Collaborating online
to do good in the world
People
Organizations
Competition
not enough
Social Change on the Internet
too many
CHaos
fragmentation
duplication
frustration
inefficiency
Where are we now?
New changemakers feel alone
Changemakers new to the online world feel lost
Potential supporters feel bombarded and uncertain
 
As the global social change movement explodes, the Internet helps us see how many we are
How to find collaborators with complementary skills & passions?
How do you know who to trust & what they are capable of ?
It takes TIME to develop collaborative relationships. 
Social Media only gets us so far...
Everyone's a changemaker!
...welcome to the world's largest 24/7 cocktail party!
talk!
TALK
talk!
Tweet!
is there somewhere quiet we can go
to get to know each other better?
Will you be my partner?
Hey baby... let's co-create!
All of them under-funded!
54% of US nonprofits now active online
Org causes & projects very often overlap
Online audiences are bombarded with appeals
Competition for funds & attention uses lots of org time
Why don't organizations use the web 
to collaborate more?
2. organizational survival is everyone's main concern.
1. It's hard to get serious work done at a cocktail party
Organizational "silos" fragment changemakers working toward the same goals into competition for supporters, clicks and money
"Drop everything" to campaign for all-or-nothing results
Orgs in underconnected regions are at a HUGE disadvantage
Does the org with the best impact or the best marketing plan win?
No accountability: all focus is on who wins, not on what happens next
Which doesn't enhance impact
Can competition & collaboration co-exist?
The long-term success of
the social change movement 
may very well depend on it!
It's up to US to find a way.
The world NEEDS collaborative responses to the interconnected challenges our planet now faces
Old systems are failing us
Changemakers KNOW we need to work together more
We need practical systems for making global grassroots collaboration work.
in the Social Change space
We know that the Internet offers unprecedented potential for self-organizing, grassroots collaboration for global change.

We know that the Social Change Space online is developing rapidly, calling changemakers from all over the planet together.

We're still learning how to make the Internet work to it's full potential as a catalyst for change.
People, Information, tools & resources to help changemakers work better are available, but too scattered & hard for newcomers to find
a one-stop-shop serving the social change space online
Find allies, tools, resources & information
Learn collaborative strategies for enhancing your impact
Contribute, rate & comment on resources you know about
Plain language explanations of the purpose online tools can serve
1. new changemakers
2. changemakers new to the online world
Internet4Change.com 
Target Users:
Links to all of your websites & social media profiles on 1 page
Current + historical links to your public discussions & workspaces
Easy "start-page" format to streamline your online work processes
Tags to make it easier to find people with complimentary interests
My.Internet4Change.com/your_name
Target users:
1. Changemakers using the Internet to enhance their work
2. Funders & potential collaborators who want to learn about them
Online Resource Portal for the Social Change Sector
the number of people
in the social change space online will certainly increase in the foreseeable future
We MUST move beyond organizational survival mindsets, and start pooling our human and financial resources to focus on planetary survival.
of some things we need
of some things we need
Small monthly membership fee: 20% keeps the system going
40% of fees are redistributed to members' favorite organizations
20% of fees are redistributed to members who have recruited others
20% is matched & awarded (by vote) to member collaboration proposals
Micro-Success!
Provides for:
Accountability : development of dynamic reporting guidelines
Changemaker income : to eat with or give away
monthly operational funds for orgs
Annual competition schedule enables planning & incentivizes collaboration
Local Agencies dedicated to global/local online collaboration
Mobile Agents provide a human web interface for local communities
Micro-Success and local service delivery fees facilitate Agents financially
Certification & self-policing local networks uphold standards & integrity
Internet4Change Agents & Agencies
Facilitating global online collaboration from Africa, S.E. Asia & So. America
Also enable south-south collaboration
Create jobs for literate youth
Impact objectives:
Draw underconnected communities into global dialogue
Internet4Change Project Timeline
2009           2010           2011           2012           2013          2014           2015           2016          2017           2018           2019
Internet4Change.com
My.Internet4Change
Micro-Success.com
3-4 Pilot i4c Agencies
i4c Agency franchise rollout
12 Agencies, 180 Agents, 1000+ orgs
Agent training & certification
Key challenges
Internet4change.com
My.Internet4Change.com
i4c Agency establishment
Micro-success.com
(Apart from funding)
Tech development partners
(dymanic online activity 
tracking technology does
not yet exist)
Collaboration structure
(partners & technology 
platform identified)

