Blog Posts Across Social Actions
CNN Devotes Four Minutes to Micro-Philanthropy
Earlier this week, the Global Giving e-newsletter arrived in my inbox. I was surprised to find a four minute video clip in which Global Giving president Mari Kuraishi is intervi…
Posted by Peter Deitz on July 3, 2008 at 2:00pm — No Comments
Former Student Gives His College a Lesson (on Fundraising)
Yesterday, I came across this Slideshare presentation that Joe Solomon prepared for Vassar College. It contains some excellent advice for institutions lost in the transition to social media and unable to reach generation Y. On the latter subject, readers may also be interested ReadWriteWeb's post…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on July 1, 2008 at 4:30pm — 1 Comment
Social Actions Receives $25k, Hires Paid Consultants
I'm excited to formally announce the $25k grant that Social Actions received last week. In May, a family foundation based in California noticed our work.
They have made a short-term grant to help us build out the…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on June 30, 2008 at 6:00pm — 5 Comments
OneAim.org -- Advocating a Decentralized Semantic Web for Civil Society
For the last few months, I've been corresponding with Ingmar Redel of OneAim.org. He found me during the lead up to the NetSquared Mashup Challenge.
OneAim.org is bui…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on June 26, 2008 at 1:00pm — 2 Comments
A Fellow Traveler: Nipun Mehta of CharityFocus
I'm looking forward to a Friday conversation I have scheduled with CharityFocus founder Nipun Mehta. His approach to CharityFocus mirrors many of the or…
Posted by Peter Deitz on June 24, 2008 at 3:00pm — 2 Comments
Request for Proposals: Social Actions Search Interface and Open API
Social Actions is currently seeking a Ruby on Rails developer or team of developers to expand on our existing prototype of a search interface and open API that services the online social activism sector.
We are looking for…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on June 23, 2008 at 5:00pm — No Comments
Bloggers Launch a 21st Century "Tea Party" Targeting the AP
Back in March, I presented Social Actions at the NY Tech Meetup, alongside (and thanks to) ThePoint founder Andrew Mason.
His social action platform was the darling of the night, inspiring m…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on June 20, 2008 at 5:30pm — No Comments
Conference Call with Beverley Pomeroy, Founder of PincGiving
On Thursday, Social Actions will be hosting a conference call with Beverley Pomeroy, founder of PincGiving.
PincGiving is one of the best kept secrets in online fundraising. Their platform permits nonprofits to acc…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on June 17, 2008 at 5:30pm — No Comments
Kiva and/or MicroPlace
Posted by Peter Deitz on June 12, 2008 at 4:00pm — 4 Comments
Webinar Slides: Using Sprout to Get Your Nonprofit's Message Out (In Tact)
Below are the slides from my webinar for NTEN, Using Sprout to Get Your Nonprofit's Message Out (In Tac…
Posted by Peter Deitz on June 10, 2008 at 3:00pm — 7 Comments
An Interview with Desiree Vargas, Co-Founder of GiveForward
Beth Kanter has written up an interview with Desiree Vargas, co-founder of GiveForward.
The perso…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on June 9, 2008 at 1:00pm — No Comments
Using Sprout to Get Your Nonprofit's Message Out (In Tact)
Next Tuesdsay at 2pm EDT (11am PDT), I will be presenting a webinar for NTEN entitled, Using Sprout to Get Your Nonprofit's Message Out…
Posted by Peter Deitz on June 5, 2008 at 12:00pm — 1 Comment
GoSomething: A Social Action Platform for Contributive Travel
Yesterday, I met up with Andrea Armeni, founder of GoSomething. GoSomething is "an action platform for engaged travelers who contribute to the communities they visit. You can connect with like-minded individuals, find out about exi…
Posted by Peter Deitz on June 5, 2008 at 1:00am — 5 Comments
Tech President's Joshua Levy to Lead Change.org's Blogging Network
Wired Magazine has broken the story that TechPresident's Joshua Levy will serve as managing editor of Change.org…
Posted by Peter Deitz on June 3, 2008 at 12:00pm — No Comments
Person-to-Person Fundraising: A Success Story
Ian Ross, of the PR Voyager blog reports on a successful person-to-person fundraising campaign leveraging the…
Posted by Peter Deitz on June 2, 2008 at 12:30pm — No Comments
Social Actions Picks Up Two Prizes at the NetSquared Conference
Excited in San Jose: Here's a quick note to say that Social Actions -- A Mashup of 29+ Social Action Platforms picked up two prizes at the…
Posted by Peter Deitz on May 28, 2008 at 8:30pm — 10 Comments
Social Actions: Statements of Support
Next week, Social Actions will be participating in the NetSquared Mashup Challenge in San Jose, CA. This is a big opportunity to make the case for an open and accessible search interface that permits individuals to find their way to actionable…
Posted by Peter Deitz on May 23, 2008 at 6:00pm — No Comments
What Would Citizen-Centered International Development Look Like?
