Change.org's Social Entrepreneurship Blog

The Top 5 Ideas From TED Fellows

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-09T14:49:00-08:00

I spent this morning watching the TED Fellows talk about their work -- a group that included clean tech entrepreneurs, scientists, musicians, artists and more. All are, as TED Fellow founder and TED Community Manager Tom Rielly put it, polymaths who excel in far more than just their particular area of expertise.

Although I loved all of their presentations, five ideas stood out to me in particular as game-changing, mind-bending or generally vital.

1. The power of local value chains: Kickstarter founder Perry Chen talked about his company's model of giving artists and creators the power to harness their audiences for financial support. While I've been a fan of the company for awhile, I was incredibly impressed by the clarity with which Perry explained Kickstarter's fundraising principles -- particularly Kickstarter's efforts to create local value economies that care about things that larger exchanges and markets would easily bypass. As Perry explained, supporters of most Kickstarter projects derive their "return" from the act of co-creating whatever the project is. It's a reminder about the importance of rethinking "rules," especially when the conditions that create those rules have changed.

2. For the green economy, consumer desires are key. Just ask 20-year-old inventor Ben Pass Gulak. We all know our society needs electric vehicles, but as he says, the designs offered so far are -- "there's just no other way to say this...fuckin' ugly!" He's trying to change that with "Uno," a one-wheeled self-balancing, all-electric vehicle that looks like Batman invented it. Green entrepreneurs have to understand the power of design, sexiness, attraction and status if they ever hope to capture enough consumer demand to reach a tipping point.

3. Reimagining goals: Kellee Santiago designs video games that don't play by others' rules. Instead of creating environments focused on calculated amounts of destruction or killing, thatgamecompany has put out titles like "Flower," which actually turn gaming into a relaxing experience. Meanwhile, surrealist documentarian Anita Doron requested that her audience relinquish their fixed ideas of the world in order to re-experience it. Overall, the underlying message of both talks helped conference-goers recall the need to re-imagine the goals that define and constrain us.

4. Creativity inspired by constraint: Israeli artist Raffael Lomas focuses on discovering creativity within specific constraints. For years, he has sculpted using only the wheel as his base. He neither adds nor subtracts material, but only reshapes and remakes what he has. His discovery of infinite possibilities in spite of those constraints led him to begin leading artistic workshops for the blind. I think Twitter is another example of the creativity that's inspired when you introduce constraints. It's a lesson for all social entrepreneurs: any barrier can become a piece of the puzzle.

5. Rethinking everything from the ground up: One of the closing presentations was from the incredibly big-thinking Mitchell Joaquim. As an architect and city planner, Mitchell reimagines entire landscapes, with the goal of designing from entirely different starting points. For example, one of his company's early projects involves putting the entire apparatus of a vehicle into the wheel itself, making it so that you can create a vehicle out of anything that you can add a wheel to. This has allowed for a wholesale rethinking of the car, and his company is now beginning to test a city-focused vehicle that could fold for easy use -- like a shopping cart -- saving space and energy in the process. The implication is right out of Lawrence of Arabia -- if "Nothing is Written," then we get to write the future.

Photo Credit: TEDConferences

This Week: Live from the TED Conference

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-09T13:35:00-08:00

Right now, I'm on my way to the TED conference, one of the most renowned events for global thought leaders in the world. For the next five days, I'll be surrounded by new ideas and, frankly, a lot of people who have the power to make those ideas happen.

While TED’s origins go back a long way, it’s only since TED started making its talks available for free to the public in 2006 that it has morphed from a must-attend insiders' event to a true leader in the fight to, as I wrote last year, “make the world safe for smart.”

Since the first videos were posted on TED.com, TED talks have been viewed more than 200 million times. This is no not-fly-by-night video fad. These are intensely intellectual and creative talks meant to prod and stretch the mind into new shapes and modes of thinking.

Over the last year, TED has launched a new program to expand the audience even further, the TEDx program. TEDx gives people around the world the ability to use TED talks as a platform for hosting their own local events. In the first year, 230 events were held in 80 countries. This year, some 350+ are planned.

Yet the main conference, held annually in Long Beach, CA, remains the intellectual mecca and heartbeat of the community. From now until Saturday, I’ll be blogging about the people, ideas and spaces I encounter there. Some of what I'm most excited about includes:

1. The Fellows Program – In its second year, the Fellows program gives 25 new fellows and 20 senior fellows (returning from last year’s fellowship classes) the chance to return to TED. The 25 members of the fellows class are incredibly diverse and wildly talented.

2. The Social Spaces – Believe it or not, I’m perhaps more excited about the series of almost 10 hang-out spots that members of the TED community are hosting. They range from places for the “global soul” to a hub for techies. They haven’t opened yet, but I think that conversations that happen in such meet-ups will be one of the highlights.

3. Unexpected Brilliance – One of the characteristics that seems to shape TED talks -– even online –- is that you can never tell which speakers will pound you in the guts or scream to your soul. I’m obviously looking forward to talks by folks like Bill Gates, and anti-trafficking leader Kevin Bates, but I have literally no idea which of the other talks will grab me.

4. CrossPollination – I love sector-specific events like the Skoll Forum, and I think places with a high density of people in a related field can be magical (hence my move to San Francisco to start a web company). But TED is about the interaction that happens when you get great folks from across sectors and disciplines together. I’ll be doing my best to capture that mood and mode while I’m there all this week, so stay tuned!

Photo Credit: TEDConferences

Student by Day, Robin Hood by Night: A How-To Guide

Caitlin Cohen — 2010-02-08T12:17:00-08:00

This is part 7 of an 11-part series on Undergraduate Social Entrepreneurship coordinated by the Social Innovation Initiative at Brown University. This post's author is Caitlin Cohen, Chair and Co-Founder of the Mali Health Organizing Project

Student social entrepreneurs find themselves straddling a chasm between the ivory tower and communities facing a total lack of resources. It can be a distinctly uncomfortable split, even for the most limber, and the urge to start Robin-Hooding is overpowering. Many of us have heard the story of Paul Farmer pilfering hundreds of thousands of dollars of medications and equipment from Harvard-affiliated hospitals, but we can't all count on rich benefactors to bail us out -- or our moral high-ground to shield us from legal ramifications.

