Be Fearless

Be Fearless Spotlight: Global Press Institute

Posted on by Case Foundation

This Spotlight is authored by guest writer Caitlin Kelly as part of a special blog series by the Case Foundation featuring Be Fearless stories from the field. Follow along with us as we meet people and learn about organizations that are taking risks, being bold and failing forward in their efforts to create transformative change in the social sector.

Global Press Institute (GPI) is an award-winning, high-impact social venture that uses journalism as a development tool to educate, employ and empower women in the developing world to produce professional news coverage. Using this innovative model, “we employ women journalists in places where opportunities for economic empowerment and literate leadership are very few,” says Cristi Hegranes, founder and executive director of GPI.

This bold organization is no stranger to making big bets and letting urgency conquer fear—and its reporters embrace those same characteristics. GPI now has a staff of 135 reporters, full-time and part-time, from underprivileged, underrepresented communities in 26 developing countries. This cohort of journalists includes members of the untouchable caste in Asia, former sex workers in Africa and indigenous women in Latin America. Many have no professional background in journalism and limited formal education when they join the program. Others possess formal education and work experience, but live in communities where unemployment and dynamic opportunities for women are extremely rare.

In GPI’s 2014 Annual Report, a Congo trainee, Merveille Kavira, revealed, “Before GPI, my job was that I took care of my elder sister’s children and in return she would buy soap for me… GPI will help me to be self-sufficient. I will be independent and I will no longer work taking care of someone’s children. I will be a powerful woman in my society. I will be empowered.”

All of the women use their unique perspectives to provide coverage of issues often overlooked by mainstream media and “disseminate the news they find both locally and globally through GPI’s networks and subscribers,” Hegranes says. Recent coverage by GPI reporters features topics such as: citizens’ right to access government information; human trafficking; and election violence. In some countries with little or no freedom of the press, “the ability to identify stories that no one else is talking about is fearless,” she explains.

It’s not a simple job; working as a female reporter in a developing nation, often within a culture that typically expects women to devote their energies primarily to marriage and motherhood. GPI offers women a daunting array of challenges and opportunities. “We ask our reporters to be fearless every day in bucking social norms and challenging cultural and family norms.”

To help the women navigate the challenges that come with the job, GPI’s in-country reporters all receive intensive training in safety and security. While interviewing their own countrymen and men “gives us extraordinary access” it also leaves them more vulnerable to attack. “It’s very difficult work. They’re not white people in SUVs with tons of equipment,” Hegranes says.

No matter where GPI hires its reporters—now in 26 developing nations and looking to expand in North Africa and the Middle East—there “are always safety concerns.” But that’s part of being fearless: giving women opportunities wherever they need it most, no matter what—not to mention bringing unbiased news of current events to those who need it most. Which might be why Hegranes says northern Nigeria, home to extremist Islamic group Boko Haram—known for targeting government offices, the United Nations, and civilians—“is our next big target spot for Africa.”

Despite the dangers associated with the job, GPI’s retention rate is an impressive 90 percent after nine years. As reporters grow their skills, they often rise within GPI’s ranks to become managers and editors. “Our biggest problem [right now] is being overwhelmed by applicants,” explains Hegranes. “In November 2014, we had four training spots available in the Congo and we received 309 applications.”

GPI, focused on training women to be journalist, is part of a larger global news organization; the Global Press Journal (GPJ) similarly employs training graduates to report. And the stories GPI and GPJ gathers are bought by a wide variety of clients, syndicated by the Global Press News Service to journalism giants like Al Jazeera, PRI and Reuters to curriculum developers, universities, corporations and governments. That revenue proved sufficiently valuable that, in a major shift organizationally, this year Hegranes is spinning off the news service as a for-profit business. “The non-profit income is so necessary to what we do, but it’s slow and it’s risk-averse. We need to be able to generate much more of our own revenue and it will allow us much more flexibility than using restricted funds that won’t allow us to buy a plane ticket or for cameras, for example.”

How does Hegranes and her team make everything work around the globe with a 24/7 news cycle? “In the developing world you have to be nimble, responsive and intuitive and foundations’ pace is just not how we operate. We’ve just got to jump!” she exclaims. She also relies on a seven-member board—“the best we’ve ever had”—as well as a full-time staff of seven, their largest ever. These dedicated individuals help to ensure the success of GPI and its reporters. Hegranes values their willingness to act quickly, unlike the “glacial” pace of large, more conservative groups. “The world changes every second. Who has time for that?”