Yesterday at the Stockholm Challenge, I asked a panel of featured projects for their thoughts on a citizen-centered approach to international development. Below is a video of their responses. The voices you hear are: my own; then Matt Blumberg (GridRepublic), then a representative from Horizon Solutions Site, then Hugh McGuire (L…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on May 22, 2008 at 11:30am — 1 Comment
Challenge Grants Are the New Matching Funds
Nonprofits take note. The days of telethon matching funds are quickly fading into the past. The new way to accelerate grassroots donations and participation is through "challenge grants."
Last week, I received an email from Carol Patterson of…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on May 20, 2008 at 4:30pm — No Comments
Spot.Us: Crowdfunded Investigative Reporting
Over the weekend, Social Actions member Digidave wrote to tell me that the website of his crowdfunding project, Spot.us, has launched. The initiative is a winner of the recent…
Posted by Peter Deitz on May 19, 2008 at 8:30am — 1 Comment
Reflections on the 29 Day Giving Challenge
Britt Bravo, author of the Have Fun • Do Good blog, has just finished participating in the 29 Day Giving Challenge.
She has posted a thought…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on May 16, 2008 at 2:30pm — No Comments
Envisioning a Social Actions Firefox Extension
Posted by JoeSolomon on May 15, 2008 at 8:23pm — 3 Comments
Enroute to Sweden to Participate in The Stockholm Challenge
Hello blog readers, I am enroute to Sweden to participate in The Stockholm Challenge. In March, Social Actions was selected as a finalist in the Stockholm Challenge. Please have a loo…
Posted by Peter Deitz on May 15, 2008 at 1:30pm — No Comments
Two Papers on Citizen-Centered Civic Engagement
Posted by Peter Deitz on May 14, 2008 at 11:00am — 1 Comment
Peer Production: "A Revolution in the Making"
Below is a video of Michel Bauwens, founder of the P2P Foundation, presenting a 30 minute keynote entitled Infrastructure, Communities and Corporations: Is There a Middle Way Between Open and Closed? at the Emerging Communications (eComm) conference held in Mountain View, California, on Friday 14th March 2008.
Bauwens talks at lengt…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on May 13, 2008 at 3:30pm — No Comments
The Future of Social Networks
Below are slides from Groundswell author Charlene Li on The Future of Social Networks.
Charlene's Intro:
ContinueI set my time frame for the long term – five, even ten years out. That’s because unless we know where we want to end up, how could we ever c
…
Posted by Peter Deitz on May 12, 2008 at 3:23pm — No Comments
Vision, Leadership and Partnership
On Tuesday evening, the famed cartoonist Milt Gross made an appearance at the Council on Foundations annual conference. In a session called Strategic Philanthropy: Theory and Practice, the speaker Paul Brest, President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, flashed on the monitor a cartoon of howling wolves gathered at the edge of a cliff. One of the wo…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on May 8, 2008 at 8:30am — No Comments
Bloggers Cover the Council on Foundations Annual Conference
The Council on Foundations deserves two thumbs up for putting together a thought-provoking leadership summit that attracted philanthropists and foundation staff from across the globe. Unfortunately, their effort to communicate what was happening at the event to people who could not attend was less successful.
The homepage of the Council on Foundations does not feature a single headline about the conference. Visitors can…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on May 7, 2008 at 3:00pm — No Comments
Race, Philanthropy, and the Grassroots
Last night, attendees of the Council on Foundation’s annual conference were treated to a special event at the recently opened Newseum in Washington DC. Filmmaker Katrina Browne—a descendent of the DeWolf family, the largest slave trading family in the United States during the 19th century—took audience members on a 1.5 hour journey across geographic, historic, and racial borders.
