social entrepreneurship – Christa Avampato

This year’s Social Good Summit was full of examples of people fusing their passion for a cause with their expertise in technology. Thankfully all of the sessions are available online if you need a healthy dose energy and motivation. Here are my favorite highlights from yesterday’s events:

Making It Real
Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and co-author with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, of the book Half the Sky, delivered one of the most-anticipated and talked-about conversations about their partnership with Games for Change. Kristof and WuDunn have dedicated their lives and careers to covering social cause issues in the most ravaged parts of the world. To raise societal consciousness, they have co-developed a set of Facebook games to help others understand the impossible choices and desperate circumstances of marginalized populations. Their book has also been expanded into a mini-series that will air on October 1st and 2nd on PBS. Details here: http://www.halftheskymovement.org/

Empowerment Through Low-Tech Solutions
Anthony Lake and Clay Shirky made the case for low-tech two-way communication over high-tech one-way communication. They highlighted u-report, an initiative in Uganda, that is empowering local communities to take responsibility for their health by disseminating information and results of programs through mobile SMS service. To date, u-report has 147,000+ users that are spreading information and local data about health topics such as vaccinations, sex education, and breast-feeding. This program fits the principle that, “Ideas must be aggregated for impact,” said Shirky. “Go where the people are. Tech in the field needs to be low-tech to be widely accessible.” Follow the conversation on this topic on Twitter, hashtag #Promise4Children, and come together for child survival by visiting APromiseRenewed.org.

It Took a Village to Get the Lady to the Harbor
The crowdfunding discussions rehashed a lot of the facts and figures on their impressive impact that have been surfaced over the last few years. There’s no doubt that tech has vastly improved the efficiency and speed of crowdfunding. In all of our tech crazed eyes, we forget that crowdfunding is an ancient concept. For centuries, people have been banding together to do good work in their communities. My favorite example comes from New York Harbor. When France gave the Statue of Liberty to America, they forgot to create a pedestal. The people of New York, rallied together by Pulitzer, the publisher who ran a small print publication that would become the New York Times, pooled their funding to construct the pedestal. Over 100,000 people gave an average of $0.89 each to make it happen. Thanks to Danae Ringelmann, Co-Founder, Indiegogo, for reminding us of this historic act of generosity that demonstrates the power of community.

Of Food and Music
Angelique Kidjo is a world-renowned singer and songwriter. Originally from Benin, she is a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, and never one to back down in the face of adversity, she spends a lot of her time advocating for women and girls around the globe. Anthony Lake shared the stage with her and explained that simple basic nutrition information is a tool that is incredibly effective and drastically underutilized in development work. He went on to detail the condition of Stunting that affects 160 million children worldwide. If children do not receive proper nutrition (not quantity but quality and variety of food) by age 2, they will suffer from permanent cognitive impairments. Getting help to these children in the earliest days of their lives is critical to building a peaceful, productive world.

In honor of the work of UNICEF, Angelique sang a gorgeous impromptu spiritual for all of us. I have no idea what she was saying, but I felt her emotion in every syllable and she brought tears to my eyes. For the first time in 3 days, the auditorium went completely silent except for her voice.

Everyone’s an Idea Person
So, you’re an idea person who wants to stretch the boundaries of human impact? The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has thrown down the gauntlet. Get your idea down, send it in, and they’ll evaluate it for funding – $100K for a pilot with the potential of $1M to gain leverage and grow it. Visit grandchallenges.org for more information.

Audacious Ideas Get Support
The Global Fund and Wikipedia called on all of us to get creative with our mission statements. If Wikipedia had called people together to write a series of articles on any given topic, the reaction would have been mild at best. Instead, Founder Jimmy Wales put together a far grander vision – “to create a free encyclopedia for every person in every language.” It’s an enormous, unfathomable goal, and impossibility excites people to get involved. Who doesn’t love to be the underdog and triumph?

Transfer this kind of thinking to the issue of HIV / AIDS and you understand why The Global Fund has the audacity to dream of a world free of HIV in our lifetime. As they pointed out, we have eradicated diseases before. Small Pox is an excellent example. So why couldn’t we do the same thing with HIV / AIDS?

