Hey Have Fun * Do Gooders!

There are only 2 weeks left in the first round of the Ideas for Change in America competition, and my idea, Make Things That Are “Public” Cool, is in 14th place in the Civic Engagement category.

The top 3 rated ideas for each category will make it to the second round, which will be held in early January. Change.org will announce the winners of the competition just before the Presidential Inauguration.

I need 192 votes to move up to 3rd place in Civic Engagement.

To vote, create a user account on Change.org, and go to change.org/ideas to vote for your favorite ideas (you can vote for more than one).

You can vote for my idea at
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/make_things_that_are_public_cool

Thanks!

Change.org
Obama

My favorite social action was being a sponsor for Jacinta Onoro, a Nigerian woman participating in Women for Women International.

Women for Women International supports women survivors of war in conflict and post-conflict areas (Afghanistan, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Sudan). Each woman is paired with a sponsor whose donation helps to cover some of their basic necessities (food, water, medicine). They also participate in a Renewing Women’s Life Skills (ReneWLS) Program, a job skills program, and have access to business services to help them start microenterprises.

As a sponsor, in addition to the $27/month that I donated towards supporting Ms. Onoro, I also wrote a letter to her each month. It took a while for her to write back, but she did eventually, and told me about her experiences in the program.

Gina Trapani of Lifehacker is also a Women for Women International sponsor. She signed up to sponsor two women after seeing a 60 Minutes segment on rape in Congo, where Women for Women was featured. She posted a scan of one of the letters she received on her post, Two Great Charities at Work to Beat Poverty.

Ms. Onoro graduated from her program in November, and I’ve decided to sponsor another woman from Sudan in 2009. It would be nice to connect with other sponsors, like the woman who started a book club for Women for Women International sponsors, described in the post, Guest Post: Congo Conflict – What You Can Do. The group writes letters to the women they sponsor when they meet each month.

A Women for Women International sponsorship can also be given as a gift. Nancy Northrop created a special program to facilitate her customers supporting Women for Women International, which she describes in her post, Face-to-Face: How Women Can Make a Difference. Her company underwrites the cost of each survivor for one year, if the customer agrees to write them a letter each month.

What was your favorite social action of 2008? It can be anything: a volunteer opportunity, a donation, a petition, a protest, using less paper bags, or educating yourself about an issue. Tell us about it.

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com

women
war
nonprofit
donation

“The focus of the book, and therefore the focus of the stories, is a suggestion that the practice of listening to your heart and harnessing those messages to the messages of your head (where patterns are discerned, options are evaluated, and strategies are formed) leads to a special form of action (hustle) that drives a life of meaningful impact. We want stories that illustrate specific, relatable examples of making sense of confusing signals in order to find clarity and direction in the early stages of career formation – particularly in unexpected ways.”

You can find more information about the project, and how to apply at www.echoinggreen.org/be-bold/call-for-stories.

You can also listen to Lara Galinsky, Echoing Green’s Vice President of Strategy & Communications, on the Be Bold Podcast (which I host) talking about why they wrote the first book, why they are writing the second book, and what kind of stories they are looking for.

Don’t be shy. Send in your story!

career
story
social change
activism

Ruthanne Feinberg is a busy woman. In addition to being Managing Director, Head of Internal Recruiting and Co-Head of Human Resources Practice for Glocap Search, she also volunteers. She is on the National Advisory Council of DonorsChoose, teaches interview and resume skills to low income individuals with StreetWise and The Opportunity Network, knocked on doors during Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and is an Advisor to The Extraordinaries.

Yet, in a recent phone interview, Feinberg said that she doesn’t feel like she, or other people, are volunteering enough. “I’m embarrassed for how little I’ve done since I’ve moved to New York, “I think, especially now, there is so much talent out there that is sitting idle. . . . There is plenty of work that needs to be done in society. Somebody who is a laid off banker has a few hours a week to do something while they’re doing a job search.”

We discussed a few ways to encourage more volunteerism.

