Tag Archives: social good stars

Catchafire: Kindle Your Passion To Help Through Pro Bono Volunteering

2 Feb

This piece originally appears in The Huffington Post. 

Social Good and Technology Devotee; Director SEO/SEM/SMO at Cleveland.com

Social Good Stars: @Catchafire’s Rachael Chong on How Pro-Bono Changes the World – And You

“You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world.” ― Woodrow Wilson

A few years back I was introduced to Catchafire, and it has become a favorite organization. Rachael Chong is Founder & CEO of Catchafire, the nation’s leading online pro bono network that connects talent and purpose. Rachael is a social entrepreneur, visionary leader, and evangelist of all the ways project-based volunteering benefits the world, and the people who do it. Prior to Catchafire, Rachael helped start up BRAC USA by strategically utilizing pro bono talent. From this success, Rachael founded Catchafire in 2009 with a vision to create a more efficient and effective social good sector, and a world where it is commonplace to serve for the greater good.

In 2012, Rachael received the prestigious NYC Venture Fellowship, the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award, and was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business. She also writes a new series about generosity.

Rachael shared her thoughts on pro bono work, and why everyone has the power to help create positive change.
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Rachael Chong, Founder of Catchafire. Photo courtesy of Catchafire
You’ve explained Catchafire as a marketplace for talented people to share skills and passion for good. Can you talk about the goals behind Catchafire?

There are two main priorities. First, to create a more efficient and effective social good sector by leveraging best practices from business and sharing knowledge. Second, to create a movement of socially-conscious leaders who are empowered to be change agents, catalysts for meaningful, impactful change.

What inspired your new Generosity series for Fast Company?

The genesis for the series, which so far has highlighted the 10 Most Generous Social Media Mavens andThe 11 Most Generous Designers, was to show that giving is accessible, a day-to-day way of life that anyone can incorporate. By highlighting how successful people are already turning good intentions into actions, it’s easy to relate to their stories. It’s a humanized way of looking at giving and generosity that is practical and doable.
How does Catchafire work?

It’s skills-based volunteer matching. When someone goes onto Catchafire.org, it’s as easy as connecting your LinkedIn profile (or answering a few quick questions.) Then we work the magic behind the scenes to present opportunities you may be interested in to you through email, for you to peruse at your leisure. It’s along the same lines of Match.com or eHarmony, but for voluntering opportunities you’ll enjoy, based on your experience and skills.

Catchafire is all upside. It helps with professional development, and can leverage secondary skills you have but may not use in your daily job (think not only of business skills you use on the job, but also hobbies like photography, writing, film making, marketing and PR, etc.) It can be very rewarding to use a skill around a passion to do good in the world.

The amount of time and level of involvement is up to you and there are options that can fit into almost any schedule. And pro-bono work can give you experience in leadership, project management, sales, creative thinking, and other important management skills.

Everyone already has skills they can use to create positive change in the world, and no one should feel like they’re not “experienced enough” to try pro-bono work. In fact, it’s a perfect opportunity to create deeper experience, and give back in the process!

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Learn more about Catchafire and how you can get involved in pro bono work. Video courtesy of Catchafire

You can learn more at Catchafire.org, friend them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @Catchafire.

Amy Neumann is a passionate fan of social good and is dedicated to leveraging technology to change the world. Check out her Charity Ideas Blog and follow her on Twitter @CharityIdeas.

 Follow Amy Neumann on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CharityIdeas

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Social Good Stars: Mark Horvath (@hardlynormal) Gives a Voice to Our Homeless Friends

19 Jan

This article originally appeared in The Huffington Post.

Amy Neumann

Writer, Speaker; Social Media Consultant

Social Good Stars: Mark Horvath

Posted: 1/15/12 11:00 AM ET

This is the fourth installment of the Impact series, #SocialGoodStars. The people highlighted here are passionate, dedicated philanthropists, strengths to their communities, and social media masters. They also happily share their vast knowledge with others, making them shine as leaders in the Social Good world. You can read the third interview with Amanda Hite here.

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” ~ Voltaire

Appreciation. When you think about Mark Horvath, it describes both the feeling one gets upon meeting him and hearing his tales, and also his compassionate view of the world. Through his documentation of the fascinating, sometimes heartbreaking, often inspiring, and always enriching stories of people experiencing homelessness in their own words, he helps us all gain a new appreciation of humanity and how similar we all really are. He’s broken the mold. He is not doing what makes sense, he’s not doing something that even pays the bills–he is living out his passion and doing what burns deep inside of him. Mark gives a face and a voice to homelessness, something he knows all too well as he once lived among them.

