The Business of Changing Lives
Published October 06, 2009 @ 10:25AM PT
So you've helped build the backbone of the internet, created millions of dollars in shareholder value, not to mention the architecture of mass global connection. What do you do next? If you're Allan Weis, the answer is that you dedicate yourself to using technology to advance education and unleash the creativity of the next generation of young people. This is the story Weis tells in his new book The Business of Changing Lives.
Allan was the founder of Advanced Network & Services. Launched in the early 1990s, ANS was one of the organizations most responsible for forming the partnerships between corporations, government and nonprofits to take the internet from a defense communication network to general, commercial access. Over the course of the next few years, ANS built out thousands of connections to millions of users. Eventually, they sold their commercial assets to America Online and reinvested their work in education.
From the very beginning, Weis was thinking about how to make sure the internet was a tool that could benefit people from all walks of life. ANS was set up as a for-profit subsidiary of a nonprofit. When they sold their commercial assets to AOL, they were able to keep working on the mission behind the money.
In fact, one of the things that's most interesting about ANS' approach to "charity" has been their desire to use as much of their capital for the here and now as possible. As Weis put it in a conversation a couple weeks ago, "[they] were here, [they] had energy now, so let's do it." By the end of 2010, they will have given away over $128 million of their resources.
The projects that they have participated in have not been the normal "find a project, donate some money" fair. One of their initiatives, ThinkQuest, is an "educational Olympics" for the web that has put thousands of educational resources for students online, and helped young people from 100 countries access the educational power of the net. It eventually donated ThinkQuest to the Oracle Foundation, where it continues to thrive.
I think that more than any one part of the story, the message that will be most compelling for social entrepreneurs in this story is the quite different way in which Weis and his partners have pursued their version of philanthropy. It's more engaged, harnesses their living energy and smarts, and is designed not to create nonprofit foundations that persist for perpetuity, but instead, to do their best to solve problems today. I definitely recommend checking out the book, which you can find from our friends at Better World Books here.
Share this Post
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
StumbleUpon
Delicious
EmailComments (3)
Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.
Author
-
Nathaniel is the founding Director of the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University, which works annually with hundreds of students in dozens of countries around the world through curricular programs and student project incubation.
Featured Social Entrepreneurship Actions
-
-
-
Donate Your Old Phone to Hope Phones
155 People
-
Donate Your Old Phone to Hope Phones
Sounds like an interesting book. I will definately check it out.
I would also say that by helping create the internet they were doing a lot for social change. I wonder if they had an idea of the impact it would have as they created it.
I guess it goes to show that you never know the impact of your actions.
Posted by Nelson de Witt on 10/08/2009 @ 07:52PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
I like this concept of social entrepreneurship and like that it's designed for innovation and not "to create nonprofit foundations that persist for perpetuity." Many of today's nonprofits have become bureaucracies that are every bit as creativity stifling as the government, as the focus of these agencies has generally become to chase after government funding streams, bill government funding sources, be concerned about appearances for audit purposes, rather than to try to deliver better services and to create photo opportunities to attract donations.
There has to be a better way, but as Nelson De Witt points out "you never know the impact of your actions." For instance, while the Internet is becoming an increasing force for positive social change, there is also much bigotry, hatred and misinformation disseminated on it. And, while a lot of traditional nonprofits have significant problems, they do provide stable homes and programs for people with disabilities among other worthy causes.
Posted by Andrew Heugel on 10/10/2009 @ 06:56AM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
Andrew I completely agree with you that many non-profits are too bureaucratic and don't focus enough on making change happen. That is one reason why I love the idea of social entrepreneurship. To me its a real challenge mix business with social change.
I won't deny that there is a lot of miss information on the Internet, but over all I think it has been a driving force for positive change. I know that much of my own work has been helped by the Internet and I would not be able to do half of the things I have done with out it.
It cuts down so many barriers and allows great ideas to grow. Take Kiva.org for example. To me it is a key example of the power of the Internet and of a new way of thinking. I only hope that one day I am able to do something on the level of that.
Posted by Nelson de Witt on 10/10/2009 @ 07:02PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.