Newspapers and philanthropy

The San Francisco Chronicle has its Season of Sharing. The New York Times has its Neediest Cases Fund. These annual fundraising events, led by newspapers and with administrative costs paid for by foundations or the papers themselves raise millions of dollars for local charities. The Chronicle's Season of Sharing has raised more than $50 million in 20 years. The Times claims it has raised and distributed $222 million since it started the fund in 1912.

Anyone know where I can find a cumulative total of funds raised by newspapers across the nation?

So what for philanthropy? I predict it will be a long time before we see blogs, national websites, or even place-based online news sites raising those kinds of dollars for local causes. Just as the consolidation of banks in the U.S. has left big holes in the corporate philanthropy ranks of several major cities, so will the continued consolidation/closure of newspapers.

Tags: philanthropy, media

Open Access Data Wonks

Check this out - swivel will let you upload your own data and make really cool graphs. You can also use the datasets that others have uploaded. Now I'll never need to take that excel class. And all those foundation program officers can make charts of random data all day long - hey, it may not mean anything but it sure jazzes up a board docket.

Tags: technology, web2.0, foundations

Optimistic lists

Late last year I ranted a bit about the phenomenon of "end of year lists" and "next year predictions." And then, I too, caved to the temptation.

I much prefer John Brockman's approach on the EDGE. He asks a question about the coming year and invites anyone to answer it. Not only is it much more interesting, it actually takes advantage of the technology.

This year he asked "What are you optimistic about?" So far (as of 01.02.07) there are 160 answers, ranging from "When men are involved in the care of their own infants, cultures don't make war" to "breakthroughs in sleep science" to "Multilingualism in Europe."

There is also the usual slew of optimistic predictions about how technology will save the world, but you can read those anywhere.

So what for philanthropy? I think foundation staff should ask their grantees (potential grantees? rejected applicants? board members?) this same question.

Hyperlocal - the first buzzword of the new year

As we all know by now, Time Magazine decided that we all were persons of the year for 2006. In a year marked by MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and other social networking websites, the users of the Internet were the ones creating the content, sharing it, judging it, and relying on it.

The first buzzword for 2007? Hyperlocal. As we all drown in the information swamp created by our global connectedness, websites, blogs, wikis and even good old fashioned newspapers that specialize in the most local of local news (zip code level) are where the action is.

Blogs to watch for this type of information include Placeblogger, outside.in, and Fresno Famous. Websites include Yelp; Wikia is actively building communities of community wikis, and newspapers, which are generally seen as artifacts of a bygone time, are flourishing at the neighborhood level (San Francisco seems to get a new one every month or so).

So what for philanthropy? Well, everything. The vast majority of philanthropy is local. Community matters. Place matters. Proximity matters. As these news sources grow, it will become both easier and harder for philanthropists to know what is going on. Easier, because every meeting of every quilting group, dog walking pair, knitting salon, and book club (let alone community groups, merchant associations, political activists) may well be documented. Harder, for the same reasons. How can philanthropy structure itself to separate signal from noise at this level? What role is there for philanthropy in making sure all community members have access to these communication channels if they become ubiquitous? How might philanthropy use these tools?

Tags: web2.0, activism, philanthropy, media, buzzword