I Want my MTV

A recent New York Times article highlighted a partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and MTV that has angered some non-profit leaders.

According to the article, the Gates Foundation has spent $960,000 in contracts with MTV to learn how to better engage students. Some of those funds are being used for a social networking site called ThinkMTV.com that is designed to encourage youth activism. Several other foundations have supported this effort.

On the one hand: if MTV is more effective at reaching great swaths of young people than some of the non-profits that run similar social networking sites, shouldn't the foundations invest in initiatives that are going to show the best results and have the most bang for the buck?

On the other hand: Are foundation dollars best spent on an initiative that is backed by MTV, which is part of Viacom, a gigantic media conglomerate? Shouldn't Viacom be footing the bill? Is part of ThinkMTV's design related to driving viewership and brand loyalty to MTV?

On the third hand: (yes, I know there is no third hand) This is a great example of the Golden Rule - He who has the gold, rules. The foundations can do whatever they want - if the non-profits complain about it, should that push them to be more effective, more competitive?

2007 MacArthur Fellows

Ah, my favorite awards of the year. Not the Oscars, not the Grammys... the MacArthur Fellows, otherwise known as "MacArthur Genius Grants." Nominated and chosen in a completely secret process, the Fellows are leaders and innovators in their fields (science, the arts, nonprofit, etc.) They win $500,000 to use however they wish. Read about the current class of Fellows here. Always an inspiring group.

(OK, it's my secret dream - well, not such a secret anymore - to win a genius grant someday. I'm not really sure how the heck that's gonna happen... I'd better come up with something geniusy to do!)

Getting Some Attention for "The Little Guys"

I just saw an interesting piece in The Huffington Post. Dennis Whittle writes, in "Markets for Philanthropy":

"Did you know that about 6% of non-profits in the US attract four-fifths of the resources?... The problem is, as Paul Brest puts it in his most recent Hewlett Foundation President's Letter , most donors "simply lack the necessary data to support informed decision making." This means that the philanthropy marketplace does not function well, and resources don't get allocated to their highest-impact uses.It also means that big organizations can get bigger based on their marketing and branding rather than on their results. And the little guys, regardless of how good they are, usually have trouble attracting the attention of donors...As Paul says, "diverse philanthropic investments do not have a single common measure [of return]." To that, I would add that diverse "donors" do not share the same measure of returns. As a result, no single set of data or information can or should inform - or motivate - all philanthropic decisions. The question is how to provide a mosaic of data suitable for different philanthropic investments and donors..."

So - what about the "little guys" who are not attracting the donors, because of all of the competition in the marketplace? Is the competition really telling us that the marketplace is too crowded, and some of these organization should go out of business or merge with others?

I think one flaw in Mr. Whittle's premise is that philanthropic investors do not necessarily make their decisions based on measure of return. Lots of people give to charities because they know someone who works there or has been helped by the charity, they are honoring a loved one, their parents/grandparents gave there, etc. People just don't make philanthropic investments with the same analytical minds that they use to make personal financial investments.

Time Magazine focuses on service

The September 10 issue of Time Magazine featured a cover story and lots of juicy articles about service/volunteerism, including a call from the magazine's editor for the federal government to create ways for every American to devote a year of their life to service.

If you go to Time Magazine's web site, you can connect to a podcast featuring Caroline Kennedy and author Jeff Sachs. They discuss lots of issues, including the notion of mandatory national service, the current surge in interest in volunteerism among Americans, and the value of serving abroad. A few highlights and questions this podcast raised for me:

Is it better to volunteer abroad or closer to home (and does "closer to home" mean in the U.S., in a neighborhood in your area that's less well off than yours, or right in your own backyard)?

Should national service be mandatory? How do we Americans feel about the word "mandatory"?

Did you know that 1/3 of Americans, around 65 million, say that they volunteer regularly? I wonder if this is more or less than other countries...

Jeff Sachs talked about the "shock and dismay" over the situation in Iraq leading Americans to ask themselves what they can do to contribute positively to the world. Do you think this is on the mark?

Tranquil Space Foundation Gala in DC

I'm on the Steering Committee for the Tranquil Space Foundation, a terrific new foundation that is an offshoot of my yoga home, Tranquil Space Yoga. The Foundation focuses on expanding opportunities for yoga, creativity, and leadership for women and girls. The Tranquil Space Foundation Gala will take place in DC in Thursday, October 11th and will feature a wine reception, silent auction, raffle, and mingling with some great, fun souls. Please join me there!

50 Ways to Give Right Now

This inspiring page was included in the article "what you get from giving," in the September 2007 edition of body + soul magazine (p. 134 - article by Terri Trespicio, attached page by Deblina Chakraborty) I hope it inspires you as it has inspired me.

