Posted: August 31st, 2008 | Author: Adrienne | Filed under: Lists | Tags: non-profit | No Comments »
As promised, I am now going to add Non-Profits to my Top 5 lists. This list will include mostly earned income NGOs, but it is certainly not limited to that model. I’m skipping some obvious ones, like Kickstart and One Laptop per Child, as they’ve already been mentioned and are kind of old (but good) news.
Top 5 Favorite Non Profits
| Organization |
Description |
Innovation |
Where Did I Hear About Them |
| Acumen Fund |
Makes diverse investments to a wide array of enterprises in four categories: water, health, housing, and energy. |
The investments made are tailored to the specific endeavor, with everything from grants to debt to equity. The approach of Acumen Fund is also very strategic; they are not just funding programs that distribute anti-malarial bednets, they are investing in a factory in Tanzania that employs several thousand to produce these nets. |
Jacqueline Novogratz: TED |
| VisionSpring formerly Scojo Foundation |
Sells inexpensive eyeglasses (manufactured in China) in rural and remote areas using local entrepreneurs |
Using what some refer to as micro-franchising or micro-consignment, VisionSpring equips each “vision entrepreneur” with training and a “business in a bag”, a portable sales kit including eyeglasses, eyecharts, forms, and marketing materials. They are even using salesforce.com to create sales plans and track market saturation. |
Probably Acumen Fund blog, but they are fast becoming social enterprise darlings. |
| Teach for America |
Trains recent college graduates to be teachers and places them in challenged schools for 2 years |
What’s fascinating about TFA is that it has managed to place itself alongside the McKinseys and Goldman Sachs of the world as an elite new grad employer. According to an article in Fortune, 10% of seniors from both Yale and Dartmouth applied in 2006. In fact, top companies, from Accenture to Wachovia, have created partnerships with TFA to gain access to their coveted alumni. |
Fast Company 2007 Social Capitalist Awards |
| Eureka Recycling |
One of the nation’s largest non-profit recyclers |
Apparently I like to give props to Minnesota in each list- Eureka is based in St. Paul. With a holistic resource management approach that includes community educational programs, Eureka has been serving St. Paul for over 15 years. Accomplishments include event recycling where over 96% of waste is recycled or composted, curbside recycling where over 98% of materials picked up being used in new products, and a fleet of trucks that run on soybean-based bio-diesel. |
Heartland Circle’s Thought Leader Gathering |
| Heifer International |
Funds placement of heifers and other productive livestock with needy families in the developing world through charitable donations |
Donating a “trio of rabbits” is way better than donating $60. Putting an adorable face and a tangible asset to these donations increases the donors connection to the project. Or maybe I’m just partial because I grew up on a cattle farm. DonorsChoose uses a similar model to fund classroom projects in struggling US schools. |
Probably the Fast Company Social Capitalist Awards again. Seriously worth the whole year subscription. |
Posted: August 25th, 2008 | Author: Adrienne | Filed under: India | Tags: Kerala | No Comments »
I’ve spent the last two weeks in souhern India, which is a lush, tropical area. Lucky for me, it is also very temperate right after the monsoons and we enjoyed some wonderful weather there. We visited Cochin, Kumarakom, Kovalam, Trivandrum, and the southern-most point of India, Kanniyakumari. I believe Kanniyakumari is also the furthest south I’ve ever personally been. It was very beautiful and rather cheap in the off season.
Me with a fisherman and his Chinese fishing net in Cochin
Vineet and I drinking from coconuts right from the tree. We’re in a boat on the backwaters near Kumarakom.
Posted: August 16th, 2008 | Author: Adrienne | Filed under: India | No Comments »
I’m having a wonderful time traveling around the south of India with some friends. This leisure will continue for another week or so, and then I’ll start setting up some serious volunteering projects in and around Mumbai. Hopefully at least one of them will involve microfinance. More later….
Posted: August 5th, 2008 | Author: Adrienne | Filed under: Travel | Tags: contact, moving | Comments Off
| Officially homeless now, I have stashed all of my stuff in a storage unit and ended my lease. I have surrendered my car to storage and am living off the kindness of friends. I made over $300 selling stuff on craigslist and managed to recycle and donate 3 car trips of stuff. I’m currently using my sister’s apartment as an office/ air-conditioned cable-viewing chamber. My phone will become useless by Friday and my earth mail is lost in forwarding somewhere.
However, I will make every effort to keep up with email once in India and I’ll also be keeping up this blog. I’ll be using skype for phone calls when possible. You can use the Contact Me page to email me through this blog as well. I’m all packed up and ready to go. All I need to do now is board a plane on Thursday and Saturday morning I’ll find myself in Bangalore. |
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Posted: August 1st, 2008 | Author: Adrienne | Filed under: Events | Tags: microfinance alliance, minneapolis, solutions twin cities | 1 Comment »
Last night I attended a Solutions Twin Cities event held at the Walker Art Center in conjunction with their Design for the Other 90% exhibit. Because of this connection, this particular volume of Solutions was focused on design. Presenters from the University of Minnesota College of Design, including the Dean Thomas Fisher, provided a framework and showcased student projects. Emily Pilloton from Project H in San Francisco gave us several examples of great design that considers social impact. Gabriel Cheifietz from 612
Authentic gave us a quick lesson on the different between telling a story, like we see on the news every night, and showing a story through short documentary (there are some great short films available on their website). Marc Swackhamer of HouMinn talked about the process of discovery and innovation involved in developing alternative building materials. Of course my favorite was Peter Rich, representing the Microfinance Alliance (full disclosure: I am the outgoing president), who gave a great overview of how financing fits into addressing the problems of the developing world. Hats off as usual to Colin and Troy over at Solutions Twin Cities.