1. Volunteer opportunities need to be easier to find

“I’m a really big believer that more people would volunteer if we made it easy for them to do it. A hundred percent of the time if I call one of my friends and say, ‘I’m going to do this, will you do it with me?” if they are available people love to do it.

I don’t think many people know how to find volunteer opportunities. If I said to myself, ‘Sometime in the next three months I want to do a resume workshop for somebody,’ I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

2. Volunteering opportunities need to engage volunteers’ skills

“I knew I wanted to work for Hillary Clinton, and it took me some time to figure out what I could do. At the end of the day I think what I did was satisfying, but I would have done a lot more had there had been a channel where I could have done that. I would have done much higher level work. I would have done more work. I just didn’t know who to call, and tell them, ‘I’m a resource.’”

3. Volunteer opportunities need to be shorter term, and more flexible to fit busy schedules

“I could never sign up for something like to be a Big Sister, or to tutor a child. My schedule is too unpredictable. I travel. I get called into meetings at the last minute. It’s very hard for people to do something like that. However, if someone said, ‘Ruthanne, come on Saturday and paint a school, or do a workshop. I’m much more inclined to do that.’

Some of Feinberg’s ideas for 20-minute volunteer opportunities that people could do through The Extraordinaries were:

• Give feedback on a resume and cover letter
• Give advice to low income youth about their college applications
• Help with a grant application
• Assist with a PowerPoint presentation
• Talk to seniors who need companionship on the phone
• Proofread

In addition to making volunteer opportunities easier to find, more engaging of the volunteer’s skill set, and suitable for a busy schedule, Feinberg thinks people are particularly attracted to opportunities that make then feel connected to the people they are helping. “That’s one of the reasons I really like DonorsChoose. You see exactly where your money is going.”

Feinberg’s most fulfilling volunteer experience was delivering food to people with AIDS through Elipse in San Mateo, CA. She has difficulty talking about the death of one of the people she delivered food to, “I was with him right before he died. It was a very meaningful, intimate volunteer experience.”

When asked how she made time to volunteer for Elipse, Feinberg explains that she was younger then, but quickly adds, “If something is important you make the time.”

volunteering
volunteer
volunteerism
time

I thought I’d post the list here, to give a little “link love” to the folks who quoted, or interviewed me, and ’cause some of the pieces might interest you.

Print

“Soul in the City,” by Summer Bowen. Common Ground. December 2008.

“Maverick 101” by E.B. Boyd Common Ground. October 2008.

“The Carbon Report” by Mike Rosen-Molina. The Monthly. August 2007.

2007 Best Podcaster: Blogger Most Dedicated to Social Change. East Bay Express

“Women’s Voices Boom in the Blogosphere,” by Rose Aguilar. Bay Area Businesswoman. July 2006.

“Call Them Equal Opportunity Bloggers,” by Jessica Guynn. Contra Costa Times. May 21, 2006. Link available with archive subscription.

Blogs

“Have Fun * Do Good: An Interview with Britt Bravo,” by Beth Terry on Fake Plastic Fish. May 14, 2008.

“Britt Bravo’s Expert Tips,” by Celeste Fraser Delgado for the Worthy Causes section of MOLI. March 5, 2008.

“Britt Bravo – Having Fun & Doing Good,” by Anna Gordon on Women Who Work Out Loud.

Video

“Meet Britt Bravo” Interview by David Collin. November 5, 2008

“Is the Internet Good for Humanity?” Interview by JD Lasica. May 27, 2007

Holiday giving can be like that. You receive dozens of letters and emails asking you to support all kinds of causes, and the folks sending out the letters and email are hoping that when you open their message, even though you weren’t planning on it, something will tug at your heartstrings in that moment, and you will write a check, or click a PayPal button.

Just like you should bring a list to the grocery store to avoid overspending, you should go into the holiday season, and the New Year, with a giving plan so that at the year’s end you’ll feel satisfied with your philanthropic “purchases.”

In her article, Straight from the Heart: A Plan to Organize Your Giving in Crosswalk, Beth Huber offers six steps for creating a giving plan:

1. Establish your giving goal.
2. Select the recipients of your giving.
3. Create a giving plan chart.
4. Create a file for your giving records.
5. Review your giving plan on a monthly basis.
6. Finalize your giving plan in December and revise it for the New Year.