Together, GPI and its cadre of women reporters have clearly made an impact, at both the policy and personal levels. GPI’s stories have changed laws in Nepal and Rwanda—and 80 percent of its reporters are now the major breadwinners in their family. The work of GPI and its reporters contributes to the development and empowerment of communities, brings greater transparency to countries and changes the way the world views their people and cultures.

Feeling inspired? If you’re ready to begin your own Be Fearless journey start by downloading our free Be Fearless Action Guide and Case Studies.

Be Fearless Spotlight: Open Road Alliance

Posted on by Case Foundation

This Spotlight is authored by guest writer Caitlin Kelly as part of a special blog series by the Case Foundation featuring Be Fearless stories from the field. Follow along with us as we meet people and learn about organizations that are taking risks, being bold and failing forward in their efforts to create transformative change in the social sector.

It can happen to the longest established, best-funded and most carefully-run organizations—a sudden disaster that throws off months or years of planning, disrupting its ability to continue important projects. It might be an essential piece of equipment, a truck or generator, that breaks down and can’t be replaced using restricted funds. It might be a natural disaster that disrupts operations, with no contingency capital to address it.

Whatever the catastrophe, Open Road Alliance (ORA) stands ready to help, able to offer grants of up to $100,000—with decisions made within two to six weeks of applying. Their average grant is $76,000 and, since 2012, it has awarded $3.5 million to groups including the Global Press Institute and the Grameen Foundation.

“Those ‘Oh my God’ moments are where our funding is focused,” says Executive Director Maya Winkelstein.

The typical funding model “is not working on a micro or macro level,” she adds. “On a micro level, it traditionally takes six to nine to 12 months for a grant application to be approved and to access the capital. It’s so restricted and there’s no mechanism to address problems, so [when problems arise] that initial investment and all the work is lost. So, we provide that money. We’ll be fast and flexible and we’ll solve the problem.”

On a macro level, the inherent power imbalance between funders and applicants perpetuates a culture of obfuscation, she adds. “There’s a lack of transparency and honesty thanks to the very real fear NGO’s have” to be truthful about troubles they may face and need funds to solve.

Some ORA grants are also recoverable funds, offered at varying interest rates, essentially a bridge loan to pull a group through crisis—knowing that committed income from their funders will eventually arrive. That program began in 2014, scaling up in 2015, a response, says Winkelstein, “to what NGO’s told us they needed. We found that when organizations encounter these unexpected obstacles and need money the problem isn’t access to capital, but access to capital right now.” ORA offers these loans in three situations: when the obstacle is cash flow, when capital is needed for unexpected growth and when raising the needed funds would simply take too long.

Recoverable grants allow Winkelstein—and ORA’s founder, philanthropist Laurie Michaels, whose personal income funds their projects—to take much greater risks than other groups. “The opportunity cost is much lower,” explains Winkelstein. When a traditionally funded project fails or stalls, “you’ve basically lost a bet and that makes people risk-averse. We’re betting on impact, not financial return, because we use the same re-paid funds to make multiple bets over and over. It allows us to take more risks.”

But, like every funder, ORA insists on regular reporting. “When we accept an applicant, it has specific measurables for the short term and we talk to them four times a year, plus a full report at year’s end,” says Michaels. “We make as much effort to judge our [own] effort as anything else.”

Their decisions—made quickly, with applications accepted on a rolling basis—are sometimes a “no-brainer” and sometimes, Michaels admits, “we’re teetering on the edge of ‘Is this risk unacceptable?’ We don’t expect every project to be perfect.”

Michaels urges other foundations, and grant applicants, to be far more open and honest about their projects’ potential difficulties. “One of our goals is to have a discussion of risk, and planning for risk as a normal part of any grant application. At the moment, there’s no place to openly address what could go wrong. Not vaguely, but matter-of-factly so I know what they’re up for. What’s your Plan B? Plan C?”

The two—who work from offices in D.C. and Aspen, and without a board of directors—researched their unusual model for a year before starting the organization, consulting other non-profits and philanthropists to determine who they would fund, and under what circumstances. “One of the critical criteria is that the problem be unexpected. Could it have been anticipated? Some of our applicants’ stories are heart-wrenching, but they won’t get funded,” says Winkelstein.

“The unexpected is not a sign of incompetence, but a sign of the world.” After all, she adds, “the private sector calls it a pivot.”

“We believe that philanthropy is going through a fundamental shift, from a charity model to an investment model,” says Winkelstein. “It’s changing from donors’ desires and intentions to seeing this work as an investment, doing good to actually achieve results. That’s where the trends are and the more sophisticated funders are going. They use metrics and look at ROI, an attitude that didn’t exist 20 years ago.”

