Last month, President Barack Obama spoke to people of Ghana about opportunity, responsibility, and the important role each of them has in determining their country’s future. His message was clear: “The world will be what you make of it.” Obama’s words challenged and encouraged the people of Ghana to take control of their own destiny – Africans have already shown their capacity and commitment to making change, and now is the time for them to use those tools to create new opportunities for themselves, he said.

Since 2003, Dana Dakin has been helping to bring opportunities to life for Ghanaian women. Dakin is the founder of Womens Trust, a nonprofit group that works to empower women and girls in Africa through microenterprise, education and healthcare, and that has helped over 1,000 underprivileged women secure microloans and rise above unstable living wages. The organization’s U.S. team works closely with an on-the-ground staff in Pokuase, Ghana. The staff is responsible for loan administration and management of Womens Trust’s education and healthcare programs.

Madera Group is working with Women Trust to increase their online presence and visibility in the social media world. We recently helped launch a new Womens Trust Facebook page to promote future fundraising and social events this fall. Please visit the Women’s Trust fan page to learn more about their work and ways to get involved with the organization.

Photo: Founder Dana Dakin with Gertrude Ankrah, Program Development Director of WomensTrust in Pokuase, Ghana (photo by Suki Hill)

This month, the Madera Group continues our work with Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, launching a new “campaign within a campaign” to help increase enrollment in their program, Make Mine a Million $ Business. Founded by social entrepreneur and author Nell Merlino (who created “Take your Daughter to Work Day”), Count Me In helps women entrepreneurs grow their businesses by providing (for free or at very low cost) a suite of online tools, webinars, national and regional events, and access to business development experts.
More than 60,000 women have joined the online community, and another 1,500 have paid a small fee to join a more focused “fast track” to business growth, the “Make Mine a Million $ Business Race” known as the M3 Race.

With a goal of registering 3,000 women by July 31st, we have launched the Race to 3,000, a special e-mail messaging campaign that aims to double the number of racers this summer. Every M3 community member will receive special attention in the next four weeks, through targeted multi-media messages that frame the values of the program using data gleaned from feedback the organization has received from past events. In addition, M3 members are invited to participate in CMI’s free on-line webinars each Wednesday, which teach a variety of business practices, strategies and tools, as well as offer helpful hints and ideas from featured entrepreneur experts.

This week’s webinar, What’s New in the M3 Race, will show participants how to navigate through their personal business resource tools, as well as help them discover new resources and discounts from Count Me In’s partners that are exclusive to M3 Racers. Count Me In’s Program Department will also be on hand to answer questions about how to tailor and personalize M3 RACE tools for specific businesses.  And that’s not all! On Monday, July 13th, M3 members are invited to hear Nell Merlino speak at a special Meet-Up event, the Girls Inc panel discussion: “Corporate Camp for Entrepreneurs” in New York City.

In her blog a few months ago, Nell Merlino wrote about bringing back the buddy system, reminding us that while self-sufficiency is important, the power of companionship and collaboration cannot be forgotten, especially when working toward a goal. Nearly everyone can identify with the experience of forming a supportive network of friends that help encourage one another to succeed, and that’s what the M3 community is all about. Count Me In brings together a national team of experts and allies, introduces them to one another, and connects them to thousands of potential clients and customers.  Amid a lagging economy, it’s vital that women business owners can come together, share their ideas and talk about how they are steering their way through these challenging times. The Make Mine a Million $ Business Race gives women the chance to move forward and accomplish their goals even faster. We encourage you to join the race by July 31st! Visit www.makemineamilion.org/race.

I am in San Francisco for the national conference of WBENC, the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, giving the keynote address at lunch today.  As I prepare to speak I am overwhelmed with the importance of women getting together, reaching out and venturing out to talk with other business owners about how they are handling the dramatic changes in the marketplace, the economy and their family lives.

