TED takes place Feb. 27 to March 2 in Long Beach, Calif.

Planning for the month’s top conferences & events

Will I see you at some of these conferences this month? Lots on tap for February, including Wisdom 2.0, Blisscom, Media That Matters, TED and more.

For the full year, see our Calendar of 2012 nonprofit and social change conferences. If you’re interested in social media, tech and marketing conferences, see this month’s calendar on our sister site, Socialmedia.biz.

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

February
Media That Matters	Feb. 10-11	Washington, DC
This year’s theme, “Change for Good,” features conversations about how independent social change filmmakers can execute integrated campaigns that are strategic, action-oriented and have enduring impact.
ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work	Feb. 11-15	Seattle
CSCW presents research in the design and use of technologies that affect groups, organizations and communities. CSCW encompasses both the technical and social challenges encountered when supporting collaboration. The development and application of new technologies continues to enable new ways of working together and coordinating activities.
Rootscamp	Feb. 18-19	Washington, DC
This year marks the sixth anniversary of the Rootscamp unconference where organizers set the agenda, share lessons learned and drive the conversation about best practices in organizing. RootsCamp is an “open space” unconference driven by the people who attend to share, debrief and celebrate the tremendous work organizers have made.
Wisdom 2.0	Feb. 23-26	Redwood City, Calif.
Join the founders of Facebook, PayPal, Zynga, and other technology leaders along with wisdom teachers in this conference where they focus on exploring how one can live mindfully and wisely and engage the great technologies of this age in ways that benefit us, our society and our world.
BlissDom	Feb. 23-25	Nashville, Tenn.
This conference is for women who find and express their bliss by publishing online. Speakers and panels will feature the best blogging, public relations and social media pros who’ll be on hand to mentor new and old friends.
Social Enterprise Conference	Feb. 25-26	Boston
This year’s conference will feature two days of rich content at the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. The Saturday schedule is designed for a smaller and more practitioner-focused audience, while the Sunday schedule will feature about 100 speakers with a more general focus with a Pitch for Change Competition and Career Fair.
TED	Feb. 27-Mar 2	Long Beach, Calif.
From dazzling technology and leading-edge science to the richest veins of human creativity and interconnection, TED 2012 will display remarkable speakers, new uses of music, extravagant use of underused senses, intricate choreography between speaker and screen, new ways of involving the audience, breakthroughs in animation, intense, campfire-style storytelling and some “spectacular surprises.”
TEDActive	Feb. 27-Mar 2	Palm Springs, Calif.
TEDActive is an opportunity to let your mind travel the world of ideas while watching the live-hosted TED 2012 program on screen in a comfortable, customizable space. When the talks are over, your conversations with other passionate people begin — a chance to engage in inspiring discussions and projects.

Target audience: NGOs, nonprofits, foundations, social enterprises, cause and advocacy organizations, educators, general public.

We’re still winding down after a whirlwind day Friday at the United Nations. At the invitation of Amine Lamrabat, Socialbrite sent Shonali Burke and myself to give a presentation on how NGOs (international nonprofits, chiefly) working with the UN can use social media to create impact and advance their causes.

Our presentation to United Nations NGOs.

Here’s a Flickr set of 32 photos I snapped. Some of the topics that came up during our talk included:

• How do we scale a campaign to 1 million signatures? Our answer: Set realistic goals. Approach the campaign in phases. Build up a community of support and deputize supporters to participate on your behalf. Learn from past mistakes. Depending on your budget, consider using a large advocacy platform like Care2.

• How should we deal with an autocratic regime? From China to Myanmar to Iran, we’ve seen examples of governments that won’t hesitate to crack down on pro-democracy dissidents. Advocacy groups like Witness have learned a great deal about protecting the identity of pro-democracy activists, so absorb their learnings. (See a Witness official’s guest post on Socialbrite on What are our ethical responsibilities when recording video of people under oppression?) Follow Rebecca MacKinnon on Twitter discussing China and cyber-activism. See the latest Netizen Report on Global Voices Advocacy. And also see the brilliant work-around Tunisian human rights activists undertook by geotagging stories of human rights abuses around the presidential palace using Google Earth, Google Maps and YouTube.

• Should we launch social media accounts in multiple languages? Readers, what do you think? My advice was to use no more than two languages in the same social stream, but to launch separate accounts in multiple languages when you have both the capacity and market opportunity for it.

• How to improve SEO results? Well, that’s a subject for a return day of training at the UN, I hope.

As always, we welcome follow-up questions and conversations with anyone who attended, or missed, Friday’s session. Email me, email Shonali, or call us at 925-600-7641.

Related

• How NGOs can use social media to combat poverty (Socialbrite)

• Fighting poverty by enhancing social entrepreneurship

• Witness: Putting a face on human rights (Socialbrite)

Socialbrite presents at the United Nations today

Today my Socialbrite partner Shonali Burke and I are giving a presentation to NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) at the United Nations.

Back in November, an invitation flew into our laps from Amine Lamrabat of the Civil Society and Outreach Unit (CSOU), Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD), Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). By gosh, when it comes to acronyms, nobody beats the UN!

The department is focusing in the new year on marshalling resources to combat poverty — quite a challenge, considering up to 80 percent of the world’s 7 billion people live in poverty or near-poverty conditions. (See stats from the World Bank.) So we tailored our presentation to highlight the work of some international nonprofits that are making an impact, especially in the developing world (or Global South, as some call it), including:

• Send a Cow, a UK-based nonprofit that is helping African farmers create a sustainable ecosystem and a process of paying it forward. Farmers who are helped, with training on how to grow crops in harsh climates, agree to pass that knowledge on to other farmers — along with a first-born calf. Send a Cow helps African farmers grow enough food to feed their families, sell their produce, start small businesses and rise out of poverty. They do a nice job with their website, produce high-quality videos and are growing a fan base on Twitter and Facebook, though we couldn’t spot any online fundraising or mobile efforts.

• USA for UNHCR’s Blue Key campaign, which Shonali is overseeing, has built a nice community over the past year, with occasional tweet-a-thons to raise funds, $5 per key, and awareness about the plight of refugees.

