Post Your "Bloggables" Here

[Britt Bravo]

Here is a place for folks who would like Changebloggers to consider posting about their event, organization, topic, etc. to post information.

[Nancy Gallant]

I'm not sure whether this is a bloggable or a blog superpower issue but...

I've been following the work at echoinggreen.org since earlier this year, having found them early in my research. I attended a wonderful luncheon with 3 inspiring speakers, former Echoing Green fellows back in June... I blogged about it, one of my early changeblogging posts, though I didn't think of it that way! (If you want to read about the inspiring speakers and my experience, here's the old post: http://twsblog.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/echoing-green-luncheon-was-... ). It's more important though to focus on a challenge that is coming to a conclusion in the next couple of days...

A little background (do you all already know this?): Echoing Green sponsors around 20 social entrepreneurs a year and has been doing so for 20 years... Talk about ahead of the curve... Not surprising then that they would be ahead of the game when it comes to supporting innovative change. Echoing Green doesn't concern themselves with whether or not a potential fellow is from a certified 501(3c) or not, whether they already have their business in place or just a phenomenal concept they are ready to launch. They are about supporting mission-driven social entrepreneurs... In fact, I'm planning to apply for their fellowship program. They get over a thousand applications, so I'm not holding my breath! Regardless, I think going through the process and the inspiration of the existing and former fellows will make for "time well spent."

Fast forward to this week... Echoing Green has a Fund-A-Fellowship fundraising effort that is nearing its extended deadline. I noticed the other day that they were getting close but still not there... So, upon closer look, I saw that it is possible to donate less than the $50 that is in the fundraising template. Note that they've already raised over $24,000 from 52 donors. Looks like they need $700 more...

While it would be cool if someone with deep pockets (depending on how you define deep) could just finish it off, in some ways, I think it would be even cooler if that final $700 was from a whole lot of folks, each donating a little bit... showing that power of small amounts from many to accumulate with meaningful impact... There are 70 changebloggers here... What if all those so inclined either blogged about the Fund-A-Fellowship, just posted a quick post directing folks to it, or donated $10... (How but that math coincidence... they need $700, we have 70... reminds me of the old math word problems from grammar school!). Or, if folks blogged about it, 140 people could be encouraged to donate $5, 700 to give $1 (I have no idea whether google lets you pay just $1, but you get the idea...)

Here's the link to the appropriate page on echoinggreen.org:

http://www.echoinggreen.org/donate/fund-a-fellowship-3

That would be a pretty cool illustration of the power of changebloggers and the combining of small funds for big impact...

Oh, gosh, maybe directing all the changebloggers blog readers isn't a great idea... Would that cause too many visitors at once, making their server crash or something? Let's just say having too many folks visit my site has never been an issue! I expect otherchangebloggers might have some expert input on this.

Anyway, I hope this is the type of thing that you were picturing using this NING for, Britt!

Have a great day folks, Nancy

[Britt Bravo]

Blog Action Day 08. This year's theme is Poverty.

"Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion."

[Michael Maranda]

Appropedia and others are convening an Open Sustainability Camp (OSNCamp) http://www.appropedia.org/Open_Sustainability_Network as they strive to establish the Open Sustainability Network. OSNCamp will be held Oct 18-19 in San Francisco.

What makes this interesting or important?

Working for the social good we often find ourselves replicating efforts and functioning as competing organizations. It doesn't make sense for us to conduct ourselves according to a competitive model. Branding and other market practices distract us from coordination across our field.

Many in the blogosphere celebrate efforts to reduce data duplication (dreams of single-sign on, OpenID, OpenSocial, etc. ... I call them dreams, not to diminish them ... but to evoke their aspiration.) A desire for not having to repeat oneself makes as much sense for organizations (e.g. non-profits) as it does for individual users. Data on organizations and on solutions for the greater good should flow freely and we should spend less time on manifesting a presence on multiple sites than on solving pressing global or social problems.

I have observed numerous autonomous efforts in recent months where this same conclusion has been reached ... networks and clusters are forming with a hope of addressing this problem, and with a sense that resolving this question will lead to a practice that is more effective and more coordinated across the civic and social entrepreneurial sectors. The OSNCamp is one convening, one cluster among many. Catalytic Communities (CatComm.org) - where I serve as Strategic Director - is committed to this approach to collaboration across our field.