We can learn so much if we get out of our offices and homes, put down our cell phones, Blackberry’s and iPhones and talk with other entrepreneurs, as well as representatives from big corporations and government, about how the game has changed, what the new rules are this week, where the possible business leads are and strategies for survival and future growth. You’ll get very little insight sitting in you office trying to figure out why you are losing customers, clients and contracts all by yourself. The shame, doubt and blaming will set in if the only conversation you are having is with you. So set aside money if you can, and attend a few business conferences or meetings.  And when you can’t get away, keep stay connected by attending a few of our webinars.

By traveling to San Francisco this week I have had the opportunity to meet Kat Taylor, the founding Director of OneCalifornia Bank, the bank that made the SBA-insured loan that Linda Russell has been blogging about.  (Kat has an incredibly beautiful fish tank on her front steps that feeds an edible garden. I’ve never seen anything like it.) Thanks to Linda’s introduction we are now discussing how to introduce more women in the Bay Area to financing opportunities through OneCalifornia Bank.

I also have had the opportunity to talk with Lorene Arey – Count Me In board member who embraces change and always challenges me to face the future joyfully. I took that picture of the Golden Gate Bridge from her living room. Last night I had dinner with Kath Delaney of the Madera Group who is helping Count Me In optimize our web site and tonight I will be attending a gathering of M3 Racers at Molly Fuller’s business Hands on Gourmet.  I know I will come away smarter, calmer and clearer about what lies ahead and how we will all move forward together.

Practice staying connected. Being in a community in person and online is the best way to survive and thrive now.

Believe in you,
Nell

Change.org has launched 

a new career service and online marketplace for social change jobs called Jobs for Change.  They’ve created the site in partnership with more than a dozen nonprofits, including Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, AmeriCorps Alums, Echoing Green, Network for Good, and Encore Careers.  Among other things they’ve hired a team of career advisors to help people find and advance a career in social change — whether that’s in the nonprofit, government, or social enterprise sectors — and are hoping this can be a gateway for people looking to enter the sector. Their website also offers a vision statement that people can sign in support of the importance of mission-driven careers.

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.

At the risk of oversimplifying, Lakoff argues that metaphors structure human thought, both conscious and unconscious. For him, talking about the Brower Center kicks off an inquiry into language, motivation, and human needs. Peter is a humble and practical man, just looking for a way, he said, to provide people with a “decent facility.”

A superb meeting of the minds, it turns out. The tagline for the building—which is home as of this month to a dozen social ventures, a restaurant, a 180-seat theater, meeting spaces and a gallery—is “What Inspires You.” This little gem of verbal alchemy gets to everything this building is about. First, the space—open, dignified, and light-filled. Then, the building itself—an engineering marvel that is best practice in environmentally sensitive design and construction. And finally, the metaphor itself—a place of inspiration and purpose, and connection for the community that built it and is now making it home.

The Madera Group, for all the reasons cited here, and more, is both delighted and humbled to be part of this dream.

There’s been a lot of excitement in the last year about social networking in general, and about Facebook in particular. And a lot of talk about the value of social networking for nonprofits. But is there really a return on investment for nonprofit participation on these sites? Here’s a success story. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a 501(c)3 organization that works in the U.S. and over 30 other countries to protect ecologically important lands and waters. Using tools readily available on Facebook, the organization has raised almost $48,000 in the first six months of their social networking effort. They did this by creating a Cause and a Fan Page for the organization, and by forming a relationship with an ecology oriented game on Facebook, (lil) Green Patch. Six months later the (lil) Green Patch application is one of the most popular on Facebook, with over 6 million users!

1. Optimize operations and resource allocation: Kiva President Premal Shah is focusing on “mind blowing efficiency” in his organization. Meanwhile, William Meehan, a senior director at McKinsey & Company, pointed out that nonprofits spend 20-30% of funds to raise money, while in the commercial markets, this figure is less than 1%.

While for-profit and nonprofit organizations have differing operating goals and milestones and measure success by differing values, social profit organizations can continually refine and optimize resources for impact. The most innovative social impact organizations hold this tightly in their operating philosophy.

2. Measure social impact, not moral value: Most panelists throughout the day emphasized producing measurable results, including program officers, social investors and executive directors. Interestingly, William Meehan suggested leaving the philosophical questions for another time and focusing on inputs and outputs for measurement. Ironically, most of us who give to charitable organizations do not ask for these figures or measurements.

