainable. Liz Forkin Bohannon, my friend and sustainable business leader at Sseko Designs, asks some poignant questions in one of her latest posts–talking about the impact of free, donated secondhand clothing in Africa and its impact on the local economies. This is just one example of how doing good may be doing more harm. Why do I bring this up? Because sustainability is at the forefront of her argument.
Social Entrepreneurship
A close cousin to the social business discussion is social entrepreneurship. I learned in recent months that Georgetown University and the great Bill Novelli are working on creating Georgetown’s own Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Both Harvard and INSEAD even have their own social entrepreneurship initiatives. This isn’t about coincidence. It’s about the need for sustainability.
When talking about social entrepreneurship, the immediate go-to resource in my head is Social Edge. Social Edge is an amazing resource that isn’t afraid to dive into the nitty gritty, as well as the large scale and impact of social entrepreneurship. Written by social entrepreneurs and for social entrepreneurs, it seems that sustainability is at the heart of many of the topics discussed there. Just this week, Social Edge tackled the definition of a “social business” leaving more questions than answers. For me, that’s my kind of resource. It shows thinking, it shows engagement and it also tells me that we have our work cut out for us.
Sustainable Behavior
In the social marketing arena, renowned social marketer Doug McKenzie-Mohr recently announced the development of a new peer-reviewed resource: The Journal of Sustainable Behavior. According to the journal’s first call for papers, the “transition to sustainability requires programs to encourage a diverse array of behaviors.” The take away–we social marketers better start to understand sustainability and how it relates to our efforts and our audience.
Social Innovation
Social Edge covers a variety of topics–which together, you could say the theme is social innovation. But what does this phrase mean and how does it relate to all the other players on the field? According to the Hub, social innovation “refers to new ideas that resolve existing social, cultural, economic and environmental challenges for the benefit of people and planet. Even more simply, a social innovation is an idea that works for the public good.” Well, non-profits work for social good. So do some government agencies. So, who is responsible for social innovation and what will its outcomes look like? Even Stanford has its own Center for Social Innovation. According to its website, its purpose is to “build and strengthen the capacity of individuals and organizations to develop innovative solutions to social problems.”
To me, sustainability is seen here again. Perhaps—sustainability is what connects the dots between these movements. Perhaps, our answers lies in the spaces between the words and in the thoughts between our actions.
Social Capital Markets
Ever heard of SOCAP? Well, SOCAP stands for the social capital markets conference and SOCAP ’10 represents the third year of the conference and will be held Oct. 4-6 in San Francisco. According to the website, SOCAP ’10 is the “largest interdisciplinary gathering of individuals and institutions at the intersection of money and meaning.” SOCAP ’10 will seek to answer the question: What next? (See–there’s something about asking questions…) What’s next for the social capital markets–the social entrepreneurs, the social business wanna-bes, the social innovators, impact investors and social marketers?
Might I dare suggest that sustainability–and figuring out how to develop it, fund it, seed it, and maintain it–might be part of the answer?
Amazing Love
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 | Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +, SocialButterfly | No Comments
This is my final post in the seven-day quest to now raise $2200 to provide not just 7 roofs, but roofs for all 14 Guatemalan families. I’m so happy and humbled to announce that we met our goal of $2200!
Thank YOU: For your support, encouragement, tweets, Facebook postings, emails, comments, donations and the overall LOVE you shared. This has been an amazing experience and is only going to get better. Soon, we will be headed to Guatemala where we will literally raise the roof–all 14 of them! I can’t wait to return and share with you the stories and pictures of what will be a demonstration of amazing love.
In the Final Hours, Let’s Work It Out
Monday, June 14th, 2010 | Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +, SocialButterfly | 1 Comment
This is my sixth post in the seven-day question to now raise $2200 to provide not just 7 roofs, but roofs for all 14 Guatemalan families. In these seven days, I’m posting updates, answering your questions and sharing insights gained. So far, we’ve raised $1590–only $610 more to go!
The fundraising drive ends today at 12pm EST. Please consider donating. Spread the word.
Let’s work it out. This morning, If we reach the following milestones, will you join me in the following? If you do, let me know in the comments or tweet your status and add the hashtag #loveroofs.
$1600: Do 14 push-ups.
$1650: Do 14 sit-ups.
$1700: Do 14 lunges–on each leg!