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Mark Horvath with Ann Marie (@padschicago).

How did social media influence your decision to travel the US and
Canada for invisiblepeople.tv, interviewing our homeless friends and
the compassionate people and nonprofits that support them?

Seventeen years ago, I had a very good job in the television industry. Sixteen years ago, I became homeless, living on Hollywood Boulevard. I rebuilt my life to a point where I had a three-bedroom house and a 780 credit score, then in 2007 the economy took a nosedive. Like many Americans, I found myself unemployed, living off my credit cards, and hoping for the best. The best never came, but several layoffs — along with foreclosure on my house — did.

By November 2008, I found myself once again laid off. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted and, to be honest, I was scared of once again living on the streets of Hollywood. I could see homelessness all around me, but I couldn’t bear to look.
I was turning away because I felt their pain.

Don’t waste a good crisis. It’s a simple concept and it’s how InvisiblePeople. tv started. For the most part I had lost everything but some furniture, my car, a box of photos, laptop, small camera, and my iPhone. After looking at what I didn’t have and all the problems that were stopping me, I decided to just use what I had. I registered a domain, changed the header on a WordPress theme, grabbed my camera, and started to interview people.

I honestly didn’t think anyone would even view the videos. I was really doing it to release something that was deep down inside me, and to be candid, to keep busy. It was a really dark time and InvisiblePeople.tv gave me a purpose.

I’ll never forget going into the first tent city. It was 400 yards in a wooded area where no help could easily arrive if I found myself in trouble. I questioned my sanity walking in there with a camera and a bag of socks. One smart thing I did was blast what I was doing all over social media so people could feel like they were right there with me. That day my life changed. People started to tweet me encouragement and all kinds of support. The InvisiblePeople. tv road trip was born.


What are some of your most memorable moments from your 2011 US/Canada Road Trip?

Getting to hang with Donnie in his apartment was a very powerful moment. It was so cold when I met Donny I thought my face was going to fall off. Donny had been homeless over twenty years. He had nothing but a blanket and the heating vent from a local business to stay warm. I honestly don’t know how he survived. Thanks to the power of social media and Youtube, the people of Calgary targeted Donny and got him into housing.

Terry Pettigrew was a sweet man dying of cancer I first met while visiting a homeless shelter in Calgary, Canada. I was really moved by Terry and put his video up that very night. The local news media was with me when I visited Terry and The Calgary Herald put his story on their front page. Terry’s brother, Larry, who he had no contact with for 34 years, saw the news story and the two brothers were reunited. There are no words to describe this miracle. I am so very grateful to have played a small part in Terry being reunited with his family for his last moments on Earth. Although homeless most of his life, Terry was able to spend 53 wonderful days with a loving family.

What also has me excited is the history we made with major brands and fighting homelessness this year. General Motors, Hanes, and Murphy USA, all had branded events in 2011 that helped benefit local homeless services, and this year, with @home being released, we will use what we learned in 2011 to hold events that are even bigger and will have more impact.

What advice would you give to someone who was looking to elevate their
social good efforts with social media?

Relationships are key. Story is everything. Communication is vital. Be flexible. Slow is good. Learn to be comfortable with insecurity.

There have been a lot of articles noting how important social media
and technology is to homeless people, to stay connected. Can you talk
a little about that? How did that influence WeAreVisible.com?

If you own a business, you better listen to your customers or you will go out of business. In homeless services, governments and nonprofits don’t listen to the people we serve as much as we might. The general public has received most of its homeless information from marketing materials. We don’t necessarily need another “expert” on homelessness… we need to listen to the single mom living in her van.

Social media can also provide much needed peer-to-peer support to homeless people and formerly homeless people. Most nonprofits do not have the resources to provide tangible social interaction with their clients. We cannot just throw people into housing. There must be community. Social norms are very powerful. We hope to launch the second phase of We Are Visible in early 2012 to help facilitate more social support.
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You can learn more about the two organizations Mark Horvath founded at InvisiblePeople.tv and WeAreVisible.com. Follow Mark on Twitter @hardlynormal.

Amy Neumann is a writer, speaker and consultant on social good marketing. Check out her CharityIdeasBlog and follow her on Twitter @CharityIdeas

Follow Amy Neumann on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CharityIdeas

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Share the Joy: 12 Days of Giving – #12DaysOfGiving

12 Dec

This also appears on the Huffington Post.