In their autonomy, sense of urgency and willingness to ask tough, perhaps uncomfortable questions, Michaels and Winkelstein know they’re often working outside typical philanthropic norms. But for ORA, urgency is standard operating procedure.

 

Feeling inspired? If you’re ready to begin your own Be Fearless journey start by downloading our free Be Fearless Action Guide and Case Studies.

Be Fearless Spotlight: Fail Forward

Posted on by Case Foundation

This Spotlight is authored by guest writer Caitlin Kelly as part of a special blog series by the Case Foundation featuring Be Fearless stories from the field. Follow along with us as we meet people and learn about organizations that are taking risks, being bold and failing forward in their efforts to create transformative change in the social sector. 

 

Can you make a living—and help others succeed—by failing? Ashley Good, founder of Toronto-based Fail Forward, likes to think so, though it took a lot of personal failure before she figured this out.

Good wasn’t always so easily categorized as a risk-taker. She got her start studying geophysics and environmental science at the University of British Columbia, after which she had the opportunity to work with the United Nations in Cairo—a sobering experience that taught her “how complex the problems are and how inadequate the solutions.” Later, Good worked as a consultant in the oil and gas industry, flying in and out of Fort McMurray, Alberta, and with Engineers without Borders Canada in Ghana. It was when she followed a sweetheart to Ghana that she first encountered risk head-on.

“I ended up heartbroken, unemployed, living in my parents’ basement in Toronto,” she recalls. “Everything I’d poured my heart and soul into hadn’t gone anywhere. I very much needed a way of dealing with failure.” Good was inspired to take on the leadership of writing a report to document the failures of Engineers without Borders Canada.

Her analysis garnered her a lot of attention. As she puts it, “Failure needed me, as well.” Speaking truth to power demanded a special sort of fearlessness, she says, and that report “played a provocateur role. It was taboo to discuss failure openly, especially to the international development sector and especially charities. It was a learning tool.”

Naiveté helped. “I don’t think I appreciated how dangerous it was when I walked into it,” she laughs. “The failure I was describing was not a question of the quality of effort being applied. The entire system is one of power and ego at its heart.” She admits her own role in this: “In Ghana, I saw a problem and wanted to contribute to a solution. I wanted to succeed!”

Today, as she helps others cope with and mitigate their own painful failures, “it actually starts with decoupling ego from activity. The higher up you get in the hierarchy there’s so much at stake, millions of dollars, all those people who believed in you, who believed that you had the answer…”

“My work asks people to talk about their failures which is painful,” she says. “You have to be true to how that feels for you. Failure looks very different depending how much power you have. Your role is key.” Failing is painful because “we tend to build our identities around certain labels: smart, hardworking, personable, successful, etc. Failure often puts those labels into question, so being fearless in the face of failure is difficult if we don’t have an understanding of what we can hold onto that goes deeper than those labels and allows us to remain a healthy, whole human being. We don’t talk about it enough. Our economic contribution is valued above our spiritual or wise selves.”

The fearless piece of Good’s work is often conceptual—breaking long-held and cherished notions of what works. “We have to stop talking about solutions! If the problem we’re trying to solve had a ‘solution’ it would have been done. Instead we often have no idea! We have some little sparks of ideas but we’ll go into these massive complex problems,” sometimes investing a decade of one’s life and work to solving them.

Key to success, says Good, is redefining what it means to fail. “The word failure is an interesting one,” she says. “I don’t think anyone can be truly fearless. At our best and most courageous, we feel our fear and do it anyway. I do love the spirit of fearlessness… Everything we do has elements of failure and success when we’re involved in something complex.”

Good began her work focusing on the non-profit sector, but, as she quickly learned, everyone fails and everyone needs help figuring out what went wrong. Today she works with foundations, grant-makers and governments. “I really moved up to that level quite quickly,” she says. “I started to see that failure wasn’t a non-profit problem, but was really a ‘how we communicate’ problem.”

Key to examining failure without the usual shame-and-blame requires a fresh point of view—using what Good calls blameless post-mortems. With calm, open-minded discussion, failure offers a useful learning tool.

Living with fearlessness is really what Good does, while performing the fundamental work of “transforming our relationship with failure so we can solve complex problems. That’s a pretty audacious goal! There’s always a tension between optimism and clarity of which path to take.”

 

Feeling inspired? If you’re ready to begin your own Be Fearless journey start by downloading our free Be Fearless Action Guide and Case Studies.