Marketing & promotion

Revenue generation to 
cover maintenance
(ads or another model?)
global tax implications
& mgmnt structure

transfer of funds to 
underconnected regions

pre-vetting of orgs 
raising $$ + online 
reporting standards

marketing approach
(avoid hype & get-rich-
quick expectations)
curriculum development

identification of local 
management partners

documented experimentation
during pilot phase

integration of ethical 
component in certification
process
Current Status & Activities Planned Q4'09 & Q1'10
Internet4change.com
My.Internet4Change.com
Establishment of Belgian legal structure (ASBL with a different name) through which to develop the project as a collaborator instead of as an owner
Micro-success.com
i4c Agency establishment
"From chaos comes order"
"we must adapt ourselves to the requirements of chaos"
Too Many
Untold numbers of likeminded people swim in a sea of anonymity
too many orgs = duplication of work & dilution of resources
the Internet is more often used to push organizational agendas, than to inform & improve upon approaches to creating 
greater impact
Online popularity contests for funding - opportunity or cost?
67% of nonprofits surveyed say social media is changing how they communicate with broad external audiences, but not with narrower categories of stakeholders
83% of Nonprofit executives surveyed understand that social media makes it easier for supporters to organize independently, underscoring a need to justify organizational value & relevance
Weber Shandwick
Nov 2009
Weber Shandwick
Nov 2009
Buzzwords
Poorly defined distractions
Current buzz word confusion in the social change space
"Social Media": everyone's building networks, but few can say why
"Engagement": means someone clicked, not a 2-way conversation
"Crowdsourcing":  in the old days it was called "recruiting volunteers"
"Transparency": no clear  standards or guidelines for how to achieve it
We use words to try to describe what technology is. We need to start talking more about the purpose these technologies can serve in enhancing our impact
Latest  social change space buzz:


"collaboration"
two or more people working together in pursuit of
a shared, collective, bounded goal
~ @eekim 
    Blue Oxen Associates
(possibly the most promising buzzword yet)
Competition is distracting us
Our challenges are cross-dimensional
no single social entrepreneur, organization or institution has all of the answers. Our challenges require cross-sectoral, cross-cultural approaches
The change movement is growing
People from all walks of life are increasingly dedicating their knowledge, talents and time to working on complex local and global challenges
Keeping up with the latest buzzwords is difficult even for native english speakers who have been online for years! Non-native english speakers and newcomers often feel overwhelmed, and left out.
My.Internet4Change.com: functionality
Micro-Success.com: cooperative economic model
i4c Agents & Agencies: global vision
Not enough
The concepts described in this presentation represent a proposed response to the multi-faceted challenges I faced during 10+ years of collaborating online from East Africa to create local community level change.
Global grassroots 
collaboration will
define our future.
~ Christina Jordan
    Ashoka Fellow (2001)
Too Many
Too Many
Too Much
Structured
Information
Internet4Change.com
Internet4Change.com: purpose
Global
Inclusion
Under-connected parts of the world are being left out of online dialogue. New global systems must take local issues into account.
i4c Agents & Agencies
job creation through training & certification of people who use the internet on behalf of those who can't
Not enough
Not enough
Return
The return on investment for orgs participating online is hit & miss; competitions are disruptive and poorly structured
a micro-giving club for my.internet4change members and their online friends
Micro-Success.com
Economic
where competition and collaboration co-exist
Not enough
Management
Systems
Keeping track of our own participation and others' evolving work online is a complex daily challenge.
My.Internet4Change.com
what are you doing online and where can others find & engage with you?
Kurt Vonnegut
Friedrich Nietzsche
continue discussions with identified collaboration partners;
explore selected database platform; identify & cost additional development needs
Jan-Feb trip to USA to meet with potential funders
Co-initiator of a conference in Portland : Beyond Social Media: collaboration & getting things done
Jan-Feb trip to USA to look for technology development partners
start 2 model collaboration groups for social enterprise start-ups; study dynamics & utility of collaborative technology (Micro-Success pilot group?)
     ~ 1 online @ ned.com
     ~ 1 offline @ Hub Brussels
begin curriculum development thru offering Internet4Change training courses at HUB Brussels - to focus on using specific sites/tools for social change purposes
document course instruction and work with Life in Africa Foundation to test as online courses.