Giving in More Ways Than One

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We need a better world. And to have that better world, we will need better models. Ned may be the brand behind better worlding to come.

Mark Grimes, founder and serial enterpreneur committed to doing good, describes Ned:

Ned (a philanthropic franchise) is a small retail location in Portland, Oregon that is part better world membership group, part community center, part retail, part office space, part Starbucks, part 10,000 Villages, part Grameen bank, part Ashoka, and very interactive…all aimed at creating a better world experience. It exists in both the real world physical location…and online. The brand of doing good things. This effort has been bootstrapped, meaning being done with a budget of near zero and tons of sweat equity.

Ned will have weekly and monthly meetings on better world topics ranging from Millennium Development Goals, poverty, trafficking, HIV/AIDS, education, art and much more. There will be group documentary screenings, speakers, and various ways to people to connect with their community (and globally). Space will be given for free to local nonprofits for members meetings, board meetings, and fundraising events.

Product sales information “goes beyond” traditional fair trade in that it will be (and buy from organizations that are) 100% transparent (open) about finance, governance and operations. Ned truly desires that each and every transaction (financial and social) make the world a little better place in some small way. A percentage of gross and net sales will be distributed to grassroots local, regional, national and global nonprofit, nongovernmental and community based organizations. The Ned Giving Project members (invitation only based on personal friendship, reputation, and trust) who pay a $31 monthly membership fee (90% going to the orgs) decide the monthly categories of giving, and the groups that receive the funds.

Mark is certainly meeting my criteria for doing good in the world. I look forward to seeing Ned grow and replicate.

I am not the only one noticing. There is already a review on Tribe.

Jean’s Idea of the World We Want

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The question has been asked: What is your idea of The World We Want?

I have chosen to answer.

I have been reflecting on this question for a long time now. And while my answers are not yet complete, I am ready to share my first draft with you…

What is your vision of a better world?

A world in which many revolutions converge to change this world into a world with more honor, respect, and ecological awareness.

What converges?

The eradication of major diseases. Small Pox down, Polio close, Measles next, then each one or even many simultaneously. And more and more of this being achieved by organizations working together as a global health community using more and more complex and responsive information tools. More safe drinking water made available through coordinated efforts using community-labor and resources along with global data tracking and local/global teams which share and transfer expertise. We begin to take care of the bottom of the Maslow pyramid for all people. Put a bottom under it so all people do really and truly have a chance to have dignity and health.

WEB 2.0—mass communication centered on user-experience. The many edges all empowered by mediums of information conveyance to speak across traditional boundaries and be honored in a customized user-driven fashion. Power to the edges, baby!

Increased transparency of our resources above and beyond money including:

Social Network Analysis—beginning to map and value the actual relationships that exist between us rather than the relationships placed on us by org charts.

Community Asset Mapping—tapping into the greater wealth of our communities—our connections, the resources we can bring to bear. Going beyond money to do more and see clearly, visually, what is available so making intentional choices is easier.

Open Source—community working together producing property for the commons and changing the model for developing intellectual material.

Volunteerism on the rise as more and more boomers get back to their ideals. Retirement moves from retiring/resting from work and community for an extended vacation to giving/contributing supported by financial independence and allowing the vast intellectual and social wealth of the Boomers to be reused and shared through extensive volunteer and community efforts. (Get that writer a decent editor!)

The Organic Movement and other ecologically sensitive movements growing in popularity. People more and more realize the cause and effect relationships of their consumption and for their own health and the health of the world make different more sustainable choices.

The rise and flourishing of our neglected gift economy via increased information sharing, matchmaking of needs with resources, and spiritual sense of oneness promoted by globalization in the best sense.

What are the conditions needed to realize it?

That the converging efforts find support and common cause and so unite and reinforce each other bringing together multiple upward spirals to change the overall flow of our culture.

What are the obstacles?

  • Old thinking which focuses too much on immediate needs, get me mine thinking.
  • Fear and scarcity thinking.
  • Old established systems slow to change.
  • Over-focus on band-aid efforts like micro-lending or over-glorification of system-reinforcing work that plays itself like change such as the Grameen Bank (which perpetuates debt-based systems).


Based on your experience, what parts of the vision are realistic and what ideas, strategies and plans can make it so?

My vision is not only realistic; it is already in motion. The main question is about timing. How soon will we change? How many of us need to have an awakening in order to tip the change?

I partner, as I can, with those who are doing everything they can to enable the dawning of a new age of sustainability, respect, honor, and ecological awareness. I spread the word to you, and you pass it on. If it is a message people are ready for, it will spread virally far and wide. If not, we re-work the message, lay more groundwork, develop more tools, share more information, and reach out to more hearts.

I believe…
I have a dream…
I hope.