• In my view, charity: water has made the most astonishing use of social media and new media, with breathtakingly good videos, multimedia, photography and smart ways to mobilize social networks. Check out the story of charity: water video they did for their 5-year anniversary as well as the new WaterForward campaign. Also, see the video How charity: water changes lives through multimedia and find your charity: water project on a map — I’ve been using on that in my presentations for years.

We’ll also be discussing:

• Epic Change and its annual To Mama With Love campaign

• 1-to-1 micro-giving and micro-fundraising platforms, including Vittana, give2gether, Razoo, Causevox, Kiva (for loans) and DonorsChoose.

• We’re proud that Socialbrite strategist Ken Banks has created a mobile NewsWatch series for National Geographic online, focusing on use of SMS for social and economic good in the developing world. Also see Frontline SMS mobile case studies.

We’ll be tweeting about our UN appearance on our @socialbrite Twitter channel.

Image by Yodel Anecdotal on Flickr

The world of charitable giving is undergoing its most radical transformation ever. As philanthropy has become democratized through the Internet and social media, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen offers a timely, clear-eyed and inspiring assessment of the charitable landscape in her new book “Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World” (Jossey-Bass).

Arrillaga-Andreessen brings an impressive set of credentials to the table: A philanthropist, educator and social innovator, she founded the SV2 Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, directs the Arrillaga Foundation and is president of the Marc and Laura Andreessen Foundation. (You’ll remember her husband, Mark, from his pioneering work as co-founder of Netscape.)

In “Giving 2.0” the author sets out a personal, accessible account of her involvement in philanthropy as she challenges traditional assumptions about who can be – and should be – a philanthropist. In several chapters, she chronicles her own personal odyssey in the philanthropic world (“instead of establishing an organization designed to make money, I wanted to create one to give it away”) and offers accounts of people charting their own course in this new realm.

Technology, she writes, has brought charitable giving to an astonishing new place: “Through technology you can raise your hand for a cause, and get other people to raise their hands with you. You can create a spark of social consciousness and watch it catch fire across national, or even global, communities.”

I was particularly glad to see her single out the work of Jolkona, a nonprofit that is at the forefront of this wave of one-to-one philanthropy. (See my interview with Jolkona founder Adnan Mahmud.) She also gives a shoutout to Catchafire, a startup that matches professionally skilled volunteers with nonprofits and social enterprises. (See my interview with Catchafire’s Jane Slusser.)

Ripple effects, giving circles and practical tips

Arrillaga-Andreessen invokes the big picture when writing about the connection between philanthropy and solutions to society’s most pressing social issues: “Global challenges such as poverty, poor education, disease and climate change can no longer be seen as isolated problems. The ripple effect of these things affects us all.” She recounts the rise of giving circles at the local level, such as Impact Austin, where thousands of women each give $1,000 a year and each has an equal voice when it comes to selecting grant recipients.

Along the way, she touches on B-corporations, L3Cs, social impact investing, the double bottom line and related subjects that will be familiar to those in the social enterprise space. Her narrative is fleshed out with an engaging cast of characters, including thought leaders in the field, such as Ashoka founder Bill Drayton: “Our job is not to give people fish. It’s not to teach them how to fish — it’s to build new and better fishing industries.”

The new volunteerism plays a prominent role in the book, and Arrillaga-Andreessen trots out an impressive array of statistics to bolster her case that the cause-filled life has never been more central to the American experience: Some 63 million Americans volunteer in organizations ranging from the Rotary Club to VolunteerMatch, Crowdrise and Catchafire. Americans now devote more than $200 billion and 8.1 billion hours of volunteer work each year. (The book could have benefited from a deeper dive into the new breed of social entrepreneurship.)

While “Giving 2.0″ offers a high-level road map for the new philanthropy, Arrillaga-Andreessen also offers practical, real-world tips at the end of each chapter with a “Making It Happen” set of useful suggestions. I’ll be keeping “Giving 2.0″ within reach on my bookshelf as a Big Ideas resource to cite when commenting on the changing face of philanthropy in America in the years ahead.

See the Giving 2.0 website, or buy Giving 2.0 on Amazon.

During the holiday break, Socialbrite is updating and republishing some of our most popular posts. We noticed that Jolkona is prominently featured in Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen’s new book, “Giving 2.0.” Our regular publication schedule resumes Monday.

Imet Adnan Mahmud, co-founder and CEO of Jolkona, during Beth Kanter’s book signing party for “The Networked Nonprofit” at TechSoup Global — and was immediately impressed by his seriousness and dedication to helping great causes through one-to-one philanthropy.

Jolkona is at the bleeding edge of this phenomenon, which will become an increasingly important part of charitable giving in the years ahead, as young people in particular want transparency, interaction and accountability when supporting a cause.

Adnan says Jolkona is the first nonprofit “to give tangible feedback on your donation.” Kiva, which pioneered the technique, provides entrepreneurs with loans. And while nonprofits like charity:water and Global Giving often give updates on projects, Jolkona is positioning itself as a technology platform that enables one-to-one philanthropy for nonprofits of any size.

Watch, download or embed our interview on Vimeo

The year-old Jolkona — which means “drop of water” in Bengali (Adnan is a native of Bangladesh) — currently showcases 75 projects in 35 countries, including the United States.

Jolkona’s premise is simple but powerful: Support a library in Tibet that needs $50 to buy books, and you’ll get the list of the books purchased through your donation. Help people in Bangladesh and Myanmar get an artificial limb for $200 — $200! — and you’ll receive a before and after photo. In Iraq, you can save a girl from an honor killing for $120: You get the story of the girl you saved, though for security reasons they can’t supply a name or photo. And in the U.S., you can provide field trips to a classroom of disadvantaged children in Seattle.

Says Adnan: “If you ask any nonprofit, Do you want to tell your supporters how their money was used, they’ll all tell you, Yes I do. But they don’t because they’re strapped for resources. Jolkona decided to come in and provide that technical infrastructure.

“Our focus is on youth philanthropy,” he adds. “We’re focused on galvanizing this next generation of givers. We’ve seen the frustration of this generation — that they don’t know where their money is going to. … We want people to feel that their [donation] can make a difference.”

