Two friends turned their “eureka moment” into a full-fledged organization – and kept local voices at the center of their work.

The idea

After studying African History in college, Caitlin Kelley went to Moshi, Tanzania to volunteer at a women’s group project. It wasn’t long after she arrived that Caitlin grew frustrated. “I saw that, often, former volunteers had started projects or injected some idea that was really well-intentioned but misguided because of a lack of education about what was culturally appropriate,” she says.

One night as she and her friend Jafari Msaki talked about the value of volunteering, Caitlin had a lightbulb moment: a service corps organization (something like AmeriCorps in the U.S.) that would give Tanzanians workplace the skills and contacts they needed to get jobs and, ultimately, ensure they were in control of the development process themselves.

That’s the core philosophy of Africa Volunteer Corps (AVC), now a full-fledged organization co-directed by Caitlin and Jafari, which connects local volunteers to local NGOs.

“

Caitlin hopes she and Jafari are providing valuable options in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 70% of people are under 30 and increasingly educated. (Photo via Caitlin)

Obstacles

Caitlin’s first step was to find out how to start an NGO in Tanzania. After one of Jafari’s friends laid out the steps one by one, they got to work over the next few years to make the idea a reality. Along the way, Caitlin encountered a few obstacles:

Obstacle: Lack of skills and/or knowledge.
Her solution: Ask for help, and listen.

She asked anyone who had experience with the Peace Corps, United Nations, nonprofits, etc. for advice, and took advantage of all the resources Foundation Center had to offer. She and Jafari worked with other local friends to assemble a team to articulate what they were trying to do. While the path did get muddled from all her research, Caitlin made sure the next steps were locally-driven. AVC’s current advisory board, made up of six Tanzanians and three Americans, reflects this emphasis on local knowledge.

Obstacle: Cultural differences.
Her solution: Stay humble. And learn the local language.

“Listening and asking questions and operating with humility (in other words, not assuming that my way of doing things was always the best way) were also completely vital,” says Caitlin. She also realized that speaking Swahili was the key to everything. It allowed her to speak to people on their own terms, and made it easier to understand the various cultural nuances. (Knowing that it was considered rude to gesticulate too much in professional contexts, for example, helped her navigate meetings.) This skill now helps her translate volunteer stories to post on the AVC blog.

Obstacle: People who lacked faith in her leadership ability.
Her solution: Ignore them.

Folks outside Tanzania were constantly doubting that she could get this organization up and running. Not wanting to get stuck in the huge international NGO system, Caitlin stayed true to her entrepreneurial spirit and trusted the voice in her head that told her she could figure it out. Her persistence paid off: the first group of volunteers from across Tanzania recently started their year-long stint with organizations in the Kilimanjaro region.

Advice

“I’m sure there’s a lot of advice on best practices for nonprofits or social media strategy, but to me, that stuff will work itself out,” Caitlin says. “A lot of it is making yourself the best version of yourself:  being the most natural and authentic and genuine and kind and loving and vulnerable person. That’s the kind of person people follow.”

So how does she think you can achieve your big idea?

• Trust your instincts.
• Be confident in your abilities.
• Never stop asking questions.
• Embrace fear.

“Moving outside your comfort zone is when the magic happens. Love the fear,” she says. “If you have the feeling that you’re jumping out of an airplane, that’s exactly where you’re supposed to be.”

Have an idea for a similar project and need some help? Don’t hesitate to email Caitlin for advice: caitlin@africavolunteercorps.org.

Did someone you know find a sensitive, savvy way to turn an idea into reality? Leave a comment to share the story.

A member of the Idealist team offers a personal reflection for Mother’s Day.

I’m a new mom to a daughter named Hattie who has the most irresistible cheeks. During my three months of parental leave—yes, Idealist is an awesome place to work—I got to kiss, nibble, and lightly squeeze those cheeks all day long. As our twelve weeks drew to a close, I grappled with the internal conflict so many professional moms experience: How would my relationship with Hattie change once I returned to the office? Did I have it in me to not look at the pictures on her Facebook page (yes, we’re those parents) every second? How was I going to balance working, taking care of a baby, and maintaining a sense of self?

So I did what most people do these days when they need guidance: I Googled. The stories of working moms ran the gamut, but guilt was a central theme, as was the expectation that I was going to do neither job well. I had to shut my computer off. Ultimately, my manager and I agreed that it would make sense for me to return to work part-time. I figured I’d slip right back in and pick up where I’d left off a few months earlier.

