Tag Archives: stacey monk

Quote of the Week: Unleashing Love

This week’s quote comes from one of my favorite people in the non-profit tech community, Stacey Monk of Epic Change:

In America alone, we spend $14.6B annually on Mother’s Day for “stuff” that could just never say what’s in our hearts. What if instead, we all just unleashed that love on the world? How would it impact our world if we stopped using stuff as a surrogate for love? What if we invested that love to make the world a better place for Mamas & children everywhere?

Love Your Mama

This thinking led to Epic Change’s latest fundraising initiative, ToMaMaWithLove.org in honor of mothers everywhere–including Mama Lucy. Mama Lucy is Epic Change’s Tanzanian partner–the money raised from the effort will go towards the children’s home Mama Lucy wants to build for her primary school.

To date, over 200 mamas have been honored and over $11,000 has been raised–making a home for 12 children. The goal is to create a home for 50 children. You can contribute by unleashing your love and honoring your own mama by create a heart space–an online, visual tribute to your mom over at ToMamaWithLove.org.

Unleashing Love

The idea of unleashing love, however, can live beyond Mother’s Day and can be applied towards an organization as well.

  • Have your employees felt appreciated lately?
  • Is there an organization with an unmet need in your community?
  • Are you following the golden rule–treating others as you want to be treated?

These are just a few examples–but you get the picture, we can unleash love in our daily lives. As As Stacey suggests–What type of impact would that make? Imagine how that could change our world–your world?

So go love–unleashed and with wild abandon.

Guest Posting: Beth Kanter and An Experiment in Action

Photo of Beth Kanter, non-profit and technology guruThose of us who follow Beth Kanter’s blog about non-profits and technology may have noticed a great experiment (whether she meant it to be or not) on guest posting. As Beth and her family made the move to California, Beth invited non-profit, social change and do-good members of the blogosphere to guest post on her blog with their best posts from the past.

People like Amy Sample Ward, Britt Bravo, Geoff Livingston, Nancy Schwartz, Stacey Monk and others. And yesterday, my own post from last October on the “Cool Factor About Mobile” was also cross-posted on Beth’s blog. To me, this experiment has blossomed with success. It’s added color to our blogosphere, raised voices and increased the camaraderie of the folks in this space.

So, thank you Beth Kanter, not only for the opportunity to share in your space, but also for trying out this guest posting experiment. Look forward to your shared insights and revelations this series has generated (*Tip: If you haven’t checked out Beth’s blog yet, I highly encourage it.)

What do you think? What are your thoughts about guest posting? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s “Guest Posting Part Duex” as another guest post experiment is revealed.

flickr credit: LeeLeFever

Be Inspired by this Week's Blogger Neighbor: Stacey Monk @ EpicChange

Continuing my weekly “Blogger Neighborhood Series” in honor of the great Mr. Rogers, who called us to “Get to know our neighbor,” I welcome Stacey Monk from Epic Change, who continues to leave me inspired.

Stacey is an amazing writer, showing both her contagious passion and gracious, sincere personality through every word, so I’ll let her tell you about her journey, mission and how she’s gotten to where she is…

***********************

Blog Name:

The Epic Change Blog

Blog Topics:

The Epic Change Blog is a diary of our experiment in social entrepreneurship and an organization I recently founded called Epic Change. We started it just after we received our 501c3 determination last September, and we blog whatever we’ve experienced on the journey since then, including:

We try to give a complete, transparent picture of what we’re working on so that our supporters can feel engaged in what we’re doing, and so other folks can learn from our mistakes and successes. We also try to provide regular opportunities on our blog for folks to get involved. Last week, for instance, to celebrate National Volunteer Week, we provided daily opportunities for our readers to perform 10-minute volunteer activities.

About the Author:

I’m a nerd, a recovering military brat, a perpetual nomad and a total sap. I believe the world is what we make it. I started my career managing a performing arts series, moved into public sector consulting for Deloitte, then worked in IT strategy & change leadership at Genentech and, finally, launched a small change management consulting firm called Funken Consulting. Last year, I left for Africa, came back, stopped working for money & founded Epic Change, a nonprofit that “helps hopeful people in need tell their epic true stories to acquire the resources they need to create change in their communities.” I have a BA in Philosophy and a grad degree in performing arts management from the public policy school at Carnegie Mellon. I like to think that artsy background helps me be more creative in my approach to social change. You can check out my street cred on LinkedIn.

If you could live on any street, what would that street be named and why?

I’d live where Hope, Audacity, Authenticity, & Gratitude intersect because I know I’d like the other people who live there. [This is my favorite quote of the week!]

Who would be your dream real-life neighbor?

Any man who can sing. For today, let’s say John Mayer. His song Say is stuck on my brain. Or maybe Josh Groban. His voice makes me feel like I’m in the presence of an angel.

If you were in charge of the planning the neighborhood’s block party, what entertainment would you plan?