Reuniting Families Torn Apart
The Danish NGO Refugees United has partnered with Ericsson to reunite refugees separated by war. They have developed an online and mobile platform that creates profiles of refugees and then runs these profiles through a series of algorithms to match people to family members. They’ve engaged with 200,000 people to-date, mostly in Sub-saharan Africa. In 3 years, they want to grow the platform to 1 million people. Find out how to be a part of the solution at RefugeesUnited.org.

Now What?
Conferences like the Social Good Summit fire people up in the moment, but what happens when they get back to their everyday lives. How do we keep this goodness going? Here’s my advice: go through the agenda from this year’s Social Good Summit, identify the cause you care about, and then connect with the people from the Summit who are involved with that cause.

Email them, follow their blogs and social media channels, send a card, or heck, send a carrier pigeon. Do what you can to reach out and build a bridge to someone who cares about the issues you care about. Build something together for the good of the world. In the words of Timothy Leary, “Find the others.”

creativity, design, social change, social entrepreneurship, technology

Leap: Day 2 of the Social Good Summit and Day 1 of Clinton Global Initiative

September 23, 2012 Christa Avampato

If you’re looking for a bit (or a tidal wave) of inspiration, head on over to the livestreams of the Social Good Summit and the Clinton Global Initiative. You can watch the sessions and participate in the conversations through Twitter with the hashtags #SGSGlobal and #CGI2012.

Here are my favorite highlights of the day:

Government is Worthy of Our Innovative Spirit
UN Ambassador Susan Rice spoke eloquently and passionately about public education, technology, government, and the need to serve. Every sentence had a nugget of wisdom in it, and the one that impressed me the most was her argument that we cannot give up on government as inefficient and hopeless because there are things that government can do that no other entity can do. She used herself as an example – as an African-American woman, she has the right to vote in this country because of government. She reminded all of us that government can and should provide opportunity for everyone within its reach.

A Lack of Secrets is a Blessing
Sol Adler, Executive Director of 92Y, gave a concise and powerful contemplation with these two questions: What would the world have been like in 1939 if we had Twitter? How many more relatives would I have been able to know if we actually knew what was happening in Europe? (Most of Mr. Adler’s family perished in the holocaust.)

He introduced Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Former Prime Minister of Poland, who explained that our world now is suffering from atrocities that are as grim as the holocaust and that technology has the ability to end that. If we can raise awareness and encourage action to support peace and understanding, then we will be able to truly be able to create a better world.

Unemployment Is a Flaw of the System, Not the People
I’ve heard Muhammad Yunus speak a number of times before and he never fails to impress and inspire. His life mission is to alleviate poverty through opportunity, and this is within our grasp if we can harness the collective creative power of people through technology. His message is clear, “Concentrate on building businesses to solve social problems. Human creativity is limitless.”

Designing for Impact
The Clinton Initiative took the definition of design and expanded it exponentially to serve as its theme for this year’s event. President Clinton kicked off the event with this poignant sentiment – “We live to prove the cooperation works better than conflict. We act with far great impact when we rely on one another’s strength.” And in that spirit the conversation turned to the subject of design.

Tim Brown of IDEO elegantly explained that all designers, no matter what they are designing, no matter if they have formal training or not, begin with the same question: “How can I be helpful in this situation?” And they find that answer in the field. They roll up their sleeves and work. “Design is learning by doing, not just thinking.”

The conversations continue today and tomorrow for both events. Check out their websites for more details. Talk soon.

blogging, change, community, entrepreneurship, social change, social entrepreneurship, social media, writing

Leap: I Will Be Live Blogging the Social Good Summit at 92Y

September 14, 2012September 13, 2012 Christa Avampato

I am very excited to share the news that I will be live blogging the Social Good Summit at 92Y in New York City from September 22nd – September 24th. Huge thanks to the networking groups Ladies DC and Ladies NYC, and especially to Anastasia Dellaccio of the United Nations Foundation, for inviting me.

The Social Good Summit is a three-day conference where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions. Held during UN Week, the Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges. The most innovative technologists, influential minds and passionate activists will come together with one shared goal: to unlock the potential of new media and technology to make the world a better place, and then to translate that potential into action.

This year’s Social Good Summit will be more engaging than ever. People from around the world, in both the developed and the developing world, will unite in person and online to participate in The Global Conversation – the world’s largest conversation on how technology can grow communities and improve life for all of us as we move toward being a networked society.

