Two months ago, Lee Owen (our communications strategist for the NICENetwork) said to me that something that a woman mentioned in a meeting recently kept nagging at her. It was a topic we don't contemplate much in Florida, the land of hot summers and palm trees. The woman witnessed, here in January, kids out waiting for the school bus without jackets. Believe it or not, in Central Florida it can get to be as low as 30 degrees in the early morning during the "winter" and not warm up above 50 some…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on October 2, 2009 at 8:35am —
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People have been asking me what my vision for NICE is, so here goes (hang with me, it's pretty painless ...)
Problem Statement: The growth in the large volume of start-up human service nonprofits each year in the United States poses three challenges to the industry which are not being addressed effectively:
1. The success stories of human service nonprofits created by U.S. social and civic entrepreneurs are not typically known outside a given non-profit’s city or region. Few research in…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on August 10, 2009 at 4:38pm —
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I just read in a past edition of the Philanthropy Journal where the MacAarthur Foundation has opened an "island" in the virtual world of Second Life to educate charities and foundations about the potential for growing philanthropy in the virtual world and to allow its grantees to showcase their work and connect with new audiences.
What a great idea for other organizations and human service initiatives. Go view: http://www.macfound.org/virtualworld.
I'm going to look into this idea for the NICEN…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on June 3, 2009 at 10:34am —
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Stuck in an airport last week and always trying to make time count, I'm now about two-thirds of the way through "Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet and a Time". I'd be curious whether anyone else has read it and successfully incorporated Joel Comm's ideas. He really knows his "tweating" strategies, but I'm wondering if it's worth all the investment of time and interruption he suggests necessary to make it work. Should one be so tied to one's Blackberry? Time is money after all.…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on May 17, 2009 at 3:30pm —
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I'm waxing philosophical today since my daughter is graduating from college on Saturday in Illinois. It's so amazing to see how people's stories unfold. At 24, after five years of challenging study in French horn, our daughter has made it through doubt and a host of other issues to success. In the fall she'll attend Boston U grad school with a very bright performance future ahead of her in a great environment for music. But six months ago, life wasn't so clear.
We all have roller coaster experi…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on May 7, 2009 at 11:37am —
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Mark Victor Hansen (of Chicken Soup fame) has launched a site for writers/authors called YouPublish. My book, The Power of One, and an article I submitted for National Volunteer Week was selected as Editor's Pick of the Week. YouPublish offers a great opportunity for anyone who's a writer ... even those writing to promote their cause ... to get noticed.
April 28, 2009
YouPublish Feature/Marketing Spotlight
More That Meets The Eye
Just when you thought YouPublish couldn't get any better, our d…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on May 2, 2009 at 1:04pm —
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Here's a link to FastCompany on trends for 2009 that would be good to incorporate into your mission where you can. I think of Dan Bassill when I think of the mapping trend. I think of every cause here when I think of helping businesses incorporate social causes into their missions. Worth the read ...
www.trendwatching.com/trends/halfdozentrends2009/
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Added by Debra J. Berg on April 26, 2009 at 10:44am —
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What would we do without volunteers? Certainly the NICENetwork.org site wouldn't exist but more importantly, our causes could not have gotten off the ground. People who volunteer know something others who have never volunteered don't know ... you become a better person for it and you receive back more than you give. 52% of American volunteer at some point in the year. The other 48% claim that they would like to but they don't know where to begin. Let's all do our part this year and ask someone t…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on April 19, 2009 at 1:46pm —
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This is a very recent article in Focus magazine for readers in Lake County (Central) Florida about what we're doing at NICE. If you are ever passing through Lake County on state highway 441 around Eustis and have a heart for mending communities with local solutions, I'd very much enjoy having a chat over coffee with you down at Olivia's.
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Added by Debra J. Berg on April 15, 2009 at 5:30pm —
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I'm generally an optimistic person and I pride myself on keeping a positive perspective when reading news headlines. But a couple of articles I've read, frankly, put me in the mindset of " is there any way out of this?"
On the less negative side I read a thought-provoking article in the April, 2009 edition of Fast Company about how McDonalds is forming a coalition to put pressure on agribusinesses (like Cargill) to be more green and sustainable in how they raise cattle. The eye-opener and lesso…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on March 23, 2009 at 3:00pm —
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Heroes inspire us, set new limits, create new visions of what's possible and remind us of the good that is in each of us. When I wrote The Power of One, I referenced the social innovators in it as "heroes" because they certainly fit this description. But they are more than that.. they are leaders, too. And they are people who's time has come. We are living in a difficult time right now. The economy has hit more people than many of those living today can remember. Without a doubt this is a time f…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on March 17, 2009 at 3:00pm —
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It's been planned, strategized, and finally it's here! Our NICENetwork.org site is operational. Thanks for visiting and learning more about the civic and social entrepreneurs we celebrate across this nation and the world. Here's the press release going out today to announce this unique online effort to bring good ideas to more people.
Creative Citizens Soften Impact of Tough Economy with New Network
(Eustis, Florida – March 11, 2009) – Not everyone is feeling helpless in this down economy. “Cr…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on March 11, 2009 at 11:41am —
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I have joyfully spent the last decade uncovering and researching hundreds of initiatives launched by everyday people in cities across America. (All of this research is self-funded, by the way.) I found that most civic/social entrepreneurs have been so busy doing what they do, they haven't realized what they now know and have to offer others. And few people have spent the time and resources to uncover that knowledge. That's why we developed this Forum!
As a doorway to this NICE Community Forum,…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on March 5, 2009 at 12:40pm —
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Launching this forum is a terrifically exciting but humbling experience. I find myself as the facilitator and manager of this site sometimes overwhelmed with the task ahead. However, I'm thrilled to know that there are people across the nation (and around the world) who have the expertise to create a place where social innovation can thrive. Here at NICE, we can hardly wait to build a knowledge-base of your ideas and successes on a wide range of human services topics. We, like you, want to help…
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Added by Debra J. Berg on February 16, 2009 at 8:00am —
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Please read my blog post at
http://www.INSPIREUNOW.com and hear my podcast interview with SkyRadio for American Airlines broadcast on 29,000 flights during the entire month of March!
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Added by Debra J. Berg on February 15, 2009 at 10:00pm —
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