10 “Can’t Miss” Sessions for SXSW 2014

We’re packing our suitcases and heading down to Austin this week for SXSW Interactive—a five-day festival that showcases a mix of digital creativity, emerging technology and unique networking events. From March 6 through 11, members of the Case Foundation team will be on-site and keeping an eye out for new trends at the intersection of technology and social good, fearless ideas around disruptive philanthropy and creative thought-leaders and entrepreneurs who are changing the world.

With close to 30,000 attendees, 1,800 speakers and 1,000 sessions, parties and events to choose from, the event can be overwhelming to say the least. We’ve highlighted the top 10 events that we’re excited about, and we hope you will join us! SPOILER ALERT – Don’t miss out on Jean Case’s session, “A Fearless Approach to Social Change” on Friday, March 7th, and Steve Case’s session, “The Rest is Rising: Entrepreneurship in America” on Saturday, March 8th.

Not headed to SXSW this year? Follow along with the Case Foundation team members on Twitter with @CaseFoundation. We also invite you to share your own recommendations, updates or thoughts on SXSW below in the comments section for this blog or via Twitter!

THURSDAY, MARCH 6:

Dewey Winburne Community Service Awards

At SXSW, we also like to honor community do-gooders who make the world better via innovative applications of digital technology. Remember that the Dewey Awards are FREE to attend — a SXSW badge is not needed to enjoy this inspiring evening.

FRIDAY, MARCH 7:

A Fearless Approach to Social Change

Featuring: Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation and Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, Host/Producer of HuffPost Live
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM at the Hilton Austin Downtown, Salon H (500 E 4th St.)

In this session, Jean Case will outline the five key elements of a fearless approach to social change and share examples of great breakthroughs and innovations that have taken place when organizations across sectors have adopted these principles. The session will also feature a mini “fail fair,” where audience members will be invited to share and celebrate their failures.

SATURDAY, MARCH 8:

The Rest is Rising: Entrepreneurship in America

Featuring: Steve Case, founder and CEO of Revolution and Emily Chang, Anchor of Bloomberg TV
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM at the Austin Convention Center, Exhibit Hall 5 (500 E Cesar Chavez St.)

Join Steve, founder and CEO of Revolution and one of America’s most respected entrepreneurs, and Emily Chang of Bloomberg TV, for an in-depth conversation about the trends and ideas shaping our future. He will explore the changing geography of entrepreneurship in America, the impact of politics and public policy on our most promising startups and the challenges associated with marrying vision and execution.

For Good & Profit: Impact Entrepreneurship FTW

Featuring: Rachael Chong of Catchafire, Seth Basson of Amicus, and Tabreez Verjee of Uprising
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM at the Hilton Austin Downtown, Salon C (500 E 4th St.)

Over the past few years we’ve seen a tremendous rise in social good for-profit enterprises. This session, which includes leading social good entrepreneurs and impact investors, will examine why we’re seeing this boom and what the future of social enterprise might look like.

SUNDAY, MARCH 9:

Startup Oasis

10:00 AM – 2:00 AM at the Old School Bar and Grill (6thSt. and Trinity St.)

This year, UP Global & The Kauffman Foundation will be hosting our community on March 7-9 during the first three days of SXSW Interactive. The full schedule can be found at startupoasis.up.co – join UP Global and The Kauffman Foundation at #startupoasis.

MONDAY, MARCH 10:

SXSW Social Good Hub presented by the United Nations Foundation

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM at the Bungalow (92 Rainey St.)

A new addition to SXSW, the Hub brings together digital creative, entrepreneurs, filmmakers and other SXSW attendees focused on social change. The Social Good Hub is open to all badges and RSVP isn’t required for the event.

Is It Possible to Change Someone’s View Online?

Featuring: Fruzsina Eordogh of Motherboard, Kristine Smith and Marta Gossage of Reddit, and Nika Nour Of the Internet Association
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM at the Sheraton Austin Capitol EFGH (701 E 11th St.)

We are witnessing a profound transformation in the way that people are able to learn about a dizzying variety of life experiences. Anonymous sites are transforming discourse in how people are able to learn – from the more nontraditional life experience to the more mundane. How is this disruptive shift affecting other forms of media and changing the way that people form their beliefs and opinions?

