A young girl from Jacmel, Haiti.

‘What is the one thing we can take back from Haiti with us to tell people?”

That was the question I asked people while in Haiti over the weekend. For there is a lot going on. A lot of sadness. A lot of frustration. A lot of violence. Struggles to reconstruct, rebuild, take a country that was already the poorest in the Western Hemisphere and have it come back better than before.

“Tell the good. There is positive happening here. The (traditional) media only tells the stories of hardship but there are a lot of positive stories coming out of Haiti too.”

And indeed there is. Smiles and laughter. People helping each other. Community leaders stepping up. International aid organizations committed to helping in the reconstructions. Houses are being built. Schools are in session. A presidential election is right around the corner.

So that’s what I want to do. I want to honor the wishes of the people I met in Haiti during my trip last weekend. I want to tell stories that haven’t been told 100 times. It’s important for us – us in the privileged developed country – to remember that in the aftermath of a natural disaster most other countries don’t have the option to clean up like we do.

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A detail from the three-hour bootcamp taking place in Miami on April 4.

At Sustainatopia in Miami, take charge of new social technologies for your nonprofit, social enterprise or social cause

Today we’re announcing a new bootcamp for nonprofits and social entrepreneurs and other change-makers: Move the Needle! How to Mobilize Your Supporters to Take Action. We’re pretty excited about it — while I’ve put on a few social media bootcamps, and so has my Socialbrite colleague Sloane Berrent, this is our first combined effort.

Sloane and I hope you’ll pass along the word to your colleagues, especially those looking to use social media to activate their supporters. Here are the details:

What

Whether you want to grow your membership, raise funds or loans, recruit more followers, gather petition signatures, find volunteers for your cause or connect with your community, Move the Needle! How to Mobilize Your Supporters to Take Action will offer guidance that will help your organization create impact for years to come.

This special 3-hour workshop will dive deeply into strategy, tactics and tools available to social entrepreneurs and nonprofit change agents. Minutes later, Sustainatopia will rev up with the second annual Social Venture Capital/Social Enterprise Conference (SVC/SE – Miami).

Don’t be intimidated by social tools! Learn how to formulate a strategy, then put the right tools to use in this power-packed interactive workshop.

When & where

Monday, April 4, 9 am to noon
Miami Beach Convention Center

How much

$99 (email us for a 15% discount code for nonprofits)

Who should come

• Nonprofit managers and executives
• Representatives of foundations and NGOs
• Community managers
• Change agents and representatives of social cause organizations
• Social enterprise executives, managers & aspiring entrepreneurs
• VCs, investors and philanthropists
• Political reformers, journalists and educators
• Activists, advocates and those who want to make the world a better place

Speakers

J.D. Lasica is a social media strategist, consultant and author who is considered one of the world’s leading experts on the social Web. He is founder of Socialbrite.org, a learning hub & global consultancy that works with nonprofits and social enterprises, and Socialmedia.biz, which works with major brands. A blogger since 2001, J.D. co-founded Ourmedia.org, the first free video hosting site, a month before YouTube.

He has spoken at or given workshops at Harvard’s Berkman Center, Stanford, MIT, NYU, SXSW, the Cannes Film Festival and at events in Paris, Milan and Seoul. J.D. was named one of the Top 40 Silicon Valley Influencers and one of CNET’s Top 100 Media Bloggers. Follow him on Twitter at @jdlasica.

Sloane Berrent is a digital strategist focused on campaigns in social innovation and corporate social responsibility. She runs Answer With Action, a digital communications and marketing strategy consultancy that creates campaigns and events with immediate impact for businesses, and she is a partner in Socialbrite.

A former Kiva Fellow, she is the co-creator of Cause It’s My Birthday, a nationwide malaria prevention campaign. In January 2010 Sloane attended the World Economic Forum (Davos) as the citizen journalist for MySpace and The Wall Street Journal and in February 2011 she traveled to Haiti. She is a nationally recognized speaker on community building and “cause-filled living” and writes on her blog, The Causemopolitan. Follow her on Twitter at @sloane.