“One person can make a difference, and every person should try.” ~ John F. Kennedy

‘Tis better to give than receive, as the old adage goes. And at no time of year do we feel this more keenly than the holidays! The spirit of giving is everywhere. People are a little kinder, a little more generous, and a little more willing to help a stranger.

All of these things led to the #12DaysofGiving, a 12-day bonanza of giving, sharing, and promoting social good from 12/13 to 12/24. Each day, amazing people and charities will be highlighted, with the goal to raise over $12,000 for the causes, as well to enlist the help of millions of passionate social media users globally to help spread awareness. The goal is not only to show support for these causes, but also to illustrate the power of social media for social good and the massive impact thousands of small, meaningful actions can help when used collectively.

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12 Outstanding Charities.
12 Inspiring Influencers.
12 Days of Giving…
One Amazing Project

How can you help? First, please share this on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, your Blog, and email. And if you can, please make a small (or huge!) donation on Crowdrise to any or all of the diverse group of incredible charities here.
You can follow @12DaysGiving, and learn more on the 12 Days of Giving site, GivingKicksAss.com or on Crowdrise.

Happy giving!

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Social Good Stars: Twitter’s Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@ClaireD)

5 Dec

This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post series, “Social Good Stars.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-neumann/twitter-for-good_b_1116429.html

Amy Neumann

Writer, speaker and social media consultant for nonprofits and businesses

Social Good Stars: Claire Diaz-Ortiz

Posted: 11/29/11 04:58 PM ET

Twitter , Claire Diaz Ortiz , Claire Diaz-Ortiz , Social Good Stars , Twitter For Good , Nonprofit Marketing , Social Media For Social Good , Twitter Claire Diaz Ortiz , Impact News

This is the second interview in a new Impact series, #SocialGoodStars. The people highlighted here are passionate, dedicated philanthropists, strengths to their communities, and social media masters. They also happily share their vast knowledge with others, making them shine as leaders in the Social Good world. You can read the first interview with Beth Kanter here.

“Too often we underestimate the power of a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”  ~Leo Buscaglia

The magic of Twitter lies in just that — the ability to connect with like-minded people in big and small ways, all over the world. And someone who knows all about that is Twitter’s own Claire Diaz Ortiz, who leads social innovation, philanthropy, and causes at Twitter since 2009. She is the author of Twitter for Good: Change the World, One Tweet at a Time, and is a frequent international speaker known for developing the TWEET model — a framework to help organizations and individuals best excel on Twitter. Claire holds an MBA from Oxford University, where she was a Skoll Foundation Scholar for Social Entrepreneurship. She is also the co-founder of Hope Runs, a non-profit organization operating in AIDS orphanages in East Africa.

2011-11-28-clairebioshotwebsmall.jpegClaire Diaz-Ortiz, Twitter’s own Force for Good.  Photo Courtesy of Claire Diaz-Ortiz

Since being panelists together at Dell’s Social Innovation Conference earlier this year, I have had the honor of speaking with Claire many times about social good and how Twitter has facilitated connections, awareness, action, fundraising, and the real-time flow of information globally. Here are a few key points of interest for anyone wondering how to get even more out of Twitter and social media for social good.

What do you consider most important for organizations who want to use Twitter for Good effectively?

First, developing a strategy is the answer to ‘What am I doing on Twitter?’ I created the 5-Step framework called T.W.E.E.T. to help with that and for using Twitter: Target, Write, Engage, Explore, Track.  It works because it’s simple.

What are a few examples of nonprofits really leveraging the relationships from Twitter to impact awareness and fundraising or other key goals?

Pepsi Refresh showed what it means to pique the interest of the Twitter audience, and draw them to a site to learn more and take action. Pepsi took $20 million, and later included another $1.3 million for the Gulf, and used Twitter to help local causes be broadcast across the nation and beyond to win grants to help their communities by voting.

Mark Horvath, well-known as @hardlynormal on Twitter and founder of InvisiblePeople.tv, is another brilliant example. He travels the U.S. and Canada interviewing our homeless friends on video and gives them a voice, a voice everyone can now hear because of the reach of Twitter.

Twitter does numerous internal philanthropy projects, including your pro-bono Tweets for Good program and numerous resources. Can you talk about those?