Social Innovation: People, Planet, Profit, Purpose

Featuring: Chris Gebhardt or Participant Media, LLC, Leah Gerstner of American Express, Lori McMahon of Intel, and Tom Scott of the Gates Foundation
9:30 AM – 10:30 AM at the Wanderlust (206 E 4th St.)

Companies with a social mission can have both great social impact and superior performance because of deeper customer bonds and greater employee engagement. Participant’s TAG division brings together brands and foundations to collaborate and create social impact with storytelling at the core. Sponsored by Participant Media.

TUESDAY, MARCH 11:

Storytelling, Innovation, & Inspiration

Featuring: Alex Cuthbert of Google
9:30 AM – 1:30 PM at the AT&T Conference Center, Classroom 103 (1900 University Ave.)

This workshop showcases examples from a variety of web, film, animation, and mobile design leaders as a starting point for learning how to build stories about transformational products and experiences. Pre-registration required.

Do You Actually Know How to Engage a Millennial?

Featuring: Brian Reich of little m media and Kari Dunn Saratovsky of KDS Strategies
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM at the Austin Convention Center, Room 5ABC (500 E Cesar Chavez St.)

Millennials have different expectations for their involvement in social causes. In large part, millennials are post-institutional—they don’t rely on just government, just nonprofits, or just the private sector to influence change. They believe it takes a blending of sectors and approaches in order to make impact. You can either be part of this conversation, or you can let it leave you behind. Join us for some straight talk about how to really motivate Millennials.

SXSW organizers have also provided some tips to maximize your festival experience – check them out in advance and make the most out of your trip this year!

1 Billion Reasons to Celebrate with Network for Good

Last week, we marked a monumental achievement for the nonprofit sector. Network for Good, the online giving portal launched nearly 15 years ago, has now processed more than $1 billion in online donations. Since its inception in 2001, the Network for Good platform has handled donations to more than 100,000 nonprofits and trained 150,000 nonprofit professionals in effective nonprofit marketing and online fundraising.

Network for Good has been a part of the Case Foundation family since its inception. When my husband Steve was serving as Chair of AOL/Time Warner, the organization was spun out of AOL and formally launched by a coalition of companies including AOL, Cisco and Yahoo!, in partnership with more than 20 nonprofit foundations and associations.

Since that time, Steve and I have taken an “all oars in the water” approach to supporting Network for Good. The Case Foundation has made significant grants to the organization, and provided pro bono board support from our senior executives. In addition, Steve and I provided a loan guarantee to help scale the organization’s growth and made a personal investment in their for-profit subsidiary. Network for Good was also a crucial partner in our America’s Giving Challenges, which generated more than $4 million in online donations for worthy causes from hundreds of thousands of individuals.

Online giving has truly gone mainstream and technology has become a force for good because of Network for Good’s work. Today, the use of technology for good is as common as sending an email. We are strong believers in democratized philanthropy, and through technology – from the internet to social media – individuals can play a meaningful role in giving, sparking social change, and learning about critical social issues.

I am especially proud today not only for our history with Network for Good and this $1 billion milestone achieved, but that the Case Foundation had the honor of making the final donation that put them over the edge on their journey to that one billionth dollar. Congratulations to Network for Good’s CEO, Bill Strathmann and the entire team, along with the millions of donors who have given to causes they care about. We look forward to celebrating the next billion together!

How Millennials are Changing the Definition of “Philanthropy”

This post was written by Derrick Feldmann on behalf of the Case Foundation:

When I started my graduate studies, the word “philanthropy” appeared often. Through textbooks I learned the traditional definition of philanthropy: Love of humankind in the form of time, talent and treasure.

This high-level concept has seen the world through decades of philanthropic actions, as people and corporations donate money and volunteer time through a desire to ‘do good.’ We call these actions philanthropy and they usually generate good feelings, great PR and tax deductions.

Over the past decade, as I’ve consulted philanthropic organizations and foundations, I’ve seen the philanthropy landscape grow and change, cultivated largely by the generation of consumers and givers we call Millennials. We’ve spent the past few years researching Millennials in a project called the Millennial Impact, a comprehensive look at how this generation (ages 20 to 30) connects, gets involved with and supports causes.