Agenda

This workshop will focus chiefly on practical, down-to-earth tactics and strategies that busy professionals can immediately take to engage supporters. The emphasis is on actionable takeaways. You’ll be introduced to several examples of social enterprises, nonprofits and organizations that are moving the needle — with real-world examples you can learn from.

We encourage interaction and questions during our sessions! If your social enterprise or nonprofits has “lessons learned” that you’d like to share, email us and we’ll call on you during the session.

Some of the questions we’ll cover:

• What strategies & tactics will motivate supporters and newcomers to take specific actions on behalf of my organization or cause?
• What are the essential elements of a successful advocacy campaign?
• How can I successfully use social tools to mobilize my organization’s members, spread awareness, enlist supporters, raise funds and drive action?
• How can storytelling and video advance the mission of my social enterprise?
• Which organizations are moving the needle, and what are they doing right?
• What are some of the cutting-edge tools and resources available for change agents looking to make a difference?
• What do you want to know? Email us in advance.

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Socialbrite helped enlist a network of socially conscious bloggers to spread the word about this worthy project. Here is CTK Foundation’s guest post about the Heart & Soul program.

Guest post by Juan A. Garcia Cid
Marketing and Media Manager, Community TechKnowledge

How often does your organization step back and remember your mission? Sure, you know what your mission is, but how often do you refine the sense of mission that exists in the hearts of your staff, board members and supporters?

This year’s Heart & Soul grant program, put on by the CTK Foundation Fund, is designed to do just that.

To win, you have to channel your creativity to write an original four- to eight-line poem or stanza that reflects the work or mission of your nonprofit. No poets on staff? Ask your supporters to write a poem for you.

The first place winner will receive $10,000 and will have their submission turned into a song to be used in public education or awareness. The song will be written and recorded by songwriter Bill Dillon — who was recently exonerated after 27 years in prison thanks to Innocence Project of Florida — and produced by Jim Tullio of Butcher Boy Studios. The contest is open to all nonprofits in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The winning nonprofits will receive one of the following awards:

• 1st place award is the song, plus a cash grant of $10,000

• 2nd place award is a cash grant of $5,000
• The 2011 Bloggers Choice Award, where a randomly selected blogger participating in spreading the word among nonprofits about the H&S Grant Award Program will choose a nonprofit applicant to receive a $1,000 cash grant
• 2 steel-stringed guitars, signed by all members of Los Lonely Boys (which you can auction for fund-raising)
• Up to 20 technology grants, valued at $10,000, to nonprofits that indicate an interest

There is a quick turnaround on these grants. You must submit an application by midnight on March 28, and you’ll be notified if you’ve won on April 10. Nonprofits can visit communitytech.net/foundation to apply.

Follow the effort on Twitter at #ctkgrant.

South by Southwest begins March 11 (photo of crowdsourcing panel at SXSW 2010 by JD Lasica)

Events guide for nonprofits & social change organizations

Here’s a roundup of conferences and events scheduled in the nonprofit and social change sectors for the coming month. It’s a busy month: my colleagues Sloane and John will be attending South by Southwest, and I’ll be attending the Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washinton, D.C., March 17-19.

For the full year, see our Calendar of 2011 social change conferences. If you’re interested in social media, tech and marketing conferences, see the calendar on our sister site, Socialmedia.biz.

If you know of other events, please share by adding the info in the comments below.

Conference	Date	Place
March
TED	Feb 28-Mar 4	Long Beach, Calif.
TED2011 will assemble a cast of characters capable of stirring the imagination. Explorers, storytellers, photographers, scientific pioneers, visionaries and provocateurs from all parts of the globe will participate in this seminal event.
Social Enterprise Conference	March 5-6	Boston
The 2011 Social Enterprise Conference will provide a platform for you to explore how others are living change and for you to be inspired to live change through your own life in your own way.
ReVisioning Value	March 7-8	Portland, Ore.
ReVV 2011 will be a must-attend event for innovators from nonprofits, for-profits, finance institutions, investors, educational institutions and people interested in making their money matter. The event will provide a deeper engagement for attendees ready and willing to integrate new best practices into their business.		Continue reading »