As an undergraduate, I started an organization called the Mali Health Organizing Project (MHOP). At the time, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. Since then, though, I've been able to grow it to serve a community of 100,000, mostly by leveraging my university connections. After all, there are plenty of perfectly legal means to Robin-Hood the intellectual and material resources that any college or university has to offer, including:

1) Getting the $

Many universities offer fellowships to help you with summer projects. If you take time off, you might be able to extend that funding into the fall semester. Be sure to apply for everything you are remotely eligible for, while tailoring each application to the specific guidelines of the grant. MHOP-affiliated students have received at least six student grants such as the Starr Fellowship, essentially providing us with a solid start-up labor force.

Also, think outside the box. Lots of offices have discretionary funding. You can cobble funding together from lots of places. Going to a Spanish-speaking country? Ask the Spanish department for $500. The President's office, Dean's office, Chaplain's office, Public Service program and Greek programs are all fair game. And parties can be a great way to raise small ($100-400) amounts of money, by asking students to do what they do best.

2) Professors

Getting a professor on board early can help enormously with your credibility. They can help connect you to people in your field, write you recommendation letters, put their name on your letterhead, join your board and advise you on strategy. If they are a well-known professor, they may be able to connect you with the big-name alumnae or administrators at your university. I even had a professor give me free rent for five months when I was trying to get MHOP off the ground.

3) Independent studies

Many universities allow you to create independent studies. One of MHOP's interns returned to Brown and created a class on high-impact user-driven development. The course used MHOP as a case study, with the hope of promoting constructive criticism. For term papers, I sent out a list of questions that could help improve our programs (eg, does a mother's local language literacy or colonial language literacy make a bigger impact on child survival?). Some of the papers were beautifully researched, and incredibly helpful for grant applications, impact documentation and more.

4) Student groups

Students want to help, and most of the time they are not sure how. Form an official student group. Have the student group participate in all parts of the project, not just fundraising. There are many student groups that have done quite a bit for policy (eg. Genocide Intervention Network) and for fundraising (eg Dance Marathon, FaceAIDS). MHOP's student group gives us a considerable presence on campus, recruiting volunteers, donors and advisors into the organization.

5) Leverage the name of the university

You, by virtue of being a student, have the de facto credibility of your university's name. Use it while you have it. You can absolutely use phrases like "founded by ______ university students" or "with the academic and financial support of ______ University." When a donor sees this information, they might be more likely to take you seriously. (However, this is a double-edged sword. If you are working with a nearby underserved population, the university name might damage your credibility, making you be seen as elitist or detached.)

6) Logistical resources

You have a host of hidden resources at your fingertips. Let's start with an easy one: Free printing. (If you don't have it, ask a department for it.) What about software licenses? Academic databases? Meeting spaces? Mail boxes? Mail metering? At the Development Office, there are plenty of professionals who might advise your fundraising plans. There might also be MBA students around, who can likewise help with your plans. After graduation, you have access to cheap health insurance (often through the alumni office).

There's also free food -- oh, yes, get good at crashing events. And public relations: send your updates out to the PR department, they will want to brag about you. (Don't forget alumni magazines -- get them to do an article about your work!) You have alumni networks to recruit supporters from. You likely have writing or editing services that can help whip your grant applications into shape. You can find funding to send you to conferences to present your work, and turn to arts departments for volunteer graphic designers, web designer and more.And that's not even mentioning unlimited library access.

Some of these things are, well, priceless. But some of them have a concrete value. Make sure you calculate what you could have spent on a PO box, on photocopying, on a website, etc. You can count these as in-kind contributions, which give your organization a gravitas much greater than your cash budget.

It feels incredibly satisfying to put a big fat (and real!) number on the resources you've Robin-Hooded. Here's the caveat: know how to either keep these resources or replace them once you graduate. Good luck, and let us know about your coups!

Photo Credit: Eishier

New Orleans Wins Super Bowl, Gets New Social Entrepreneurship-Loving Mayor

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-08T07:13:00-08:00

Sure, sure, the Super Bowl was exciting. Who didn't want the underdog -- particularly from America's beating heart of New Orleans -- to win? (Okay, besides Indiana fans.) Still, though, even more exciting for social entrepreneurs was Saturday's news that Mitch Landrieu, former Lt. Governor of Louisiana, was elected to become the city's mayor.

With 66% of the vote, Landrieu won the election outright, boxing out 10 opponents and closing the door on eight-year mayor Ray Nagin. While Nagin was thrust into the spotlight in the wake of Katrina, New Orleans residents had grown increasingly frustrated with his administration's inability to accelerate the recovery process.

Landrieu ran on a platform that promised to bring together an array of actors to unify the recovery process. The fact that he comes from a well-established political family didn't hurt, either. His father Moon Landrieu was the last white mayor of the city some three decades ago, and was apparently a much-beloved figure. Meanwhile his sister, Mary Landrieu, is one of Louisiana's two Senators.

To me, what's really intriguing about Landrieu's victory is the spirit of social innovation and support for social entrepreneurship he might bring to the office.

During fall 2006, Louisiana launched an Office for Social Entrepreneurship -- the first of its kind in the United States. The initiative was crafted by then-Lt. Governor Landrieu, and included a social venture business plan competition and a series of workshops and capacity-building conferences, as well as a programs to unite private and public sector leaders around accelerating innovation. Such a move would be forward-looking even today -- but three years ago, it was literally one-of-a-kind.

Since Katrina, New Orleans has witnessed an explosion of social entrepreneurship and creativity. I recommend checking out New Orleans 100, put together by All Day Buffet, to get a sense for the full breadth of cool initiatives on the rise. Such innovators deserve a real partner in the government -- and with Mitch Landrieu now sitting in the mayor's office, they just may have gotten it.

Photo Credit: dsb nola

G7 Countries to Cancel Haiti's Bilateral Debt

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-07T14:06:00-08:00

In a show of support for earthquake-devastated Haiti last night, the leaders of the G7 nations announced that they would be canceling all of the country's bilateral debt.

As the BBC reports, the actual amount in question is small, as Haiti's largest bilateral debts are not held by G7 nations (which include Canada, the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Japan). Most of its debt is owed to multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund. While such agencies cancelled some $1.2 of Haiti's almost $2 billion in debt last year, the chorus is growing louder for them to eliminate the remainder.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner welcomed the G7's commitments, and said that the U.S. would help lead the conversations to get outstanding debt to those multilateral bodies canceled.