Celebrating Exploration with National Geographic

Posted on by Case Foundation

This post was written by Aaron Coleman on behalf of the Case Foundation:

National Geographic has celebrated explorers for more than 120 years and each year they honor these fearless individuals by sharing their stories during Explorers Week. Through a series of panels and TED-style talks, National Geographic spotlights intellectual pioneers from around the world. This June, the Case Foundation team attended the “Explorers Week: Disrupters Panel” to hear scientists and designers discuss the triumphs and failures from their explorations. The topics varied from recycling nuclear waste to constructing urban farms, and while eclectic in subject matter, the presentations emphasized the urgent need to catalyze social and scientific change.

“Create another world if you’re not happy with the one that we have,” suggested Caleb Harper, an Urban Agriculturalist and National Geographic 2015 Emerging Explorer, who is building vertical farms to address the global food crisis. His daring proposition was echoed by fellow emerging explorer Leslie Dewan, a nuclear engineer, whose company converts nuclear waste into a “resource to be tapped instead of a liability to be disposed of.” By harnessing energy from discarded nuclear waste, Dewan and her team are working to “reduce the radioactive lifetime of the nuclear waste from hundreds of thousands of years, to a few hundred years.”

Dewan calls this a transition from “a geological timescale to a human timescale.” This concept, that a society we can fix big social problems on a human timescale, is a bold shift away from the incremental change typical of social progress; it challenges us to find solutions in our lifetime.

For too long, we have believed that some problems are too big—that tough issues should be left to gradually dissolve under the tides of time, but in this void of timid and unimaginative thinking entire communities in need have languished. Persistent social problems require bold solutions. Just because you’re faced with cumbersome legal regulations and political red tape “doesn’t mean that you have to do small scale things,” said explorer Skylar Tibbits during the closing segment. Tibbits notes that “there are lots of opportunities to innovate.”

At the Case Foundation, we stand alongside Caleb, Leslie, Skylar and countless other explorers in the belief that the impossible is possible and that we must move from a “someday timeline” to a “right now” timeline. These explorers inspire the work that we do and remind us how to be fearless in our efforts to change the world.

We encourage you to get inspired by learning about National Geographic Explorers and learning how you can Be Fearless and take on a new approach to making big change.

 

Photograph by Lynn Johnson, National Geographic Photography Fellow

 

It’s In Our Jeans: How One Clothing Brand Conquered Fear

Posted on by Case Foundation

This post was written by J.D. Brady on behalf of the Case Foundation:

Few changemakers embody the Be Fearless mantra quite like Levi Strauss & Co. and its Foundation. For more than 160 years, the brand has implemented a unique approach to investing in causes. As a company, they have always strived to go first. In fact, they were one of the first brands to help fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic; their work force was racially integrated years before Civil Rights legislation was implemented; and the company was one of the first to offer domestic partner benefits. Levi Strauss & Co. developed “the code that launched a thousand codes” when it became one of the first companies to create a “code of conduct” determining how contractors must treat workers and the expectation of contractors to produce a quality environment in which to work.

Just last year the Case Foundation featured the Foundation as a Be Fearless case study. Led by executive director Daniel Jae-Won Lee, the Foundation makes big bets and causes they are invested in and was one of the first to set aside dedicated funds for an experimental, “innovation” portfolio. Each year roughly 15 to 20 percent of their budget is directed to potentially transformative projects and their leaders with great ideas.

In advance of MCON this month, Daniel shares his lessons learned at the helm of the foundation and how his team has worked to solve some of society’s most pressing social issues. We look forward to hearing him share his insights at MCON 2015.

CF: Part of your emphasis as an organization is improving worker well-being at apparel companies located in communities where your products are made. Tell us more about these efforts and what impact you have made.

DL: We have a longstanding commitment to improve the well-being and rights of people who make our products. Levi Strauss & Co. has invested more than $10 million in the past fifteen years on factory-based programs to enhance the health, financial security, life skills and awareness of apparel workers. But here’s the catch: when we asked how many of these terrific initiatives were sustained in the factory beyond our initial funding, the answer was resounding — zilch.

Out of this came a new business approach: Improving Worker Well-being. Our foundation is supporting efforts by Levi Strauss & Co. to foster the ownership and sustainability of these programs among key vendors in the supply chain, based on the premise that what is good for workers is also good for business. We recognize a lynchpin to factory ownership is measuring the social and business impact of these worker programs. Studies have shown that for every dollar invested in women’s health on the factory floor, there are three or four dollars of return in terms of improved productivity and reduced absenteeism. It won’t be turnkey or overnight success, but the company is committed to working with its key suppliers over the next five years to generating this business and social value – and making Improving Worker Well-being a way of doing business.

