It was very interesting this weekend to realize while talking to my mom about her interest in finding a new cause to support, that it really is not that easy for people "outside the know" to find the new structures that have formed in creating new social capital and working on the problem of civic engagement and not for profit capactity building.
Here is the email I sent to her..
First off, there is a cadre of hard core people gathering in this online community sharing ideas and looking for things to get involved in. The guy that started Ebay put it together and it has attracted some top notch minds. http://www.omidyar.net/home/
I am attending the Capactity Building Conf. this weekend in Chicago. and by the way, that is the name of the area of work which I was trying to remember on Saturday, CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS.
The other item we discussed was the concept of "triple bottom line" -- people, planet and profits. There is a ton out there on that subject too.
ok, here it goes....
http://www.volunteermatch.org/ - find a cause, help out.
http://givingglobal.com/ (good starter)
http://www.globalgiving.com/ (good starter)
Google and Social Venture Philanthropy:
http://www.google.com/search?q=social+venture+philanthropyn - check the search results
http://www.google.com/Top/Society/Philanthropy/Venture_Philanthropy/ - check the directory (not very big yet)
http://www.svpinternational.org/ =- will help you start a local affiliate in KY. (!!)
http://www.pcf.org/venture_philanthropy/definition.html - definition and history
http://www.sv2.org/venturephilanthropy/ - one of the originals behind the movement...
http://philanthropy.com/free/articles/v15/i21/21000601.htm - article from Chronicle of Philanthropy
http://www.svn.org/organization.html - Social venture network
http://louisville.craigslist.org/ - great online community that is always leaned towards helping NPOs.
http://moveon.org - get active from your desk.
http://adbusters.org - get angry about causes related to media, the "King" in our culture today.