$1800: Do 3 sets of 14 jumping jacks.
$1925: Do 3 sets of 14 squats.
$2000: Do another set of 14 push-ups and 14 sit-ups.
$2200: Take a 14 minute walk or run!
What do you say? Can we raise $610 dollars AND get a workout in the process? Let’s do it. You in? You might want to do a warm up–it’s going to be a big day!
flickr credit: ~ggvic~
The Right Place at the Right Time
Monday, June 14th, 2010 | Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +, SocialButterfly | No Comments
This is my fifth post in the seven-day quest to now raise $2200 to provide not just 7 roofs, but roofs for all 14 Guatemalan families. In these seven days, I’m posting updates, answering your questions and sharing insights gained. This post elaborates on why I chose to focus on Guatemala and #loveroofs. So far, we’ve raised $1590–only $610 more to go! Please consider donating and spread the word.
Have you ever been in the right place at the right time without meaning to be? In a previous trip to Guatemala, my mom was in one of the villages we’ll be visiting. If you visit this village during the day, you will see many children and few adults. Most of the adults are working out in the fields and the children have no where to go and nothing to do. The only food they have are the limes that grow on the trees nearby whose citric acid breaks down their teeth and mouth.
Meeting Asa
While walking in the village, my mom noticed three children walking ahead of her. One of the children, she noticed wasn’t responding to the other two. On a hunch, she started clapping–still no response from the 8-9 year old girl. Catching up with the girls, she realized her hunch was right–that the one girl, whose name is Asa, was deaf.
Pulling out her compact mirror, my mom worked with Asa, making sounds and showing her how to use the mirror to watch herself try to mimic the sound. My mom then had Ana touch my mom’s throat and then touch her own throat to feel the vibration of sound. We later learned that Asa was not only deaf, but was also thought to be mute, as she had never said a word, nor made any sound. Asa was not born deaf and mute–rather she became deaf when her father threw her against the wall when she was a little younger than 3 years old.
Within 15 minutes of working with my mom (who just so happens to have a degree in speech pathology), Asa made her first sound.
Finding Your Voice
On this trip, there is a chance that my mom will get to see Asa again and that I will get to meet her. We hope this happens, as the moment was meaningful for not just Asa, but also for my mom. In March, Asa was seen again in the village and the picture to the right was taken. Do you see what’s written on her shirt? Maybe, someone meant for my mom to be in the right place at the right time.
For those of us who are on Facebook, have a blog or Twitter, we take for granted our ability to have a voice–to express ourselves. Imagine 1) not having that opportunity and on top of that 2) never learning how to communicate not just words, but also sounds.
Let us be thankful, willing and giving.
Help Us Choose a Guatemala Theme Song
Sunday, June 13th, 2010 | Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +, SocialButterfly | 2 Comments
This is my fourth post in the seven-day quest to raise $2200 for not just 7 roofs, but 14 roofs, one for each of the 14 Guatemalan families!. In these seven days, I will also be answering your questions and sharing insights gained. This post hopes to add some *fun* to the effort. So far, we’ve raised $1590–enough for one of the roofs, with $610 still needed. Please donate and spread the word.
I don’t know about you--but music is uplifting, soothing and moving. On our travels and while working, we’re going to be singing and celebrating the work being done. What do you think should be our theme song? [Videos Below]
Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawowi’ole
World by Five for Fighting
What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
Where is the Love? by Black Eyed Peas and Justin Timberlake
Upping the Ante
Saturday, June 12th, 2010 | Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +, SocialButterfly | No Comments
This is my third post in the seven-day quest to raise $1100 to provide 7 roofs for 7 Guatemalan families!. In these seven days, I will be sharing updates, answering your questions and sharing insights gained. This post provide you with quite the update.
Friday morning, I checked-in with our fundraising efforts and just about fell out of my chair. An anonymous donor gave two big items–a large monetary donation ($1100) and a challenge. The challenge? “7 is a good number but is it possible to shoot for all 14?” Well, what do you say?
The cost for all 14 roofs in sum is $2200. To date, we’ve raised $1590 and achieved our initial goal of $1100, but could we blow this one out of the park? To reach $2200, we only have $610 left to go. Will you accept the challenge?
To donate, visit: http://www.crowdrise.com/loveroofs.
*And to the anonymous donor–thank you from the bottom of my heart for not just the donation, but also for the encouragement to push farther and do better.