CF: What are the greatest challenges facing communities today? What are some ways the Levi Strauss Foundation is addressing these challenges?

DL: In the United States and across the globe, the rise of income inequality is one of the most critical issues of our time. It is striking to see both Democrats and Republicans speaking on this topic in the prelude to the 2016 Presidential election. The Levi Strauss Foundation has invested $7.5 million in asset building programs since 2007. These allow low-income people not merely to gain an income but also generate savings and invest in long-term assets like education or a home. More recently we joined SF Gives, a collaborative effort spearheaded by the anti-poverty champion, Tipping Point, and Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce. The initiative takes a full-circle approach by bringing together companies from across the Bay Area – including many new players from the technology sector – to leverage their support, employees and influence to address poverty in the Bay Area.

CF: What is one of the biggest bets that the Levi Strauss Foundation has made since its inception?

DL: In 1982, Levi Strauss & Co. was among the first corporations to respond to HIV/AIDS (even before it had a name, when it emerged a mysterious and deadly virus) due to its impact on our employees. One year later, our foundation was the first to help fund the fight against the epidemic. More than 30 years later, this global epidemic is expanding in key markets like Russia, China, India, South Africa and the United States. Due to stigma and discrimination, those people and groups who bear the brunt of this epidemic are viewed as not worthy of having rights.

In the early days of the epidemic, our funding helped seed and grow many incredible organizations – first in San Francisco and eventually in over thirty countries around the globe. Today, the Levi Strauss Foundation is proudly supporting the human rights response to this global epidemic, an approach that receives less than one percent of total HIV/AIDS funding. Only by changing discriminatory laws, bad public health policies and stigmatizing cultural practices – and cultivating those groups most impacted by HIV/AIDS as advocates and agents of change – can we claim victory over this disease and cultivate an AIDS-free generation.

This is the first in a series of blog posts featuring speakers from MCON 2015. Check back to learn about more innovators and leaders from the private, nonprofit and public sectors. Also, be sure to tune in to the live stream of MCON on June 24th and 25th!

The Be Fearless Journey: Share our Strength and the Levi Strauss Foundation

Posted on by Case Foundation

The need for making big bets is more important now than ever before. Now is the time to collaborate across sectors, develop meaningful initiatives with measurable outcomes and set bold targets. Yet the question remains—how can the social sector act fearlessly in order to maximize impact?

At the Case Foundation, we believe that the greatest progress is achieved when organizations are willing to make big bets, experiment often and fail forward. Share our Strength and the Levi Strauss Foundation epitomizes this bold spirit by embracing innovation at multiple intersections to realize the greatest change. They are also the focus of the Foundation’s SXSW Be Fearless Breakout on March 17, 2015. You are invited to join the Case Foundation with special guests: Tom Nelson, President of Share Our Strength; and Daniel Lee, Executive Director and Jason McBriarty, Director, Worldwide Community Affairs of the Levi Strauss Foundation for an exciting session designed to explore how organizations can take action to Be Fearless (RSVP required).

What Can You Expect?

Share our Strength embraced a new sense of urgency to tackle hunger in the United States with the specific goal of eradicating childhood hunger in our country. Similarly, the Levi Strauss Foundation spearheaded the Pioneers in Justice initiative, which emphasized the long-term goal of measuring grant impact rather than just short-term grant administration. Each organization challenged itself to take risks, be bold and fail forward, leading them both achieve the transformative impact they set out to make. Leaders from both organizations will share their greatest lessons learned, action steps they took and insights from their experience in this exclusive break out session at SXSW.

Hungry for More? 

  • Check out their stories of action in the Be Fearless Action Guide, available now!
  • Looking for other sessions to check out at SXSW? Here’s our top 10 list of sessions to attend, including two other sessions hosted by the Case Foundation.

What Are You Waiting For? Start Your Be Fearless Journey Now

Posted on by Case Foundation

Ready to take the next step on your journey to being fearless? To help you on your way, the Case Foundation invites you to download the Be Fearless Action Guide—a set of special tools designed to help nonprofit and foundation leaders create more meaningful social change. It doesn’t matter if you are a program manager looking to change the way you evaluate projects, a board member who wants to help a nonprofit make a big bet or a grantee who wants to encourage a funder to experiment more often… the Action Guide is designed to be your roadmap.