Not so much. I’ve of course encountered challenges since returning:

• I spend a lot of my day in a room by myself pumping breast milk. Just saying the word “pump” makes me cringe.
• I get anxious knowing I need to rush home and relieve Hattie’s caregivers. This makes scheduling meetings difficult and Friday happy hour not-so-happy.
• I’m not quite a stay-at-home mom or a full-time employee. At times, I feel alienated in both worlds. I don’t get all the inside jokes at the office, nor can I fully commiserate with parents at the playground.
• I continually play hide and seek with sleep, and I’m spacy when I’ve spent the night pleading with Hattie to go back to bed. Thank goodness Portland is a coffee town.
• I find myself checking my inbox from the rocking chair on my days off. Not fair to my coworkers, who receive half-baked emails, or to Hattie.

It’s not easy.

"What's an inbox, Mom?" (Family photo of Hattie)

But there are lots of benefits.  Here’s why I think being a mom has made me a better employee:

• New perspective. A few months away was just the thing I needed for clarity on a huge project I’ve been working on. The distance allowed my ideas to simmer without other distractions, and I came back renewed and more enthusiastic than before.

• More patience. I’ve learned to take calm breaths when Hattie fights her naps, when we’re out the door and she needs a diaper change, and when she’s uncomfortable in her car seat on a long ride. I notice I’m less antsy in the office now; so what if that person hasn’t emailed me back yet?

• Time management mastery. Because I only have a few days a week to answer emails, write blog posts, and brainstorm a new website feature, I make sure every minute counts. This means limiting my time talking about weird celebrity trends at the lunch table and not allowing myself to read every single article, blog, tweet, etc. Some things I just don’t need to know about.

• Ability to juggle roles. At home I’m a mom, wife, event planner, baby entertainer, (lousy) cook, and writer. At any moment I have a million different things to think about and do. So you need me to prepare an internship description and give colleagues their bus passes and choose blinds for our new office? You got it.

• Deeper appreciation. Maybe it’s the hormones, but having a baby has made me more receptive to the world. I’m grateful for managers who are empathetic and gracious, for co-workers who are kind and witty, and for the understanding Idealist community on days when I’m not at my best.

All in all, it’s a daily balancing act. Some days Chaos and I bring out the best in each other; other days we’re enemies who can’t seem to find a compromise. I’m learning to make peace with the fact that there is no such thing as true balance, to accept that things shift all the time.

What about you? Has parenting changed the way you approach your work? How do you balance everything? Leave a comment below to share your story.

Innovation is in the air! Dust the cobwebs from your brain and polish your ideas for a better world before these opportunities disappear:

Dell Social Innovation People’s Choice Awards

• WHO: University students from around the world
• WHEN: Deadline to submit and vote for projects is May 13
• WHAT: Dell Social Innovation Challenge wants your brilliant solutions to global problems in categories from agriculture to health to technology. The community votes on which projects make the grade, with $1,000 awarded to the eleven most popular ideas.
  

  Want your idea to have the best chance at success? Increase the levels of serotonin in your brain by soaking up sunlight, spending time with loved ones, and encouraging others. Photo via Flickr user Spec-ta-cles (Creative Commons).

2012 Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Challenges

• WHO: Individuals, organizations, and groups across the globe
• WHEN: Deadline to apply is May 15
• WHAT: To celebrate its 100th birthday, the Rockefeller Foundation invites you to submit your innovative ideas for the next century in three areas of focus: data, irrigation, and farming. Icing on the cake if your idea shows promise of being scalable and replicable, positively impacts poor or vulnerable populations, respects local context, and finally, is new and exciting. The foundation will grant funding from a pool of $100,000 to nine finalists.

GOOD Maker challenges

• WHO: Anyone with a good idea
• WHEN: Deadlines for the challenges vary
• WHAT: The folks at GOOD are at it again. With their new tool Maker, organizations and individuals want to hear your ideas for social change, with the community deciding which ones will have the most impact. Right now challenges include a call for speakers at TEDxChicago, an ideal car-free day in Los Angeles, and new ways of learning. Rewards for ideas typically run the gamut from funding to promotion to more tailored goodies like—ready for this?—a vacation at a Hawaiian resort.

Know of more contests and awards our community should be aware of? Leave a comment below!

Today’s idea funding model

The idea

Food + creativity = community. That’s the concept behind Sunday Soup, a micro-granting model that brings together those with a taste for innovative ideas and the people who want to help fund them.

Here’s how it works: a local group organizes an affordable meal. People pitch their ideas for a creative project during the course of the gathering, with attendees voting on who to give the proceeds of the meal to. Think Kickstarter, but offline and with good grub.