Yesterday's announcement comes on the heels of decades of debt relief activism -- and controversy.

In the 1990s, a coalition of top NGOs and faith-based organizations came together to advocate for relief, which eventually prompted the creation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative. The HIPC program isn't without its critics: Some who oppose the initiative, for example, argue that the conditions placed on debt forgiveness -- from governance requirements to policy adjustments -- make the initiative just another tool for the West to make the economic world in its image.

On the other hand, many critique debt relief programs from another perspective, worrying that such programs reward bad behavior by making governments assume that they can freely spend money in an irresponsible fashion, rather than invest in their country's infrastructure.

It's a complicated debate, but saddling countries with burdens that prevent them from building the infrastructure needed to help people move from the informal to formal sector (and begin paying taxes) doesn't help those who need it most. All it does is force countries into a "stuck before you start" situation. So for the G7 to take a step toward cancelling Haiti's debt is an important one, even if the actual amounts involved are not the most significant of Haiti's debts. Let's hope international lending institutions step up to match the commitment.

Photo Credit: United Nations Development Programme

Digital Work for the Poor: The Next Big Opportunity?

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-06T09:45:00-08:00

Congratulations to Samasource and Crowdflower, which have won the title of "Netexplorateur" of the Year, thanks to the creation of their GiveWork application. GiveWork -- which allows iPhone users around the world to support work opportunities for the poorest of the poor -- is a groundbreaking application, and the recognition is much-deserved.

Samasource is a firm that helps refugees and others in poverty earn income by completing digital tasks that include clerical and data input, photo tagging and translation, among others. It business development side brings in the contracts (often partnering with groups like Crowdflower to do so), while its field team trains employees and helps facilitate task completion. As a nonprofit, Samasource is dedicated primarily to the income and professional growth of its employees, with the goal of helping participants progress further and further down the path of higher-skilled work and additional education.

How does it work? The GiveWork application works on the iPhone, and allows American or Western iPhone users to cross-check the work of Samasource employees completing tasks. The money that Samasource receives from application sales goes to train more people on the ground. Just as importantly, the GiveWork application acts as a quality control mechanism. Matching iPhone users' answers with that of Samasource's field employees answers ensures quality.

There's a lot of buzz around Samasource right now, for good reason. The knowledge economy is only going to grow in importance -- which is exciting, but also opens up the possibility of a deepening digital divide. What I like most about Samasource is its commitment to making its employees better able to compete broadly, not just better able to do their specific tasks and assignments.

Other Netexplorateurs recognized this year are worth pondering as well. Some are more familiar, like the LUCAS system that's being developed as a way to improve field diagnostics in global health. Others, like the LAYAR augmented-reality system, are fascinating for their potential to shift the way we consume knowledge and interact with the spaces around us.

You can find the full list here, and read more about digital work at Samasource.org.

Photo Credit: luc leguy

Seeding a Crop of Social Innovators

Molly Mills — 2010-02-05T12:24:00-08:00

This is part 6 of an 11-part series on Undergraduate Social Entrepreneurship coordinated by the Social Innovation Initiative (SII) at Brown University. This post was written by Molly Mills, leader of the SII Grants Competition.

When I can plant a few seeds and watch them grow into a harvest that feeds an entire community, I really feel like I have a "green thumb." The Social Innovation Initiative (SII) Grant Competition plants these seeds by funding early-stage undergraduate social ventures at Brown University. Our process reaches and engages multiple audiences, including alumni, community members and participants.

Here's a run-down of the steps:

1. Bring in the gardeners: Early on in our process, we match all applicants with mentors who watch short, video-recorded ‘elevator pitches' from each student before connecting with applicants according to their field or area of expertise. These mentors provide guidance and support throughout the competition, and continue to nurture early-stage ventures as they mature into full-fledged project plans.

2. Fertilize the soil: Young innovators depend on mutual support and shared resources, especially on a very small campus. In a peer critique process, applicants present developing projects before three or four colleagues (faculty, students or alums) who give constructive comments and ask tough questions about the project's sustainability, innovation, logistical feasibility and social impact. Each of our applicants gets to both pitch their idea during critique and sit as a "peer" offering comments on another project idea.

3. Water the sprouts: Students who move through these stages next submit a written project narrative to a set of judges who select finalists. These finalists go on to present their ideas at a live competitive event where we typically have an audience of over 150 students and alumni. In the past few years, the SII Grant Competition has funded a number of phenomenal programs. Our prizes have gone to Runa LLC, Mali Health Organization Project, Rainwater for Humanity, Gardens for Health International, The Capital Good Fund and Solarcycle. Using these funds as a starting point, these projects undertake work that ranges from rainwater harvest in southern India to micro-lending in the local Providence, RI community.

4. Harvest the Crop: We harvest our crop in the Spring (like asparagus). The SII grant provides early-stage legitimacy, networking, in-kind service prizes and a "get off the ground" cash boost. However, the power of this funding is mainly felt in the after-effects -- while we've helped our winners raise $75,000, overall, the total fundraising of these ventures has grown to $900,000. Every applicant who competes in our funding process walks away with feedback from multiple experienced sources, rigorously judged project plans and continued access to a community of social innovators who are joining them in their journey, or have led the way. The grant provides motivation, but the process is what sparks real growth.

5. Gather Seeds for Next Season: Once the cash has been dished out, we look at what we've grown -- a yield of high-quality and rigorously investigated social change projects in the hands of young people, bolstered by a community of experienced and invested mentors. And then we start the season again.

Photo Credit: Jack Amick

In Haiti, Are Informal Markets a Hope or Hindrance?

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-05T11:33:00-08:00

Anyone who has spent time in the markets of the developing world can tell you that entrepreneurship is not just for well-educated, venture-backed Americans. The hustle, creativity and cleverness of entrepreneurs in places I've been, from Uganda to Cairo, is always awesome to see in action. But as Haiti's informal sector explodes in the wake of crisis, it's worth asking whether this is a help or a hindrance for the nation.

The informal economy refers to economy activity that occurs outside the bounds of government regulation and control. In short, it goes untaxed (at least in a formal way). It has the benefits of mobility and flexibility, but for many involved, it lacks stability.