Within our advertising platform, we offer pro-bono programs for non-profits already engaged on Twitter. Promoted Tweets are a tool advertisers use to promote specific campaigns via Tweets on Twitter. The Promoted Tweets for Good programs is an application-based pro-bono program serving a number of non-profit organizations each year. We offer a second type of Promoted Tweets for Good ad hoc to organizations involved in disaster relief in times of crisis or civil unrest.
Another useful resource is Hope 140, Twitter’s hub for being a “Force for Good.” It highlights ways to use Twitter for Good, along with several causes and helpful case studies. We’re always looking for more case studies to share creative ways nonprofits have used Twitter.

What do you see as helpful concepts that apply not only to Twitter but also to social media in general?

As Biz Stone says, “People are basically good… When you give them a simple tool that helps them exhibit that behavior, they will prove it to you every day.” Make it easy for supporters to learn, share, help, and grow. Start connecting and creating individual relationships. Make sure that when you first hop on and seek support, make it about real relationships, and not immediately about fundraising. Most people in the world don’t like to be asked for money immediately (on social media or elsewhere). Are there new people you’d like to connect with? Reach out! Are supporters already on a platform? Deepen those relationships. It’s also important to some extent to let your guard down. Open a window into your organization with a unique perspective. Social media is wide open for any cause to participate and draw strength from supporters.

2011-11-28-clairedcraignewmark3.jpgTalking Social Good at the Social Media for Nonprofits Conference in San Francisco November 2011: Darian Heyman, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, and Craig Newmark. Photo Courtesy of Claire Diaz-Ortiz

“Be a Force for Good.”
~ Twitter’s operating principle

You can learn more about Claire at ClaireDiazOrtiz.com and follow her on Twitter @ClaireD. http://twitter.com/claired

For more details on using Twitter for Good, here is a short video of highlights from her book, and more tips and ideas at Hope140.org.

Amy Neumann is a writer, speaker and consultant on social good marketing. Check out her CharityIdeasBlog and follow her on Twitter @CharityIdeas.

Follow Amy Neumann on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CharityIdeas

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39 Inspiring Men and Their Passion for Charity

5 Dec

This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2morrowknight/38-inspiring-men-and-thei_b_956168.html

39 Inspiring Men and Their Passion for Charity

Posted: 09/16/11 04:50 PM ET

  Charity ,   Inspiration ,   Twitter , Feel Good Stories , Giving , Nonprofits , Passion , Slidepollajax , Social Good , Impact News

This is the latest post in our series, TwitterPowerhouses, which focuses on the contributions of people who’ve helped to expand, influence, and redefine how we view social networking.

A life of kindness and gratitude is tremendously powerful. And when applied to the charitable efforts making the world a better place, the results are often extraordinary. From across diverse backgrounds and all ends of the globe, these gentlemen exemplify a global view of sharing and helping others in their daily lives, and through the amazing networked nonprofits they support. They all embody the spirit of Booker T. Washington’s famous words: “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”

Reluctant to talk about themselves, they deftly shift conversations from themselves to other people, or to one of their many projects. They are dreamers and visionaries. They like to imagine vibrant communities bursting with culture — music, art, history, theater, film — and full of people realizing their potential. But they’re not only dreamers, they want people to be a part of their dreams.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz, leader of Social Innovation at Twitter Inc., and author of the book Twitter for Good, is brilliant in the international community of philanthropy and is someone all three writers on this post respect. Her ideas, and Twitter, have led countless people toward social good. The Networked Nonprofits we support – 2morrowknight with SeeYourImpact, Amy with United Way, and Yasamin with The 1010Project – are impacted by her work. And by Twitter. As are all of the men highlighted here. In fact, if it weren’t for Twitter, we may not have had the honor of talking with all of them and sharing their insights.

In a world that will soon have 7 billion people, these men understand how important it is to engage non-profits that help raise our standard of living, expand our worldview, and give us hope for the future. Indeed, together, we thrive!

Authors’ Note: In case you missed it, here’s Part 20 of the series: The Social Media Vision of Jessica Northey.

Click here for the original article SlideShow!

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Social Good Stars – Beth Kanter (@kanter)

19 Nov

This post originally appears in the Huffington Post in my new series for Impact, “Social Good Stars.”  Thank you to the amazing Beth Kanter!