Tired But Happy posted Our Giving Plan on their blog a couple years ago. To create their plan, they decided how much they would give to each cause by how important it is to them. For example, they planned on giving $200 out of their annual budget to an organization, or organizations that work on women’s health, and violence against women issues, and $50 to an organization, or organizations that work on economic justice and labor issues. You can read more about how they came up with their plan in the post, Tithing: Creating a Giving Plan.

Cross-posted from BlogHer
Flick photo credit: $5700 by Andrew Magill

money
holiday
giving
donation
tithe
plan

1. Sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

2. Send the message below to your network of friends and family via text, Twitter and/or email:

Today is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ 60th anniversary.

I believe that Every Human Has Rights: www.everyhumanhasrights.org

3. Change your profile photo on your social networks to a photo of you with the message, “Every Human Has Rights,” or to the campaign badge above which can be downloaded here.

4. Join the Every Human Has Rights Cause on Facebook.

5. Blog about what human rights means to you, and your commitment to uphold the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Send Every Human Has Rights the link to your blog so they can link back to you.

**************************************************************************************

What does human rights mean to me? That’s a tough question isn’t it? One of the articles I feel the most strongly about is Article 5, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Torture isn’t exactly the easiest thing to talk about, or to get people excited about working against. It’s the dark side of our human natures that we don’t like to acknowledge because, as the Stanford Prison Experiment showed, under certain circumstances we are all capable of it.

Amazingly, a couple years ago Amnesty International made a funny (yes, funny) 1:36 min video to raise awareness about extraordinary rendition (moving prisoners to other countries to be tortured). You can watch Is It Okay To Torture? on YouTube.

As part of my commitment to uphold the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I looked for an action I could take against torture on Amnesty International’s site. There are three campaigns that need support. I’m going to pick one to get involved with:

Protect Three Victims of Police Brutality in Mexico (UA 330/08)
Protect Syrian Prisoner From Torture (UA 328/08)

Why do you believe every human has rights? Which Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights do you feel the most strongly about?

**************************************************************************************

Related blog posts:
• Happy Human Rights Day: Live and Do So Peacefully by Sarah Kuck on Worldchanging
• What image opened your eyes to human rights? by Chris Michael on WITNESS’ The Hub blog.
• The Balkans: Human Rights and LGBT by Sinisa Boljanovic on Global Voices Online
• Human Rights Day, 2008: U.S. Workers Still Lack the Freedom to Form Unions by Seth Michaels on the AFL-CIO Now Blog
• Happy Birthday, Human Rights by Michael Byers on The Tyee.
• Today is Human Rights Day by Michael DeJong on The Huffington Post

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com

human rights
declaration
rally

I’m offering Have Fun * Do Good readers a special discount if they would like to give themselves, or a friend the gift of career coaching in 2009.

Some of you know that in addition to the blogging, podcasting and other nonprofit technology stuff I do, I am also a career consultant. For a long time I taught workshops based on Carol Lloyd’s book, Creating a Life Worth Living. Now I mainly do one-on-one work with people via phone, and teach classes on occasion. You can read Green LA Girl’s post about the work we did together this fall: My Life, Directed by Big Vision Career and Project Consulting.

I also host Echoing Green’s Be Bold Podcast about creating a career with impact.

Most people who work with me fall into 1 of 3 categories. Which one sounds like you, or someone you know?

-You’re trying to figure out what kind of work would make you happy.
-You know the kind of work you want to do, but aren’t sure how to achieve it.
-You know the work you want to do, you know how to get there, but aren’t taking action.

I usually charge $85/hour phone session, or $75/hour phone session if you pre-pay for 4 sessions ($300 total). I’m offering Have Fun * Do Good readers and their friends a special discount. $75/hour phone session, or $65/hour phone session if you pre-pay for 4 sessions ($260 total). Payment must be received by December 31, 2008.

