Today we are thrilled to introduce Idealist Groups. Idealist Groups are created by people who connect with each other based on a shared interest, identity, or cause. Idealist Groups can be large or small; they can be locally based or global; they can have face-to-face meetings or they can interact mainly online.
Maybe you…
• Want to connect with others who share your concern for educational inequalities, animal rights, preserving public space, or any other issue that you’re passionate about.
• Are already a member of a community group that would like to have a presence on Idealist.
• Are in the process of starting an organization and would like to connect with others who are interested in working with you.
You are now invited to post your group profile on Idealist to let others know what you are doing and how they can get involved. It can start with just you, and grow from there! Through your Idealist Group profile you will have the ability to post upcoming meetings and events, volunteer opportunities, and more.
Post an Idealist Group
Find an Idealist Group
We look forward to seeing your group on Idealist!
p.s. You may have noticed our new look! We hope you enjoy this new homepage. Let us know what you think!
An organization with a rather similar mission statement to our own, the CouchSurfing Project connects people and ideas via couches. Their website has created a network of trust between members all over the world. Students, travelers, and other “couch surfers” connect with one another for a safe place to sleep, good conversation, and an opportunity to get to know a new place in the company of a local. The CouchSurfing FAQ gives a great example:
photo by code poet
"Martin picks you up at the airport and takes you back to his flat in the Rembrandtplein section of Amsterdam. The two of you walk around the neighborhood and meet some of his friends at a lively cafe for dinner. You stay up late sharing stories and getting to know each other. Martin recommends some interesting places you might like to explore around the city. When he returns from work the next evening, he takes you to his favorite pub and you tell him about your adventures. The two of you laugh and connect; you make new friends at the pub, and you're grinning the whole walk home along the canals."
More than 10,000 people converged on steamy downtown Atlanta last week for the very first United States Social Forum. This gathering brought together an extraordinarily diverse group of advocates and activists, from a seemingly infinite number of organizations, causes and social movements, united under the forum's slogan, "Another world is possible. Another U.S. is necessary." Planned workshops, informational tables, speakers, performances, and rallies engaged and energized participants throughout the four days of the forum.
photo by Bryce Edwards
Two Idealist staff members were fortunate enough to be there and to facilitate a workshop - one of more than 900 that happened over three days! In our workshop, called "Action Without Borders: Working Collaboratively Across Issues," participants engaged in a thought-provoking dialogue about the barriers to collaboration we often face when working to address inter-related issues, and shared strategies and tools that can help overcome those barriers.
Outside of this workshop session, inspiring examples of collaboration were everywhere. The social forum was a site of unplanned outcomes and connections made. Most workshops ended with a buzz of activity, as people in the room exchanged resources and ideas with each other in a truly collaborative spirit. Witnessing this spirit of collaboration confirmed the USSF's self-description as "more than a conference, more than a networking bonanza," and resonated with us as a powerful example of the great potential held in the intersection of people, ideas and resources.
GOOD magazine is about, well, all things good. Exploring topics from urban traffic alternatives in the Netherlands to the demise of the farm in rural America as well as showcasing evocative art and photography, GOOD strives to create dialogue about things that matter. Projects such as designing care packages and creating mix tapes also engage readers in exchanging ideas with one another. But just when you thought it couldn't get any better, the magazine donates your entire subscription fee to a charity of your choice.
Clowns dancing at a refugee camp
If you're the type that is curious as to how clowns are sharing their laughter with refugee camps, or wonder why ripe mangoes are at your supermarket in the middle of winter, then check it out for inspiration. A good read may be just the thing you need to jumpstart change in your community.
Tired of pulling bills, bills, and more bills out of your mailbox? Missing those thoughtful letters from far-off friends? Wish you could break away from the fast-paced world of electronic communications?
photo by jetheriot
Well then, don't cancel your mail service just yet. A new letter-writing initiative sponsored by the Fetzer Institute may be adding some variety to mailboxes everywhere. Part of the larger Campaign for Love and Forgiveness, the letter-writing initiative has been billed as a way to reminisce about old memories, express unuttered emotions, and bridge relationships with friends and family. And for the less-experienced converts to correspondence, the site offers sample letters, tips on writing from heart, and free downloadable stationery.
Believing that love and forgiveness can transform individuals and society, the Campaign encourages people to talk and think about such themes in the lead-up to International Forgiveness Day on August 5. Intrigued but want to save your postage? The Campaign also offers online discussions and video, PBS-broadcast community conversations and practical resources for cultivating love and forgiveness in your neighborhoods.
A map is a valuable community resource. It serves as a practical guide for local residents and visitors. It shows what is considered noteworthy in a community. It includes universally understood symbols. It helps shape people's understanding of a place.
Beijing Shichahai Green Map
It can also be a medium for changing the world. One organization that embraces this philosophy is Green Map System, a network of 400 cities, villages, and neighborhoods in 50 countries that create their own maps related to environmental sustainability. Focusing on bicycle paths, wind energy generation sites, farmers' markets, environmentally-friendly businesses, and a variety of other data that they deem important, local volunteer Green Mapmakers give environmental sustainability efforts more visibility, by literally putting them on the map.
