25 things we're thankful for this Thanksgiving (2010)

The Thanksgiving holiday gives us an opportunity to take a pause from what is typically a hectic time, and reflect on the past year. In 2010, we continue to be wowed by the opportunity we’ve had to work with amazing people and organizations seeking to change the world. In spite of what has continued to be a challenging economy, we’re excited by the strides all sectors – whether public, private or nonprofit - have made to embrace new technologies and experiment with new models to expand giving.

Last year at Thanksgiving, we started what we hope will continue to be a fun tradition – a list of the 25 things we’re thankful for, both big and small, serious and fun, here at the Case Foundation. We hope you have as much fun reading this list as we had putting it together, and inspires you to share your own thoughts on what you’re thankful for this season! Happy Thanksgiving!

1. The opportunity to work with smart, fun and passionate colleagues and world-class partners.

2. The leadership of an inspiring CEO and chairman who provide us with endless opportunities to expand our thinking – from talks by TED Fellows at our office to team outings at great conferences – and for making sure we’re always having fun while we’re at it.

3. The courageous, selfless and dedicated veterans and active duty soldiers who serve our country and protect liberty with honor and valor. And, organizations like Give an Hour, IAVA, Tweet to Remind, United Service Organizations (USO), Operation Homefront, and The Mission Continues that are helping our soldiers and their families.

4. New location-based tools that enable us to check-in to earn stamps and pins, compete for mayorship and even create a scavenger hunt here at the Case Foundation offices.

5. Our Make It Your Own Awards grantees for sharing their lessons and their amazing follow through of combining talk with action to produce changed communities!

6. Companies and foundations like Pepsi, Chase, Knight Foundation and others for experimenting with new models of giving, bringing the public into the decision-making process, and their willingness to participate on lots and lots of panel discussions with us.

7. Chipotle, for having a location within walking distance so that we can have burrito Fridays in the office. 

8. City Year, for continuing to lead the way with their Whole School, Whole Child Education initiative, demonstrating that volunteering can solve major national education issues like the drop out crisis and performance gaps. And, for letting us hang out with them.

9. Our awesome partners at Water for People for continuing to push the movement toward more transparency, and to CEO Ned Breslin for being a rock star at PopTech.

10. Great, free tools which make it easier for us to do our work, communicate with each other, our partners and our friends - like Twitter, UStream, Skype, GoogleDocs, Free Conference Call…

11. Our talented friends at Venture Philanthropy Partners for combining business smarts with really big hearts to transform the lives of children and families in Washington, DC region.

12. The world community for rallying again and again to support countries in from Haiti to Chile in crisis, and demonstrating the power of new technologies, including text-to-give and crowdsourced platforms like Ushahidi to quickly mobilize crisis response.

13. Organizations and individuals working to promote dialogue and create pathways for peace around the world, like Buxton Initiative, Aspen Institute’s Middle East Programs, Partners for a New Beginning and the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership.

14. Great for-profit social enterprises like Zipcar, Brainscope, SnagFilms, National Geographic and GOOD that demonstrate everyday that you can do well and do good at the same time.

15. Our creative and innovative public-sector partners at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, White House Office of Social Innovation & Civic Participation and the Department of Commerce Office of Innovation for working with us to ignite participation, socialize solutions and spark innovation and entrepreneurship through efforts like our Promoting Innovation gathering and the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. And, the opportunity to see the West Wing of the White House firsthand!

16. The inspiring efforts of Malaria No More, Twitter and the UN Special Envoy for Malaria in leveraging social media to raise awareness for Malaria, reaching over 28 million people on World Malaria Day and 174 million people through the Social Media Envoy program.

17. The amazing supporters of ABC2’s Race for Hope and the Florida Brain Cancer Walk who raised $2.4 million for brain cancer research.  And of course, David Cook’s leadership as honorary chair of the D.C. race for the second year in a row.

18. The Hawaiian names of each of our conference rooms (Oahu, Moloka’i, Honolulu and Luau), that allow us to pretend we’re on the beach every single day. And, the oh-so lovely construction that flanks those conference rooms (and our building) for each time we leave the office, we find that the world is always a lot brighter on the outside!

19. New platforms like Sparked.com and Catchafire who recognize the need to match skilled volunteers with nonprofits in need, as well as innovative new fundraising platforms like Crowdrise.

20. Our resident fashion model, who walked the runway for a good cause at Geek2Chic.

21. Pro bono work from people like our fantastic SEO consultant, Andrew Jensen, for always going above and beyond in efforts to help you find us on Google, and our friends over at EyeCandy, who are helping us produce a fantastic holiday video - you’ll have to tune back in for this.

22. The next generation of Social Citizens. And speaking of kids, we're thankful for our furry "children" too.

23. The festive spirit and fun costumes that made our Halloween this year extra spooktacular.

24. Our wonderful, delightful, and incredibly good looking interns (Andrea Lum, Nikolai Stieglitz, and Lauren Scherr) who helped us write this post :).

25. Sites that celebrate the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs like Pop Tech’s Spark and Levi’s Shape What’s to Come, and organizations like Mobilize.org and Be the Change, who are helping young people continue to make a difference.