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“Together, we hope to be the change we wish to see in the world”
(Ghandi)
Yesterday, David Robinson, Geraldine Blake, Richard McKeever and myself met with the inspirational ‘generosity entrepreneur’ Nipun Mehta – one of the founders of the not for profit organisation CharityFocus.
Nipun Mehta at Community Links
It was wonderful to finally meet Nipun – as you may remember - he was due to participate in the Chain Reaction event in 2008, but due to over-zealous border controls he was denied access to the UK at the last moment. “I have a visa now!” Nipun says as we meet.
CharityFocus was started in 1999, in the Silicon Valley, by four friends who offered to help a homeless shelter by building them a website. From that starting point, the organisation grew rapidly – but organically - and now thousands of volunteers give their time and skills to develop web solutions, websites, and web portals which touch tens of thousands of lives on a daily basis. CharityFocus is an experiment in the joy of giving -no money changes hands – the organisation operates with a true gift economy, which is something that Nipun advocates
“Let’s serve without any strings attached, just for the sake of giving,”
Nipun Mehta, on starting CharityFocus
So what is the gift economy?
Nipun explains, “A gift economy is an economic system in which goods and services are given freely, rather than traded. In a market economy, one can hoard one’s goods without losing wealth; indeed, wealth is increased by hoarding— although we generally call it ’saving’. In contrast, in a gift economy, wealth is decreased by hoarding, for it is the circulation of the gifts within the community that leads to increase— increase in connections, increase in relationship strength”
So a gift economy is an economic system where actions are made without expectation of financial reward (the act of giving selflessly has personal rewards of its own) – no strings attached.
It’s not a new system – indigenous tribes for centuries have been living this way – but how does this work in today’s society where very often ownership and wealth are used as measurements of happiness and success?
The simple answer from Nipun is that it just does. People understand the values of CharityFocus and of the gift economy and can apply them.
So when asked “so how do you pay your bills?” Nipun just smiles. “Somehow I am able to. I am not a rich man in the material sense, but my life is rich”
Something else that is fundamental to the success and growth of CharityFocus is trust. “If you trust people they will respond positively” Nipun says – not a frivolous statement when you consider that CharityFocus is now a worldwide organisation with 221,235 volunteers.
But it is only when you stop and think about it that you realize that everyday we put an enormous amount of trust in others to deliver on promises and to act positively. Nipun uses the term “patterns of positive deviance” to describe the radical impact of trusting people.
A great example of an exercise in trust is the Make Your Mark with a Tenner initiative – where young people in the UK are loaned £10 and challenged to make as much profit and social impact as they can in one month
Oli Barrett, Entrepreneur and co-creator of Make Your Mark with a Tenner remarks on the Make Your Mark site;
When we first announced the idea, it was met with much scepticism. People couldn’t believe that we were handing out £10 notes to young people, and questioned their ability to be trusted with the money – never mind to make a profit and reinvest it. But, underestimate the younger generation at your peril… The largest profit was a massive 4100% and over half the young people gave money to a social or environmental cause
The idea of no money changing hands, unconditionally trusting your volunteers and decentralized governance within an organisation, goes against everything that business schools and the open market teaches us about “how to do business”.
Yet CharityFocus operates to all of these principles, and has gone from strength to strength – from 4 volunteers in 1999 the CharityFocus network now has 221,235 members all working on wide range of inspiring programmes. There are too many programmes to do them all justice here on this blog but you can read about all of them here. However, I did just want to mention a few of my favourites;
Karma Kitchen Opened in Berkley (USA) in 2007, and staffed entirely by volunteers, the Karma Kitchen is a place where there are no prices on the menu and where the check always reads $0.00 with only this footnote: “Your meal was a gift from someone who came before you. We hope you will pay-it-forward however you wish.”
Smile Cards Kindness is contagious! These cards encourage anonymous acts of kindness – do a selfless act for someone, and leave behind a card telling them to pay it forward.
The Daily Good A newsletter that features a bit of good news – direct to your inbox – everyday
CharityFocus grew organically from the motivation of its volunteers, and despite its unexpected success, has never wavered from its three major organizing principles;
- To be volunteer run
- To serve without asking for anything
- To focus on small acts – it kept us simple and human, raw and authentic
These are values that are important to us here at Community Links too, where we believe that everyone has something to give, but sometimes need a little support along the way.