It does, and the Jolkona team has gone out of its way to provide transparency and dispel worries that surfaced after it was revealed that Kiva wasn’t being forthright about its donations process.

Jolkona is now accepting nonprofit partners, though there’s a waiting queue. “If you are doing great work and are committed to showing impact, we are your best partners” as a platform solution, Adnan says.

Barbara Guillaume, a human rights activist born and raised in Haiti, at Sustainatopia 2011 (photo by JD Lasica).

SuperGuide to events for nonprofits & social good organizations

Note: See our calendar of 2012 nonprofit and social change conferences.

Following is a roundup of conferences and events scheduled in the nonprofit and social change sector in 2012 with a few related events tossed in as well. This has become an annual tradition here at Socialbrite, and we hope you’ll bookmark this page and return to it throughout the year — we’ll be updating it throughout 2012 as more conference details firm up.

We’ll be reporting on many of these events and invite you to share your coverage or observations on Socialbrite, or let us know and we’ll tweet it or Facebook it. Throughout the year you’ll be able to see a list of all these events in the weekly Google calendar in the sidebar at the lower right of nearly every page on Socialbrite.

If you know of other must-attend events, please add them by posting in the comments at the bottom. Note that we’ve also published a calendar of 2012 conferences in social media, tech and marketing on our sister site, Socialmedia.biz.