Based on feedback from practitioners in the sector we have developed a unique framework that provides step-by-step actions and ideas for how you and your organization can take risks, be bold and fail forward. These are only the tip of the iceberg for ways to be fearless – use them to start a creative conversation about what is right for your organization. To complement the framework, we’ve assembled stories from five fearless organizations. Each case study highlights how the organization overcame challenges in a fearless way and ultimately fostered a transformative change. There are also discussion guide questions at the end of every case study that provide a take away for everyone—no matter what type of organization you represent.

The Be Fearless Action Guide includes:

  • The Be Fearless Framework
  • Global Health Corps Case Study
  • Jacobs Family Foundation Case Study
  • Levi Strauss Foundation Case Study
  • Salesforce Foundation Case Study (NEW)
  • Share Our Strength Case Study (NEW)

If you have already previewed some of the materials during our special sneak peek phase, be sure to check out the two NEW case studies released today spotlighting the Salesforce Foundation and Share Our Strength. Additional case studies featuring new challenges and solutions are currently in development and will be released this fall!

What are you waiting for? Check out the Action Guide today!

10 Can’t Miss Sessions at SXSW 2015

Posted on by Case Foundation

We are getting ready to head down to Austin, TX, for SXSW Interactive—a five-day festival that showcases a mix of digital creativity, emerging technology and unique networking events. From March 13 through 17, members of the Case Foundation team will be on-site learning about new trends in social good, philanthropy and technology from thought leaders in the sector… and leading three sessions on social good issues that we hope you will join us for:

We’re also excited to take part in the many sessions that promise to stretch our minds, inspire our creativity and just have fun. We’ve compiled a list of 10 events that we’re particularly excited about below. Have another can’t miss SXSW session we should know about? Tweet us the details using @CaseFoundation and #CFBlog so we can share it with our community.

Saturday, March 14

  • 12:30 pm: Running a Non-Profit Like a Startup! – Austin Convention Center, Room 9ABC
    Do you want to learn how operating like a startup can help nonprofits overcome challenges? Join a group of social entrepreneurs for a discussion about starting and scaling a nonprofit guided by practices until recently associated with startups.
  • 3:30 pm: City 2.0: Why Local Gov. Bets on Civic Innovation – Austin Convention Center, Room 10AB
    Civic innovation is taking root in municipalities across the country. But is it effective in tackling real urban problems? Join Leaders from Boston, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco for insights into how these cities are betting on a new era of policy-making by using open data and leveraging the talents of their citizens.

Sunday, March 15

  • 11 am: How to Make it Rain: Impact Investors Tell All – Austin City Hall
    This panel will explore ways impact investors, social entrepreneurs and traditional investment vehicles can collaborate to help create a strong impact eco-system.
  • 5 pm: Millennials: The Unstoppable Force – Austin Convention Center, Room 10AB
    During this session, participants will hear from Millennial elected officials who are putting aside partisan labels and working to change the future together

Monday, March 16

  • 11 am: How Potato Salad Killed/Saved Crowdfunding – Austin Convention Center, Next Stage
    Join our SVP of Communications, Allyson Burns, for a conversation with Gary Wolfheil of Crowdrise and some of crowdfunding’s biggest names including Zack Brown, the Potato Salad Guy and Ryan Grepper, creator of the Coolest Cooler, for an in-depth conversation about the future of crowdfunding for nonprofits, for profits and individuals.
  • 12 pm: Impact Investing Rumble Hosted by the Case Foundation – Trinity Hall
    Join the Case Foundation for a memorable Impact Investing point/counterpoint debate exploring whether or not impact investing really is the next big thing when it comes to creating change in the social sector.
  • 3 pm: Elevate: How Businesses & Entrepreneurs are Taking Social Good to the Next Level – Trinity Hall
    Come hear how three leading companies built corporate philanthropy into their culture. This panel will provide insights into the benefits of fostering a culture of corporate citizenship for both internal and external stakeholders, how to engage all employees and how to build programs that can make the world a better place.

Tuesday, March 17

  • 10 am: Look at Me: On Ego, Hype, and Social Entrepreneurship – Trinity Hall
    United Kingdom based veteran social entrepreneur and impact investor, Liam Black, cuts through the hype of social entrepreneur industry to talk honestly about what really motivates and drives entrepreneurs who want to change the world.
  • 11:30 am: Be Fearless Breakout Session Hosted by the Case Foundation – Trinity Hall
    Are you and your organization ready to make big bets that will change the world? Join the Case Foundation for working group to explore ways that you can integrate strategies and tactics to create impact and meaningful social change. Click here to sign up.
  • 2:00 pm: Data Visualization for Social Good – Trinity Hall
    During this hands-on session, participants will work with open data from the City of Austin to create prototypes that visually represent public data and invite exploration and explanation.