Heads up for Bill!

Bill Clinton will be on The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 4 promoting his new book, GIVING: How Each of Us Can Change the World. I'm looking forward to hearing what Clinton has to say on the subject, especially in light of his post-Presidential philanthropic work (and the ways that his philanthropic work has changed is public persona... and his legacy).

According to the William J. Clinton Foundation web site: "GIVING: How Each of Us Can Change the World is an inspiring look at how individual endeavors can save lives and solve problems, and it offers compelling examples of both citizen and corporate activism at work in the world today."

I'll be posting interesting tid-bits from the book as I come across them!

Brad and Lucy and Drew, Oh My!

In the past couple of days, I have read two articles about my favorite passions: philanthropy and celebrity. While those two items would previously have been thought of as a combination of the sublime and the ridiculous, the line is becoming increasingly blurred.

This Sunday's Washington Post included an article called Hollywood Stars Find an Audience for Social Causes. For example, when Lucy Liu appeard on the Oprah Winfrey Show in March 2006, shortly after visiting earthquake victims in Pakistan, donations to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF rose 91 percent in one day. A total of $500,000 was raised based on that appearance. The article also talked about Angelina Jolie's CNN interview with Anderson Cooper, after which donations to the U.N. High Committee for Refugees spiked by $500,000.

In my most recent edition of Entertainment Weekly, with Clooney and Pitt on the cover, the two stars talk about how Brad Pitt did something really savvy - he realized that the paparazzi cameras were following him everywhere, so he thought: OK, I'll go to Africa, and then everyone will see what's going on there. Here's what he said in the article:
So how do you get people to focus on the issues that matter to you — and manage to make a difference —without just distracting from the cause?
CLOONEY: It's interesting. Brad did it first and best — he went to Africa. Was it the Diane Sawyer show?
PITT: It was.
CLOONEY: You made this really interesting decision where you said, ''The cameras are going to follow me, so I'm going to go here. And wherever the cameras follow me they're going to see this.'' It was really smart. And I thought, Wow, here's a way to take this insatiable appetite and say, ''If you're going to take these photographs and follow us around, fair enough. But you're also going to have to go where it will provoke some thought about what else is going on in the world.'' It was a really smart play. And all of us have been taking a cue from that.
PITT: The idea was: We can't get out of the spotlight and they can't get in the spotlight, so let's equal that out a little bit.

A few things that intrigue me:
(1) Why does it seem that so many celebrities are interested in international causes, rather than domestic ones? And why are WE, the American public, so interested in the international causes that capture the celebrities' imaginations? (is the international factor rolled up into the Hollywood glamour thing?)
(2) How are the celebrities connecting with the causes - is it happenstance? planned?
(3) How do associations with these causes impact the celebrities' careers (and, by the way, I have NO problem with stars, or even regular folks like you and me, getting a career boost from their association with social causes.)

Grant Writing Quick Tips

I've created a fabulous new resource for non-profits and the people who love them: Grant Writing Quick Tips. This booklet, available on my web site, distills the most important things you need to know about securing foundation grants into one clear, crisp, succinct guide.

How do I make my proposal stand out from the pack? How do I create a project budget for a proposal? How do I find prospective donors to fund my project? What is donor stewardship, and how can it help me to ensure that my donors keep giving, again and again, to my cause? If any of these questions intrigue you, than Grant Writing Quick Tips is for you.

Please visit Grant Writing Quick Tips to learn more and to purchase this guide online. The initial reviews of the guide have been raves! I've even had a non-profit board member purchase Grant Writing Quick Tips as a gift to the non-profit with which she volunteers - what an inspired purchase!

Happy grant writing...

"Sticky" Messages

The April 5, 2007 issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy has a terrific article, "A Time to
Thrive" (p. 21), that provides highlights from the recent annual meeting of the Association of
Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

The article highlighted an address by Stanford Professor Chip Heath who, with his brother
Dan, "studied urban legends, business ideas, and other concepts that have fired the public
imagination, such as President John F. Kennedy's promise to 'put a man on the moon within a
decade,' to understand what made those messages sticky."  They have a new book called Made to
Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.   Prof. Heath said that charity leaders succumb to
"the curse of knowledge" - the more they know about a subject, the less effective they are in
explaining it to others. While experts are fascinated by the complexity of a subject, it's simple
messages that stick.  Prof. Heath gave the example of an experiment where an appeal to feed one
hungry child (who was identified by name) was more effective than an appeal to feed 21 million
starving people.

This was a great reminder for me, and for all of us: when we are telling our organization's story,
whether in person or through the written word, personalize it. Tell one person's story, tell one
story of change.