Conference	Date	Place
January
edSocial Media Bootcamp	Jan. 12	Windsor, Conn.
The edSocialMedia Bootcamp offers a one-day, practical application of social media tools in a school environment. The workshop provides an in-depth, hands-on introduction to social media for school leaders and administrators, complete with an opportunity to create and share content through edSocialMedia’s practice lab site and other social media channels.
The Intersection Event	Jan. 14	Emeryville, Calif.
In this day-long event, innovators converge with leading social change agents to tackle significant issues. The Intersection reflects a change in how philanthropy is being delivered to the world and how innovation can drive your bottom line, improving the businesses that participate and the world around us.
WordCamp	Various	Worldwide
WordCamps are casual, locally organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress, the free and open source personal publishing software that powers over 25 million sites on the Web. WordCamps come in all different flavors, based on the local communities that produce them, but in general, WordCamps include sessions on how to use WordPress more effectively, beginning plugin and theme development, advanced techniques, security, etc. The year’s first WordCamp takes place in Birmingham, Ala. on Jan. 14-15.
TransportationCamp	Jan. 21	Washington, DC
TransportationCamp is a free unconference bringing together transportation professionals, technologists and others interested in the intersection of urban transportation and technology.
PodCamp Halifax	Jan. 22	Dartmouth, Canada
A PodCamp is a free BarCamp-style community unconference for new media enthusiasts and professionals including bloggers, podcasters, YouTube producers, social networkers and anyone curious about new media.
Emerging Media Conference	Jan. 23-26	San Francisco
This gathering gives people the chance to view and experience the latest in technology advances and upcoming product roll-outs. For three full days there will be demonstrations, presentations and discussions led by some of the most connected and recognized experts in the industry.
World Economic Forum	Jan. 25-29	Davos, Switzerland
This gathering convenes under the theme, The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models. World leaders and public figures return to their core purpose of defining what the future should look like, aligning stakeholders around that vision and inspiring their institutions to realize that vision.
Content Marketing Retreat	Jan. 26-27	Langley, Wash.
This year’s conference will move beyond “building the case for content marketing” to sharing strategic insight and best practices on how to effectively plan, manage and measure content creation, curation, publication and distribution..
She’s Geeky 10 – The 5th Bay Area Event	Jan. 27-29	Mountain View, Calif.
She’s Geeky hosts unconferences across the nation, providing an environment for women working in technology and other geeky fields (science, engineering and math) to learn from one another, grow networks, connect across generations and discuss issues.
Social Media for Nonprofits – NYC	Jan. 30	New York
The multi-city series focuses on providing practical tips and tools for fundraising, marketing and advocacy, all delivered by experts in keynotes, workshops, roundtables and panels. Topics include viral marketing campaigns, volunteer recruitment, social email campaigns and more.
February
Media That Matters	Feb. 10-11	Washington, DC
This year’s theme, “Change for Good,” features conversations about how independent social change filmmakers can execute integrated campaigns that are strategic, action-oriented and have enduring impact.
ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work	Feb. 11-15	Seattle
CSCW presents research in the design and use of technologies that affect groups, organizations and communities. CSCW encompasses both the technical and social challenges encountered when supporting collaboration. The development and application of new technologies continues to enable new ways of working together and coordinating activities.
Rootscamp	Feb. 18-19	Washington, DC
This year marks the sixth anniversary of the Rootscamp unconference where organizers set the agenda, share lessons learned and drive the conversation about best practices in organizing. RootsCamp is an “open space” unconference driven by the people who attend to share, debrief and celebrate the tremendous work organizers have made.
Wisdom 2.0	Feb. 23-26	Redwood City, Calif.
Join the founders of Facebook, PayPal, Zynga, and other technology leaders along with wisdom teachers in this conference where they focus on exploring how one can live mindfully and wisely and engage the great technologies of this age in ways that benefit us, our society and our world.
BlissDom	Feb. 23-25	Nashville, Tenn.
This conference is for women who find and express their bliss by publishing online. Speakers and panels will feature the best blogging, public relations and social media pros who’ll be on hand to mentor new and old friends.
Social Enterprise Conference	Feb. 25-26	Boston
This year’s conference will feature two days of rich content at the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. The Saturday schedule is designed for a smaller and more practitioner-focused audience, while the Sunday schedule will feature about 100 speakers with a more general focus with a Pitch for Change Competition and Career Fair.
TED	Feb. 27-Mar 2	Long Beach, Calif.
From dazzling technology and leading-edge science to the richest veins of human creativity and interconnection, TED 2012 will display remarkable speakers, new uses of music, extravagant use of underused senses, intricate choreography between speaker and screen, new ways of involving the audience, breakthroughs in animation, intense, campfire-style storytelling and some “spectacular surprises.”
TEDActive	Feb. 27-Mar 2	Palm Springs, Calif.
TEDActive is an opportunity to let your mind travel the world of ideas while watching the live-hosted TED 2012 program on screen in a comfortable, customizable space. When the talks are over, your conversations with other passionate people begin — a chance to engage in inspiring discussions and projects.
March
Washington Nonprofit Conference	March 1-2	Washington, DC
Need a fresh perspective on fundraising? At this conference, you’ll learn innovative strategies and creative approaches to fundraising that will help you identify and develop new initiatives for your programs, as well as how to increase donations. You’ll find more than 30 educational sessions, a keynote presentation and roundtable discussions so that you’re able to pick and choose from topics that best offer solutions to your challenges.
SXSW	March 9-18	Austin, Texas
South by Southwest offers an amazing gathering of thought leaders in independent music, independent films and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW is the premier destination for discovery.
Left Forum	March 16-18	New York
A one-of-a-kind gathering, Left Forum convenes the largest annual conference of a broad spectrum of left and progressive intellectuals, activists, academics, organizations and the public. Conference participants come together to engage a wide range of critical perspectives on the world, to discuss differences, commonalities and alternatives to current challenges and to share ideas for transforming the world.
eCampaigning Forum	March 21-22	Oxford, UK
In the 10th annual eCampaigning Forum, you’ll learn about e-campaigning from the people who do it and share effective strategies and practices with peers.
The Social Enterprise Exchange	March 27	Glasgow, UK
This event will create plenty of opportunity to exchange best practices and information on a number of topical themes including social enterprise policy, growth and replication, starting a new business, winning business, social investment, subcontracting and impact measurement.
Skoll World Forum	March 28-30	Oxford, UK
The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship is the premier international platform for advancing entrepreneurial approaches to solving the world’s most pressing problems. Their mission is to accelerate the impact of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs by uniting them with essential partners in a collaborative pursuit of learning, leverage and large-scale social change. About 800 hand-selected delegates from the social, finance, private and public sectors convene for three days and nights and attendees representing nearly 65 countries participate in critical debates, dedicated networking events, self-organized sessions, small group workshops and compelling panel and plenary sessions.
Clinton Global Initiative University	Mar 30-Apr 1	Washington, DC
This fifth annual gathering will bring together students and national youth organizations to create and implement Commitments to Action across five Focus Areas: Education, Environment & Climate Change, Peace & Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation and Public Health.
April
AFP International Conference on Fundraising	April 1-3	Vancouver, BC
Join your fellow fundraisers for a three-day immersion to learn best practices and strategies that work. It’s a place to gain insight from industry and world leaders, a chance to learn breakthrough fundraising tactics and an opportunity to share your own successes and challenges while meeting colleagues from across town and around the globe.
Innovative Giving Conference	April 2	San Francisco