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 Twitter by using the hashtag #CFBlog!

Looking Back on Finding Fearless: Where Are They Now

Posted on by Case Foundation

Two years ago this week, the Case Foundation launched its Finding Fearless challenge to identify changemakers across the United States that embodied our Be Fearless principles. Finding Fearless provided a tangible and real world chance to witness risk taking, experimentation and big bets embodied by local nonprofit leaders. Two years later, we would like to share with you where these leaders are and what they have accomplished.

In September of 2012, the Case Foundation partnered with Microsoft, REI and the Goldhirsh Foundation to find and fund fearless changemakers. We knew that there were leaders on the ground who were employing experimental approaches to tackle the world’s most challenging problems. Over the course of the campaign, we heard from a diverse group of large and small organizations and individuals that had taken a fearless, innovative approach to their charitable work. The twenty Finding Fearless winners were focused on a variety of issues, ranging from food scarcity to recidivism to education.

We are incredibly proud of their progress and achievements and are thrilled to see several of them gaining broader recognition. Swipes for the Homeless was recognized by President Obama as a “national leader in social innovation” and a Champion of Change for boldly advocating across university campuses to give students the opportunity to donate their unused meal points to food pantries serving homeless populations. Additionally, Madhura Bhat, who co-founded Health for America, an organization that runs a competitive fellowship program to teach next generation leaders to deploy entrepreneurial thinking in addressing health issues in America, was awarded the 2013 SXSW Dewey Winburne Community Service award. Marquis Cabrera, founder and CEO of Foster Skills, has been honored as the Massachusetts Innovator of the Year (Boston Globe) and Massachusetts Young Nonprofit Professional of the Year (MNN).

Another fearless young philanthropist has received special recognition for her efforts in Wisconsin. Jordyn Schara, founded WI P2D2, a prescription pill and drug collection program whose mission is to lessen the time and financial burden on police departments, related to the proper disposal of confiscated pills and drugs. The program provides police departments with 24/7 secure drop-box locations where the pills can be stored in between the Drug Enforcement Agency’s bi-annual collection events, when the pills can be safely destroyed. Jordyn was recently chosen by Teen Vogue to attend the Clinton Global Initiative University at Arizona State University.

We continue to be impressed and inspired by these twenty community leaders and wanted to take this opportunity to share some of their successes and stories from the field.

Reach Beyond your Bubble

We were excited by the groups our national sweep discovered that were being creative in their project designs and bold in their partnership decisions. For example, ArtSpring, a Florida organization that provides incarcerated women with positive artistic outlets for personal expression, has been successfully preparing participants for re-introduction to life outside of the corrections system. ArtSpring has been looking beyond their smaller prison community and have built an effective, mutually beneficial partnership with Florida Atlantic University. Through this creative partnership, students enrolled in the Rhetoric of Incarceration course and are able to study the unique perspectives on freedom and individual rights within incarcerated women’s writing. According to Leslie Neal and Nicole Bible of ArtSpring, the learning between inmates and students has pushed participants “intellectually and academically, and allowed the [inmates] to feel heard, respected and valued.” Art Spring has a phenomenal track record of nearly 0% recidivism among participant women.

Let Urgency Conquer Fear

The Campaign for Southern Equality, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting full LGBT equality with a focus in the South, is letting urgency conquer fear through their WE DO Campaign. Throughout Southern states where gay marriage is not legally recognized, the campaign made a big splash and earned greater national attention for their cause. Through peaceful protest, a cohort of gay and lesbian couples, and their supporters, went on an emotional journey from county courthouse to county courthouse where they were repeatedly denied access to marriage licenses. While the laws remain unchanged in their home states, the participants drew huge media attention and pushed conversation around a difficult and divisive subject to the forefront of public debate in their home states. They successfully drew public attention to a legal barrier this community is fighting to change immediately.

Make Big Bets

The New American Leaders Project (NALP) is working in African, Arab, Asian, Caribbean and Latino communities to recruit and train both new and experienced public servants as they take the next steps in civic participation. NALP uses public outreach, training programs and large convenings to generate a fraternal atmosphere of support for their diverse cohort of values based community leaders. They continue to make big bets on their members through the “Ready to Lead” program that provides community leaders in American immigrant populations with the tools and training to effectively campaign for local, state and national office. NALP is determined to empower leaders in minority communities through civic participation, in an effort to create a more inclusive government, better prepared to advocate for the increasingly diverse American population, generating a more robust democracy. They have successfully trained more than 250 leaders, thirteen of whom have already been elected to office.