3. Develop the appropriate strategy for your own organizational culture:
While highly innovative, the market for online giving marketplace is still in its infancy—well under $500 million in annual giving (from a survey of the largest online giving marketplaces including Network for Good, MissionFish, Kiva, and DonorsChoose). As a comparison figure, all foundation giving in 2007 was approximately $43 billion (Foundation Center).

4. Create picture and profile functionality: When building a giving marketplace, user profiles from a donor and beneficiary standpoint are very helpful and can cause significant bumps in online donor activity—as simple as the ability to upload photos and have donors write a few lines about their participation. People clearly respond to pictures, connectivity and interactivity. The success of profile functionality in donor response is another example of the narrative storytelling approach Madera Group emphasizes in our online communications and fundraising work with our clients.

5. Focus on trust and build transparency in the process:
Similar to more traditional fundraising, in online giving marketplaces building trust and creating transparency in the process is fundamental. Echoed by multiple panelists, one cannot emphasize the importance of supporting donor relationships with radical transparency about how their donations are put to use in supporting an organization’s mission and growth.

Neelu Jain
is an Organizational Strategist with Madera Group. She brings expertise in social capital design, operations, and investment strategies for nonprofit and for-profit clients. She received her MBA from UCLA Anderson School.

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.

The goal of the project is to produce a series of short video portraits of Sarah Palin and her hometown that could be a valuable addition to the national debate and the mainstream media news coverage, and to produce videos that can speak to issues that touch undecided voters on “Main Street.”

The team determined before arriving in Alaska that they were going to interview both Republicans and Democrats—what mattered most was getting to people who knew her and had knowledge about her policies and beliefs first hand. The team has just completed its first video that focuses on victims of sexual assault who have to pay for the gathering of forensic evidence for their own cases. The team interviewed people involved in the issue to make their interviews available online.

View the Wasilla Project videos on YouTube.

— Feliciano dos Santos

Here in San Francisco we are fortunate to have the inspiring annual Goldman Environmental Awards. The financial prize increased this year to $150,000, which is a significant cash resource for the local activists from around the world. Many of the award recipients work tirelessly for relatively little compensation. The 2008 winners are from Mexico, Mozambique, Russia, Ecuador, Belgium, and Puerto Rico.

I was particularly moved by Feliciano dos Santos from Mozambique,
working on sustainable development issues through music-based outreach
about sanitation.

When Feliciano came on stage at the Opera House, he gave a moving speech about his work to educate local villagers about personal hygiene and sanitation, as Mozambique is prone to water borne illnesses. Feliciano was struck with polio as a child, so he knows the critical importance of public education. Feliciano sang for us his now famous song, “Wash your Hands.” As a result of incorporating hygiene messages in his music, people throughout Mozambique have begun to focus more on the country’s rural sanitation problems. You can watch a video profile about him here.

I hope you and your family will take sometime on Earth Day to make a commitment to action and environmental education.  To learn more about the other Goldman Prize award winners click here.

It is hard to believe that this week is already the 38th anniversary of Earth Day. Once a marginalized holiday for those of us working within the environmental movement, it has now become a global emergency call to address climate change and numerous other environmental threats.

… Athena Williams-Atwood (in photo at left) thinks so. She knows about the importance of working with enjoyment and relaxation— 16 years ago, at a time when she was working 60 to 80 hours a week, Athena had to radically change the way she managed her stress and tremendous workload. Eventually Athena founded Work With Ease, based in the US and Australia, to work with individuals and organizations to achieve better results, with peace of mind and health intact.

Some of her advice includes:

For managing a project with ease, Athena recommends:

• Create a project plan (even for short projects) with goals, actions and timeline.
• Identify what you are doing and also understand what you are not doing.
• Capture the intention and “essence” of the project (necessary when managing conflicting priorities).
• Determine areas that are negotiable and non-negotiable (e.g. outcomes, time, budget, resources).
• Resolve any conflicting priorities daily.

For me, key learnings from Athena’s teaching are about completing tasks (“closing the lid on jars”) and staying current on a daily basis to prioritize what needs to get done.