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on May 7, 2008 at 1:30am — 2 Comments
Philanthropy 2.0: A Video Q&A with DonorsChoose, Facebook Causes, Kiva, The Motley Fool, and The Case Foundation
For micro-philanthropy groupies, including me, yesterday’s session on Philanthropy 2.0 at the Council on Foundation’s annual conference featured a star studded panel. The founders of DonorsChoose, Facebook Causes, and The Motley Fool we…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on May 6, 2008 at 2:00pm — No Comments
Seven Tips for Foundations Looking to “Push the Envelope” of Philanthropy (Instead of Papers)
I’m tucked away in a remote corner of the enormous Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center, the site of this year’s annual conference of the Council on Foundations.
Before heading over to the next event, I want to quickly share seven tips I heard today on how foundations can “push the envelope” of philanthropy.
The following ideas come from three sources:
- An interview with Bill Somerville, author of “Grassroots Philanthropy”
- A session called “Social En …
Posted by Peter Deitz on May 5, 2008 at 6:00pm — No Comments
The Davos of Philanthropy: First Impressions
I find myself on the edges of what could easily be called the “Davos of Philanthropy.” Roughly three thousand attendees have flown in from across the globe to discuss the current and future states of global philanthropy.
A few phrases from the opening statements of Steve Gunderson, the Council on Foundations executive director, jumped out as worth noting:
- “Philanthropy must become a movement, more than an institution”
- “Our greatest power is not in the checkbook but …
Posted by Peter Deitz on May 5, 2008 at 1:54pm — No Comments
Schools and Church Fundraising Ideas
My Intro Letter to the Tactical Philanthropy Blogging Team
Depending on how you look at it, my journey to this year’s summit started yesterday morning, when I boarded the Amtrak train from Montreal to Washington DC, or last year, when Sean of Tactical Philanthropy delivered the excitement of the 2007 annual conference…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on May 4, 2008 at 2:30pm — No Comments
Philanthropy's Vision: A Leadership Summit
Next week, I will be live-blogging from the Council on Foundation's annual conference entitled Philanthropy's Vision: A Leadership Summit. Please have a lo…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on May 2, 2008 at 4:00pm — No Comments
What Is The Social Actions Open API and Mashup All About?
Later this month, Social Actions will be headed to the NetSquared Mashup Challenge to win support for its open API and mashup of 29+ Social Action Platforms.
Earlier today, I spontaneously recorde…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on May 1, 2008 at 10:00pm — 2 Comments
Rising Voices Seeks Micro-Grant Proposals Related to AIDS/HIV
Solana Larsen, managing editor at Global Voices Online, forwarded me this innovative grant proposal request on behalf of Rising Voices and the Open Society Institute. Congratulations to OSI for structuring a grant-program that reaches out to grassroots citizen journalists trying to make their voices heard.
Applicat
…Posted by Peter Deitz on May 1, 2008 at 11:13am — No Comments
Root Causes vs. Facebook Causes
Note: I wrote this blog post for the opinion blog at the Stanford Social Innovation Review. You are welcome to leave a comment here, or on the…
Posted by Peter Deitz on April 30, 2008 at 4:30pm — No Comments
Impact of "micro-philanthropy" on conventional development aid
Posted by Rosemary Cairns on April 30, 2008 at 10:37am — 2 Comments
Change.org is Hiring Bloggers
Taking a cue from About.com, Change.org is hiring experts in particular issues to act as human guides to the most relevant information and actionable content in a cause area. This development is a signif…
Posted by Peter Deitz on April 30, 2008 at 8:30am — 1 Comment
2008 e-Nonprofit Benchmarks Study
Last week, M+R Strategies and NTEN released their joint study of benchmarks in online fundraising and advocacy.
Some key findings of…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on April 29, 2008 at 4:16pm — No Comments
Launch Your Own Social Action
Back in January, I committed myself to building an automated wizard that would help people plan and implement micro-philanthropy campaigns. My intent was to create--with the help of other non…
Posted by Peter Deitz on April 28, 2008 at 9:35pm — No Comments
April 2008 Giving Carnival Results
At the beginning of this month, I posed the question, Is Person-to-Person Fundraising Dead, or Just Getting Started?