Innogive returns for its 3rd annual conference at the Union Square Hilton the day before NTEN. Mobile giving is still among one of the most talked about solutions to surface in recent memory. After a sold-out 2011 show, it is clear nonprofits are hungry to learn about how to make mobile successful, given that it’s not going away.
Nonprofit Technology Conference	April 3-5	San Francisco
This three-day gathering brings together nonprofit professionals from around the world to collaborate, innovate and maximize effectiveness. With a wide mix of social events, seminars, trainings and resources, NTC will help you put technology to work to further your cause.
Global Engagement Summit	April 8-15	Evanston, Ill.
The Global Engagement Summit is an empowerment platform for students to make the change they wish to see in the world. GES provides the opportunity for delegates to engage in critical discussion and think about how to do good well, to network with passionate individuals and innovative thought leaders and to build capacity and develop skills to implement change-based projects.
Global Philanthropy Forum	April 16-18	Washington, DC
A project of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the Global Philanthropy Forum aims to build a community of donors and social investors committed to international causes, and to inform, enable and enhance the strategic nature of their work. GPF connects donors to issues, to effective strategies, to potential co-funding partners and to emblematic agents of change from around the world.
Global CSR Summit	April 19-20	Cebu, Philippines
This gathering will examine the issues of sustainability for businesses in Asia for the 21st century amid weaknesses in the global economy, environmental disasters, political instability in the Middle East and the global food crisis. The theme of the event, “Beyond Sustainability,” highlights the future directions of CSR. It involves going beyond narrow concepts of sustainability that aim at minimizing environmental harm and maintaining the status quo toward a new paradigm of embracing innovative and cutting-edge solutions that benefit profits, societies and the environment.
Social Venture Network Annual Member Gathering	April 19-22	Stevenson, Wash.
Social Venture Network connects, supports and inspires business leaders and social entrepreneurs in expanding practices that build a just and sustainable economy. A second conference this year, the SVN Hall of Fame Celebration, will be held Nov. 13 in New York.
Sustainatopia	April 19-25	Miami
With 60 individual events in film, art, music, eco-fashion, food, design, parties and two major impact investing conferences, Sustainatopia is one of the biggest sustainability and impact investing events in the hemisphere.
Connections	April 25-26	Alberta, Canada
The 2012 conference will bring together leaders from the nonprofit sector, the corporate community, government and other funders, and community leaders to dialogue about the significant changes that will impact the sector and its ability to meet community needs in the future. A goal of the conference is to foster enhanced understanding across the three sectors through focused dialogue on timely and relevant issues.
May
Connecting Up Australia	May 1-3	Sydney, Australia
As nonprofits continue to look at new ways to innovate in all aspects of their organization, Connecting Up 2012 will be a conference that will help you draw inspiration from speakers, both international and local. Meet other people working in the nonprofit sector, share your stories and strengthen each other.
Digital Leap	May 3	Ontario, Canada
The Digital Leap conference is about communication in a digital world, particularly the combination of technology, strategy and creative in a digital age. The vision behind Digital Leap is to create an experience to inspire marketers and fundraisers in not-for-profit organizations to work in new ways and embrace best practices and current techniques.
99% Conference	May 3-4	New York
For two days, creative leaders from across industries will come together to focus on the mechanics of idea execution as speakers share lessons learned in a series of 20-minute talks and interactive master classes.
NCTech4Good	May 4	Chapel Hill, N.C.
NCTech4Good is the regional network for sharing knowledge about technologies that can advance the mission of nonprofit organizations.
Ignite Phoenix	May 5	Scottsdale, Ariz.
Ignite brings together entrepreneurs, technologists, DIYers, creative professionals and enthusiastic knowledge-seekers. O’Reilly has not yet announced if there will be an Ignite Week 2012 in dozens of cities around the world (but we expect it’ll be back!). Ignite’s motto: “Enlighten us, but make it quick.”
Ideation Conference	May 7-9	Chicago
!deation is designed to create a rich learning and sharing experience. The goal is inspiration, encouragement and new explorations for participants. Social entrepreneurs like Scott Harrison (charity: water), Ben Keesey (Invisible Children) and Scott Belsky (Behance) have spoken in past years.
Government Web and New Media Conference	May 16–17	Washington, DC
The annual Government Web and New Media Conference is the premier networking and educational event of the year. Hear from peers and industry thought leaders on the latest trends and tools, learn practical strategies for improving your online strategies, see innovative projects happening throughout government and connect with colleagues from across the country.
Fundraising Day	May 23	Toronto
The Association of Fundraising Professionals is the professional association for individuals responsible for generating philanthropic support for a wide variety of charitable organizations. The association advances philanthropy in society by enabling people and organizations to practice effective and ethical fundraising.
Cause Marketing Forum	May 30-31	Chicago
The ninth annual forum will include Networking Galore, New Perfect Pitch Contest and sessions such as Bridging the CSR/CM Divide, The Great Breast Cancer Debate, Cause Marketing Innovation, Gaming for Good and more.
June
AFP TechKnow	June 4-5	Orlando, Fla.
The AFP TechKnow Conference Presented by Visa will offer an interactive learning experience designed to connect nonprofit fundraising and management professionals with leading-edge information and effective practices in using technology to accomplish their organizations’ missions. The conference will position interactive websites and social media as core elements in today’s development mix via two tracks: strategy and technology. It will feature opportunities for learning, networking and exhibiting. Hashtag: #RewireToInspire
Sustainable Brands	June 4-7	San Diego
Widely reputed to be the most compelling sustainability conference of the year, Sustainable Brands 2012 will convene over 800 brand leaders, sustainability executives from the global brands leading sustainable innovation today, and an unprecedented list of others to carry forward the conversation about sustainability as a driver of business growth and brand benefit.
BlogWorld New York	June 5-7	New York
BlogWorld & New Media Expo is the first and only industry-wide conference and tradeshow for all New Media. This conference is for anyone who is creating content online with Blogging, Podcasting, Vlogging, Web TV or Internet Radio, Social Media, or New Media Content of any kind. In this conference you’ll find comprehensive and critical knowledge for growing your business, brand and audience with the latest new media technology, methods and tools.
Social Change Institute	June 6-10	Cortes Island, BC
SCI gathers seasoned and emerging leaders with thinkers and trainers from the change-making world. Designed to strengthen capacity, collaboration and success of the sector, SCI offers workshops, creative practices, dialogue circles and community building that will enhance your organizational effectiveness.
Netroots Nation	June 7-10	Providence, RI
Netroots Nation amplifies progressive voices by providing an online and in-person campus for exchanging ideas and learning how to be more effective in using technology to influence the public debate.
Personal Democracy Forum	June 11-12	New York
Personal Democracy Forum is the world’s leading conference exploring technology’s impact on politics and government. Join hundreds of individuals interested in how technology is changing politics, governance and society.
North by Northeast	June 11-17	Toronto
Now in its 18th year, North by Northeast Festivals and Conference (NXNE) has become the Canadian festival destination for emerging artists and major-label headliners, for music filmmakers and for digital interactive innovators bridging the gap between technology and the arts. Seen as the most anticipated summer music event in Canada, NXNE Music, NXNE Film and NXNE Interactive are an essential gathering for artists, industry and fans.
MyCharityConnects	June 12-13	Toronto
Join nonprofits from across Canada and social media experts for the premier social media and online fundraising learning opportunity of the year. After three sold-out years, MyCharityConnects offers thought-provoking keynotes, practical how-to workshops and chances to learn from other nonprofits about what works online and what doesn’t.
NMC Summer Conference	June 12-15	Boston
The NMC Summer Conference attracts an audience of hundreds of highly skilled professionals interested in the integration of emerging technologies into teaching, learning and creative inquiry. This conference will feature new session paths that will help to spark new thinking and ideas: Imagine, Explore, Play, Create, Transform and Reflect.
Conference on Scaling Impact	June 13-14	New York