The Role of the Free Agent and Fundraising
Thursday, June 10th, 2010 | Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +, SocialButterfly | 3 Comments
This is my second post in my seven-day quest to raise $1100 to provide seven roofs for seven Guatemalan families. In these seven days, I will also be answering your questions and sharing insights gained. This post worked to answer Mezarine’s question: What do you think it would take to help the majority of nonprofits in America retain and train great fundraisers? So far, we’ve raised $295–enough for one of the roofs, and $10 away from raising roof #2. Please donate and spread the word.
UPDATE 11:22am: We’ve raised $1490, enough funds for 9 roofs. But #loveroofs supporters are challenging us to raise enough for all 14 roofs, not just seven. To make this happen, we have $710 still to raise. Do you accept the challenge?
Mezarine–To answer your question, I think non-profits need to understand the power of their network. Specifically, the untapped potential of “free agents.” Stay with me while I explain…
Last week, Beth Kanter and Allison Fine presented at the Personal Democracy Forum about the role of the free agent. For me, my first question was: What’s a free agent? In genius style, they helped us define a “free agent” by sharing with us the story of Shawn Ahmed and his experience with the Red Cross.
Like typical Kanter and Fine posts, I find myself reflecting on this concept of a “free agent” days later. From a contract standpoint, I usually read “free agent” as an independent consultant–however, that is NOT what is meant in this discussion. Here, I see “free agent” being synonymous with the citizen philanthropist or the social citizen. It’s the empowered, empassioned individual. So, then the question becomes–who are these people?
I think customer relationship management is important here. You don’t have to use a slick and fancy CRM system (tho they can help), but mainly, you need to be detailed, diligent and deliberate.
Be Detailed: If you interact with a supporter on Twitter or Facebook or meet someone at a conference and exchange business cards, write it down. The important thing is to get in a habit of tracking your interactions with supporters and potential supporters, where they occurred, the date they occurred, what was discussed, interests, etc. and also important: be consistent in how you log this data.
Be Diligent: You need to be strategically persistent. For example, don’t reach out to a blogger or a potential sponsor with an ask being your first interaction. Get to know the people you want to work with and hope to have support your cause. Get to know your community, take the time to talk with people, know the culture, know the challenges, know the opportunities. This means that you’ll also need to adapt and be creative.
Be Deliberate: When it comes time to make an ask, be specific. Make the ask, the process, and the ability to be an ambassador of a cause fun, popular and easy. Also, make sure that whatever you’re asking, that is supports the true mission and long-term objectives of your organization. And most importantly, be deliberate in your thank you. This might seem too ‘duh’ a thought, but say more than thank you. Keep the conversation going: Ask them what worked, what didn’t, why they got involved, etc.
These are just some initial thoughts–as they say, if [fundraising] were easy, more people would be doing it. These tips might be some ways to attract and recruit supporters, but it might not enough to retain and sustain efforts. Thus, I also think nonprofits should focus on moving its network along the “Ladder of Engagement” as Beth Kanter would put it.
[Side note: It's interesting because there's similiar theories that all relate to moving people along a spectrum--I would LOVE to create a matrix of these on how they all relate.]
What do you think? How would you answer Mezarine’s question? And, what other questions do you have?
flickr credit: erasmuse
6 Steps to Choosing the Right Individual Fundraising Platform
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 | Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +, SocialButterfly, Useful Tools | 5 Comments
This is the first post in my seven-day quest to raise $1100 to provide seven roofs for seven Guatemalan families. In these seven days, I will also be answering your questions and sharing insights gained. This post worked to answer: How did you choose which fundraising platform to use? So far, we’ve raised $165–enough for one of the roofs. Please donate and spread the word.
In the #loveroofs project, the first big hurdle was finding the right fundraising platform as there are many out there. In the end, I chose CrowdRise for a number of reasons.
Let me walk you through the thought process and hopefully that helps you if you are planning an individual fundraising effort. If you’re with an org, I encourage you to keep reading too–but more on that tomorrow.