And at Chain Reaction, via events and our online network, we explore how we are connected, how we can use those connections in positive ways and how we can maximise our collective power to change the world. Everyone has the power of their own actions, but together we can achieve so much more than we can if we acted alone.
The spirit of collaboration and the sharing of ideas resonates with Nipun as well. In his blog post How to Survive in a Gift EconomyNipun says;
“In today’s world, anyone can stand up for an idea, be-the-change, share stories of the process, attract like-hearted people and create a collective voice to start a movement”
And these “be the change” ideas are spread via online connections and portals such as HelpOthers.org. Nipun uses the rather lovely phrase “Ghandi 2.0” to explain this.
At the end of our meeting, Nipun gave us each a little gift – a peace chain made by a friend of his, Joe Murphy, an artist intent on spreading the message of peace throughout the world. Each peace chain has a unique design on one side and an inscription of the word “peace” in one of 75 languages on the other side. Joe has not only made 431,204 wonderful peace chains in the last 18 years, he has given each and every one of them away – and in the spirit of the gift economy, Joe has been able to carve out living expenses from donations received from others. Read more about Joe’s story here
Meeting Nipun was inspiring, challenging, though-provoking and above all, very enjoyable. The philosophy of CharityFocus is simple: be the change.
Find out more about the work of CharityFocus and how you can get involved here >>>
You can also follow Nipun on Twitter @CharityFocus
A while ago I briefly blogged about The Caretaker Project (aka ‘Sex Up Stoke’), an idea that sprung out of the Stronger Communities, Stronger Economy meetings, which looks at how to inject life back into our struggling towns and cities.
The Caretaker Project suggests several ways that organisations can work together in order to share those high street shops abandoned by recession-hit businesses, suggesting that artists share the space for art exhibitions, and work with landlords to broker deals for reduced floor space rent where the tenant lives above the property.
As Culturing Stuff says on the Chain Reaction Network “Our shopping centres become more like graveyards each day. If we do nothing… the shopping centres will die. We could try a new way”.
The obvious benefits of these schemes are that high streets are ‘revived’ with new and unique businesses, there is greater security and community spirit, and of course, a boost for the local economy – providing common purpose (and jobs) to the lives of local residents.
But this idea hasn’t just been floated in Stoke on Trent. In fact, the more I read about this subject, the more I get this sense of excitement around the idea of people doing something in the high street that has a bit of creatitivity and local distinctiveness about it – replacing the Clone Town Britain facades of failed consumerism.
Groups such as Space Makers, The Beekeepers Project and Artists and Makers, are working hard to establish networks and sharing best practice between local projects and initiatives. And organisations like the Krankenhouse Project in London, and Werkshop down on the south coast are already using empty spaces in their local communities for art projects.
In April 2009 the Department of Communities and Local Government announced the launch of their Empty Shop Revival Plan. This plan is now called the ‘Meanwhile Project’, and aims to encourage community use of empty shops on a ‘meanwhile’ basis – until commercial use is found.
While it is generally agreed that the use of empty space for community projects can only be a good thing, opinions on the blogosphere vary as to whether the ‘meanwhile’ approach itself is the best way forward.
Some express the opinion that the government should be looking to support longer term innovation in this area rather than funding ‘temporary fixes’ until commercial organisations can take over the space again (see Julian Dobson, Editor of New Start magazine’s post Has the Penny Dropped?). Others have a more welcoming attitude – at least to the supply of funding! In his blog post, How to Freecycle Woolworths! Dougald Hine welcomes the easing of local bureaucracy which might otherwise stifle or criminalise these activities.
Yet whatever your personal opinion, the truth is that none of us can make a difference on our own. We only succeed when we work collaboratively.
The Meanwhile Project is a collaboration between DCLG and the Development Trusts Association, and is still in its early planning stages at the moment. The main focus of activity at present is building up a picture of what is already going on all over the country, connecting networks together and help to make things happen on the ground quickly as well as learning from existing experience.
So how can you get involved?
