Madera Group

The gala opening of the David Brower Center this Sunday in downtown Berkeley is, literally, a dream come true. I say this because I sat down four years ago with the founder and chief visionary of Berkeley’s showcase green office building, Peter Buckley, and the renowned UC Berkeley cognitive scientist, George Lakoff, to talk about what it means to create a place for good people to work, live, play, and help make the world a better place.

Here’s a recent example of a fundraising video appeal from the William J. Clinton Foundation which Madera Group produced for the Foundation. The appeal features former President Bill Clinton speaking about why giving to others is critical in hard economic times.

My friend and online alter ego Michael Stein (yes, there is another!) offered a useful write-up way back in July 2008 about The Nature Conservancy’s use of Facebook for fundraising. Michael writes:

There’s been a lot of excitement in the last year about social networking in general, and about Facebook in particular.

For the last year, Madera Group has had the honor to work in online messaging and fundraising with a major foundation that works to solve pressing global challenges. We are attaining the highest click-through rates (three times normal) through the use of video.

Last week I attended the Online Giving Marketplace Conference at Stanford University sponsored by the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) with Madera Group founder Kath Delaney. The following 5 key takeaways stood out for me:

1. Optimize operations and resource allocation: Kiva President Premal Shah is focusing on “mind blowing efficiency” in his organization.

My Madera Group colleague Erik Johnson recently completed a trip to Alaska, where he worked on a series of videos to capture a deeper understanding of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.  Erik joined a team of highly respected Bay Area producers, camera operators, editors and musicians … and the Wasilla Project began.

My colleague Britt Bravo, who writes the Have Fun Do Good blog, is a never-ending source of thought-provoking inspiration to me.  Not only is she interested in social innovation, but she has a fascination with online social networking and online marketing.

Madera Group founder Kath Delaney and social profit strategy consultant Neelu Jain will participate in Online Giving Marketplaces: Changing the Face of Philanthropy, presented by Stanford Social Innovation Review, on October 8.

We’re excited to be a part of the ongoing learning about socially beneficial online giving that’s growing world wide.

At the Clinton Global Initiative fourth annual meeting on September 26, President Clinton announced a number of commitments aimed at helping Haiti recover in ways that will strengthen education, health care, nutrition, and business enterprises, and help people rebuild their lives.

This morning, Lance Armstrong, founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, joined President Bill Clinton at the opening session of the Clinton Global Initiative’s fourth annual meeting with a Call to Action against cancer.