On September 24, 2012 the Social Good Summit is coming to China and Kenya. Key leaders and citizens of Beijing and Nairobi will unite and explore the same themes that inspired the birth of the Social Good Summit. You’ll hear directly from these countries via Livestream, and can witness the live intersection of New York, Nairobi and Beijing on Monday morning from the stage of the 92Y in New York City.

The 2012 Social Good Summit is brought to you by Mashable, 92nd Street Y, the United Nations Foundation, Ericsson, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

There are plenty of ways to follow and participate in the conversation, no matter where in the world you live:

Follow this blog for updates and to leave comments on my posts http://christainnewyork.com
Follow my Twitter stream at http://twitter.com/christanyc and use the hashtag #SGSGlobal
Watch the Livestream of the event
Attend or organize a Social Good Summit meetup in your city
Buy a ticket and attend in person
Follow the Social Good Summit website for updates

I look forward to all of the conversations!

social change, social entrepreneurship, women

Beginning: How to Affect Large Scale Social Change

April 8, 2011April 6, 2011 Christa Avampato

Last week The Skoll Centre conducted their annual event, Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, to bring together thought leaders in the social innovation space. I followed the action on Twitter through #skollwf and read a post regarding 3 vital reminders that woman should be especially mindful of when seeking to affect large-scale social change. Though the talk was geared toward women, these reminders are useful for anyone looking to create social change regardless of their gender.

In full disclosure, I am particularly drawn to this post because it recaps a session co-led by Dr. Judith Rodin, who was the President of UPenn while I was an undergraduate there. She has since moved on from Penn and I’m proud that her intelligence, grace, and experience continues to impact broad social change initiatives. As Penn’s President she built the foundation that has transformed West Philadelphia from a very dangerous inner city to a thriving, diverse urban destination.

How to affect large-scale change: three vital reminders for women

A session of inspiring stories and conversations of large-scale change affected by women, facilitated by Pat Mitchell with contribution from Judith Rodin, gave rise to identification of three vital reminders:

1. Systems Thinking: Wide understanding of the cultural context and general ecosystem is necessary: draw a systems map that identifies all stakeholders and variables.

2. Collaboration: Networks are vital. Carefully consider how to leverage your partners and connections, especially “non obvious partners”. Create and sustain supportive communities.

3. Innovation: Technology is transformational when it gets into the hands of women. Identify the innovation, more likely to be on the ground than in halls of headquarters.

business, education, entrepreneurship, social change, social entrepreneurship

Step 144: Sparkseed Supports Social Innovators at American Universities

May 24, 2010May 24, 2010 Christa Avampato

A few months ago, I featured Jerri Chou from All Day Buffet and Teju Ravilochan from the Unreasonable Institute. Jerri and Teju’s optimism in action inspired me to continue seeking out social entrepreneurs who believe that the greatest positive impact on society can be made when we create opportunities for people to use their personal passions to do well and do good at the same time.

I virtually met Mike Del Ponte as a result of my interviews with Jerri and Teju. He emailed me to educate me about his initiative, Sparkseed, which invests in American college students who aspire to be tomorrow’s social entrepreneurs. They have ideas to change the world, and Sparkseed helps them get there by providing a unique blend of services including pro-bono consulting, mentoring, and seed money.

I meet a lot of social entrepreneurs with inspiring stories. Mike’s ability to combine his business savvy with his passion for and personal experience with social entrepreneurship is a rare gift. “When I was at Yale I launched a social venture and soon found that I had to teach myself everything: how to form the corporation, how to recruit and manage a team, how to pitch to investors, etc…I had to reinvent the wheel and wasted a lot of time…I noticed that almost all student innovators run into the same problem…Sparkseed was established to give young social entrepreneurs everything they need to fulfill their potential as change agents.”

The Financial Times recently awarded Sparkseed with its prestigious Best Social Investment Strategy award. To date, Sparkseed has funded over 50 social enterprise projects from a wide variety of fields:

Elecar Inc.: Founded by Brown University student Andrew Antar, Elecar is working to provide the missing piece to the electric car puzzle. By developing residential charging station and an online payment system, Elecar is laying a cost-effective framework to facilitate the mass adoption of electric cars.