Contacting the Meanwhile Project
If you are a project looking to get involved in this particular initiative, the first step would be to get in contact with the Meanwhile Project. You can do this via their network www.meanwhilespace.ning.com. Joining the network is free and allows you to keep up to date with developments and news from the project, as well as discussing issues and ideas in the forum.
The project leads at the Meanwhile Project are Jess Steele at the Development Trusts Association and Charles Woodd at DCLG
Getting Funding
Funding wise, while CLG have earmarked around £3m for the Meanwhile Project, they are still working on finding a distribution mechanism that can respond quickly. At the time of writing this still hasn’t been resolved, but in the meanwhile, the Arts Council England have £500k available for artists use of empty shops, and DIUS have recently announced a £20m Learning Revolution fund which specifically mentions use of empty shops for informal learning.
Share Learning
If you are a person looking to get involved in an initiative in your local area, or a project looking to use some empty space in your community but have no idea where to start, then there is no better way of learning than by speaking to someone who has experience in this field. At the end of this blog post I have listed the organisations or networks that I know of who are doing this work already, and who may be able to offer advice, or put you in touch with someone who can.
If you an organisation already involved in this sort of work in your local area, then you could also join the networks listed below to share your learning. Please also feel free to add your website link in the comments box at the end of this post. And please tell us about what happening in your area and any ideas you have for community use of dis-used buildings or land.
Useful Contacts
DCLG Leading on the Meanwhile Project
Development Trusts Association Leading on the Meanwhile Project
The Meanwhile Project Network of organisations looking to get involved in the DCLG & DTA led initiative
Space Makers An online network connecting individuals and organisations who create collaborative spaces for work and play
Artists and Makers A network of UK artists and organisations using empty shops
The Caretake Project The Sex Up Stoke idea posted by Culturing Stuff on the Chain Reaction website.
Slack Space Project Brighton based organisation working to use empty spaces for art projects
Blurb Online The Stoke on Trent network where further discussions around ‘Sex Up Stoke’ and ‘Wasted Spaces’ are happening.
Krankenhouse Project Innovative arts group in London utilising space for art projects and gigs.
The Beekeepers Project A group of artists and innovators working to drive forward a national movement around this issue
In celebration of National Volunteers’ Week this week, we are bringing you another tale from one of our volunteers.
Katie Whitehouse of Accenture volunteered her time on the Connect, Collaborate and Commit desks at the Chain Reaction event 2008. These desks were designed to allow attendees to share ideas, meet new people and create their own meetings. Learn more about how this worked here
Here’s what Katie has to say about her experience:
Katie & colleague work the Connect desk at CR08
There is a certain mantra within Accenture that champions the power of networking and Chain Reaction was a wonderful way in which to utilize my networking skills.
So frequently, concerns over social, environmental and economic injustice are mirrored by a number of charities, organizations and individuals, all of whom have ideas in how to tackle these issues individually, but never talk amongst themselves to develop a solution to the problem.
Chain Reaction gave me the opportunity to really get to know people, their concerns, their ideas and their needs and to then ‘connect’ them with other similar individuals/charities we had talked to. It was a great feeling to help pull together people who had never met or even heard of each other and tell them that this was what they needed to find a solution to their problem or work on developing a new idea.
Too many times good ideas fall apart because people don’t have the time, money or manpower to make them happen. It was brilliant to show how reducing duplication of work and building working relationships could actually mean that an idea could be made a reality.
If you want to get involved in volunteering at Chain Reaction in 2009 please click here for more information
I am very excited to hear about the Connected Generation 2009 unConference – launched today – which will look at ways that organisations can use social media and the web to engage with young people.
For anyone not familiar with the term, an ‘unconference’ is an event which does not follow the traditional conference stereotype – there is no agenda as such, you create the programme on the day based on what you want to learn. (If you came alone to the Chain Reaction event in 2008, you will understand how this worked!)
This event has been founded by Tim Davies, a consultant and trainer in youth participation (If you haven’t already read his plan for Online Citizenship for Young People you need to now!)
