The 2010 SXSW Interactive Conference is in full swing here in Austin, but even among the sea of geeks, tech announcements and the vast backdrop of parties - there is an underlying theme of how technology is changing the landscape of social good. Beyond some pretty terrific “social good” panels, here are just a few of the things I’ve managed to bump into during my time down here.
We CAN End This/Cause Lab: Starting today, the CauseLab kicks-off a 30-day virtual brainstorm through a new digital co-creation platform called Goodzuma — all in an effort to develop the most powerful, effective, and impactful ideas to end hunger in America. Participants in the room at SXSWi will use Goodzuma to create and capture their ideas during the daylong session. At the same time, people nationwide can join the brainstorm to edit these ideas or upload their own. After the brainstorm ends, charity partners will review all the ideas and use the money raised thru WeCanEndThis.com to implement the best ones.
FourSquare Check in For Charity: There’s no question that location based technology is all the rage, and Microsoft and PayPal have joined forces so that every time folks check-in on Foursquare in Austin they will donate $0.25 toward Save the Children (up to $15,000)! You don’t need to be in Austin to help. Just use the hashtag #sxswHaiti on Twitter and Save the Children and Microsoft and PayPal will make the same donation.
Pepsi Refresh-SXSW Challenge: In a mini version of Pepsi’s Refresh Everything competition, Pepsi is giving away $50,000 to one of three team’s competing during SXSW. You can read over the ideas here, and tweet a team's hashtag to vote. Voting ends at midnight on March 15, and you can vote every two hours!
The Good Capitalist Party: Tonight (March 15th) at 7:00 PM is the Good Capitalist Party, an event put on by an assortment of innovative companies which focuses on social entrepreneurship. The Party will bring together leaders in the field for a discussion centered on finding a balance between financial success and positive impact while also providing necessary information on training, fellowships and investors.
Beacon Lounge / What Gives: Perhaps my favorite “downtime”, if there is such a thing at SXSW, has been spent in the Beacon Lounge, the self proclaimed “Lounge with a Conscience” presented by BeaconFire Consulting. Aside from providing nonprofit professionals and the socially conscious community with a habitat for chit chat, coffee and wifi, this year Beacon Lounge is putting on a series of inspiring events such as SoapBox lunches for a cause, acoustic concerts, and interviews with Social Media rock stars. Check out my interview with Mark Horvath of Invisible People on the Hardly Normal Cup of Coffee show from What Gives.
Charity Water SXSW Campaign: Without realizing that Charity Water was on the ground here, I spotted several people wearing t-shirts with QR codes on the back. I learned that they were there to promote Charity Water , with a goal to raise $100K at SXSW (matching a $100K donation by Invisible Children) to provide clean drinking water to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
That’s a lot of good and it appears that this is only the beginning; I expect the social good presence to continue to grow in years to come. What else have folks been seeing down in Austin this week?
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Charity Water 5-year Anniversary Video
