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Some Golden Nuggets of Social Change
Sunday, November 29th, 2009 | Blog Talk | 6 Comments
In between turkey and tweeting, I caught up on some of my online do-gooders, as well as explored and discovered new (and highly valuable) minds who are doing good. Thus, this post is filled with some true golden nuggets of social change. Enjoy!
- Find new friends in this list of the top 100 Social Entreprenuership Tweeple to follow, put together by @socialedge, a program of the Skoll Foundation. What I love most, is that this post also gives you a great listing of hashtags and what their purpose is as well.
- Speaking of @socialedge, I discovered that they host weekly live discussion around numerous social change topics, including this one: What works in social change? Feel free to give input based on your knowledge and experiences–I did.
- Can prevention PROSPER? Read up on this prevention program–backed by the CDC, NIDA and the Annie E. Casey Foundation–whose trial shows a $10 payback on every $1 invested. Now, it’s getting ready to go national.
- Going to be in D.C. on February 12? If so, you may be able to catch the Non-Profit 2.0 Conference organized by Geoff Livingston, Shireen Mitchel, and Allysin Kapin.
- Even though I did my own research on millennials for a project I did for Special Olympics Missouri, it’s always good to see what others found out as well. Those at Millennial Marketing put together a FREE e-book titled “Marketing to Millennials.”
- On someone’s Twitter list and you don’t want to be? Read up on how to opt-out of someone else’s list through this back door trick.
- Have some doubters in your presence? Share Valerie Maltoni’s free e-book, Twittertales, a collection of Twitter success stories.
- Seeing the time of giving is upon us, check out this article on Barron’s that lists the Top 25 Philanthropists.
- Keeping with the giving theme, did you know you could start a fundraiser with wine? Find your favorite charity or rally friends around one–and buy some wine in support of it. I discovered this while doing my own holiday shopping, so I wanted to share the idea with others. Think goodsearch–just with wine.
People Doing It Right (hat tip to Chris Brogan)
- Health Populi. Written by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, I find just about every single post of hers helpful, thought-provoking and insightful. Lately, it’s become a blog staple–the kind that you can’t wait to read when you see there’s a new post in your RSS reader.
- Prevention in Action. With its focus on prevention and research–how can you not be a fan of this organization’s news content? They are writing about topics not everyone writes about, pulling evidence, timely events and research together in a way that gets the mind ticking.
- 501derful.org. We all already know he’s doing it right seeing as David Neff won AMA’s Non-Profit Marketer of the Year award. But with Neff’s recent announcement that has left the American Cancer Society to pursue his next big adventure, I’ve been staying tuned to his blog ever more closely as I admire his leadership and courage to follow his passion of Lights. Camera. Help.
What about you? What golden nuggets did you discover over the holiday?
flickr photo credit: Curtis Gregory Perry
The Next #read4change Book is…
Monday, November 23rd, 2009 | #read4change | 2 Comments
You voted, and now, Actions Speak Loudest by Robert McKinnon will be our next #read4change book. I feel it’s quite timely considering my post last week about knowledge, attitudes and actions.
Actions Speak Loudest is a compilation of some of today’s greatest doers like Jimmy Carter, Queen Noor, Mia Hamm, Joe Torre and others who are everyday American heroes that make a difference. Together, they look at thirty-two issues, ranging from childhood obesity to climate change, that are critical to the well-being of the next generation–while also providing ideas and ways to take action. All funds raised from sales of the book go back to the causes and organizations featured within its pages.
BONUS: Robert McKinnon will join our #read4change chat. Stay tuned for time and date.
Feeling lost and wondering what the heck #read4change is?
In September 2009, with some inspiration and a desire to create deeper connections with the talented online community, SB launched “read4change,” an online social change book club–where anyone can participate.
Using the Twitter account @read4change and the hashtag #read4change–do gooders, social changers, nonprofiteers and the like gather around each month to discuss that month’s book and how its relates to our do-good work.
Now, curious about how to get involved?
- FOLLOW us @read4change on Twitter.
- RECOMMEND a book. Email me at socialbutterfly4change@gmail.com.
- VOTE each month on which book we should read. The top book will be chosen.
- READ the book or browse our bookshelf to see what we’ve recently discussed.
- DISCUSS the books with us on Twitter using the #read4change hashtag.
Want to help? Just answering these two simple questions helps:
- Do you prefer to have a pre-set reading list–or do you like voting on the book each month?
- Given the holidays, should we meet for December’s #read4change or schedule our next one to be early January?
Knowledge + Attitude = Action?
Thursday, November 19th, 2009 | Social Marketing | 2 Comments
This was the equation at the center of one of Thursday’s New York Times Articles titled: How Understanding the Human Mind Might Save the World from CO2. The article shared insights gained from the Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference this past week in Washington D.C., and wouldn’t you know–highlighted social marketing as a potential solution to leading the climate change movement forward.
I believe the main message from the article is best summed up by one of the quotes from researcher Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr:
“Social psychologists have now known for four decades that the relationship between people’s attitudes and knowledge and behavior is scant at best,” said McKenzie-Mohr. “Yet campaigns remain heavily focused on brochures, flyers and other means of disseminating information…I could just as easily call this presentation ‘beyond brochures.”
Beyond brochures. Beyond promotion. Beyond. The article elaborated by pointing to research that knowledge and how we feel about something (attitude) do not always line up with action. So what’s the solution? The article, McKenzine-Mohr and the field of social marketing says: look at the barriers to the desired behavior change. Even simpler, look and study behavior. Even better, look at policy.
McKenzie-Mohr is a leader in what is referred to as community-based social marketing. A specific practice of social marketing that works to address sustainable practices such as recycling, waste water reduction, transportation and other green-related challenges.
I’ve been a fan of McKenzie-Mohr’s research since my grad school days as his research is what initially gave me the hope that social marketing can provide a framework to follow and help us discover lasting solutions to some of our world’s greatest problems–beyond those affecting public health. This week I was further inspired that social marketing has wider implications outside of “public health” by Craig Lefebvre’s recent post that applied social marketing to financial literacy and education.
Key Take-Aways:
- Social marketing can be applied to world issues beyond just public health such as the environment, financial literacy, poverty and other challenges.
- To create “change” or build a movement, look and study behavior change–not your PSA impressions.
- Better yet, consider where policy falls into the equation.
flickr photo credit: doozzle
Alexandra Bornkessel
Email: socialbutterfly4change@gmail.com
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