Social Impact Exchange’s conference focuses on building a philanthropic capital marketplace that can consistently finance the scaling of effective social solutions. The event brings together more than 400 nonprofits, foundations, individual philanthropists and nonprofit advisers to share best practices and knowledge for creating sustainable social solutions.
Tällberg Forum	June 14-17	Stockholm, Sweden
The Tällberg Foundation is reaching out to thought leaders from around the world to come and join the conversation. By once again posing the question “How on Earth can we live together?,” they help leaders find viable paths in a globalized and interconnected world.
Games for Change Festival	June 18-20	New York
The annual Games for Change Festival is the largest gaming event in New York and the only international event uniting “games for change” creators, the public, civil society, academia, the gaming industry and media.
National Conference on Volunteering and Service	June 18-20	Chicago
This annual event provides attendees with an opportunity to learn, connect and be inspired through a wide range of engaging, informative plenary sessions, workshops, special events, service projects, exhibits, specialized corporate tracks and more.
Aspen Ideas Festival	June 27-July 3	Aspen, Colo.
The Aspen Ideas Festival will gather some of the most interesting thinkers and leaders from around the US and abroad to discuss their work, the issues that inspire them and their ideas. Presented by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, the festival is dedicated to dialogue and exchange and in commited to bringing ideas to the public at large.
Allied Media Conference	June 28-Jul 1	Detroit
The conference seeks to cultivate strategies for a more just and creative world. Attendees come together to share tools and tactics for transforming communities through media-based organizing.
Indie Web Camp	Jun 30-Jul 1	Portland, Ore.
IndieWebCamp is a 2-day dev camp in Portland, Oregon focused on building a more open Web.
Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp	TBD	TBD
Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp helps people learn how to make a positive impact in their communities and neighborhoods. It aims to serve community builders and people engaged with their neighborhoods and social good across all sectors. No date has been set yet for the 2012 event.
July
Community Leadership Summit	July 14-15	Portland, Ore.
The Community Leadership Summit 2012 is the meeting place for community managers and leaders from all around the world.
OSCON	July 16-20	Portland, Ore.
OSCON is where all the pieces come together: developers, innovators, businesspeople and investors. Today OSCON is about how the close partnership between business and the open source community is building the future. OSCON is the best place to prepare for what comes next, from learning new skills to understanding how new and emerging open source technologies are going to impact how we live, work and do business.
Project SEARCH	July 23-27	Austin, Texas
Project SEARCH is dedicated to providing education and training to young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities through an innovative workforce and career development model that benefits the individual,workplace and community.
Alliance for Community Media	Jul 31–Aug 2	Chicago
The Alliance for Community Media is where progressive media makers come together to learn and collaborate. This year’s theme is “Collaborate.” The conference focus will support the growth of business opportunities for community media centers.
August
Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising	Aug. 7-9	Washington, DC
The Bridge conference brings together some of the biggest buyers, sellers and users of fundraising and direct marketing products and services. The three-day event features nationally and internationally renowned speakers and top cutting-edge educational programming.
ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition	Aug. 11-14	Dallas
What does Dallas have in store for ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition? The presenters put together a video to show what’s in store.
Government Open Source Conference	TBD	Washington, DC
GOSCON was held in August 2011 and they say they’ll return in 2012 to continue the discussion of open source in the government sector.
September
Social Venture Institute	Sept. 12-16	Cortes Island, BC
Since 1996, SVI has offered leaders of social purpose businesses a forum in which to air their business problems and receive advice and mentoring. Founded by Gary Hirshberg, President and CEO of Stonyfield Farm, SVI was designed to provide an interactive and affordable way for entrepreneurs to explore creative ways to succeed.
Retail Sustainability Conference	Sept. 19-21	Phoenix
The Retail Sustainability Conference brings together executives involved in establishing environmental programs and integrating green practices into their companies. The conference’s program will address the key operational aspects of environmental sustainability and compliance for the retail industry, including sessions on energy, waste management, water conservation, store operations, real estate development, supply chain issues and opportunities for improving corporate social responsibility.
IdeaFestival	Sept. 19-22	Louisville, Ky.
IdeaFestival is a world-class event that attracts leading global innovators and thinkers to discuss and celebrate imagination, new perspectives and transformational ideas. (I’ve spoken here in the past and recommend it.) It provides a stage to explore the cross-cutting nature of innovation involving a range of diverse disciplines.
Blackbaud Conference for Nonprofits	Sep 30-Oct 2	National Harbor, Md.
Join this conference to experience everything you love about the Blackbaud Conference — three days of educational content dedicated to your specific needs and opportunities to network and interact with your peers and industry experts.
Web of Change	Fall	Cortes Island, BC
Web of Change connects the foremost thinkers and do-ers in the growing community of social change and technology from across North America. They’ll likely do it again around September 2012.
October
The Feast	Oct. 3-5	New York
The Feast convenes the most remarkable entrepreneurs, radicals, doers and thinkers who are revolutionizing the way things work for the betterment of humanity.
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing	Oct 3-6	Baltimore
This series of conferences is designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. Presenters are leaders in their respective fields, representing industrial, academic and government communities. Leading researchers present their current work, while special sessions focus on the role of women in today’s technology fields, including computer science, information technology, research and engineering.
SOCAP	Oct. 1-4	San Francisco
The venerable Social Capital Markets gathering for social entrepreneurs and change agents will return to SF’s Fort Mason.
PopTech	Oct. 17-20	Camden, Maine
An eclectic mix of thought leaders and visionaries will convene in Camden, Maine for its 16th annual gathering. A celebration for the intellectually engaged, PopTech is a chance to meet the people who are inventing our future and an opportunity to engage in stimulating presentations, exhilarating performances and life-changing conversations.
Bioneers Conference	Oct. 19-21	San Rafael, Calif.
Explore the forefront of positive change in deeply inspiring keynote talks, panels, workshops and intensives. Network with dynamic change-makers, experience Moving Image Festival screenings and networking receptions, and discover powerful opportunities and strategies for creating positive change in your work, life and community.
BSR	Oct. 23-26	New York
BSR works with its global network of more than 250 member companies to develop sustainable business strategies and solutions through consulting, research and cross-sector collaboration.
Convio Summit	TBD	TBD
Convio Summit is an information-packed gathering of Convio clients, partners, industry experts and other invited guests. It’s an event filled with innovative ideas to get your creativity flowing, with real-world examples of techniques that you can start using right away to boost your fundraising, advocacy, marketing and donor management efforts. No date or place announced for 2012 yet.
November
Digital Capital Week	Nov. 2-9	Washington, DC
DCWEEK is a festival focused on bringing together designers, developers, entrepreneurs and social innovators of all kinds. It’s a series of hundreds of distributed events powered by the community and complemented by core conferences, parties and projects created by the festival organizers.
Global Social Business Summit	Nov. 8-10	Vienna, Austria
This annual summit gathers worldwide social business pioneers from all kind of backgrounds (corporate, political, academic, civil societal) — it’s from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus. You can check last year’s website www.gsbs2011.com to get a better impression. www.gsbs2012.com will be up by February.
ARNOVA	TBD	TBD
ARNOVA, now in its 41st year, is the largest and most significant research conference focusing on nonprofits, philanthropy, voluntary action and civil society to be held on an annual basis. No word yet on a date or place.
December
Big Ideas Fest	December	Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Big Ideas Fest is a unique three-day immersion into collaboration and design with a focus on modeling cutting-edge thinking in K-20 education.Rapid-fire speakers provide the inspiration to think differently, and Action Collabs lead the charge to create and act differently. No date set yet for the 2012 event.