Writer, speaker and social media consultant for nonprofits and businesses
Follow Amy Neumann on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CharityIdeas

Social Good Stars: Beth Kanter

Posted: 11/18/11 12:43 PM ET

This is the first in a new Impact series, #SocialGoodStars. The people highlighted here are passionate, dedicated philanthropists, strengths to their communities, and social media masters. They also happily share their vast knowledge with others, making them shine as leaders in the Social Good world.

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it. ~Edith Wharton

Some people stand out as an example of a person who is indeed the bright candle, from whom others can help spread light. Beth Kanter, well-known in nonprofit and social media circles alike, is one of those people. She has been named by Fast Company Magazine as one of the most influential women in technology and one of Business Week’s “Voices of Innovation for Social Media.” She is the author of Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media, one of the longest running and most popular blogs for nonprofits, and the book, “The Networked Nonprofit” with Allison Fine. She is also co-founder of Zoetica Media. Most importantly, Beth spends a lot of time listening to others, curating key information, and sharing it so other people can also be Social Good Stars.

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Beth Kanter in Kenya with a winner of her book.

With 32 years in nonprofit social good, Beth is the perfect person to answer some pressing questions about current and future trends. Our interview is below.

You famously co- authored the book, “The Networked Nonprofit” with Allison Fine, and have worked with social good luminaries such as Claire Diaz-Ortiz of Twitter and Randi Zuckerberg of Facebook.  With such legendary background knowledge, can you reveal any social-media-for-social-good trends you see?

What’s top of mind at this moment is this stat:  In 2020, 40% of the world population will have grown up knowing nothing but the Internet and social networks.  Think about that. I’m a baby boomer and my first job was with the Boston Symphony in late 70’s, early 80’s.  I was in development and wanted to see examples of membership or annual fund brochures from other symphonies.  So, I wrote letters to about 20 of them, asking for a copy.  It took a month, but I then had a great collection of ideas — which was good because the annual conference when we could exchange that sort of stuff was six months away.  Now, we can learn in real time from our peers. Think how fast ideas are shared and copied from nonprofit to nonprofit.  I also watched my son last night do his homework.  He is 12.  He had to do a PowerPoint on Portugal.   He had a PowerPoint document uploaded into Google, was collaborating on it with two friends, and they were talking to each other on Skype. Our world is changing before our eyes and organizations really need to think about what this means for their work.  I think about the younger people in nonprofits — and those like free agents outside, and how important it is for nonprofit leaders to empower younger, millenials on staff and outside their walls.

Who is a personal  hero/ine in the social good space?  What makes them unique?

This is such a hard question — I have so many heroes/heroines.  But, I will name one.  Kristin Row-Finkbeiner the co-founder of Momsrising. “Where Moms and people who love them go to change our world.” They are such a fantastic example of working in this agile and transparent way and leveraging social media for on the ground social change.

 How important is “networking” to you in social media (and IRL)?  Has social media made it faster, slower, more or less relevant?

Definitely faster. I’ve always been a networker, before the tools — that is seeking people out, introducing people, and learning from the network/community.  The challenge when you add online tools is that you can connect to so many more people that you run the risk of having shallow relationships.  I have a lot of connections or friends, and I often feel that I don’t get a chance to just to chat and get to know people in a deeper way. These days I get a lot of requests for a lot of things. I find that introducing people to other people where there is a mutual need or potential for reciprocity is a good thing.

 What’s the “killer app” of social media right now?

Tools come and ago — and they change faster than humans.  Right now the killer app or type of app is content curation.  Less about the tools, more about the process.  I’m really excited about the whole concept of people whose job it is to make sense of information on the web. They used to be called journalists — but we have so much information available to us now that the sorting and making sense of it is a job in and of itself. This primer on content curation talks about why.

Do you have a favorite “social media success story” for this this year?

Yes, grist.org. They use a unique combination of entertaining content and environmental reporting, dubbed the “The Daily Show of the environmental movement.”  They have inspired a whole new generation of environmentalists who don’t take themselves so seriously while creating on-the-ground change.

What personal projects and charities do you love & support?

My main charity is the Sharing Foundation which helps kids in Cambodia.  My two kids were adopted from that country – and supporting the organizations is a way to give back.

I’m also on the board of Ushahidi , a non-profit tech company that develops free and open source software for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping. I support a number of other organizations in small ways.

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Beth Kanter

You can learn more about Beth at BethKanter.org and follow her on Twitter @kanter.

Amy Neumann is a writer, speaker and consultant on social good marketing. Check out her CharityIdeasBlog and follow her on Twitter @CharityIdeas.


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