Green Map is just one example in a growing movement of participatory mapping. Mapmaking technologies such as GIS (Geographic Information Systems) have proved useful in a wide range of community-based movements such as participatory planning, rural development, and indigenous self-determination. By learning how to make their own maps, local people can gain control over their own communities and have more of an impact on policies that affect them.
If you don't have time for GIS, you can make your own map with online tools such as Platial, where users mark significant places in their own neighborhood or across the world. Many of the resulting maps show the mapmakers' favorite stores or hangout spots; some compile other users' stories from around the world in a participatory fashion; and others are meant for activism, like this map that lists chefs and restaurants that support local, sustainable agriculture.
Next month, a few of our staff members will attend the 2007 Neighborhood Networks National Training Conference in Washington, DC. Representatives from Neighborhood Networks centers around the U.S. will be in attendance at the three-day event, where they can network, share tips and "learn more about connecting residents to opportunities." Sounds good to us!
A glance through the Success Stories page reveals that Neighborhood Networks centers around the country have unique goals and areas of focus, but generally want to foster connections between local residents and resources. New Jersey's NIA Neighborhood Networks Computer Training Center provides technology training to senior citizens, general internet skills trainings, after school programs, and more. In San Antonio, TX, the West Avenue Apartments Community Learning Center offers art and religious studies classes, BINGO games, and holiday celebrations to residents of a 150-unit apartment complex.
All these great programs and gathering spaces remind us of our mission, and we're looking forward to meeting with folks who work toward an ideal world, one neighborhood or building at a time.
Please turn on all cell phones, as the expanding reach of mobile phone technology creates a whole new approach to social change.
photo by larskflem
Online communities at websites such as MobileActive.org and ShareIdeas.org are developing innovative ideas and helpful resources for using mobile phone technology to positively impact local communities worldwide.
Job seekers in Kenya can have employment opportunity alerts sent to their cell phones. Farmers in Indonesia can use mobile phones to report suspected cases of avian flu. Students in the Philippines can see satellite transmitted educational videos at a teacher's text message request. Read more about these and other mobile phone initiatives sweeping today's world at ShareIdeas.org.
While you're in the mobile mood, be sure to check out MobileActive.org's newly created Idealist group. You can join the group to share your ideas for using cell phones to change the world!
Ever leave a conference or workshop and have a complete stranger on the street say hello and call you by your first name? Oops – you've forgotten to take your nametag off. Ever wonder what would happen if you wore a nametag 24/7?
Scott Ginsberg has been wearing his nametag since November 2, 2000. Scott says that the nametag represents “friendliness in a world of strangers” and invites conversation. By his estimates, he’s interacted with over 100,000 in the past seven years thanks to his nametag. At its most basic level, Scott’s simple act is an acknowledgement that in order to engage, some people just need an invitation. Whether it’s an invitation to imagine a better world or to simply make the world a little friendlier by greeting a stranger by name, we think it’s a beautiful thing.
If you haven't heard yet, we recently launched a great new feature called Idealist Groups that allows people to gather around topics of interest, affinities, and issues that matter to them.
If you like Idealist, we invite you to join a new group we created called Spread Idealist. Members of the Spread Idealist group can talk about the work they've done to promote Idealist to create more opportunities for everyone to get involved, share their most creative and effective ideas for outreach, and stay informed about our collective efforts to grow the global network of idealists who are building a better world. If this sounds like something you'd like to do, feel free to join the Spread Idealist group and participate in the community!
Be sure to check out other Idealist Groups that may be of interest to you, too. Have a cause you're passionate about? If you're already an Idealist member, create your own Idealist Group!
Whether you want to help with an Alley Cleanup in your neighborhood or discover the possibilities to Volunteer/Work/Study in Ghana, there's an Idealist Group that's right for you!
Idealist Groups are made up of members who are united by a similar cause, issue, or interest. These groups provide a space to share ideas, exchange resources, and make connections both online and face-to-face.
If you're a scientist looking to begin some Research With a Purpose, or a student who wants to take your Knowledge Forward, Idealist groups can bring your passion to life. As a Switzerland-based group discusses Development Through Trade, and volunteers in Australia work to Make Poverty History, Idealist Groups are popping up all around the globe!
Do a search for an Idealist Group that fits your interest. Don't see quite what you are looking for? Create a new Idealist Group and start making connections!
Many of us tuned in on July 7, 2007, as the organizers of Live Earth took on a seemingly impossible task: Alert 2 billion people to the global climate crisis over a 24-hour period. Harnessing the power of music, however, the concerts did just that – spanning 7 continents and featured over 100 recording artists from around the world including international superstars like Madonna, Shakira and Angélique Kidjo.
photo by rileyroxx
According to primary organizer, Kevin Wall, however, this concert is just the beginning of what he hopes will be a global movement. “This concert is not the solution,” says Wall. “This concert is providing, hopefully, that global tipping point to start to get us into empowering people, get them into the tent.”