Global Envision wrote yesterday about how many who were once in the formal economy are now trying to make a little bit of money with informal activities in the street markets, such as charging cell phone batteries. On the one hand, such activities are a testament to the resilience of the Haitian people, and a reminder of how core markets and exchanges are to human societies.

On the other hand, the informal economy — particularly in a post-crisis situation — comes with its own set of problems.

One of the trends that often emerges after a crisis is that people decide certain things aid groups are supplying them with are more valuable to trade or sell than to use. In extreme cases, such as the flight of Rwandan Hutu's over the Congolese border after being driven out of power in 1994, such well-organized groups can use aid disbursements to seize economic and political power when society is most vulnerable.

Even when that doesn't happen, there are still long-term costs to a society from having too high a percentage of the workforce in the informal economy. This cost comes not only in the form of lost revenue from taxes, but also lost trust in the social contract between people and government.

Taxation — and governance as a whole — relies on people to trust the government to make fair decisions about how to allocate resources and which laws to enforce, among myriad other decisions. Participation in the benefits of society involves an implicit acceptance of the relationship between people and the government. But since most in the informal economy don't receive much in the way of benefits from government, moving to the formal sector and facing taxation seems like a cost with no gain. This is a kind of chicken-and-egg question: how does a government build trust around the social contract, if it has no resources or mechanisms to do so?

Even before the quake, an estimated 80% of Port-au-Prince's workers worked in the informal market. While it's great to see people find economic coping mechanisms, in the long run, more of Haiti will have to participate in the formal sector if the Haitian government is ever to have the trust and resources it needs to govern effectively.

Photo Credit: American Red Cross

Launching a No-Office Experiment

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-05T10:50:00-08:00

The world of work spaces is getting revolutionized. Co-working is exploding everywhere, and it's never been easier for teams to be located in multiple locations, thanks to the power of virtual collaboration. But for most large companies, virtual working remains the exception. That's why it'll be so fascinating to see what Inc. Magazine will learn as it launches a one-month experiment to work without an office.

In a blog post a couple days ago, Inc.'s Max Chafkin announced the company's plan to learn the good, bad and ugly of the virtual work lifestyle -- the hard way. For one month, some staffers will work from home, and others from cafés. Everyone, though, will be learning the tricks of the trade with new applications and technology to ease the blow.

During the experiment, they'll be blogging about their experiences, and at the end of it all, they'll publish a piece about the month they spent scattered in different locations. As Chafkin points out, their experiment is particularly significant, given that the norm in the publishing industry remains having writers, editors and designers in the same place as they finalize a piece.

I'm curious to see what their learning curve looks like. The teams I've worked with have been largely virtual, ever since my first big project in college in which my friends and I launched a magazine from Tokyo, Cairo and Argentina. But I'm sure we probably sucked at it at first. I'm sure I probably still do. So far, though, the costs have (so far) largely outweighed the benefits. If a major publication can get to that tipping point in just a month, that's an experiment with some real meaning.

Personally, I think the shift toward increasing numbers of virtual workspaces is a natural evolution. Just as our "careers" and job responsibilities are shifting, so, too, are the spaces in which we work. I think this is good news for social entrepreneurs, who have never had better tools to keep together teams thousands of miles apart.

Will Inc.;'s experiment have some broader lessons for the workplace? I hope so. As workplaces continue to change, there's no shortage that entrepreneurs can learn from the magazine's experiment, as well.

Photo Credit: zenobia_joy

Making Foundations More Transparent

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-04T14:31:00-08:00

Whether you think they're relics from another era, or vital actors for a more just 21st century, most people can agree that foundations have been relatively slow-moving when it comes to engagement with social media. Larry Blumenthal of the Robert Woods Johnson foundation, for example, wrote last year about how it's like pulling teeth to get foundation officers to get on the interwebs.

But the new era of social media is about more than chatter, it's about transparency. For that reason, it's great to see the Foundation Center's new initiative, Glasspockets, push foundations down the path of openness.

Glasspockets is basically an interface that helps break down the information that foundations make about themselves into more easily navigable and comparable chunks. A Glasspocket profile of a foundation includes links (or reveals the conspicuous absence of links) to the different social networks the foundation is on, as well as to whistle-blower procedures and searchable databases of past grants. Most of the information comes directly from foundation websites, but this tool makes it much easier to get to exactly what you want and need.

One of the reasons I think this is important is that even when the nonprofit sector collects data (foundation grantees are a good area), it's usually extremely hard to find, navigate and manipulate. This project takes a first step toward making that information more accessible.

Governments face the same problem with information accessibility, though likewise, there are signs of change afoot. The other day, I was talking with a friend who's taking a job at the World Bank to help them figure out how to unlock and re-format the immensity of their data about international development to make it more generally useful. There are also projects going on in the social sector like the Social Entrepreneurship API, which are meant to explicitly provide common formats for some of the data about nonprofits and social ventures.

For me, the really exciting stuff occurs when people can use information to solve real-life problems. Far too many of the nonprofit technology projects I see are cool initiatives that are trying to solve a problem that people just don't have (i.e. creating another platform for funding projects), or aren't thinking in terms of problems at all. This is an area in which deep review of the consumer web world, with a particular eye to what makes data-driven applications successful or not, could be good for the field.

Still, though, we're in an early place with mass availability of nonprofit data, and I do think there's a natural process of experimentation that has to occur. One of the obvious implications of developments like open foundation data is a more robust exchange of funder data, which could help social entrepreneurs and nonprofits get directly to the mission-aligned capital that's right for them.

All in all, I continue to be impressed with the Foundation Center's experimentation, and am excited to see if and how people use this new resource.

Photo Credit: optimal tweezers

How Legit is Pepsi Refresh?

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-04T10:50:00-08:00

After the Chase debacle, one could forgive the nonprofit sector for being a little leery of cause marketing competitions. Now, though, Pepsi has launched its major "Pepsi Refresh" initiative, the company's major brand positioning for 2010. At the centerpiece of "Refresh" is a series of monthly cause marketing competitions, in which up to 1,000 nonprofits can compete for award money. Each month, users vote up the top nonprofits and Pepsi will select up to 32 winners.

The question is: how does the initiative stack up? At first glance, it seems to be doing a whole lot of things better than some of its predecessors.