Recent blog entries pertaining to these topics (from CatComm perspective) are here: http://catcomm08.blogspot.com/

[Britt Bravo]

I'm helping to get the word out about the launch of a hopeful, solution-oriented new book, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest ..., by visionary thinker and founder of Green for All, Van Jones. Jones was recently named a TIME Magazine 2008 Hero of the Environment.

I'm hoping that you'll share information about the book with your readers before its launch on Tuesday, October 7th, like I did.

Here's what Vice President Al Gore says about The Green Collar Economy:

"This book illustrates the link between the struggle to restore the environment and the need to revive the US economy. Van Jones demonstrates conclusively that the best solutions for the survivability of our planet are also the best solutions for everyday Americans."

In order for The Green Collar Economy to have the biggest impact, the best time for folks to buy the book is now, or any time before the Tuesday, October 7th on-sale date. Best seller lists treat every book that is sold before the on-sale date as if it was sold on its release date. Green for All's goal is to sell 5,000 copies of The Green Collar Economy by October 8th.

* You can find more info. about The Green Collar Economy and Van Jones, plus photos, and a cover image of the book on vanjones.net in the Press section.
* There are also videos you can embed, including one of Van on The Colbert Report in the Multimedia section of vanjones.net.
* For more info. about Green for All, a national organization dedicated to building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty, go to www.greenforall.org

The Green Collar Economy offers a "green cure" for these crazy times with concrete ideas, examples and policies that could jumpstart the U.S. economy, repair the Earth and lift millions of people out of poverty.

Thanks for spreading the word!

[The Lady V]

Will you use your blogging power for good?

A little organization called One Home Many Hopes needs your help! Started by my very good friend, Thomas Keown, One Home Many Hopes serves orphaned girls in Kenya -- and it was just chosen to be featured in a documentary on nonprofit fundraising. The filmmakers will chart our race to raise $20K in 30 days! We'll do it by finding 1,000 Twitterers, bloggers, and social media gurus to donate just $20. Will you help us?
Please spread the word, tweet it, blog it, digg it, stumble it, whatever it takes! And you can make your donation at Race to 20K.

[Britt Bravo]

Thanks for point folks to DarynKagan's network!

[petercasier]

Not sure if it is bloggable or not, but I give it a shot...

I was tired of not being able to do enough, even though i am an aid worker, so I used my blog to raise funds for Kiva microfinancing projects through this post. I called it "Change Starts Here.

To my surprise, readers from my blog, friends, family and colleagues picked it up. We started a Kiva lenders group, which now has 9 members already.

Together, we raised $4,000 so far (6 weeks).

An example how a blog community actually can make a change?

P.

[Britt Bravo]

What a great story, Steve. A perfect example of how an individual can create change with their blog. Thanks for sharing it!

[Romina Oliverio]

A great inspiration, thanks Peter! Now my own wheels are turning... :)

petercasier said:

Not sure if it is bloggable or not, but I give it a shot...

I was tired of not being able to do enough, even though i am an aid worker, so I used my blog to raise funds for Kiva microfinancing projects through this post. I called it "Change Starts Here.

To my surprise, readers from my blog, friends, family and colleagues picked it up. We started a Kiva lenders group, which now has 9 members already.

Together, we raised $4,000 so far (6 weeks).

An example how a blog community actually can make a change?

P.

[petercasier]

I have not seen too much traffic on ChangeBlogger about Earth Day, an event that needs to viral power of bloggers to spread the event.
It is not too late, the event is today!

I did my bit here

[petercasier]

Romina Oliverio said:

A great inspiration, thanks Peter! Now my own wheels are turning... :)

Thanks Romana! In the mean time, we're just at the $6,000 mark already, and still growing...

[Giz]

BloggerAid ...Changing the Face of famine is a dedicated and growing number of bloggers who have several fundraising projects currently on the go and several waiting in the hopper for release. With blogger donation of recipes, we are creating a cookbook for release by Amazon Nov/Dec '09. If anyone has some spare time (ha ha) and has some experience with typesetting or conversions (i.e. ingredient conversions), we could sure use the help. Please stop by for a visit at http://www.bloggeraidmarketing.ning.com.