Starfish Circle

Fundraising training for the hip hop set

There are quite a few great blogs about fundraising on the blogosphere.  Small non profit professionals have a lot to learn from advancement professionals at local universities.  One blog in particular highlights tips and tools for those in that sector, in particular annual giving campaigns.

Dori Sonntag, Director of Annual Giving at Gonzaga University (in Spokane, Washington) created Inspired Annual Giving.  She posted this hilarious training video from the folks at the University of Toronto.  Depending on your constituents, it could be a great training intro tool when  gearing folks up to do personal or annual asks.  It certainly makes working/volunteering at a phone-a-thon so much more fun!   Check out the University of Toronto's call center site.  It has a ton of videos that can give you some inspiration.

Don't miss this video!  It is sure to perk up your Monday morning.   

She's Geeky Tech Unconference

More often than not, I get pegged as the office tech support.  Let me be clear, just because I know how to "bold" does not mean that I deserve that title. However, there is a conference for those of us that do revel in discussing  what techonology can do to change the world and also want to get our inner-geek on.  I think this is particularly useful for us in the non profit sector, as we can often find low-cost or free tools at these meet ups.  One big complaint, I hear often is that web developers never create stuff that works for our sector.  Well, this is a great opportunity to hear about what is coming up and maybe leave your two cents about what would help us do our jobs better.

A Women's Tech (un)conference is being held on October 22-23 in Mountain View, CA.  Sign up here.

The She's Geeky (un)conference will provide an agenda-free and friendly environment for women who not only care about building technology that is useful for people, but who also want to encourage more women to get involved.

It is designed to provide women who self-identify as geeky and who are engaged in various technology-focused disciplines with a gathering space in which they can exchange skills and discuss ideas and form community across and within disciplines.

"U.S. Army Photo", number 163-12-62. Left: Patsy Simmers, holding ENIAC board Next: Mrs. Gail Taylor, holding EDVAC board Next: Mrs. Milly Beck, holding ORDVAC board Right: Mrs. Norma Stec, holding BRLESC-I board

1st Act Silicon Valley awarded $3.5 million

Yesterday, the Knight Foundation announced a $3.5 million dollar investment in San Jose. Awarded to 1st Act Silicon Valley, this challenge grant is intended to help local leaders develop capacity and structure for local arts and culture organizations. Click here to read the press release.

I’ve been intrigued by this group since last summer, as they presented to the San Jose City Council a vision for downtown. It was inventive and ground breaking. The short sighted council’s response, “Great, but show me the money!” Well the folks at 1st Act now have the money and will hopefully leverage this to pull others into the fold - obviously no small task. However, choosing Connie Martinez, former Exectuive Director of the award winning Children's Discovery Museum as the efforts Managing Director, showcases their saavy and powerhouse line up of supporters.

As a San Jose resident, who frequents downtown, I am excited to hear of the things to come. It is certainly long over due. Forcing arts organizations to squabble over crumbs is just bad practice. If we expect to harness the Valley’s creativity to bring us into another golden age, then we should be doing what we can to incubate the arts and programs that encourage us all to think differently.

Once I figure out how to help, I’m there and hope some of you will join me. Thank you Knight Foundation for believing San Jose!
Download 2007_KnightFdnPressRelease-1.pdf

Silicon Valley Ways to Make A Difference

Philanthropy in the Valley in many ways happens much like anywhere else in the world - special events, churches and bakes sales.  Certainly there are grant cycles and individual donor drives and capital campaigns, but has there been anything new in the field to get regular ol' people to give, when they are struggling to pay their mortgages, car payments and put food on the table? 

When is a dollar worth more than a dollar?  Easy, when it's leveraging power buys you more than a pack of gum.  You may have caught this on Oprah the other day or read their blog at the social networking site, Social Edge, Kiva.org has built a great tool to engage every day folks into major philanthropists.  Essentially, Kiva.org lets you lend money to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world to help them lift themselves out of poverty.   The Kiva.org team did a great job of making the process user friendly and compelling.  Moreover, the site is a compedium of compelling stories that make you want to give. They use technology wisely to help you spread the word, so that your $25.00 gift can actually leveraged by others.  For example, the provided the badge you see on this site, so you can see who I funded.  Great idea!  They also provided a pre-written email I could send to friends.  I LOVE this site. 

A microloan is not a new concept. Mohammed Younus received the Nobel Peace Prize last year for putting the concept on the map with Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.  There have been many organizations and foundations that have pioneered this, but the folks at Kiva.org have been able to harness technology to engage the general public internationally.  Lenders for Community Development for example, uses this concept to help individuals save for home or launch businesses within the United States. On the other hand, portals like Changing the Present.org present you with thousands of opportunities to make a difference by donating to nonprofits.  All models are great, but Kiva.org allows anyone to jump in and be an international banker and philanthropist.  Check it out and let me know what you think!  I made my first loan to Pham Thi My, a farmer from Vietnam who plans to put her $625.00 loan back into her rice and poultry farm.

Another Silicon Valley way to make a difference?  Shopping!  Silicon Valley Moms Blog, where I am also a contributor, are sponsoring a The Hip Kids Boutique. Local vendors are getting together to showcase all that is hip and hot in kiddie clothing.  Proceeds will go to local charities, Innvision and Project Warm Hug. Cost of admission is waived if you bring gently used children's clothing or diapers in any size.  Come ready to shop till you drop and benefit two great organizations.