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My Generosity Experiment
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Monthly Archives: January 2010
Eighth class
It almost goes without saying that airlines have taken customer service to new lows. Even with this in mind, American Airlines surprised me at 6am Monday morning. The boarding call began: “We would like all First Class customers to board … Continue reading
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Linchpin: Are you Indispensable?
There is power in asking the right question, and Seth Godin’s new book, “Linchpin” hits you over the head with a question that it’s impossible to run away from: Are you Indispensable? Because, now, for a short period of time, … Continue reading
The tears of a father
Eduardo Munoz took this photograph of a man in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, carrying his dead daughter. It ran in this week’s Newsweek and you can see the full series, “Faces of Tragedy,” on Newsweek’s website. This man is about my age. … Continue reading
Giving is as fun as sex
Apparently it’s true. From Nick Kristoff’s recent op-Ed: Brain scans by neuroscientists confirm that altruism carries its own rewards. A team including Dr. Jorge Moll of the National Institutes of Health found that when a research subject was encouraged to … Continue reading
Judging
You can decide that this is work and that is play. That every time you do a little extra, someone else is getting the best of you. That you’re making tradeoffs each and every step of the way. Just remember … Continue reading
A moment of silence for Haiti, and what we can do
More than 100,000 are feared dead in the earthquake that struck Haiti yesterday. You can see the damage at the Boston Globe’s Big Picture. The immediate generosity and speed of the response to the 7.0 earthquake is moving. The Red … Continue reading
We’ve got more to offer than 3%
If we ever needed proof that raising capital is one of the biggest, most important challenges facing promising young innovators in the social sector, here it is: Kjerstin Erickson, Jon Gosier, and Saul Garlick, all promising 20-something leaders of new … Continue reading
Posted in Raising Capital
Tagged Jon Gosier, Kjerstin Erickson, Saul Garlick, ThurstFund
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The 17 second story
Twice in the last two weeks I’ve had 30 minute calls with people who are exploring interesting new vehicles for raising capital in the nonprofit sector. Yet in both cases, it took 17 minutes (I counted) to get to the … Continue reading
The poverty box
Today I registered for a conference and had to check a box about my “area of interest,” so I check off “International Development / poverty.” And then I realized why only 23% of U.S. philanthropy goes to international causes.1 We’re … Continue reading
Generosity experiment revisited
A few weeks ago I started a generosity experiment. The idea, sparked by a homeless man to whom I did not give, was to spend a period of time saying ‘yes’ to all requests to give – whether a person … Continue reading