6 Steps for Identifying a Fundraising Platform
1. Research other people’s experiences. Fellow changebloggers continue to inspire me in the work they do and how they give to others. For me, I turned to the experiences of Beth Kanter, Geoff Livingston, Stacey Monk, and others. Let’s be clear, good research should involve reading about other people’s experiences, asking them about their experiences and by participating in them. In other words–it’s harder to fundraise if you’ve never been on the other side as a donor. ;)
2. Identify a cause. This is important. Identifying your cause will quickly help you determine your requirements. For example, large non-profits already have their own donation system like Livestrong for example. Other non-profits or causes may be on certain social networks that will also act as its own fundraising platform. An example of this is Causes and it’s birthday fundraising campaigns. Still yet, some organizations have it where you can sign-up for an event of theirs and fundraise around the event like the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer or Special Olympics Missouri.
3. Determine the requirements. The reason step two is important is because not all organizations have their own fundraising platform or on Facebook. This was partially my dilemna. The Amistad Foundation just got on Facebook, but is still working on setting up its cause page. Currently, it’s online donation system uses PayPal, which is fine–but it didn’t offer some key functionality such as: a) the ability to easily track the funds donated in an open and transparent manner, b) The ability to customize information, add my own text or share images. Granted, I could have set-up my own PayPal account, but another big thing for me was openness and transparency.
4. Narrow down the field. Once you determined your requirement, you need to narrow down the list of fundraising platform options. And believe me, there are a ton out there! For me, I narrowed it down to ChipIn and CrowdRise.
Each of these platforms had pros and cons. ChipIn is familiar–people know about it. It also provides a widget that you can embed on a website or blog, the ability to create your own landing page and the ability to set a goal and track progress–for all to see. However, ChipIn was also connected to PayPal. So, for this to work to me, I’d have to have people to donate to my PayPal account and then give that to the Amistad Foundation. This was an issue–but my third requirement was openness and transparency. Plus, I wanted the process to be easier.
Thus, I chose CrowdRise. Not only does CrowdRise offer the functionality of ChipIn (minus the embeddable widget unfortunately), it also has stronger design, is more inviting and easier to use. Plus, the big one for me, was that it isn’t connect to my PayPal account. Instead, CrowdRise already has a huge database of nonprofits that you can start fundraisers for–and wouldn’t you know, the Amistad Foundatin was one of them! Granted, Crowdwise takes a 5% processing fee as well as a small transaction fee, while PayPal via ChipIn takes about 3%–the pros of Crowdrise (in my opinion) trumped that of ChipIn as Crowdwise also has viral integration as well.
5. Ask around. As I was teetering between Crowdrise and ChipIn, I asked some fellow changebloggers their opinions. There weren’t strong feelings one way or the other, so I went with my gut on Crowdrise. Part of its appeal is that it is a new platform, so I wanted to use it and provide feedback for our community at large. However, looking back, I wish I would have asked YOU guys via a blog post which one you think I should have done. What can you say? Here’s to learning by doing!
6. CHOOSE. For me, this was the hardest part. I sat on this fundraising effort for a good 2-3 weeks wanting to get it all just right. I was nervous (still am!), was running all the ifs in my head, refining and refining, and finally, with faith, I chose.
Do you think I made the right choice? What’s your experience? And, what other questions do you have?
Can We Do It? 7 Roofs, 7 Families, 7 Days… and 7 Questions
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 | Blog Talk, Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +, SocialButterfly | 2 Comments
Marketing and communications professionals can learn by studying, learning, training and from doing. In the next seven days, I am going to learn by doing and invite you to join me. What exactly do I mean?
In my last post, I shared news about an upcoming trip to Guatemala my mom, my grandma and I are making alongside fellow changemakers. Part of this trip is working to raise funds to provide seven roofs for seven families in seven days, a total of $1100 ($157 per roof).
7 Questions…
Over the next seven days, I also plan to answer seven questions based on things I learn during this process, insights you help me to discover, why I chose CrowdRise over other fudraising platforms, how fundraising relates to social marketing, the role of the free agent and any other items you may be curious about. I hope this seven-day adventure not only raises funds for those who need it–but also helps us grow as professionals.
So Sound Off: What questions do you have when it comes to fundraising change?
flickr credit: Travelin’ Librarian
Alexandra Bornkessel
Email: abornkessel@fly4change.com
Search
Fly With Us
Subscribe to the E-Newsletter
#read4change
Recent Posts
Social-ites
Categories
The Buzz
Social Marketeers
Kudos
Helpful Peeps and Places
Resource
<
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
If you have questions, comments or concerns, email me at socialbutterfly4change@gmail.com.
Technorati Profile