So far, the network has collectively granted almost $60,000 to initiatives around the world such as an art project that transforms abandoned signs in Albuquerque, NM; a documentary featuring children’s thoughts on the political situation in Egypt; bike taxis in Toledo, OH; and more.

Photo of Detroit SOUP event by Vanessa Miller.

Why we’re adding it to the Idea File

• Cheap and easy. While it’s the meal that brings people together, the idea is that it should be low-cost, like soup.
• Circumvents bureaucracy. The people who decide which idea will benefit your community are the ones you pass in the street everyday – not foundation officers whom you might never meet.
• Increases supporters. Don’t lose, schmooze. Even if your project doesn’t win the cash, it’s a great opportunity to make contacts – maybe even an employer or new flame. And, Amy adds, getting your project funded from a Soup event also gives you a leg up when applying for funding elsewhere.
• Awesomeness awareness. There are probably a gazillion good ideas waiting to be discovered where you live; why not get them all out in the open?
• Adaptable in many contexts. The model is flexible and Sunday Soup encourages you to adapt it, taking regional and cultural quirks into account.

How you can replicate it

First, see if one already exists where you live. If not, and the 63 groups from the U.S. to South Korea to Ukraine have whet your appetite, check out Sunday Soup’s tips for getting started.

We also reached out to the folks at Detroit SOUP, who’ve helped other SOUPS in Michigan and across the U.S. get up and running, to hear their tips on how to make your group a success.

Here’s what Lead Coordinator Amy Kaherl had to say:

1. Don’t restrict the types of projects. Allow everyone from business entrepreneurs to artists to activists to pitch their ideas to keep the discussions and voting process interesting. Here are the Detroit project proposal guidelines.
2. Know what’s affordable and what’s not. Detroit SOUP, for example, charges $5 per plate so as to include as many community members as possible.
3. Ask for help. Local restaurants, gardens, farms, and friends might be happy to donate food.
4. Proposals first, dinner second. People are more likely to converse and exchange ideas when there is a point of connection.
5. Stay informed and curious. Listen to the community’s needs, and cultivate an environment where people are encouraged to ask questions.

“Don’t be afraid to fail either with the dinner or with the projects,” Amy finally says. “When things break down, we all learn from one another about what to do and not to do.”

_

If you’re inspired to bring Sunday Soup to your community, feel free to email Amy for more advice: detroit.soup@gmail.com.

Do you know of other projects that are fun and potentially replicable? If you’d like us to consider posting it as part of this series, leave a comment below or email celeste [at] idealist [dot] org.

An experiment: can our community’s collective brainpower help an idea become reality?

The intention

Once a week, actress Erica Gerard visits the homes of hospice patients in West Los Angeles. She sits with the patients and does whatever makes them feel comfortable: talk, listen to music, read a book, enjoy the silence, and more. As someone who only buys vintage furniture because of the stories each piece holds, Erica especially enjoys seeing the patients surrounded by all of their belongings.

Erica would love to record and perform their life stories. “People at the end of their lives are some of the most rich, complete and interesting treasures we have access to,” she says. “None of us have been there yet, but we’re going there, so tell us what it’s like.”

Though her deceased grandmother won't be in the audience, Erica knows she'd be proud: “I can hear her voice saying, 'You’re doing a mitzvah,' which is a good deed." (Photo: Alan Cleaver, Flickr/Creative Commons)

The obstacles

Erica hasn’t started. Here are the barriers she has identified:

1. Interviewing people in hospice care can be logistically challenging. Her first patient passed away, and her second was unconscious much of the time.
2. She doesn’t have an end vision of the show yet, and the options about artistic choice, direction, etc. can feel overwhelming.
3. She prefers collaborative projects to working alone, and so far doesn’t have anybody to bounce ideas off of and propel her forward.
4. There’s a whole world of medical confidentiality laws and issues she has yet to explore.

How you can help

Erica would to love see this project grow and succeed. Can you offer her any advice?

• Is this an idea that’s already been done somewhere in the world?
• What are some interviewing strategies to help draw out specific stories?
• What have you always wanted to ask somebody who is near the end of life?
• How should she approach this project so as to share stories without exploiting patients?
• How can she find allies and resources?
• What are some ways to stay focused when life’s distractions get in the way?

Leave a comment below or send her a message through Idealist and if the project progresses, we’ll keep you posted!
–

Do you have an idea that’s just starting to brew? If you’d like us to consider posting it as part of this series, email celeste [at] idealist [dot] org.

In the beginning of November I gave birth to my daughter Hattie. For the past three months, I’ve been knee deep in miniature clothing, parenting blogs, and really, really bad TV that helps me get through those long nights.