Other conferences and events

We can’t possibly list every conference in the world, but if you know of other nonprofit or social good gatherings that should be included here (or if you see anything amiss), please share in the comments or contact us!

Here are some conferences that we couldn’t find any plans for in the new year:

• NETA, held in January 2011 in Nashville, Tenn.

• ReVisioning Value: How to increase economic, ecological and social returns.

• Twestival: Tweet, meet and give.

• National Conference for Media Reform: No word on whether a conference devoted to media, technology and democracy is taking place in 2012.

• Transparency Camp: An unconference that convenes a tribe of open government advocates.

• Net Change Week, put on by MaRS, was held in June 2011 in Toronto.

• ArtezInterAction was held in June 2011 in San Francisco and September 2011 in Toronto.

• bigBANG!, sparking social innovation, was held in June 2011 in Dallas.

• International Development Design Summit was held last July to August in Ghana.

• Mobilize was held in September 2011 in San Francisco with a focus on cloud computing and the mobile Web.

• Open Video Conference was held in September 2011 in New York to help shape the future of online video.

• SXSW Eco provided solutions for a sustainable world in October 2011 in Austin, Texas.

• fiess, the International Forum on the Social and Solidarity Economy, was held in October 2011 in Montreal.

• Social Enterprise Summit is an international forum for increased social impact through social enterprise.

• Vivanista’s Charitable Fundraising Summit was held in November 2011, no word on whether it will return.

• Nonprofit Software Development Summit was held in November 2011.

• NextGen Charity, the conference on new strategies in nonprofit and philanthropy work, was held in November 2011 in New York.

• International Green Awards, an initiative showcasing the best in class examples of creativity leading to sustainable outcomes, was held in London in November 2011.

We’ve been working at a breakneck pace for much of 2011, publishing an original article nearly every weekday to help nonprofits, social enterprises, cause organizations and businesses learn how to effectively use social media for your organization.

Now it’s time to take a cue from our mellow springer spaniel/cocker spaniel mix, Casey. We’re turning our attention to family, friends and loved ones during the next two weeks (while publishing an article here or there and tuning up the site between opening gifts and finding a sustainable alternative to eggnog!).

So, have a happy Hanukkah, merry Christmas and joyous Kwanzaa from your friends at Socialbrite!

San Francisco Goodwill’s look on the iPad (click for larger version).

Free service lets nonprofits enter the new world of tablet publishing

Target audience: Nonprofits, foundations, social enterprises, cause organizations, NGOs, brands, businesses, Web publishers, educators, journalists, general public.

One of my favorite discoveries of the past few weeks has been OnSwipe, a service that enables you to optimize your website for the iPad — for free!

If you go to most websites using an iPad, the experience is hit or miss. Website navigation is quite a bit different from tablet navigation, and as a result reading on a tablet can sometimes prove to be a chore. Not so with an OnSwipe-enabled site. Your home page looks completely different — see the example of San Francisco Goodwill, a Socialbrite client, at top — and the entire experience is one where you touch instead of click and swipe instead of search for a scrollbar.

Call up Socialbrite.org or SFGoodwill.org on the iPad and you’ll see what the experience feels like. If you’re game, it takes about 5 minutes to set up, and it’s free. Go ahead, do it for your nonprofit, business or social enterprise and be hailed as a rock star when you show it off to your executive director, CEO or board members.

OnSwipe: ‘Make your site look beautiful on Web tablets’

The other day I interviewed Jason L. Baptiste, co-founder and CEO of the New York-based startup, which has 16 staffers.

“It’s a very simple idea,” he said. “We let the publisher of any website make the site look absolutely beautiful on Web tablets. It’s for the new world of touch and swipe.”

It works like this:

CEO Jason Baptiste: Tablets are the TV of this generation. There’ll be millions or billions of channels.

You don’t need to add any code to your site or blog, and the end user doesn’t need to download an app. All you do is head over to onswipe.com and register. The process takes you through four quick steps, where you plunk in your site’s url, RSS feed or feeds, desired layout, hit Save and you’re done.

The service still has a few rough edges: For example, when I first registered Socialbrite, I entered my name under “Username” when I should have entered “Socialbrite,” and the url wound up being onswipe.com/jdlasica. There’s also no Category for nonprofits or social good. And including your Twitter feed makes your tweets show up in a clunky way.

But those are quibbles. Just minutes after you register, call up your site in Safari (or another Web browser) on the iPad and you’ll see a marked difference. Your home page is transformed into a series of vertical strips holding your latest posts as well as photos, videos and more. Click on any of them and you’ll be able to read stories in a magazine-style format. Swipe and you’ll see the next one. Nice.

Tablets are the TV of this generation

Baptiste said OnSwipe will never charge for the service. The plan is to scale to millions of sites, and then share revenues from full-page magazine-style advertising sold by the publisher. But you’ll never see irrelevant banner ads, he promised.

“Tablets are the TV of this generation,” Baptiste said. “There’ll be millions or billions of channels. We have an interest in making people money.”

There are some other solutions out there, like Brave New Code’s WPTouch Pro, which Socialbrite uses to optimize the site for the iPhone, Android and other smartphones. But Baptiste said such services are geared to tailoring the website experience for mobile devices instead of reinventing the experience. Other sites want to be a destination, he said, and “we’re creating a platform anyone can build on top of.”

Sites currently using OnSwipe include Slate, Ziff Davis’s Geek.com, BBC America’s blog, Code Nast publications and many others. OnSwipe plans to support non-Apple tablets in the future, Baptiste said.

Another bonus: MyOnswipe lets you save articles to read for later, even if you don’t have any Internet access. It works anytime, anywhere and on any device, Baptiste said.

If your site is old school — static brochureware — you won’t have much use for OnSwipe. But if you have a site or blog that’s regularly updated with new content, you should give OnSwipe a try and enter the new world of tablet publishing. As more people gravitate to iPads — more than 40 million and counting — OnSwipe is a service you’ll want to take advantage of.