For more info, email me at britt@brittbravo.com and let me know you are a Have Fun * Do Good reader. You can learn more about my work at brittbravo.com.

career
coach
consult
2009

On Wednesday I posted 10 Lists of Holiday Gifts That Give Back. Although many of the ideas on the lists help people in need, or have a light impact on the planet, most of the ideas are objects to purchase. I want to share with you a story about a friend of mine’s mom who for the last few years has only given gifts of time for birthdays and holidays.

Last Christmas at breakfast, rather than under the tree, she presented her two daughters, son in-law and three grandchildren with a set of different colored nesting boxes, the kind that, when empty, fit inside each other. Each had a sand dollar glued on the top for decoration.

The family opened the boxes in order, by size. The smallest box was for the youngest grandchild. When she opened the tiny little box, glued inside the lid was a piece of paper that unfolded, like a fortune cookie fortune. It said, “A trip to the zoo!” Inside the box was a brochure for the Oakland Zoo.

The next largest box was opened by the 2nd oldest grandchild. Glued inside was the same kind of folded paper that said, “An overnight with tennis and swimming!” The next box was opened by the eldest grandchild who received, “An overnight with Stanford baseball!”

The eldest daughter’s box contained “”Tickets to a show!” The son in-law received “Stanford football tickets!” and his wife, the youngest daughter and my friend, got, “A lunch and shopping date (with paid babysitter included)!”

My friend said that not only did everyone love their gifts of time to spend with grandma/mom/mom in-law, but that the gifts have changed how the children give their grandma gifts:

“One thing that has come out of it, that is really special, is that my kids really want to give her gifts of time now, too. They do things like, “A hike in the woods!” or “A picnic at the pool!” Of course, I have to be involved in it, but they get to pick what they want to do, and then they gift it to her. They draw a picture and write what they want to do with her.”

It’s important to give back to your local and global community, but it is also important to “give back” to your friends and family. Give them the gift of time together.

************************************
Related blog posts:
Give the Gift of Time Together This Holiday Season on Treehugging Family.
Christmas and Other Holidays: Gifts of Time on Jeri’s Organizing & Decluttering News
Green Giving: Experiential and the Gift of Time on Eco – Action

Flickr photo credit: Sand Dollar uploaded by Bart Everson.
Cross-posted from Blogher.com

I’m supposed to share the five things I do each day that keep my mind healthy (kinda like how five servings of fruits and veggies keep your body healthy), and then tag 5 more bloggers to share their 5-A-Day.

My 5-A-Day:

1. Yoga. If I have time, I like to do Rodney Yee’s 25 minute Power Yoga – Flexibility DVD. If I’m short on time, I do a few of the routines from Kimberly Wilson’s Hip Tranquil Chick book.

2. Journal. I’m not really a narrative journal writer. More of a brain dumper. I like to start each day describing my “ideal day” to help me focus on what I want to do that day.

3. Read. I **love** to read. I find that even if I only get to read a few pages in the morning, I write better and think more creatively that day. Plus, I like learning new things. Right now I am reading How Did I Get So Busy?, as a result of my recent 29-Day Giving Challenge reflections, and CauseWired as part of my ongoing “professional development.”

If you connect with me on Facebook (let me know you are a Have Fun * Do Good reader), you can see my reading lists on GoodReads and Visual Bookshelf.

4. Cook. I also love cooking. If I have time to cook a proper dinner (Annie’s mac n’ cheese doesn’t count) I know my life is in balance. Right now I’m having fun trying recipes from Nigella Express ’cause they are yummy, but quick. I recommend the Linguine with Lemon, Garlic and Mushrooms and the Flash-fried Steak with White Bean Mash. I’m going to try the Pea and Pesto Soup tonight.

5. Spend time with my hubs. What can I say? He’s my favorite person. Life is more fun when he’s around. Check out his new website: www.soundbravo.com

6. (Bonus) Laugh at our cat (pictured above). Not a day goes by when she doesn’t crack me up and help me take life less seriously.

To continue the meme, I tag:

happykatie
Into the Studio
Jen Lemen
Life Unfolds
Vale of Evening Fog

happiness
mental health
mindapple