Make Failure Matter

A natural component of taking risks is failure. And each of the winners faced challenges of varying severity. A few of the winners shared those obstacles with our team, and their means for learning from and overcoming them. Clark Fork Coalition discovered that without community cooperation, the most well-intentioned plans could be met with distrust and opposition. The Coalition encourages sustainable land and water management in Missoula, MT. They manage a ranch for use as an educational tool and as an example of successful land stewardship. They found, however, that to communicate their goals effectively to other landowners and ranchers, they would first need to build a foundation of trust within the community. The Coalition was able to develop a strategy of community integration through outreach projects as simple as hosting barbecues. This allowed them to build relationships within the ranching community, with the hope of facilitating future land management interventions in the future.

Experiment Early and Often

Another obstacle for small nonprofits is technological limitations. For a number of the winners, digital technology as a medium for media outreach, user tracking and information sharing and gathering, posed some significant challenges. For organizations with limited access to necessary equipment or with volunteers who may not have the proper skills to deliver needed tech solutions, it may be necessary to scale back operations, in the short term.

However, one of the winners, So They Can Know (STCK), faced a technological obstacle and was neither discouraged nor did they back down from their mission. They provide an online platform that allows individuals who have tested positive with a sexually transmitted infection to anonymously inform past partners of their potential exposure and direct them to testing facilities. They have successfully launched their online application through which visitors can send anonymous emails to partners. The STCK team understands that most young people communicate by text message, not email, so to effectively reach more potentially at risk individuals they will need to get the anonymous text messaging option up and running through their website. STCK continues to work on increasing their employees’ tech knowledge and have turned their focus on capacity building to bring in the proper skills to realize the potential of their bold experimentation.

The Case Foundation continues to be impressed and inspired by the organizations that participated in the Finding Fearless grant challenge. For everyone that has participated in the campaign, we are happy to provide you with this update on where our Fearless winners are now. We may not have been able to highlight the achievements, awards and challenges of every winning organization, however we hope you will take time to explore each of these fascinating and fearless organizations to see their impact and what they have learned!

 

Nelson Mandela: A Fearless Social Activist For All Time

Posted on by Case Foundation

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela

With the passing of Nelson Mandela, we say goodbye to one of our greatest leaders, visionaries, and heroes. Steve and I had the privilege to meet President Mandela a few years ago, and I have long admired his courage, persistence, and fearless spirit. With his passing at age 95, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on a man who so embodied the spirit of what it means to be fearless and who has influenced me personally.

President Mandela personifies the fearless values we talk about so frequently: taking risks, being bold, and letting urgency conquer fear. Perhaps most importantly, President Mandela pressed for a cause that he believed was right when most said the challenges he and his fellow activists faced were insurmountable. His selflessness, his perseverance, and his focus have been an inspiration for activists and changemakers around the world.

As a young man in Johannesburg, South Africa, President Mandela experienced firsthand the impact of apartheid—where racial segregation, unequal rights, and poverty among the black majority were the norm. As he fought for social justice he faced opponents that were internationally recognized, better funded, and backed by a standing police force. He was called a terrorist, a traitor, and a criminal by those within his country and watching from afar. And he was sentenced to life in prison in 1964 on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the government.

These kinds of challenges would likely stop most of us in our tracks, but President Mandela pressed on. On several occasions, the South African government offered his freedom on the condition that he abandon his activism. Each time, he refused. His tireless work sparked an international movement of individuals and eventually governments that lobbied for his release and for an end to apartheid. And, his release from prison was a historic moment—courage had triumphed over fear.

President Mandela did not stop his work at the end of apartheid. He then started what proved to be a nearly equally challenging task of governing, and of bringing a country together that had been ripped apart by the struggle for equal rights. He knew that his work was not done, and he knew that he needed to inspire the next generation of South Africans to continue to press for unity, for growth, and for equal opportunity. As President, he continued to take risks and bold actions, working with all parties to bring the country together–beginning at the outset of his presidency, inviting his former jailer to be a VIP guest at his inauguration.

I thank you, Nelson Mandela, for being an inspiration for all of us. We applaud you for being fearless in the face of so many obstacles, for learning from adversity rather than hiding from it, and for showing us that we all can lead movements that can change the world.

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