Now I’m back at Idealist. And while I miss talking in a high-pitched voice on a daily basis, I’m excited to again have adult conversations, think about social innovation, and revive the Idea File.

From our first Idea File post in April 2010:

I’ve missed you, dear Idealists, and all of your good ideas that make this world we live in better. After all, it’s ideas like Question Box and Failfaire and Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls that will impact Hattie as she grows up.

So tell me: What ideas of late have inspired you to Facebook, tweet, pin to Pinterest, tell everyone you know about them, and more? We’d love to help spread them on our blog.

If your New Year’s resolution was to make the everyday a little more awesome, check out today’s idea incubating model. Browse more Idea File posts here.

The idea

Every month, a group of 10 volunteer “micro-trustees” from a chapter of the Awesome Foundation each shell out $100 to fund an innovative idea in their city. While the criteria is vague and guidelines are generous to say the least, the overall goal is to fund new projects that make the world more fun and happy to live in. Who doesn’t want that?

Though this is just one street in Cary, NC, the folks from the foundation are dedicated to “forwarding the interest of Awesome in the universe, $1,000 at a time.” Photo by moonlightbulb (Flickr/Creative Commons).

So far, they’ve helped support everything from an Indiana Jones simulator in Washington, D.C. to a rooftop beekeeping venture in Melbourne to birdhouse-sized free libraries in Chicago. Anyone with a catchy idea and the gusto to see it through can apply.

Why we’re adding it to the Idea File

• Philanthropy for the people. This crowdsourced model makes philanthropy accessible to anyone, and enables you to sidestep the complex bureaucracy of foundations when seeking funding.
• Enticing and easy application process. Their lighthearted spin on submitting an idea is a welcome break from the usual dry, jargon-heavy grant applications.
• Local ideas, local (free!) money. Here’s your chance to revisit those seemingly crazy ideas jotted on a napkin in your drawer, and make an impact where you live.
• Community building. Being a micro-trustee gives you the opportunity to meet others, not to mention a direct connection to innovators in your area. Besides, imagine how good you’ll feel when you’re walking down the block and see your money put to good use?

How you can replicate it

Currently, there are 29 chapters from Berlin to NYC to Zurich. But they’d love to see more; email contact@awesomefoundation.org to get one going where you live.

If you don’t think being part of the Awesome Foundation is for you, try browsing their blog. You’ll find no shortage of inspiring ideas (like aMoment’s adorable art) to bring to your community.

–
Like this idea? You might also want to check out the One Percent Foundation and the Sunday Soup Network, or read our post about a secret society that tests the boundaries of philanthropy.

Image by GlobalX, who helped review Echoing Green applications in 2007 (Flickr/Creative Commons)

Need funding and mentors to get your social change project off the ground? Here’s a handful of contests and fellowships we’ve spotted recently. If you know of others we should promote, leave a comment below.

Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition

• WHO: University students
• WHEN: Deadline is November 9
• WHAT: The University of Washington invites student teams from around the world to propose businesses to reduce poverty in developing world. Semi-finalists are invited to Seattle to visit regional companies, receive expert coaching, present their business ideas to hundreds of professionals, and compete for up to $30,000 in prizes. Details here.

desigNYC Collaborators

• WHO: New York City nonprofits, city agencies, and pro bono designers
• WHEN: Deadline is November 10
• WHAT: This competition pairs NYC organizations with all types of pro bono designers (landscape, interior, communications, architectural, you name it). The designers create solutions to make the organizations’ projects more beautiful and functional – and thus, their neighborhoods more livable, workable, and fun. Nonprofits and designers can find entry info here.

Women for Social Innovation’s Turning Point Prize

• WHO: Philadelphia-based emerging social entrepreneurs
• WHEN: Deadline is December 28
• WHAT: Ladies, got an idea to make Philly the city of sisterly love? Apply for this grant and you could win a $15,000 grant to improve the lives of women, girls and families in the area. Residents and local college students are eligible. Learn more.

Echoing Green Fellowship

• WHO: English speakers age 18+ whose organizations are in the start-up phase.
• WHEN: Applications accepted December 5-January 9.
• WHAT: Calling all visionaries around the world: have a new organization in the works but need some support? This highly competitive program supports its fellows with start-up cash, an $80,000 stipend, technical assistance, and a powerful network over the course of two years to make their idea the next big thing. Criteria and info here.

Forget wasting hours in a doctor’s waiting room, surrounded by sneezes and bad music. Managing your health might now be a simple click away.