Ditto, previous question. Or I’d plan a performance by a dance troupe that I love like Alvin Ailey or Momix. Or we’d dance ourselves, which might be the most fun. Despite my chubbiness, I love to dance. I’m certified to teach ZUMBA and Shake Your Soul.

If you customized your own license plate, what would it say and why?

FEARNOT, URHOPE or THANKU

What would you gift to a new neighbor as the perfect welcoming gift?

Blueberry Pie. Despite 1950s connotations, pies = love.

What’s your favorite blog post and why?

I’d like to point to something brilliant by someone else, because I’ve taken so much as inspiration. Right now, today, though, I’m really wrapped up in what’s unfolding as a result of my recent, totally random, guest post on the Go Big Always blog of Jive CMO Sam Lawrence. I met him totally randomly on Twitter, and last Wednesday after midnight, when he was tweeting that he didn’t feel like posting to his uber-popular marketing blog, I offered to take his place. He, probably in jest, wrote back “Go for it ;)” and I did. That single post has led to a flurry of others, including one on ZDNet, a tweet by @Scobleizer, and a connection to social media giant Jeremiah Owyang, as well as a drastic increase in the number of people interested in our cause. So for today, the Go Big Always post is surely my fave, despite the fact that it begins with a reference to feces.

What’s one lesson you’ve learned from blogging?

Be authentic.

Past Blogger Neighbors Include:

*************************

This continuous weekly series highlights different blogs and their respective bloggers in the blogosphere neighborhood. Following the great Mr. Rogers, who tells us to ‘Get to know your neighbor,’ this series introduces us to our blogger neighbors, making for a more unified, collaborative voice for the social sector. Like to nominate someone or be featured yourself? Contact me @ socialbutterfly4change@gmail.com.


Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /home2/flyfouch/public_html/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

An Early Thanks.Giving…Carnival Style

Welcome to the Carnival. The theme for this week was “Give Thanks!” by taking a moment and sharing the tools, resources, mentors, etc. that you appreciate.

  • UPDATE: Guy Kawasaki just posted on “10 Tiny Apps I’m Thankful For.” In this post, Kawasaki writes about 10 lesser-known Web applications that he uses almost every day including Adjix, MarsEdit, SmartyPants, and others! Kawasaki says these applications help his productivity. What’s your experience? Have they increased your individual productivity or that of your non-profit or organization?
  • UPDATE: Jocelyn Harmon at Marketing for Non-Profits shares the “3 Things I’m Thankful For” in her latest post. I appreciate how Harmon brings us back to the basics and what really matters in life: friends, family, freedom, community and good health. I’ll cheers to that Jocelyn!
  • UPDATE: Chris Brogan, on Thanksgiving, cleverly finds a way to tie Batman into the day of Thanksgiving while also giving a shout to numerous friends, colleagues and talent. Most interesting I thought, was Brogan’s shoutout to “The Next Generation.” Being one of those people, thank you….for paving the road and making more opportunities possible. Happy paving in the new year!
  • Avi Kaplan wrote a wonderful thank you to Stacey Monk for her mentorship and for the hard work she is accomplishing through Epic Change. To those not familiar with Monk’s work, I too will vouch for not only her hard work, but for her genuine passion and firm conviction in Epic Change’s mission. Monk is definitely, as Avi says, a true inspiration to our sector.
  • Steve Cunningham took time to offer a personal note thanking both his life and business mentors. Steve also made a point to refer to these mentors as heroes, a label I think well-deserved. For often, being a mentor takes extra time, a longer email, a phone call back or the extra support that only a mentor can offer.

“To my heroes in business and in life – thank you for teaching me that if you never stop learning and believe in yourself, great things are possible. You have made more of a difference than you could ever imagine. I owe you a lifetime of gratitude.

  • As for myself, I have many people to thank who have made my dream of moving, living and working in Washington D.C. a reality. This includes:
  • My employer and my boss – who I continue to admire and learn from everyday.
  • My graduate professor Fritz Cropp who allowed me flexibility in my graduate research scope, the tools and knowledge to bring it together, and believed in the vision I set before myself. Plus, he reminded to live a little every now and then.
  • My friend Lacey, for without you, I know I would not have survived the practical joys (and challenges) that come along with moving from Kansas to Washington D.C.
  • All the amazing, social media, social marketing and non-profit minds that exist within the blogosphere, Twitter…it is you all who propel the conversation and demand more of us practitioners everyday, and I love every minute.
  • To the new friends I’ve made, you rock. You are solid, supportive, and good people.
  • To my beloved fiance, I love you. Each and every day. Who would imagine we’d go from running hurdles on the track together to fast forward, living our dream in Washington, D.C.
  • And finally, my parents. Words cannot express. At the very least, thank you for teaching me to 1) always believe in your dreams and 2) always believe in working hard to achieve them. And that along the way, you can never be too gracious.

With that, I hope this Carnival session encourages you to share the love. Extend a hand. And tell someone the difference they’ve made in your life.

Thank You. And an early Thanks.giving to you and yours.