MaloTraders: Founded by Temple University student Mohamed Ali Niang, MaloTraders specializing in the processing, storing, and marketing of rice for small-scale farmers in Mali. By making local production more competitive on the international market, MaloTrade is working to alleviate poverty.

Paper Feet: Founded by University of Michigan student Jimmy Tomczak, Paper Feet makes the world’s thinnest and most flexible flip-flop out of recycled billboard vinyl. Every year, 10,000 tons of billboard vinyl ends up in landfills. Paper Feet is addressing this problem by rolling out a line of hip products all made from up-cycled waste.

Get involved and be inspired! Learn more about Sparkseed and its incredible stable of social entrepreneurs by visiting the organization’s website, joining the Facebook page, and following on Twitter.

poverty, social entrepreneurship, technology

Step 58: Kopernik – Connect Breakthrough Technologies to the People Who Need Them Most

February 27, 2010February 28, 2010 Christa Avampato

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been reading the book Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. It traces the travels, travails, and triumphs of Dr. Paul Farmer, the founder of Partners in Health (PIH). PIH has been at the forefront of the Haitian earthquake coverage. For decades, Farmer has been plugging away in Haiti, Peru, Roxbury, MA, and Moscow, advocating for the use of innovative methods and technologies to fight infectious disease. His tireless work is awe-inspiring. The man never quits.

I’ve still got another 100 pages to go so I’ll hold off on the book review. Reading it every morning and every evening on my commute, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to put technology in the hands of people around the world who are living in poverty. Technology transforms communities; we’ve seen examples of this phenomenon all over the world. The trouble is that they’re priced out of the market. It’s been bothering me because this conundrum represents a real injustice in the world. People should be able to get what they need to survive and thrive, and too often our world just doesn’t work that way.

And then I found a little bright spot a few days ago through Kopernik. In 4 steps, we can contribute toward the goal of putting technologies into the hands of the people who need them most around the globe. From solar-powered hearing aids to rollable water containers to self-adjustable lenses, the innovative products featured on Kopernik are providing help and hope that’s been a long time coming.

Here’s how it works:
Step 1: You browse the proposals submitted by technology seekers and choose one to donate towards.

Step 2: Once sufficient funds have been raised, Kopernik transfers the cost of product and shipping to the technology provider.

Step 3: The technology provider ships the products to the technology seekers.

Step 4: The technology seeker reports on how the technology is being used. Reports and updates are posted on Kopernik.

No money to contribute? You can still play a part by volunteering. Interested in exploring a career social tech? Kopernik is currently looking for interns. Want to read about their success in beta? Click here and get inspired. Together, we can transform communities around the world thanks to Kopernik.

philanthropy, poverty, social change, social entrepreneurship

Step 32: The Worth of Abundance

February 1, 2010January 31, 2010 Christa Avampato

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.” ~ Thomas Fuller

A few nights ago I met with members of the organization Healing Haiti. The organization is new, less than a year old, and prior to the earthquake they developed a business called Print for Change that donates 50% of its profit to help Haiti. The earthquake has now considerably upped the ante of their work. The need is greater than ever, the situation even more dire than when the organization first formed.

We discussed the immediate needs of the organization and the people of Haiti. In a crisis, it’s the basics that are most sought after. Prior to the earthquake, Haitians would stand in line for hours to get access to a bit of water. Now, those lines are hard to even find. I tried to put myself in that situation. In my warm apartment with all the food and water I could ever want, my family and friends happy and healthy, a job, and the creature comforts afforded to a lifestyle of few wants, I couldn’t even imagine the despair brought on by living in rubble, no food, no water, having lost my family and my friends, and seeing no hope in sight. I understand the need to dig down deep, and to have faith in our darkest hour. But what if we can’t even see an end to the darkness? What do we do then?

I can usually reason my way out of just about anything. This conundrum stumps me. I’ve had many hard times in my life, and despite any kind of hardship, I always had hope. There seemed to always be some help available somewhere. Despite my search for hope everyday, I still don’t fully comprehend its worth, perhaps because I’ve never truly been without access to it. How can we fully appreciate something’s worth until it’s gone?

I’d love to believe that we don’t need a burning platform to fully grasp the meaning of gratitude. I’m just not sure we’re wired for that without examples like Haiti. It’s important for Haiti, and for our own personal growth, too, that we not turn our eyes and heart from their need now. We need the lessons of their struggle as much as they need our help.