Here's a run-down of its notable features:

1. Varying competition levels. One of the challenges of something like the Chase competition was that the variety of entrants meant that tiny nonprofits with a few staff were competing against comparative juggernauts with far wider networks and far more time. Refresh addresses this by having four different award levels — $5,000, $25,000, $50,000, and $250,000 — so that organizations can pick the level at which they're most likely to compete successfully.

2. Prominent Leaderboard. One of the biggest complaints with the Chase competition was that they didn't have a leaderboard, making it very difficult for nonprofits to know where they stood. Refresh prominently features leaderboards (although I wish they'd also feature vote tallies).

3. Rollover value. The top 100 vote-getters per month are automatically entered into the next month's competition, although they don't start the month with legacy votes. This means that an organization that doesn't win, but has worked hard to mobilize, doesn't have to go through the application process to be listed again.

4. Promise of a quick turnaround. Pepsi Refresh claims that they will get the money out to organizations within a matter of weeks after the competition ends. That claim demonstrates they understand the sort of pressure most nonprofits are under, and if they can pull it off, it would be a serious model to emulate.

5. Deeper partnerships. Pepsi is working with GOOD magazine and a few other partners, presumably to make sure that they actually understand and add value in ways that resonate with the lived experience of nonprofits. While Chase had an advisory board, this seems to me a deeper level of partnership that could make a big difference.

At the end of the day, it's still early, and "Refresh" is still just another kind of cause marketing. As Umair Haque argues in a post today, the campaign is great, but let's remember that in the end, it's being run by a company that makes sugar water. Still, though, it's good to see that we're not all howling into a vacuum, and that in fact there is some real room for partnerships with big companies like Pepsi.

Photo Credit: jacreative

The Top Three Lessons Avatar Can Teach Social Entrepreneurs

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-04T06:27:00-08:00

Avatar has officially broken all the box office records. It's made more than $2 billion in the global box office, and as of yesterday, it surpassed Titanic to become the highest-grossing movie in U.S. history. As I watched it yesterday for the second and a third (long story) time, I couldn't help think about a few lessons that social entrepreneurs could take from the movie. I'm listing my thoughts here, in ascending order. (SPOILER ALERT: I've tried not to give away too much, but if you haven't seen Avatar, you may want to turn back now.)

#3. The Profit Motive is Complicated and, Unchecked, Often Dangerous: This is the one of the movie's most obvious lessons, but still important to restate. The main conflict in Avatar is that a company from Earth is trying to get the indigenous Na'vi on a planet called Pandora away from their ancestral home because it sits on an extremely rich deposit of "Unobtanium," a metallic substance that sells for $20 million a kilo. The Avatar program is a scientific approach to learning more about the Na'vi and Pandora, which the company supports financially as a way to find a diplomatic approach to getting the Na'vi out of the way. At the same time, the company has a private army that's chomping at the bit looking for an excuse to go in with all guns blazing. As protagonist Jake Sully puts it, "This is what they do. When you're sitting on something they want, they make you an enemy so they're justified in taking it."

How much of our planet's history is a story of resource wars? One need look no further than the destruction of the Congo for its various minerals (including the Coltan that is an essential part of the silicon chips on this computer and yours). Social entrepreneurs get incredibly excited about the possibility of using markets to raise standards of living, end poverty and distribute important goods and services. But we can't get so caught in our own rhetoric that we forget that opportunities for profit often deny justice, rather than promote it.

#2: There Are Always Things We Don't Understand: Avatar is about the limits of humans to see the massive web of connections and relationships that create life. On Pandora, these connections are real, measurable and manifest, but still beyond even scientists' comprehension. Throughout the movie, you see the scientists trying to take samples and piece understanding together, but they're never fully able to comprehend the depth of interconnectedness that defines Pandora.

One of the great challenges with trying to scale any solution is creating pathways for local customization. The sort of education that helps stop the spread of HIV in Uganda may be totally inadequate for the realities of Thai life, for example. I think the only thing that social entrepreneurs can do is be humble to the reality that there are always things we don't understand, and create opportunities for others to teach and be co-creators.

#1: Persistence Matters: Avatar director James Cameron wrote the first basis for the script in 1994, and was originally planning on releasing the picture in 1998 after Titanic. He quickly decided, however, that the technology was simply not ready for the vision he had in mind. For the next decade, the project remained on the backburner. Eventually, the Avatar crew actually designed new types of cameras to better create the experience of Pandora. The actual production of the film took another four years, before it was finally released last December.

This point is simply that most things worth doing take a lot of hard work. Social innovation is certainly that way, and it's worth a reminder that end of the day, it's all about the hustle.

Photo Credit: Rego

Sustainable Haiti Conference Aims For "What's Next"

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-03T12:53:00-08:00

It's been just a few short weeks after a devastating earthquake rocked Haiti, killing 200,000 and displacing far more. Yet already, the volume of coverage in mainstream and even social change-focused media has dramatically dropped. Fortunately, this March, an unusual conference is aiming to keep the conversation alive and help change agents figure out how to best be a part of Haiti's recovery.

Attention drop-off is the standard story for disasters. A crisis occurs, the world's attention becomes focused, nonprofits rush in, donations come in extraordinary amounts. The media loses interest first, followed by individual citizens, followed eventually by nonprofits as specific dollars for the crisis dry up. Everyone moves on...except the people at the center of the disaster, who are left to rebuild on their own.

This boom-and-bust cycle of humanitarian relief has been constant for the last two decades. And while humanitarian groups can't be the permanent lifeline of any successful society, the fact that Western media outlets may have looked away shouldn't be a reason for recovery efforts to subside.

Reorienting the media is difficult. But nonprofits still have some power to shift the worst aspects of the boom-bust cycle. Among the best strategies for groups that have particular skills, but no previous long-term commitment to Haiti, is to connect with groups that have been and are committed to the country, and see what they can learn and where they can be helpful.

That's the goal of the "Sustainable Haiti" conference, which is being held in conjunction with the Social Venture Capital/Social Enterprise conference next month in Miami. The event will include almost 50 panels, as well as workshops over three days that will include topics ranging from "Explaining Aid Distribution" to "Diaspora's Defining Moment."

The net proceeds of the event will be donated to relief organizations, but the real impact will be in the connections made, and the conversations started.

