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Social Change and the Connected Age

Connectedness does not come from technology but is facilitated and strengthened by it. The greatest challenge for nonprofit organizations and their leaders in the connected age is recognizing that using social-media tools is easy compared with adopting a new mindset for social change. Today, nonprofit groups are part of a larger network or ecosystem of people, organizations, resources, and information. Relying on old-fashioned, top-down management approaches for setting activist agendas and designing fund-raising and volunteering efforts will lead inevitably to disappointing results. Power is shifting from institutions to individuals throughout society. We have seen what happens when people can barter and sell goods without a middleperson on eBay, and when we can watch what we want, when we want, through YouTube. The same sorts of shifts are happening quietly in the nonprofit world. Anyone can create and post a video of what they think their Congressional representatives do all day as part of the "Congress in :30 Secs" campaign organized by the Sunlight Foundation. Volunteers can document the connections between campaign contributions and legislation as part of the Genocide Intervention Network. Donors can pick a school and a specific project to support as part of the DonorsChoose Web site. Successful connected-age organizations are those that facilitate broadly representative networks of social activists — not necessarily organizations with the biggest membership lists or the most money in their coffers. These days, young people, in particular, are not likely to join behemoth membership organizations. Instead, they go online to express their views and instantly connect with individuals and communities interested in their issues and concerns. They also self-organize for social action as so many did in joining the immigration marches last spring.

$1,000 grants have proven they can change the lives of low-income individuals of potential in the Twin Cities. With 60 million living below the poverty line in the United States, and 400,000 low-income in the Twin Cities alone, the MicroLoan/Grant concept can help individuals and families of potential move out of poverty to a middle and upper-middle class standard. A significant percent of those 400,000 low-income in the Twin Cities are energetic people of potential. With a boost up of $1,000 or more with some mentoring from our volunteers, they would be able to change their lives dramatically.

The winning project -- Noon Meal Improves Girls' Learning in Burkina Faso -- is a shining example of a project that marketed its work successfully to the GlobalGiving community. In December, the project attracted many donations from returned Peace Corps Volunteers. To date, the Noon Meals has generated $31,982 from 342 donors. With the eBay Bounty Prize, the project will receive an additional $5,000, putting the project less than $5,000 away from its goal.