My main connection to community service was a school club I belong to called “Community Service Roundtable.” We raised money for a lot of good causes, like relief in Haiti, helping child soldiers in Uganda and GEMS. Though I loved what the Roundtable accomplishes and I started to feel a passion for helping these causes, I didn’t expect that when I went on Google and searched for “internships for teens” I’d land one at PoP and feel so passionate about the cause.

I have been helping to coordinate some of the details for PoP’s amazing annual summer fundraiser, the White Party. Planning a party sounded cool to me, especially since I have never helped coordinate something so big.

I have been contacting different companies trying to get donations for the White Party gift bags. This has been an interesting process for me because I got the opportunity to educate people about PoP’s mission. I recently contacted one major cupcake company and though I was pretty nervous about my outreach approach at first (maybe they’d think I was just a kid trying to score free cupcakes!) I quickly realized that with this really small act of placing a phone call I was actually doing something really important: creating a connection between cupcakes in New York and helping kids on the other side of the world get an education.

It’s the small acts that make all the difference!

Alex and Max at The Promise

Last week, a team from Pencils of Promise attended the Think Social #Promise conference.  Alex shares her thoughts and observations on the overall experience and how brands can create good through social media.

We got to take part in another fabulous event last week – the Think Social #Promise Conference on corporate social responsibility and social media. It was my first real introduction to social media so I was prepared to take a lot of information in and learn all I can about the topic.

The conference was more than just a great learning opportunity though; it was an all day affair that facilitated networking and included a variety of spotlight presentations and panels that were incredibly fascinating.

I was very impressed with the caliber of companies and industries represented, from Nokia to PepsiCo to MTV to Timberland. We got to meet and hear from some really inspiring people whose passion for change and innovation was infectious — from executive members of PepsiCo to the founder of Facebook and even philanthropist Edward Norton.

Think Social set a challenge for each company or individual present at the conference to make a social media #promise. Throughout the day people would tweet their #promise on the twitter page projected to the entire audience. Pencils of Promise made a #promise that $20 will buy all school supplies for one year for 20 students and their teacher! MTV made a “#promise” to fight against sexting and other digital abuses facing teenagers. Timberland made an ambitious #promise to plant 5 million trees in Haiti and China in 5 years!

This experience alone is just another testament to the various opportunities afforded to us as PoP interns — it is more than just what we have to offer to PoP, it is about engaging with our socially conscious peers, learning from each other and strengthening our skills in some of the innovative things our generation will lead and become a part of.

This is all so exciting and I am very much enjoying the ride!

PoP was founded in October of 2008, with the simple ambition of finding a way to build just a single school. That was it. I was about to turn 25 years old, so I put $25 into a new PoP bank account and we were off. The goal was to throw two small fundraisers with my closest friends in NYC, and turn that multitude of small donations into a school for a community of tremendous need. So one year later, where do we stand?

-Our first school is completed in Pha Theung, Laos providing electricity, running water and preschool education for a village that previously lacked each of these for their school children

-We have nearly completed construction on our 2^nd and 3^rd schools in Phayong, Laos

-Our dedicated team has grown to over 100 volunteers across the country

-The NYC Summer Associate program hired students from Harvard, UPenn, Northwestern and NYU

-The PoP Fellowship has placed our first fellow in Nepal with partner organization Seto Guruns

-We have received more than 3,000 unique donations totaling approximately $125,000+

How did this happen? It has happened through dedicated young people seeking fulfillment, and finding it through their involvement in Pencils of Promise. I am one of those people, as is our entire team. This organization has always belonged to every single one of its contributors, and those that take active ownership have now accomplished much more than we ever expected possible in just one year. We profoundly believe in this mission, this approach, and our shared ability to empower education for others. I am so proud of what we’ve done together in this first year, but I’m even more excited about the prospect of what is to come.