To learn more about the conference, check out this site.

Photo Credit: USAID Images

Doing Good While Bridging the College-Community Gap

Rachel Levenson — 2010-02-03T09:55:00-08:00

This is part 5 of an 11-part series on Undergraduate Social Entrepreneurship coordinated by the Social Innovation Initiative at Brown University. This post's author is Rachel Levenson, Chief Coordinator of BRYTE.

In nonprofit work, it's often the "Wouldn't it be great if...?" questions that propel development and change. As I've had a chance to learn firsthand, among college students, the combination of enthusiasm and naiveté creates an environment particularly conducive for such questions.

During the fall of my junior year at Brown, I began to coordinate Brown Refugee Youth Tutoring and Enrichment (BRYTE). As the young, ambitious leader of a young, ambitious organization, I had ideas coming out of my ears about directions for the group, and particularly about ways in which I could leverage my status as a student to best serve Providence's refugee community.

BRYTE, a student-led, weekly in-home refugee tutoring and mentoring organization, works in partnership with the International Institute of Rhode Island, the primary refugee resettlement organization in the state. Formed in the fall of 2006 by a Brown student who spent her summer working at the International Institute, as an organization, BRYTE began with close ties to its community partner. Early on, its founder, for example, met with staff at the Institute on a weekly basis to monitor the development of BRYTE.

But by the time I assumed leadership two years later, ties between BRYTE leadership and the Institute had weakened.

There were no longer weekly meetings, and turnover at both the International Institute and among Brown students resulted in a gaping communication hole between the two organizations.

So, as a new leader, my "Wouldn't it be great" questions didn't manage to take into account the work already being done by the International Institute. For example, after hearing reports from volunteers about the difficulties refugee parents had in identifying and paying bills sent to their homes, I asked: "Wouldn't it be great if BRYTE provided financial literacy training?"

To address this question, another student and I pitched a plan to several staff members of the International Institute's Refugee Resettlement department. The idea was kindly shot down. They told me that the Institute already works closely with each family on financial literacy, and that the best thing that BRYTE could offer with their goals was to help with English language and literacy.

It'd be easy to dismiss this incident as simply the mistake of a young leader. But I think it's a symptom of a larger problem: a lack of coordination and mutual accountability between student leaders and groups, and their community partners.

With that in mind, here are two of the greatest goals I've found as necessary in trying to straddle that communication gap:

1) Recognize the limitations of students doing community work.

Last summer, during a conversation with several staff members at the International Institute, I was surprised to learn that Brown students do not have a great reputation for the work they do in Providence. "Brown students come down from their campus and think they can do everything better than us," one co-worker told me.

While this particular group of staff members may have been particularly frustrated, their criticism, and my surprise, points to a lack of sensitivity of students about the impact of their presence and their work on community members, particularly on community partners.

Students, after all, are a transient bunch. While college may be a four-year experience, not all of the four years are spent on campus. Between winter and summer vacation and shorter breaks during the semesters, students are in the town or city of their college for less than eight months a year.

What's more, students don't always know what's best, and need to recognize that. Particularly for people doing community work where interpersonal relations are critical, students can't develop interpersonal connections in a day. And reading theories of change is very different from helping enable actions that promote change.

2) Create value for your organization.

First: communicate with your partners, often. Make meetings, go to staff meetings, email and call -- let partners know what the students are putting into the work they do. After a summer working at the Institute, I still attend meetings and stop by the building as often as possible. I am also in weekly contact with staff. Second: identify successes and plans for the future. BRYTE provides the Institute with progress reports for each volunteer's work. A staff member at the Institute then reads those reports and responds. These reports not only provide the Institute with volunteer hours, but also are weekly evidence of the impact of BRYTE's work. Likewise, last summer I designed a BRYTE/International Institute Internship, while this fall, one BRYTE leader in training is working at the Institute two days a week.

Third: involve the community partner in work being done. Recently, BRYTE organized a Thanksgiving meal for the BRYTE families and invited the entire staff of the Refugee Resettlement department. While this was an event primarily for the refugees in the program, involvement of Institute staff helped to support a growing community built among Brown students and Institute staff, as well as other community members.

By creating their own individual value, students are in turn more able to hold their community partner accountable for the work they do. Such mutual accountability -- based on respect and knowledge for what each partner is doing -- can help both students and their community partners effectively leverage each of their respective resources. For young social entrepreneurs, then, my question is: "Wouldn't it be great if you established a partnership where you value your community partner's work and they valued yours?"

Photo Credit: Brandon Godfrey

Celebrating the Unsung Heroes of Black History

Benjamin Jealous — 2010-02-03T06:17:00-08:00

Benjamin Todd Jealous is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Mr Jealous is the 17th President and Chief Executive Officer of the NAACP.

Every February, we celebrate the triumphs and accomplishments of African Americans, as families, classrooms and libraries across the nation commemorate Black History Month. It is a time to recognize the giants of our struggle, from Harriet Tubman to Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama.

But history is more than just a collection of famous people and major dates. Indeed, it is a multi-layered narrative in which individual decisions lead to collective movements, where context, timing and personalities combine to create the space for social change to occur.

Without question, the Montgomery Bus Boycott needed a Rosa Parks to take her legendary stand, but it also depended on the thousands of individuals making the courageous decision morning after morning to risk their jobs, their health and their safety to bring a measure of justice to the Jim Crow South. Each of these participants deserves our recognition too. Examples are as varied as our community itself. Here are just a few examples recognized by NAACP members:

Mary Shaw was the first African-American principal in Queens, NY, and served as a teacher and principal from 1890 to 1896 of the successful Colored School in Flushing. In her will, she bequeathed monies to the Flushing Library and Tuskegee Institute, helping to establish the Flushing Free Library.

In 1960, J. Rayfield Vines led sit-in protests at lunch counters in his hometown Suffolk, Virginia. He was arrested and charged with any number of wild charges -- including inciting riot -- but his actions helped integrate the Suffolk Woolworths that year.

A deacon in his Cleveland, Ohio Church and CEO of the Cleveland Chapter of the Red Cross, Steve Bullock became the first African American president of the American Red Cross in 1999. Today he continues to share his knowledge of selfless leadership to non-profit organizations around the world.

Every organizer who fought against workplace inequality, every neighbor who registered his or her block to vote, every volunteer who works with at-risk youth today, is an unsung hero of black history.

