Beth Kanter

It's Beth's Bithday, "Be A Generous Geek"

by Kari Dunn Saratovsky on 11 Jan 2010 2
Beth's 52nd Birthday

As social media maven Beth Kanter celebrates her 53rd Birthday today, she does so in true Kanter style, using the tools and techniques that she blogs about each and everyday to teach, inspire and raise money for the Sharing Foundation which will help send 53 more Cambodian children to school. 

Beth is an NPtech pioneer.  She has influenced countless numbers of individuals, nonprofits and changemakers to more effectively use social media for social change.  That’s why I was delighted when Amy Sample Ward and Stacey Monk asked if I’d join in on their birthday blogging surprise party for our friend Beth. There are numerous posts and conversations I could point to that have inspired me personally, and I wanted to share with you just a few of the ways that Beth has influenced this constantly evolving space.   
 
Beth is a teacher: whether it’s through her creative use of finger puppets or through her deep and informative blog posts Beth has a way of sharing information so that you don't only understand it, but you want to jump on the next opportunity to test it out yourself. After all, we know that social media is about trying new things and there is no better experimenter out there than Beth.
 
Beth is an analyzer: she doesn’t just share information, she breaks it down and provides deep analysis and case studies. The Case Foundation benefited directly from this through Beth and Allison Fine's analysis of our first Giving Challenge.
 
Beth is generous: perhaps this speaks for itself, but Beth is a giver. She reminds us the importance of using social media to engage in conversation, it's not a one way street. Beth comments on other people's blogs, she retweets great information, she shares case studies and deep analysis of the issues, she donates to causes she cares about. And, if you too want to know how to be a "Generous Geek" check out the presentation below she gave this past summer at Mashable's Summer of Social Good.

Be A Generous Geek: Mashable Summer of Social Good

Happy Birthday Beth from all your friends at the Case Foundation!

 
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America's Giving Challenge and The Primetime Philanthropist

by Kari Dunn Saratovsky on 25 Jun 2009 2
Uncle Herbert Dialing for Dollars

Coming off the heels of the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, I’m reminded about the power of individuals to recognize their potential not only as volunteers but also as philanthropists. It’s kind of serendipitous timing that just last night NBC aired its first episode of a new series, The Philanthropist. 

While the Chronicle of Philanthropy invited readers to reflect on the show in an online forum during the series debut, the jury is still out on whether or not Philanthropist (the TV show) will impact philanthropy (the practice) in the real world. As Steve Gunderson analogizes in a statement to members of the Council on Foundations, “The Philanthropist is to philanthropy what The Pink Panther is to police work,” and there’s probably some truth to that.  If nothing else however, perhaps it will help put the idea of philanthropy and selflessness in the minds of more people.
 
That’s exactly what we’d hoped to do at the Case Foundation with our online giving experiment, America’s Giving Challenge.  Earlier this week we released a report on the Case Foundation site based largely on surveys and interviews of participants in the Challenge. The  report provides an honest assessment of what worked well (and what didn't) during the online giving campaign.  
 
What I appreciate about the report is that authors Allison Fine and Beth Kanter present readers with a series of recommendations on how to improve future giving challenges. As we see more and more of these online challenges popping up online – we hope that other organizations who are experimenting will benefit from the lessons we learned during the campaign.
 
The research has spurred a flurry of responses on blogs and via twitter, and I wanted to capture some of those stories below. For more information about America’s Giving Challenge and to download the report, please visit the Case Foundation. And, whether you were a participant in the Challenge or are a casual observer - we'd love to hear your assessment of what works well and what should be improved as online giving challenges continue to evolve.
 
Nathaniel Whittemore, Social Entrepreneurship blogger at Change.org: One of the interesting take aways in the "what would work better" section is that while it was the right idea to have a time restriction, the 50 day time period was too much of a burden and a shorter time period might have been better. This recommendation resonates with the notion that these contests are about getting people engaged, but shouldn't become a burden on the relationship between a nonprofit and its stakeholders.
 
Edith Asibey and David Brotherton write in the Chronicle of Philanthropy: "Other foundations are embracing the possibilities of online media to spur citizen involvement while deepening appreciation for the practice of philanthropy. The Case Foundation recently released a report on its “America’s Giving Challenge” competition, explaining that one of the campaign’s objectives was to “help people from all backgrounds realize their potential to be philanthropists.”
 
Katya Andresen on her Getting to the Point Marketing Blog: “The key findings are actually no secret at all.  But we tend to forget their truth, which is why we need to mind them closely….Technology does not change the basic truth that we give for emotional reasons in a moment of generous impulse.  It just makes this phenomenon happen more easily, faster, and on a larger scale.  It also allows individual people or very small organizations to be catalysts for broader giving.  Most of the top fundraisers were not from large organizations. One person can do much by reaching out to their inner circle, which then connects to a greater community.”
 
Rebecca Krause-Hardie on her blog:  “Just my two cents from the sidelines, but I think a big part of the 'secret sauce' is the passion and motivation of each of the people who worked on the campaigns.  Their personal belief and willingness to talk about it and express it to everyone provides the fuel for the engine.”
 
 
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The GiveList: A Holiday Resource for Tough Times

by Allison Fine on 3 Dec 2008 1

The GiveList was launched yesterday as a resource for supporting causes in a year when many of us won't have the means to write a check (although if you do have the means, please do so!).

The site is a really simple way to aggregate great, creative ideas for supporting causes. Just use the tag #givelist on Twitter or de.licio.ous for ideas on ways to give and support communities and causes, and they'll pop up on the site. Or you can post a comment on the site of a great idea that you have.

The most creative ways of supporting causes without having to spend, buy, or donate any money  (as determined by, well, me!) will be listed under the favorites category. So, start thinking and pinging and tagging! Read more »

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Social Citizens is a Top Ten Blog!

by Allison Fine on 2 Dec 2008

Blogs.com published its top ten nonprofit blogs last night -- and wahooo, Social Citizens is listed! We are very grateful to our friend, Beth Kanter, for including us on this list of outstanding blogs.

Here's the entire article: Top 10 Nonprofit Technology (NPTech) and Social Media for Social Change Blogs. Let us know what you think of the company we keep!

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The Who's Who of Gen Y Bloggers

by Kari Dunn Saratovsky on 6 Aug 2008

In true Beth Kanter style, she has gone above and beyond to provide us with a terrifically robust roundup of the “who’s who” of Gen Y and twenty-something bloggers. I’m excited to say we’ve featured many of these great voices here on Social Citizens, but some are brand new to me — and have quickly made their way as new additions to my RSS feed.

We appreciate the nod to Social Citizens and are glad to be recognized as one among the growing voice of Millennial bloggers. As we see more and more people talking about and writing about Gen Y (admittedly sometimes ad nauseam), this list renews my hope and confidence in our generation to share their own thoughts and ideas about how we’re changing the social change sector.

Here are a few blogs that have recently found themselves in my rotation … what’s in yours?

Gen Y Give: As a millennial, Miriam Kagan believes in the power of young people to “give” and talks about the motivations and trends related to her generation and philanthropy.

Mobilizing Youth: Ben Rigby of MobileVoter incidentally also wrote the book Mobilizing Generation 2.0: A Practical Guide to Using Technology to Recruit, Organize and Engage Youth, a book with lots of answers for those of you who are just looking to break into this.

The Brazen Careerist: This site based on Penelope Trunk’s blog always seems to have some timely and relevant blogs, probably because of its self-proclaimed network of “vibrant, curious and ambitious career-minded bloggers.”

Amy Sample Ward: She provides some enlightening thoughts on the intersection between the social change sector and technology.

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