I’m six months pregnant. Throughout the whole pregnancy, I’ve raced to my computer at the slightest inclination of anything amiss: a stomach cramp here, back pain there, suspicion that my liver is about to shift up under my chest. Lately I find I preface every sentence to my doctor with, “It says on the internet…”

According to economics professor Alan B. Krueger, Americans age 15 and up spent a collective 847 million hours waiting for medical services in 2007. Photo via clevercupcakes (Flickr/Creative Commons).

Health and technology are increasingly intersecting, sometimes with mixed results. But there’s a reason why WebMD is popular: it’s easy to find information, costs nothing, and you don’t have to wait for it to call you back.

Here are some sites that are taking cues from what’s already out there to make sure your dose of information is relevant, timely, and won’t make you sick with worry:

1. PatientsLikeMe

People with every condition you can think of—from phobias to disorders to cancers—share their experiences here. Their stories are translated into real-time charts and graphs, and an easy search lets you browse by symptoms, treatments, and profiles that match yours. The idea is that laying your health issues out there for everyone to see can be therapeutic for you and useful for others.

Ultimately, the folks behind PatientsLikeMe hope this open source way of sharing knowledge can change the way medicine is done and delivered. And the best part? You don’t need insurance to take advantage of the knowledge shared here.

Considerations and caveats: If you’re not comfortable with broadcasting your health issues to the world, then this might not be for you. Also, there’s not much gender balance yet: 73.2% of the PatientsLikeMe community are female.

2. Hello Health

Say goodbye to unreturned calls from your doctor and hello to 24 hour access. Hello Health seeks to make communicating with your physician easy, efficient, and fast: you can use it to schedule appointments, check lab results, renew prescriptions, and get this, video chat with your provider.

It costs $120 per year to join, but think about how low your blood pressure will be when you don’t have to wait on hold or sit around reading gossip magazines anymore.

Considerations and caveats: For doctors, increased access has the potential to be overwhelming; managing expectations is a must. Patients who aren’t internet savvy or have limited to no access are also at a disadvantage.

3. Sickweather

Just as your local weatherman tells you when the next storm is coming through, this site alerts you when the next sickness is advancing in your area – minus the corny jokes. Scanning social networks and public sources, Sickweather lets you know which neighborhoods, restaurants, and more to avoid when the forecast calls for germs. It’s an interesting way to keep up with health trends all in one place.

Currently in beta, Sickweather is now accepting testers. But keep an eye on this site; in the space where health and technology meet, it just may be prove to be a barometer of success.

Considerations and caveats: Hypochondriacs should probably forget what they just read.

I’m curious what you think. Would you use these sites to manage your health? Why or why not?

–

Other Idea File posts you might enjoy:

• No internet? Just call Question Box
• Three creative ways to address homelessness
• Geezer Gallery paints new picture of “old”

In her book Bossypants, Tina Fey recounts the biggest lessons she learned while working for Lorne Michaels. One is “Don’t hire anyone you wouldn’t want to run into in the hallway at three in the morning.”*

Your office is probably not like the soundstages of Saturday Night Live. Maybe your rules for hiring are different. But it’s pretty natural to want to hire people who aren’t, in Fey’s words, “too talkative or needy or angry to deal with in the middle of the night by the printer.” It’s really nice to work with people you genuinely like spending time with.

But that doesn’t mean they should be like you.

Healthy skepticism is the building block to making your organization even better. Photo by Joe Shlabotnik (Flickr/Creative Commons).

As part of my research on how to get more good ideas into the brains of more people, I’ve been reading a lot about innovation. And over and over again, the one word the keeps popping up as a crucial component to innovation is “diversity.”

Yes, diversity. Of not only race and ethnicity, but gender, viewpoint, talent, work style, values, and more. This is the ingredient that forces ideas to mix, mingle, and ultimately create that wowser idea your peers can’t stop talking about.

Most everyone gives lip service to the value of diversity in the nonprofit sector. So why is there often a disconnect? The New Organizing Institute has a great piece on why diversity is inefficient. It takes time to go outside of our own networks, and it takes effort to work with different voices and opinions.

But if you do take the time to hire people who don’t think like you, then you might have a wonderful result: creative abrasion, the process where ideas are challenged and new ones are made.

Steve Jobs knew this. He hired a team with a wide range of talents—programmers, thinkers, musicians, artists, and more—to create the Apple computer many of us use today.

But building computers (or writing sketches about Mom jeans) is one thing. In your workplace, does everyone think and look like you? Or is difference embraced? If so, we’d love to hear how it’s helped fuel innovation in your organization.

–

*Fey, 2011, pp. 127-128.