As Tim explains on his blog;
Since the 2008 UK Youth Online* unConference I’ve met a whole load of fantastic people working to explore and use social technologies in youth work, youth participation and outreach work with young people. From software developers and central government policy makers, to local authority web teams and front-line youth workers – and of course, many young people themselves – as volunteers, activists and innovators. However, in all these meetings, I’ve not come across a forum that brings together practitioners, social entrepreneurs, developments, policy makers and young people to get stuck into sharing their learning and building the sorts of informal and formal networks that will drive forward greater and more effective uptake of social technologies to make a difference in the lives of young people.
So – I though it might be time for another unConference. And this is the rather roundabout way of announcing: Connected Generation 2009 – unConference – exploring youth engagement in a digital age.
It’s taking place on the 11th July, it’s free to attend, in the same place in Central London as last years thanks to Steph Grey and DIUS…
So why am I so excited about this event?
Well, because the work that we do at Chain Reaction involves young people, and we want to continue to engage and work with young people. I think that this will be a really valuable opportunity to learn from the great and the good in the world of youth participation.
The majority of our volunteers are young people. Through our volunteering programmes and through events and online networks, the Chain Reaction project offers young people – the leaders of tomorrow – an opportunity to learn practical tools and develop their networks.
In 2008, over a quarter of the national event attendees were under the age of 21, and a large proportion of the event was planned and delivered by young people. These young people—the leaders of tomorrow— were involved in planning and delivering a large part of the event agenda, engaging in chairing and facilitating sessions, presenting and debating. Their participation brought a different energy to the event, challenging all of us to be more grounded yet more ambitious.
And just like the 2008 event, this year we plan for the same level of youth involvement – if not more. This year, we will work with a group of young people to develop the core journalistic skills to enable them to report on the Chain Reaction event 2009, and subsequent events and activities (full details of which will be available in a few weeks time)
So these are the reasons why I have booked my ticket. This event is for anyone whose work involves young people – click here to register now!
Young Reporters from SENSE Media, at Chain Reaction, day 2, 18/11/2008, London
This week is the 25th anniversary of National Volunteers’ Week - the annual celebration of volunteers and volunteering which takes place in the first week of June each year.
National Volunteers’ Week is an initiative to raise awareness of, and to celebrate the UK’s volunteers with a series of events and online discussions.
There are many benefits to volunteering – from learning or developing a new skill, to meeting new people and making new connections, and to gain valuable work experience.
And here at Community Links there are several volunteer events happening co-inciding with National Volunteers’ Week .
Young People at Arc in the Park
The first is an extreme makeover of the garden at Arc in the Park - an open access adventure playground which provides play opportunities for children that are safe, creative, and of a high quality. The garden and outside space at Arc in the Park have not been redeveloped in several years due to the lack of funding available to transform them, so on the 5 June volunteers from ARAMARK will help the team to transform the garden into a safe and fun outside space for children and young people by providing the hands-on support of a group of over 100 volunteers!
Volunteers get down and dirty at a Community Links project
The second event takes place at Newham City Farm - one of London’s longest established city farms, that will provide children, young people and families a wide range of educational and leisure activities in an eco-friendly setting. Again, on the 5 June, volunteers – this time from Ricoh London - will have the opportunity to assist in the development and expansion of this exciting farm!
Engaging young people at Newham City Farm
Geraldine Blake, Interim Chief Executive at Community Links says
“Each year, over 1,000 people volunteer their time at Community Links. Volunteering can help make a huge difference to the local community, and volunteers are invaluable in helping us deliver our work. We have all sorts of people involved in our volunteer programme – from young people to chief executives of big business, anyone can get involved”
Click here to see the volunteering opportunities at Community Links >>>
And you can also get involved with volunteering here on the Chain Reaction Project!
Apart from one and half full time members of staff, Chain Reaction is staffed entirely by volunteers – the majority of which are young people.
Last week, Caroline Middlecote of Accenture told us about her experience of volunteering with Chain Reaction in 2008, and this year, we have many volunteering opportunities available for anyone who wants to get involved.
Click here for more information about volunteering at Chain Reaction 2009>>>
According to the 2007 DCLG Citizenship Survey 73% of all adults in England and Wales volunteered (formally or informally), so why not get involved as well? For more information volunteering, National Volunteers’ Week and events happening in your area click here
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