-AB

It was exciting, although not entirely surprising, for us to hear that Muhammad Yunus, one of the most respected leaders in anti-poverty efforts today, will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama at an award ceremony on Wednesday, August 12. He will join the list of individuals such as Tony Blair and Muhammad Ali, who have made especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

Dr. Yunus is one of the 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor.

Dr. Yunus,  a Bangladeshi economist by training, is the recipiant of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Grameen Bank, for their efforts to “create economic and social development from below”. The Grameen Bank is a microfinance organization and community development bank that makes small loans, or microcredit, to the impoverished without requiring collateral.

As of October 2007, the total borrowers of the bank number 7.34 million, and 97% of those are women. The Bank has a staff of over 24,703 employees and 2,468 branches covering 80,257 villages. Since its inception, the bank has distributed Tk 347.75 billion (USD 6.55 billion) in loans. The fundamental philosophy behind microloans, is that they empower people to support themselves through entrepreneur activities, and ultimately transform their lives, their village, and their greater economy. Organizations such as Microcredit Foundation of India, and websites such as Kiva are working to change lives of millions of people everyday, one small loan at a time.

Read Grameen Foundation’s news release here. Congratulations again, Dr. Yunnus!

But nonprofits, according to Michael Seltzer from PhilanTopic, are “survivors“. Nonprofits have traditionally faced much more capital constraints and their for-profit counterparts, and therefore can better adopt themselves to budget cuts. There is also the silverlining. A difficult environment brings forth creative approaches, such as new ways to fundraise, new incentive to improve capital efficiency, new opportunities to recruit senior leaders, etc.

Dawn Jordan, a former operations vice president at Bank of America, is embarking on a journey to found her own non-profit after being laid off in 2008. According to her there has never been a better time: people are more willing to volunteer , especially professionals who have been temporarily laid off; the recent financial crisis has also left ppeople more aware of social responsibly and sustainable business practices.

Historically, tough economic environment has drive innovation, as demonstrated by creative fundraising solutions during the economic downturn of the 1980s and White House’s new Social Innovation Fund.

It may be a tough time, however with sevearl succesful fundraising events, two schools and expanding partnerships, PoP is having the best time ever. We are optimistic about future – a donation to PoP is an investment in a better future.

That’s the fate half of Indian women face, but one 16-year old girl is part of a bigger group that’s trying to change their domestic destiny.

Krishna Chaudhry, a typical village girl in rural India, is one of the 1,000 girls who attend the Pardada Pardadi Educational Society, where girls spend half of their days studying, and the other half working hard to earn an income for the family, so they are allowed to stay in school. Although she lives in Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s poorest states, Krishna looks toward women world leaders like US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for inspiration.

It is a sobering fact that women and girls are disproportionately affected by poverty. There are 101 million primary-school age children who are denied education, and girls account for a much higher percentage of that population. According to The World Bank, worldwide for every 100 boys out-of-school, there are 122 girls. This gap is even wider in certain countries – in Yemen there are 270 girls, in Iraq 316 girls, in India 426 girls.

Girls can do just as much as boys, but are often denied a chance of receiving education due to poverty and adverse cultural practices. Among all the initiatives that are seeking to keep girls in school, one has been particularlymemorable - The Girl Effect. According to their website, an extra year of primary education boosts a girl’s future income by 15-20%, and when a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children.

Founder of Pardada Educational Society, Sam Singh, believes that empowering girls like Krishna is the only way to effectively change rural India. True transformation only comes from within, and the best way to inspire that transformation is by giving children and young adults knowledge, education and a sense of hope. By investing in their future, we are giving them not pity, but support that will create an impact greater than what we can perhaps imagine.

Visit The Girl Effect

According to a White House Press Release, President Obama, in his FY2010 budget, will ask Congress for $50 million for the Social Innovation Fund to identify the most promising, results-oriented non-profit programs and expand their reach throughout the country.

“The idea is simple: to find the most effective programs out there and then provide the capital needed to replicate their success in communities around the country that are facing similar challenges,” First Lady Michelle Obama said Tuesday at the Time 100 Most Influential People Awards in New York City.