You can follow the work of Healing Haiti at their blog: http://healing-haiti.blogspot.com/

social change, social entrepreneurship

Step 29: Activism

January 29, 2010January 30, 2010 Christa Avampato

“Activism is my rent for living on this planet.” ~ Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

Today I spoke with HopeLab, an organization I’ve been getting to know over the last year. Founded by Pam Omidyar, HopeLab uses technology such as video games to improve the health of children. We have been talking about our mutual interest in using social media to engage children and their parents in living healthier lives. This lead us to talk about our public education system and its role in improving child health.

As our conversation unfolded, I could feel my spirits rising. I could feel the emotion welling up in my voice, not causing it to crack, but causing it to strengthen its conviction. Talking about education puts me into a zone where I am my most articulate. On this subject, my thoughts weave together to synthesize powerful, passionate sentiments. And I don’t need prepare anything to talk about education. I just allow myself to show up and be; this is the height of authenticity.

While watching the news, I saw that President Obama showed up at the Republican meeting, allowing the party to fire questions at him. His spontaneous responses were taped live. He took no notes or prepared remarks with him; he showed up with only the information in his mind and his intense focus. Despite the difficult few weeks that preceded the talk, he was determined to hold his own. Another example of the power of authenticity.

Activism, at its best, is giving our authentic passion about social issues the center stage. So many social issues need our attention now: education, healthcare, clean energy, the environment. And the list goes on. Our world is getting to a point where we cannot afford to wake up, go to work, go home, and sit on the couch, hoping for a better tomorrow. As Alice Walker has so eloquently stated in years past, “we are the ones we have been waiting for.” The only thing that is going to create a better tomorrow is our ability to act.

philanthropy, social change, social entrepreneurship, volunteer

My Year of Hopefulness – Full-time Social Activist

December 28, 2009 Christa Avampato

Social activism has often been associated with people who work for nonprofits or for social enterprises, people who spend every waking moment on the front lines of generating social change. In actuality, social activism is everyone’s profession. With our every purchase, we make a statement about about how we wish to live in the world and the way we want our world to be. All of our choices reveal a piece of our character, reflect our values, and tell the world about our priorities. We don’t choose whether or not we are a social activist, we choose the social ideas that our mandatory activism represents.

On Christmas Day, I received one of my favorites gifts via email, and it clearly reflects my work as a social activist. A few months ago, I lent money through Kiva.org to a woman in Ghana who wanted to open a hair salon. On December 25th, Kiva.org notified me that the loan had been fully-repaid months ahead of schedule. I was shocked and thrilled by the news! Now I have the choice to withdraw the funds or lend them to another entrepreneur. Given my positive experience with Kiva, of course I will loan the funds again. I believe in the power of entrepreneurship to transform lives, and I want to support the desire for self-sufficiency among people around the world, a desire I share and deeply understand.

To further reflect these beliefs, I have also loaned money to Grameen America, a brand of Mohammad Yunus’s incredible organization. It cost me $10 and about 30 seconds of my time, and gave me the opportunity to make a difference in the life of another New Yorker. There are plenty of opportunities for social activism around the world, but we should not lose sight of the opportunities for social activism that lie just outside our own doors.

Philanthropy is not the only way to choose the how of our activism. We can give time, raise awareness about organization we admire, purchase goods and services from respectable companies, and use our own personal talents in direct ways. For the past two years, I have spent the bulk of my volunteer time on public education. I’ve taught high school and middle school students in Lower Manhattan and the South Bronx, and I am a book buddy to a local third grade student. On this blog and through my Examiner.com column, I have highlighted organizations whose work inspires me. I try to support local, organic farmers through my grocery shopping. The project I am most excited about in 2010 is my participation with Citizen Schools; I will pilot an after-school program in East Harlem to teach 6th graders about entrepreneurship, product development, and innovation. These accomplishments are not at all extraordinary; they’re just choices that reflect my core beliefs.

We have more influence over our world and on others than we realize. There are so many options that it can be difficult to know where to begin. We need only to pick a cause that lights a fire within us, get out there into the world, and let our voices be heard. Invariably, we will find other voices that echo our own.

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