Through our research, we learned that Millennials exercise philanthropy in the same ways as other generations, though their motivations may be different. The top three factors that motivate Millennials to get involved in a cause are passion, meeting people and enhancing their expertise. They do indeed practice giving their time, talent and treasure, but Millennials want to lend their knowledge, expertise and time to help nonprofits. Actually, 48 percent of Millennials say they prefer using their background experience or skills to volunteer for a nonprofit. And this generation gives. Our research shows that 83 percent of Millennials made some form of financial gift to an organization in 2012.

If the traditional definition of philanthropy still holds true today, are there additional items beyond time, talent and treasure that measure philanthropic action?

There are some obvious benefits to this definition that attribute to its survival. For example, it’s a nice bucket that we might categorically drop things into. In some ways, everything a company or individual does to benefit a cause could fit into this definition and slide under at least one of the time, talent or treasure criteria.

Why not be more specific? The traditional definition doesn’t leave room for new actions that Millennials view as philanthropy. As technology and the way we conduct business evolve, so too does our means of giving financially–as well as the way we donate our non-financial assets like time and relationships.

It is the next generation of givers and volunteers, the Millennials, who are ushering in this new age of philanthropy. Because of this, we need to think about a new definition, or rather an appendage to the existing definition of philanthropy, which reflects new criteria and includes the following:

  • Time – Volunteering hours, days of service, etc.
  • Talent – Using one’s expertise to benefit a cause
  • Treasure – Financial contributions (big or small) donated for charitable work
  • Voice – Time spent advocating and educating others about your cause
  • Network – Leveraging personal and professional relationships or online followings to benefit a cause

The first three are self-explanatory. Time, talent and treasure stem from the traditional facets of philanthropy and still carry tremendous potential for making an impact. The latter two criteria, voice and network, warrant a bit more explanation. Voice and network are add-ons to the traditional definition of philanthropy, yet they are extremely important to your Millennial employees and constituents. The power of voice remains vital and Millennials admire giving or donating one’s voice as a tangible form of philanthropy. Voice involves aligning yourself with a cause or issue and advocating as an unofficial (or official) spokesperson. You’re literally educating others about a cause. A person who gives their voice might still give their skill, time and money, but they go beyond these endeavors to get others involved.

A few months ago, I met a young woman who is a strong advocate for ALS research. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, affected her father and she’s become a passionate voice for causes like the ALS Association, which seeks a cure and supports ALS research. She brought this passion to work, encouraging her co-workers to support the ALS Association. Her co-workers rallied together and now participate in the Walk to Defeat ALS® every year as a company event. She’s a perfect example of how Millennials use voice and advocacy as a philanthropic means to support a cause.

Network differs from voice. Network involves capitalizing on your vast bank of personal or professional relationships to expose other people to a cause. There are obvious similarities to voice, but offering your network to a cause means advocating on a much larger scale, and your message has potential to spread to thousands of people. Think of your own network. How many followers do you have on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn? For non-techy individuals, think about the number of contacts in your address book. Millennials understand the potential social networks have for disseminating a simple cause message or a link to a website. Sharing your network with a cause is a limitless philanthropic action that can go unrecognized.

Last year TIME Magazine created a post that allowed users to estimate how much their Twitter feed is actually worth. TIME created a formula that measures the “value” of your individual Twitter feed. They take your number of Tweets divided by the number of days you’ve been on Twitter, multiplied by your amount of followers, multiplied by 25% (the number of followers actually paying attention), and then multiplied by 12.45 cents (what each “eyeball” is worth). That final number is supposed to represent the value of your Twitter account.

According to this formula, my Twitter account (@derrickfeldmann) is worth $287.

It might seem like a significant bonus until you consider Taylor Swift’s Twitter account (@TaylorSwift13) is technically worth about $1,330,503.

The point: Your individual social network has value. When someone like Swift, with close to 39 million followers, Tweets about a cause, it influences and resonates with some individuals. We don’t all have Swift’s following, but you shouldn’t underestimate the power of your network. It exists online, in social networks, in your relationships and throughout your company. When you give your network to a cause, you’re being philanthropic.