Social innovation has become an extremely popular subject in the past few years. For students, Kairos Summit and Dell Social Innovation are examples of initiatives that showcase and support the most promising and innovative student enterprises. For investors, Acumen Fund and Venture Philanthropy Partners are organizations that are leading and transforming the social impact landscape to deliver value to the Bottom of the Pyramid.

The nonprofit sphere is clustered, and simply throwing money at a problem would not solve it. Only approaches that are strategic and disciplined will be able to create the most impact, and the White House has taken the first step to identify these organizations. We sure hope this move will encourage young social entrepreneurs and nonprofits to continue their great work, and develop new, effective ways to tackle old problems. Sure, it takes time – but it won’t be long before organizations such as PoP leave their footprints in areas in need of change, whether it’s the mountains of Laos, or right here in the US.

However, the number of people capable of making a substantial gift is growing in many part s of the world, said Deborah Miller, an assistant vice president at Wake Forest University.

According to the World Wealth Report 2009, by 2013 the number of millionaires in Asia and the total value of their wealth will exceed that of millionaires in the United States. They would be next generations of donors, who will also diversity the donor portfolio of organizations, said Deborah.

Not only are individuals abroad able to make significant donations, there are many organizations that are consciously pooling their resources to bring global social change. Grantmakers Without Boarders is an example of such organizations, connecting a network of trustees, public and private foundations to provide funding for international causes, as well as to improve the practice of international grantmaking.

Pollution, poverty, water access, diseases and countless other pressing issues know no boarder or nationality. If the world is already flat, if people are already connected to each other, it is only plausible to look beyond home, beyond our own neighborhoods, to channel our resources to the places what will effectively utilize them and reap the most benefit.

Everyone is interlinked in this “human web” today – that’s the idea SixDegrees.org was founded upon. SixDegrees, a nonprofit founded by Kevin Bacon, is “social networking with a social conscience”. The website allows any Internet users to support a registered charity by donating or creating fundraising badges for a charity of their choice. These badges can be displayed on blogs, websites social networking pages to encourage friends to donate to a specific cause. In addition, SixDegrees also serves as a social site by providing updates on causes people are supporting, including celebrities.

What does that mean? To put things into perspective, if a New Yorker makes a donation to PoP, he or she is only six or fewer steps away from the child who will be sitting in one of our classrooms in Laos. Six degrees of separation = connection within six steps or fewer. We are more closely linked to them than what we perhaps think. Actually, we might even say that there is no them – they are part of us. Wouldn’t you join us?

Employees want to work for socially responsible firms. A study that surveyed 750 MBAs from 11 top business schools showed that nearly all were willing to make a financial sacrifice to work for a company that they perceived as socially responsible. In addition, a Forbes article showed that 88% of Gen Y women and 82% of Y men believe it’s important to be able to give back to community through work. By offering volunteer opportunities, contribution matching programs and externships with nonprofits, companies can not only provide socially conscious employees a platform to use their talents to help the community, but also give them a sense of company royalty and pride.

Today’s socially conscious consumers prefer brands associated with good causes. 74% of respondents are more likely to pay attention to a company’s message if that company has a deep commitment to a cause. Cause marketing is something many companies are picking up to promote their products and enhance their image – some companies that have done so successfully include Starbucks’ Ethos Water, Gap’s (Product) Red line, Tom’s shoes to children in South Africa.

Going green can saves companies greens, after all. According to an article on ITPro, companies who purchase eco-friendly PCs can reduce power consumption by over 20 per cent. In another example, in opening their environmentally friendly branches, PNC Bank has spent $100,000 less than a competitor spends on conventional branches. Surprising? Sure, but with a win-win situation, we are excited to see more of it.

Got a firm with your favorite CRS initiatives? Leave a comment and we’ll be sure to include a shout-out to them in our next post!