This month, the NAACP has launched a new interactive web feature celebrating these little-known black history heroes. NAACP members and supporters around the country will have the opportunity to upload a photo and tell the story of their favorite unsung hero to be published on our website. Viewers will be able to read, learn and share their stories.

The world-changing advances made by African Americans were neither pre-ordained nor inevitable. They are the product of thousands of individuals who changed the world with small decisions every day. With your help, we can expand our understanding of the narrative of black history, one hero at a time.

Photo credit: Matt Lemmon

Fellowship Frenzy: Opportunities for Social Entrepreneurs

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-02T14:02:00-08:00

If April is the cruelest month, turns out February is fellowship season. A number of my favorite organizations across the social entrepreneurship space have just opened application or nomination processes for fellowships that offer community, money, free attendance at conferences and more. Here's a list of the one's I've come across recently and wanted to share -- please use the comments to fill me in if I've missed any.

PopTech Social Innovation Fellowship: The PopTech Social Innovation Fellows program has quickly become an incredibly respected and competitive program for young social entrepreneurs. Now in its third year, the program brings 20 participants a year to Camden, Maine for a week of training, including participation in the annual PopTech conference. They're accepting nominations now. Nomination process closes March 31.

Cordes Fellowship for the Opportunity Collaboration: The Opportunity Collaboration is one of the best new conferences to launch in the last couple years. A five day "unconference" in Mexico, the event is one of the more immersive experiences I've had in the field. The Cordes Fellowship will allow 50 social innovators to come at deeply discounted rates. Application due April 15th.

Global Health Corps: Global Health Corps is a program to give the next generation of medical professionals the chance to learn about health from the ground up. They've partnered with Partners in Health to provide an incredible experience. This will be their second class of fellows. The deadline for March 1 for American applicants and April 1 for international applicants.

Global Citizen Year: GCY has a big, audacious goal: to give every American student the chance to spend the year after high school learning about the world by being a part of it. Last year, they sent a first class of students to Guatemala and Senegal to partner with local community development organizations, and they're now accepting applications for their second class. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Priority deadline is March 15, the final deadline is May 15th.

Mind Trust Fellowship: The Mind Trust supports education-focused entrepreneurs who are creating big, bold solutions to address how we prepare the next generation of global leaders. Alums of their fellowship include Abby Falik, the founder of Global Citizen Year, discussed above. Applications are currently being accepted on a rolling basis.

TEDGlobal Fellows: TEDGlobal is the annual TED conference held in Oxford, U.K. This year's theme is "And Now, The Good News," and it promises more of the TED goodness we all experience through the talks hosted online, plus the power of in-person connection. Fellows go for free. Application process closes February 26th.

Photo Credit: PopTech

On Progressive, Subtle Change and the iPad

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-02T11:41:00-08:00

Over the past week, buzz around the iPad has been deafening. First it was the rumors, then it was the reactions -- on the one hand, scathing attacks, and on the other, passionate defenses. (Each accompanied by an avalanche of jokes about the name.)

For some, the din started to seem like too much, especially when pitted against other events -- President Obama's State of the Union address, for example, or the death of lifelong rabble-rouser for equity and justice, Howard Zinn. To people like tech blogger Anil Dash and frog design's Kritina Loring, the conversation about the gadget seemed strangely hollow.

Kristina wrote a piece for GOOD wondering "what if" instead of just announcing a cool new product, Jobs had used his incredible media platform to talk about skyrocketing deficits, disaster in Haiti, or some other topic of global significance? What if he went farther and made a major public resource commitment?

While I agree that our obsession about objects gets vacuous pretty quickly, there was something about her line of argument that nagged at me. That something is the subtlety of change.

Howard Zinn, perhaps best known as the author of A People's History of the United States, knew that change came slowly. Not in fits and bursts, but in the slow progression of sentiment and action. That's why for decades in public life, he never got tired of advocating for those trapped by unjust power systems.

He knew about and embraced -- as virtually all the great community organizers have -- the subtlety of change. What they understood was that the movement was bigger than its individual parts. But the movement also relied on its individual parts to help one another, to carve new lines in the sand, and build new platforms that future activists could stand on, taller than that of their fore-bearers.

During the last presidential campaign, there was a saying going around that went something like this: "Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Barack could run. Barack ran so that our children can fly." That pretty accurately sums up the "platform" view of change. It also reminds us, though, that it's easier to see the relation between these parts in retrospect.

So what does this all have to do with Steve Jobs and the iPad?

When I read Kristina's piece, what nagged me was the fact that I just don't believe it's Steve Jobs' job to lead the techie flock to a broader understanding of global justice. I think that his contribution to the world is twofold. First, he's building tools that provide a platform for millions to better realize their creativity, which for someone like me provides both a more engaged, meaningful day-to-day experience, as well as the opportunity to build tools for others changing the world. Second, he and Apple remain one of the only truly innovative big companies in the world. The boredom of thought in corporate America -- with very notable and specific exceptions -- is overwhelming. Jobs demonstrates that you can be a $50 billion company and still innovate like crazy. I hope that other companies learn that lesson.

Now, though, Jobs and Apple -- like everyone -- also have to consider their negative footprint as well. Environmental quality of products is one example, as openness of platform may be in the future. But the point is that overall influence on change may not be as direct as some would ask for, but instead is something much more subtle. And I think there has to be room in our wider movement for that kind of subtlety.

When my friends and I set out to build the Center for Global Engagement, there was only one core rule: everyone was invited, in some way or another. There was no minimum GPA for changing the world, and no one right way or another to make a difference. Everyone had something to contribute, and our job was to help them figure out what they were best at and what they loved most, and to try and help them figure out how to use that in making the world a better place.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't ask for more of our leaders or our public discourse. We should. I just believe that if we're going to accomplish anything, we have to define the tent so that it includes -- and uses the best in -- everyone.

Photo Credit: GlennFleishman

Going Deep: A Different Take on Scale for Social Entrepreneurs

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-02-01T09:24:00-08:00

This blog is filled with stories of organizations striving to expand innovative solutions across the world. The ambition to scale up is close to the heart of social entrepreneurs, and the goal to end -- rather than just alleviate -- global problems. But for some groups, bringing an idea to scale is less important than having an ever-deeper relationship with the communities they serve.

