In Part One of this series I discussed the motivations and goals that are part of my plan to make a difference as I start a new phase of my life. In this article, Part Two of the series, I will discuss Idealist.org's new initiative and how it could address the problems we face today.
The Initiative
Action Without Borders (AWB), the nonprofit that manages Idealist.org has been in a good position to see the potential that passionate, service-oriented individuals have to make a radical difference in our world. AWB and Idealist.org's mission is to "connect people, organizations, and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives."
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The team at Idealist.org started the "Imagine, Connect, Act" initiative , what I call the "More Initiative" because you can find out about the effort at www.idealist.org/more , in response to three challenges stated here:
- The big gap between our good intentions and our actions.
- The fact that our problems are connected, but we are not.
- The fact that the world is full of good ideas that don't spread quickly enough.
The goals of this new initiative are to help us to:
- Imagine a better world, a better community, and a better life
- Connect with others, and share skills, ideas, and resources
- Act on our good intentions, and help others to act on theirs
Since Idealist.org has already established itself as a hub for passionate, service-oriented individuals, community groups, and organizations, this initiative is a more focused effort to ensure that the collective potential is harnessed in a way that enables individuals and groups to get more done. Considering the multitude of challenges we face in the world today, I believe this initiative will go a long way to create an implement solutions.
Looking at the need for a sustained recovery effort in the Haiti for example, this could be a great way to connect experts who can do work on the ground in the country, organizers who can coordinate collective efforts related to funding and publicity, and concerned individuals who want to make donations and find other ways to help.
How do we fit in?
I think our role in this is to support the effort by sharing our thoughts with the AWB team so they can quickly adjust the program to meet our needs as people committed to community service and social justice.
Another important thing we could do is share our time and resources. I just read a letter from Ami Dar, Executive Director of Action Without Borders, stating that Idealist has been surviving "on faith and fumes, by cutting expenses, and by getting a few large gifts from new and old friends" but is now about to hit a wall in funding. I personally pledge that a portion of my next paycheck will help to support Idealist at this difficult time and I hope that you can join me in making a donation or passing the word on to friends and family who might be interested and are able to donate.
To learn more about this program please visit: http://www.idealist.org/more . To donate please visit: http://www.idealist.org/ICA/root/en/Static/Donate/default.
The Future of "About Making A Difference"
I plan to post more in this series as I come up with new ideas on how I can move forward with the goals I've mentioned in both parts. I'm currently bouncing an article idea around on my thoughts about the recovery efforts in Haiti that I hope to write about soon. I want to make sure that I think it through a little more and come up with good suggestions and questions.
I will be tagging articles related to this series as "AMAD", so when next you visit this blog you can get them all in one place.
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