Good Reads

Crowded Roads Ahead for Charity 2.0:Caroline McCarthy over on CNet explores the impact of the rapid growth of social networking and the sustainability of online fundraising. If you don’t get enough fodder from her great interviews with Scott Harrison from Charity:Water and Toby Daniels at Think Social, Beth Kanter continues the conversation by focusing on the recent epidemic of “cause fatigue” on her blog.

 

Social Media and the Shifting Power Dynamics of Philanthropy: In a new post, Nathaniel Whittemore takes a closer look at this week’s announcement of the  NonProfit Times annual "Power and Influence Top 50."  A special shout out to my boss, Jean Case, who is among the list of the 50 people driving and shaping the world of philanthropy and civil society. As Nathaniel notes, “while the list is full of amazing people, there is one type of person conspicuously absent: bloggers.”

 

Diary of a Social Venture Startup:The good folks over at GOOD Magazine have a new series of posts documenting what it takes to start a social venture. This week they focus on a key element vital to getting your business off the ground: the right team. If you enjoy Joe’s post, you should check out the series.

 

Would the real social network please stand up?: While this post is actually from last week, I didn’t read it until this week so I’m including it for those of you who are behind like me. It’s another terrific and thoughtful post by danah boyd and Bernie Hogan. They distill three distinct ways of looking at social networks – and explore how these different social networks relate to one another (or don't) and what they can mean when measuring social capital. I promise it will get you thinking.

 

 

The Not So Hidden Politics of Class Online

For years, many people have been saying the Internet will be a “great social equalizer.” Give everyone access to technology, and differences in race, class, and income will give way to a stronger democracy, right? Not necessarily, says Net researcher danah boyd, speaking at last week’s Personal Democracy Forum in New York, boyd said that even among people with access to the Net, long-held social divisions of race, class, and income are starting to play out online, particularly among teens now starting to choose which social network they prefer.

 

Nonprofits Lead Way in Social Media Adoption

With more and more nonprofits friending and tweeting these days, perhaps it should be no surprise that nonprofit organizations have outpaced corporations and academic institutions in their adoption of social media, for the second year in a row, according to a new research out of Dartmouth University, “Still Setting the Pace in Social Media: The First Longitudinal Study of Usage by the Largest US Charities.”

 

Microsoft veterans aim to make philanthropy more personal

Two Seattle nonprofits Jolkona and SeeYourImpact recently launched to encourage a new generation of philanthropists by using mobile phones, social networking and online connections between donors and people in need. Each started by asking the same question: How could they involve more people, particularly the younger and less affluent, in philanthropy? Eventually they came to the same conclusion: More people would donate if they saw the difference even a small amount of money could make in another person's life.

 

The Extraordinaries: Will Microvolunteering Work?

The Extraordinaries is one of a number of newly hatched social-media enterprises that champion speedy cooperation. Their aim is to deliver microvolunteer opportunities to mobile phones that can be done on-demand and on-the-spot.  Charity meets brevity. Crowdsourcing for the common good. The jury is still out on whether these sites will have large, and long-lasting, effects. But the microvolunteerism movement is undeniable.