In response to the question, I have received six thought-provoking contributions. If I can pull a common thread from the giving carnival participants, it would be that onl…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on April 25, 2008 at 1:30pm — 2 Comments
ThePoint's Blog on Collective Action
I just received an email from ThePoint founder Andrew Mason. He was writing to tell me about the MakeSomethingHappen blog. The latest blog post is…
Posted by Peter Deitz on April 25, 2008 at 11:00am — No Comments
DonateNow Challenge
Posted by Peter Deitz on April 25, 2008 at 10:30am — No Comments
New Social Action Platforms: PincGiving and MTDN
PincGiving and Make the Difference Network (MTDN) are the latest additions to the world of online social activism. Both social action platforms have been designed with niche focuses in mind. PincGiving makes processing international donations affordable for the donor and recipient organization. Make the Difference Network uses celebrity personalities to bring out the inner micro-philanthropist in entertainment fans.…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on April 23, 2008 at 9:00pm — No Comments
Join Me for A Workshop About Micro-Philanthropy
I am busy preparing for the busiest month of my life (to date). In May, I will be attending the NetSquared Mashup Challenge and the Stockholm Challenge…
Posted by Peter Deitz on April 22, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments
Person-to-Person Hopebuilding
Below is a contribution to this month's giving carnival question, Is Person-to-Person Fundraising Dead, or Just Getting Started?
Rosemary Cairns—writing from Uzice, Serbia—sent me this thoughtful response via email. She recasts my question about fundraising in broader terms of how peer-to-peer activities in general are transforming international development. In short, Rosemary is saying that fundrais…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on April 21, 2008 at 4:00pm — No Comments
On Philanthrocapitalism: openDemocracy Authors Respond to Michael Edwards
In recent weeks, the U.K.-based website openDemocracy has run a series of interesting articles dealing with the future of philanthropy.
The articles listed below were written in response to an article by Michael Edwards, entitled…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on April 20, 2008 at 4:00pm — No Comments
Tom Munnecke: Inventing the Future of Philanthropy
Tom Munnecke, who I consider a personal mentor, speaks in this 43 minute video about all of the things I'm interested in: peer-to-peer social chan…
Posted by Peter Deitz on April 16, 2008 at 4:00pm — No Comments
SixDegrees: Stats from a Leading Provider of Fundraising Widgets
Recently, Stacie Mann of SixDegrees sent me the following statistics from the popular provider of person-to-person fundraising widgets.
- SixDegrees is seeing increasing number of successful fundraisers; in the most …
Posted by Peter Deitz on April 15, 2008 at 4:00pm — No Comments
DonorsChoose: Fulfilling the Promise of Micro-Philanthropy
Check out this inspiring presentation by DonorsChoose founder Charles Best and CTO Oliver Hurst-Hiller. They presented at Google's Tech Talks in earl…
Posted by Peter Deitz on April 14, 2008 at 4:00pm — No Comments
Ten Tips for Building a Web 2.0 Community on the Cheap
A few days ago, I came across this incredibly succint blog post about setting up a web 2.0 community on the cheap.
The tips come from the founder of ObamaCycle: A Craigslist for Oba…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on April 10, 2008 at 7:30pm — No Comments
Against Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship
I've been in a self-critical mood these days. Last week, I drew attention to the difficulties that nonprofits are having with person-to-person fundraising. Now, I'm pointing to a speech, a magazine art…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on April 9, 2008 at 10:00pm — 2 Comments
From Grassroots Philanthropy to Micro-Philanthropy
For nearly 20 years, Philanthropic Ventures Foundation (PVF) founder Bill Somerville has been practicing the values and demonstrating the potential of micro-philanthropy. But there’s something remarkable about Somerville’s micro-philanthropy.…
Posted by Peter Deitz on April 7, 2008 at 9:00pm — No Comments
Network Power for Philanthropy and Nonprofits
Yesterday, I accidentally came across an interesting report from 2004, entitled Network Power for Philanthropy and Nonprofits, authored by Peter Plastrik and Madeleine Taylor, on behalf of the Barr Foundation. The conclusions in this report are as sharp today as they were four years ago.
Here's an excerpt from the fir…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on April 4, 2008 at 3:00pm — No Comments
Whoa, Nelly! Web 2.0 is Cool, But...
If you have been following my blog for the last two weeks, you have heard me comment on the Web 2.0 vibe at this year's Nonprofit Technology Conference.
I'll end my coverage of the NTC with a link to…
ContinuePosted by Peter Deitz on April 2, 2008 at 2:30pm — No Comments