Some may scoff at network as a shallow form of philanthropy, but for many cause advocates it’s the only the only way they can help a cause. Considering 75 percent of Millennials say they share content on social media, network carries incredible influence and potential if you’re able to recognize it. Most organizations already use network on a less digital scale. You strategically form your advisory board to appoint community and business leaders who are well connected. You do this so that they will have a more vested interest in the organization and their network can benefit your cause. Network is philanthropy in a way that Millennials respect and use.

Millennials treat all five as equals – time, talent, treasure, voice and network. They’re all available to give, and when given out of “love for humankind,” as the traditional definition suggests, make philanthropy something the world, our communities and our neighbors need now more than ever. Look to the next generation of philanthropists to lead the way.

Derrick Feldmann is the President of Achieve – the creative research agency behind The Millennial Impact Project to understand how Millennials connect, involve, and give to causes. He is the coauthor of Cause for Change: The Why and How of Nonprofit Millennial Engagement published by Jossey Bass, a Wiley Imprint.

Starting Up America: A Progress Report

Three years ago, we launched an effort to bring entrepreneurs back into the national spotlight as critical drivers of the American economy. When we launched the Startup America Partnership at the White House in January 2011, the goal was to bring entrepreneurs to the forefront of the conversation about revitalizing the American economy. Study after study shows that fast-growing, young companies are responsible for nearly all of the new jobs in our country. However, even before the financial crisis hit, the number of new companies getting started was on a decline, and the momentum for young companies was headed in the wrong direction. It was clear we needed a way to unleash the next wave of American innovation – and so the Case Foundation and the Kauffman Foundation came together with incredible partners in the public, private and non-profit community to embark on an effort to help young, high-growth companies flourish and build a brighter future.

Since that time, we’ve made significant progress. The efforts of the Startup America Partnership mobilized hundreds of volunteer leaders who promoted startup communities in places like Des Moines, Missoula, Phoenix, and Atlanta. From mega events like Startup Week in Denver with more than 6,000 participants; to Startup Job Fairs in Arizona helping promising new enterprises find the talent they need; to annual bus tours activating and inspiring the entire state of Maryland, and even the opening of major new entrepreneurship buildings in Nashville, Dallas, and DC, the Startup America Partnership has stood shoulder to shoulder with some of America’s most promising entrepreneurs to provide support and a network for sustained success.

We’ve also made important strides in the policy arena – beginning with the creation of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE), which helped lead to the creation of the broader Startup America initiative, and through the work of President Obama’s Jobs Council, important issues that affect the ability of young companies to access capital and talent received a hearing at the highest levels of government. Because of these efforts, Congress passed and the President signed the Jumpstarting Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, a seminal piece of legislation that overturned eighty years of antiquated regulations governing how businesses can raise money and for the first time, legalizing equity crowdfunding.

The benefits of these efforts are starting to be felt – IPOs are up, more people are involved in startups than ever before, more regions are seeing significant momentum in their entrepreneurial ecosystems and policymakers – regardless of their partisan affiliations – agree on the critical role that entrepreneurship plays in fostering growth, stemming inequality and generating jobs. Recent data published by the National Venture Capital Association revealed another hopeful trend: the amount of venture capital flowing to startups in 2013 increased by 7 percent, but some regions saw an explosion of growth including my hometown of Washington D.C. – up 104 percent, Texas – up 38 percent, New York – up 35 percent, and the Southeastern U.S. – up 63 percent. The effect is clear: while Silicon Valley remains the dominant center of high-tech, venture backed startups, more and more capital is flowing to the rest of the country that has historically been starved of needed investment.

As we celebrate the progress of the last few years, we remain acutely aware that more work is needed to enliven America’s entrepreneurial economy. That’s why we chose last year to combine the efforts of the Startup America Partnership with Startup Weekend to create UP Global, bringing together two great organizations working to enhance entrepreneurial ecosystems around the globe. In addition, we have more work to do to ensure the competitiveness of the US entrepreneurial economy – including passing immigration reform that will enable us to win the global battle for talent, and ensuring the successful implementation of crowdfunding, which will provide unprecedented access to new capital for young companies no matter where they are located.

We live in a golden age for entrepreneurship. Access to information, networks and investment are rising and technology is leveling the playing field, making it easier for young companies to start and scale from wherever their founder calls home. It would be easy to dial back our efforts and claim victory, but the work is not done and the need to support entrepreneurs – the heroes of our economy – has not waned.