Project Focus is one of those groups. For the last five years, this dynamic group of (mostly) Chicago-based volunteers has been building relationships in southwestern Uganda, with incredible results.

PF originally connected with community groups in Lyantonde, Uganda after a summer spent volunteering, researching and generally learning inside the country in 2006. Compelled to act, but wary of creating commitments they couldn't sustain, the volunteers decided to focus on storytelling as a way to connect communities in Chicago with their new Ugandan friends and partners. In Chicago, they shared photos and writing created by young people in Lyantonde, and used the exhibits as a way to inspire connection and action back home. With proceeds from donations at the exhibits, they deepened their partnership in Uganda with additional collaborative arts programs.

In order to strengthen their partnership with the citizens of Lyantonde, Project Focus began sending long-term volunteers. For them, this was only partially about having more time to do specific projects. It was also about connecting on a more profound level, and cementing bonds that went beyond even great collaborative development programs.

As time went on, PF and the community began hatching an idea for how to broaden the community's access to the world -- with the goal of allowing them not only to receive information, but also to share their own stories. A plan to build an internet cafe began to percolate, and now, PF is trying to make it happen.

They've just launched a campaign to raise $25,000 to build a solar-powered internet cafe in Lyantonde. They believe that once the initial costs are covered, the project can be fully self-sustaining for those involved. And while the drive for internet access in a rural African town may not seem new, the depth of relationships that PF has built over the years suggests a coincidence of wants and a coherence of strategy that many development programs could learn from.

To me, the lesson here isn't that social entrepreneurs should abruptly abandon their ambitions to scale up. Complex global problems require massive solutions, and when it comes to changing systems, scale is essential. What's more, the dichotomy of "breadth" vs. "depth" is a false one. The best social entrepreneurs have to understand how to balance both.

At the same time, I do think PF's story is a reminder of the value of going deep to connect with, learn from, and be an ambassador for a community. It also demonstrates that there's strength to be found in different kinds of social entrepreneurs, all working in their own way to make an incredible difference.

Learn more about Project Focus on their website and support their internet cafe here.

Photo Credit: Grant Buhr/Project Focus

Establishing a Culture of Generosity

Charles Harding — 2010-02-01T05:53:00-08:00

This is part 4 of an 11-part series on Undergraduate Social Entrepreneurship coordinated by the Social Innovation Initiative at Brown University. This post was written by Charles Harding, Co-Founder and Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Runa.

There is a culture of generosity embedded in the principles and institutions of social entrepreneurship. After all, the social entrepreneurship field emerged out of a demand for both nonprofit values and for-profit strategic impact, and tries to draw the best from both fields.

But while traditional entrepreneurs may favor "lone wolf" innovation, social entrepreneurs are inherently, well, social. Grassroots community organizing, volunteer-ism, charity giving and a deep commitment social justice inform our social methods. To tackle global issues, we rely upon the generosity of our network.

Why are individuals in the social sector generous? Because entrepreneurs in the social sector know that the more that you give, the more you get in return. This lesson is slowly leaking into the private sector, too. Seth Godin's latest e-book What Matters Now exemplifies that generous people will garner generous attention.

This ethic is especially true in a student setting, where competition is low and collaboration high. As a junior in college, I co-hosted a dinner for social innovators to answer the question: "How can we help each other?" Around the dinner table, we critiqued each other's projects in global health (Mali Health Organizing Project), food security (Gardens For Health International), and conflict resolution (Strait Talk). We worked in diverse fields, but had a common need: each other. Today, this round-table format -- an open forum dinner with skilled and generous listeners -- is a cornerstone of Brown's Social Innovation Initiative. We needed each other's critical feedback, diverse skills and open networks. Together, we helped each other fund-raise and rethink our marketing plans, and inspired one another to take our projects beyond the safety of school walls.

Across the country, a proliferation of university support for student social entrepreneurs is on the rise. What's more, in the same way that social entrepreneurs have for years, universities are now using the same culture of generosity to build their programming. The team at AshokaU, for example, has convened Change Maker campuses around the United States, sharing experiences and programming to enhance the entire sector.

Generosity spreads. This principal is evident in the proliferation of open sourcing in the social and private sector. Generosity gives back. Online fundraising is changing the way we make change. Generosity comes back. So, what did you do for somebody else today?

Photo Credit: micah.e

In Haiti, Tech Efforts Move From Relief to Recovery

Nathaniel Whittemore — 2010-01-31T07:34:00-08:00

In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, all initial attention -- naturally -- focused on immediate relief. Search parties to dig people out of the rubble, and relief workers to set up access to medical treatment, food, water and shelter. But the real process of recovery, which comes next, has far greater implications for a nation's future health and development. That's why it's great to see technology groups that were some of the earliest and most creative responders to Haiti's initial crisis are now shifting gears to focus on recovery, as well.

Samasource, for example, offers a platform that allows refugees and the impoverished around the world the chance to earn a living by completing digital microtasks for companies -- tasks such as data entry, proofreading and more.

Since Ushahidi (another group whose Haiti response we've described) worked with partners to set up a free SMS exchange that allowed people on the ground to report emergencies, Samasource has also started a collaboration with them, enabling volunteers to translate messages into or from Creole, French and English, ensuring language barriers don't stop the flow of potentially life-saving information.

According to Samasource founder Leila, they hope to quickly transition from a volunteer-based translation process to having actual paid staffers in Haiti, and from there, expand efforts to provide long-term job opportunities as the country rebuilds.

Haiti Recovery Accelerator is another exciting initiative focused entirely on recovery. It's an online school, built on the Supercool School platform, with the goal of accelerating the recovery and rebuilding process by creating a platform that allows participants to share their collective knowledge. The initiative has just started, and they're looking for more people to join and help.

These kinds of initiatives are just the tip of the iceberg. Groups like Inveneo and Architecture for Humanity are also already thinking about recovery, too -- and, of course, groups like Partners in Health that have a long-term commitment to Haiti are also structuring their thinking along these lines.

As in the example of Rwanda, we've seen how countries recovering from crisis can rebuild in incredible ways. It will take determination and effort from a vast array of stakeholders and parties, but it's inspiring to see technologists already taking up that charge in building new to assist the effort.

Photo Credit: Offical U.S. Navy Gallery