Related

• 5 WordPress plug-ins to turbo-charge your blog (Socialbrite)

• Nonprofits: Is your website mobile-ready? (Socialbrite)

• Mobile resources for nonprofits on Socialbrite

At the Vivanista Charitable Fundraising Summit and Bootcamp, held Saturday in San Francisco, Janet Fouts and I closed out the afternoon with a wide-ranging conversation with nonprofit representatives in the audience about social media tools and strategy.

The night before the summit, I put together a one-page color flyer in the visually pleasing style that has characterized these handouts from Socialbrite. Social Fundraising Tools for Nonprofits & Causes (a PDF found at bit.ly/fundtools) lists 10 platforms for raising funds, including:

The view of Coit Tower from the Art Institute on Saturday (photo by JD Lasica)

• Relative newcomers like Rally and give2gether

• GiveForward, a new platform to help people who need financial support for medical purposes

And others. Be aware that your mileage may vary with some of these platforms — they differ not only in pricing but in placement (your site or theirs), effectiveness with social networks, metrics dashboards and rules governing data ownership.

We’re releasing the flyer under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license, like others in this series of handouts:

• 40 hashtags for social good
• 12 steps to mobilize your cause
• 10 iPhone apps for social good
• 12 social action hubs

Video of sessions coming soon

After a full day of sessions, the give and take turned out to be a good way to wind up the summit, held at the San Francisco Art Institute (following a wonderful reception the evening before at the 12 Gallagher art gallery). Questions covered a range of topics, but many centered on internal processes and expectations. For instance:

Q: What do you say to an executive or department chief who insists on hitting certain milestones, such as 1,000 Twitter followers within six months of launch?

A: That’s the wrong metric to emphasize. You can get 10,000 followers within six months, but they won’t be worth much. The quantity of raw followers is less important than the quality — even a few dozen followers can be more useful if they’re passionate and committed to your cause. In the end, what matters isn’t the size of your following in social media but whether those people are taking actions in the real world to advance your mission.

The sessions at the summit were videotaped and will be available to view online in a couple of weeks.

Related

• Social fundraising tools: Our top 5 picks
• 24 tools for fundraising with social media
• What social fundraising means for your nonprofit
• Fundraising with social media — the right way
• How charity: water leads the way in social fundraising
• What’s your video strategy to raise funds?
• Fundly: Tap into your supporters’ social networks
• Rally: Raise money for your favorite cause
• 10 tips for a successful fundraising event
• More fundraisng articles on Socialbrite

Before and after: sfgoodwill.org (click through to see new site).

SF Goodwill’s big leap forward in outreach to the community

Last spring, Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties reached out to Socialbrite to help the venerable nonprofit social enterprise take some big steps forward in becoming a more social organization — one that engages with the community and a new generation of supporters as it moves toward its 100th year of service in the Bay Area.

A few days ago SF Goodwill launched a top-to-bottom new website at sfgoodwill.org as well as two new blogs, Bay Area Impact and Seismic Thrift — all as part of a WordPress network. The undertaking was ambitious, replacing a largely static brochureware-style site built on a .NET framework with a more dynamic website and a set of community blogs that require continual care and feeding.

I hope you’ll agree the new site is worlds away superior to what came before (see before and after images at top). The look is busier than in an ideal world, but Goodwill has an enormous number of moving parts. What would you have done differently? It’s still a work in progress.

It’s been a frenetic few months of project management, so this is a good time to pause, take a breath and provide a quick update so that other nonprofits and social businesses can take away some lessons for our experience.

10 lessons learned and decisions made

Here are 10 lessons we learned and decisions made in going social:

1Go all in. A lot of organizations want to tinker at the edges but are scared of more deep-seated change. SF Goodwill seemed open to institutional change that required new approaches and new thinking about how various parts of the organization interact with the public — and across departmental silos. Change is hard, so if you’re committed to it, make it happen across the organization. Be open to multiple initiatives.

2Create a plan with buy-in from top management. We began this process by spending several weeks learning about the organization, its culture, internal processes and business goals before crafting a 40-page Communications Strategic Plan. The plan received buy-in from the executive team and has been taking root in different corners of the organization. You need a commitment from the top leadership to mobilize a nonprofit with more than 600 employees when it comes to embracing social media.

3Set the ground rules. Today we’re unveiling to the staff a set of Community and social media guidelines. Rather than come up with a set of “thou shalt not” commandments, the new policy outlines opportunities for engagement with the community.

4Tell stories. SF Goodwill has hundreds of amazing stories to tell, but hasn’t had a good vehicle for conveying them. With two new blogs, a YouTube channel and Facebook page, the team is on its way, beginning with Cory Dixson: Inspiring others to get back on track, Finding a place in the hearts of the people we serve and CEO Debbie Alvarez-Rodriguez beginning a series of videos on how to solve society’s most pressing issues.

The upcoming Goodwill Bay Area mobile app

6Identify and train your internal champions. If you’re launching a new media or social media initiative, take an inventory of your team members’ skills. Who’s good at photography, video, writing? Who’s adept at Facebook or Twitter? Who can help with campaigns? At SF Goodwill we created a Blog Squad to kick things off, with lots more on tap.

7Don’t do all the heavy lifting. Goodwill has an amazing array of partners in the community, including a local university interested in a multimedia collaboration in 2012. Also: They’re now soliciting guest blog posts and inviting organizations to submit events to the new Community events calendar. just getting going, though.

8Create a measurement program. We have Google Analytics set up on all three sites, along with other metrics tools we’re starting to use.

9Embrace open. I was jazzed to see how quickly SF Goodwill embraced the idea of open source WordPress blogs, Creative Commons licensing — and even used crowdSPRING to award a winning design for its new mobile app.

10Go mobile. Socialbrite worked with SF Goodwill and a mobile app developer, Taptin, to develop a Goodwill Bay Area app due to debut later this month.

SF Goodwill, one of more than 160 Goodwill chapters, is not your typical nonprofit — it’s a business fueled by donations from the community. The organization is learning along the way and fully expects to make course corrections as it moves deeper into this new social terrain. But they’re committed to conversational approaches over the long term.

Disclosure: Socialbrite continues to work with SF Goodwill, and I serve in the role of social media coordinator and adviser.