To support this movement, the Live Earth site offers an impressive range of tools to help people address the climate crisis in a variety of ways. Visitors to the site can take a simple quiz to calculate their “environmental footprint,” get basic tips for reducing their impact on the earth, or add to their database of local events highlighting the climate crisis.
Feeling inspired to join or start your own movement? Check out the Idealist Groups database where you can find others who are interested in the issues important to you!
Put together former President George H.W. Bush, Timberland CEO Jeffrey Swartz, professional development workshops, hundreds of volunteers dancing in a museum, and thousands more who are passionate about volunteering and you’ll end up with something that looks like the 2007 National Conference on Volunteering and Service in Philadelphia, PA this week.
Presented by the Points of Light Foundation (which will soon merge with the Hands On Network) and the Corporation for National and Community Service, this conference is a huge event for folks in the field of supporting and promoting volunteerism. There were high profile events, hands-on service and workshops, and plenty of opportunities to celebrate the work of the thousands of volunteer management, national service (like Americorps), and volunteer center professionals from around the world.
Idealist was there, too! A couple Idealists from Washington, DC and Portland, OR helped launch the Brookings Institute Initiative on International Volunteering (a campaign to increase the number of volunteers going abroad to 100,000 by 2010) on the lawn of Independence Hall through a human sign spelling “VOLUNTEER” and the sharing of international volunteering stories and information. Idealist staff from New York, Portland, and Washington, DC also had the chance to introduce new people to our site through our table at the Expo (thanks to everyone who stopped by!), attending workshops and events, and meeting with our volunteerism partners.
At the end of the week - despite all the spectacle and high profile names at Points of Light - the best part of the conference was a no-brainer: the invaluable connections with smart and caring folks who are passionate about volunteerism.
Chuck Ridley was a former drug addict looking to end drug dealing in the impoverished area of Southwest Delray, Florida. With the help with one of his neighbors, Chuck formed a local branch of Men Against Destruction: Defending Against Drugs and Social Disorder (MAD DADS). Within a few years the group helped develop an innovative K-12 school in their area, and initiated the ongoing “Community Chat” to encourage people from a wide array of backgrounds to discuss and act on local issues.
Ideas like Chuck’s are the type of grassroots initiatives that the Case Foundation is interested in supporting through grants of up to $35,000. The Make It Your Own Awards seeks inspired individuals and passionate teams who are connecting people to talk about what matters, find sustainable solutions, and take action. In a true spirit of collaboration, the public will get to vote on who gets top dollar.
If you’ve always wanted to build a new playground in your neighborhood or start a ground-breaking program for the homeless, here’s your opportunity to make it happen. To be part of a growing movement of people engaging in their communities, also check out Idealist Groups or search for a volunteer opportunity. To find more resources, check out our Community Action Center.
Do you need a Free Hug? Do you believe We Are What We Do? Would you like to see a container that can not only help transport huge amounts of drinking water over long distances, but also protects against land mines?
"Free Hugs" is one of the ideas
highlighted on the Site for Social Design
For these reasons and more, we're fascinated by the Site for Social Design, which poses – and answers – the questions, "how do people organize their social life, how do we design our world?" The team at Systemic Consulting Group in Berlin moderate this website, where examples of community art projects are displayed alongside modern artifacts, social experiments and priceless stories.
What's especially cool about this is that this isn't just an exhibiting space, but also a place where the general public can connect with the designers and owners of projects from a variety of fields. This discourse – about what an ideal world can and should look like – is right up our alley. So tell us, and tell the Social Design Site: how do you design your world?
As more and more Idealist Groups continue to emerge, we’re finding connections and commonalities that remind us of the larger effort work together to build a better world.
photo by ponanwi
One connection that several new Idealist Groups share, for example, is a commitment to environmental awareness. LeaveNoPlasticBehind is one Idealist Group that advocates for less wasteful lifestyles through innovative art exhibits and education. Another Idealist Group, Sea Green, brings people together in a grassroots effort to increase environmental attention through an interactive online community. The Solar Car Project, an Idealist Group based in Canada, showcases new technology that could help protect the environment for years to come.
Check out these and other Idealist Groups that are working on addressing a variety of causes or shared interests (such as homelessness, professional networking, social equality, economic development, service learning, and more) to find a group that’s right for you. If you’d like, login to create a new Idealist Group yourself!
Are you interning in New York City this summer? Looking for a way to build upon your experience for the future? Want to make more connections in the nonprofit and public good sectors?
Or are you a young nonprofit professional looking for an opportunity to share your experiences and inspire others to consider careers in the nonprofit sector?
Idealist.org and the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) invite you to join us next Wednesday, August 1 for a networking fiesta for interns and young professionals in nonprofit and public good careers.
The evening will consist of a guest speaker from YNPN to offer great networking tips, an opportunity to practice networking with other interns and nonprofit professionals in a casual, relaxed atmosphere, and delicious empanadas!
Check out our event posting for more details and to RSVP.
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