Learning & mistakes

You have to make mistakes to learn.

I had this realisation during my driving lesson. I’m usually so concerned about getting it right, but it’s when I forget parts of a manoeuvre or hesitate at a roundabout that I learn and remember the most.

Advertisements

Racism is a business, Akala

Thought provoking words from Akala on everyday racism.

“Everyday racism is the normalised experiences we encounter daily based on our difference from the white norm…..

Fighting prejudice both within our society and within ourselves.”

 

If this affects us so much as adults it’s even sadder when we see the effects of everyday racism on young children, as this experiment the “doll test” shows.

I have seen both of these on facebook in recent days.They really made me think about how subconscious and normalised everyday racism is. We all live the idea of the white experience as the norm.

Like in Akala’s example, I myself have to consciously fight the stereotypes even though I am black and I know they are wrong.

I tested my automatic instincts in a few months ago with the brilliant Harvard research project, Project Implicit. I wasn’t surprised to find that I like a lot of respondents, I had an automatic preference for white people compared to black people.

…. But it did make me think deeply my automatic reactions and question more the messages I consume. I’ve have to make a decision to move away from the “Single Story” as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says. To make sure I read, listen and watch stories from a range of people.

 

Fun-raising: making connections

Over the last week or so I’ve been exploring some examples of organisations that have got their fundraising game down and are bringing it to the social age. and are able to have a wider and more positive impact because of this. From Charity: water who have perfected fun-raising, to organisations like Acumen who work mostly with large organisations. Here’s who I’ve looked at and lessons learned.

 

Charity: water are often cited as having some of the most innovative, modern and far reaching campaigns. They have a great 100% model where the money raised goes entirely to the projects whereas the funding for running the organisation is raised separately. They use technology amazingly well and make donating personal for example every donor gets a report telling them where the money went and the impact.

Their campaigns are fun and engaging. They encourage you to join a wider cause and involve your friends and family. From donating your birthday to ….

Storytelling is very much part of their work, the stories of people donating and the stories of the who having access to clean water is affecting. There is a storytelling page on their website and brilliantly engaging videos and photography are used throughout Charity: water’s impressive social media presence.

It is so refreshing to see the positive tone focusing on the impact the donations make rather than just the problem which can seem overwhelming or too big to tackle.

 

Acumen, on the other hand, focuses on support from big corporations and organisations. Their aim is to use enterprise and social investment to tackle poverty so this strategy matches perfectly. Their list of supporters reads like the who’s who of global leadership.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fjlVkMOD2M

They view their partners as a community and have a range of partnership streams from Stewards who donate $5M+ to development partners $10,000+ and in Kind partners. Partners in return get to attend partner only events, field visits and the Annual Investor Gathering & Deep Dive Sessions. It creates that idea that people like us support Acumen, that network  effect.

There is their global leadership program which allows people from all over the world to undergo training.  In terms of traditional fundraising, they also do a yearly auction of photographs in their dignity auction.

 

Do Something are a great organisation activating teens around causes they can support. Their rules are the campaign shouldn’t need a car, adult or money. It is a fascinating way of engaging young people and they have perfected their tools including texting.

What I love about their campaigns is how easy they are to connect to. They do this by making them clear and simple. For example their Teens for Jeans campaign had young people running jean drives and dropping them at their local Aeropostale store, to be given to other young people going through homelessness. Additionally they produce a yearly culture book which is a great way of sharing what their organisation does.

 

Possible Health provide a low-cost health care system in Nepal, that integrates government hospitals, clinics and community workers using their hub model. What strikes me about Possible Health’s fundraising is that although they don’t don’t have the loudest campaigns is the level of transparency. They produce not only yearly but quarterly impact reports. It explains where their funding comes from (mostly from foundations, then individuals and  company partnerships). As well as the insights they accomplished missed and shifted. This level of transparency continues in their morbidity and mortality reports.

The key things I’ve learned from studying these examples and will be thinking about for we approach “fun-raising” with Orkidstudio this year, firstly that transparency is key. Whether it’s publishing impact reports like possible health or sending reports to everyone that donates no matter how small like Charity: water. Secondly story telling makes a big impact, we relate to other people’s stories whereas numbers and statistics are hard to comprehend. Finally understanding who you want your donors to be will impact what methods are appropriate for connecting with them. Whether it’s through social media and texting like Do Something or conferences and brainstorming events like Acumen.

Some interesting reads if you want to find out more about these organisations are

Upleaf’s case study of Charity: water

Acumens’ Partner Pack

Give-well’s in depth review of Possible Health 

Weeks learnings/ discoveries_ 7.03.15

Catch & Release Project where Seaport’s residents created lovely thank you cards

The busy trap, being busy for the sake of being busy

How to speak to inspire change, is a great read from Simon Sinek

An insightful discussion between Debbie Millman and Seth Godin on how to overcome the lizard brain

The importance of taking breaks from technology, switch it off!

Have a point of view and express your point it daily, a thoughtful post from Seth Godin’s blog

The brilliantly inspiring Your Ad Here from Create London, connecting small businesses, artists and the community

Thank you Roberta Tassi for this amazing online resource of service design tools-

Creating an education system that is relevant to people Charles Leadbeater’s TED talk on his learnings from education in slums

How to write a great blog post from creative boom (I’ve started writing post-it notes when I start a blog post)

Who do you want your customers to become?

How much of your day are you spending finding the clients you want instead of working for the ones you have?

Seth Godin asks this question in his Creative Mornings talk (another great one, thanks Swiss Miss). I just rewatched this talk as I’ve started the job hunt again and remembered how slow and demoralising it can be, but Seth’s talk made me realise that I’ve been looking at the whole thing the wrong way! Instead of searching for positions and trying to get myself to fit the criteria, I should be looking for opportunities to use my skills to help people. Opportunities to work with the clients/ customers/ people I want. Opportunities to do work that makes a difference.

It requires a big change in mindset, to turn from seeing obstacles to seeing opportunities. To think of yourself as your own client. It’s not easy I’ve taken three steps to open my mind to come up with solutions and start thinking of an answer to this question. I’ve done each one as a quick brainstorm and will keep adding to it.

1. What is your idea of the worst work/ job you could do? Flip the question and describe what the worst work you could do would be. What are the worst types of clients, what would be the worst type of job, how could you do work that makes no change or doesn’t matter.
2. What would the ideal job/ project/ client be? Write a job description of the perfect job and even draw up your ideal schedule- what percentage of your time would you want to be for creative work, client work, other work?
3. How can you use your skills/ interests to create opportunities? Brainstorm the types of work you are interested in, why, how can I help people with it and how can I create opportunities?

Do you have any tips on how to create/ find projects that affect change? Let me know 🙂