Philanthropy Buzzword 2012.10 X

Here's the full list of Philanthropy Buzzwords for 2012 as reported in The Chronicle of Philanthropy

(Headline from The New York Times, November 30, 2012)

X is a great buzzword.

In its algebraic context it means "unknown" as in 3X + 59 = 1217.

In its arithmetic context it means "multiply" as in 2 X 2 = 4.

In a geographic or literary context, X always marks the spot where the treasure can be found.

(Photo from Rob Myers)

In David Brooks' world, X means a consumption tax.

In its philanthropic context, X has come to mean "cool," "community-oriented," and "open." Think of: 

• The X Prize (Revolution through competition)
• TEDx (Independently organized, global and local)
• EdX (The future, free, online)

X can also mean eXchange - as in Impact Investing Exchange Asia (IIx) or NeXii, 

Here is the full list of 2012 buzzwords:
10) X
9) MOOCs
8) Hackathon
7) Fiscal Cliff
6) Resilience
5) Social Welfare Organization
4) Sensemaking
3) Data Scientist
2) Flash Mob Philanthropy
1) Data

I have to say that X might be my favorite buzzword, right up there with last year's #10 - #.
Geoffrey Nunberg, linguist, told NPR that "Big Data" should have been the word of the year, not YOLO (You Only Live Once). I'm glad we started there.

Have a a wonderful new year and I'll see you all in 2013.

Remember - the Blueprint 2013: Philanthropy and the Social Economy will be available for a FREE download on January 7th at www.GrantCraft.org.

Buzzword Bonus: And just for fun - how about we revisit "Disrupt" as an uber-buzzword of the year!? 2012 brought us an abundance of resilient buzzword possibilities. (Hat tip to @JuliaThornton for reminding me.)

Philanthropy thought experiment

I had a great preview of the Blueprint 2013 yesterday with the staffs of the Stanford Social Innovation Review and the PACS Center. Among other things, we "crowdsourced" some ideas:

• The majority of the group thinks that the charitable tax deduction rules will change in 2013,
• They agreed with me (out of courtesy) that almost everything can be made into a data question, and

• We wondered which would have a greater effect on charitable giving, getting rid of the tax deduction or removing the ability to give anonymously. What do you think?

See that little widget over on the right side column headed "Thought Experiment Poll?" (mobile/email/RSS readers, you'll have to go to blog to see the poll widget)

Vote for "End charitable tax deduction" or "End anonymous giving" as bigger negative influence on giving rates and I'll report out on the findings in a week or two.


A little data to inform your vote.

According to Indiana University, as reported by the Foundation Center, the proportion of giving that is done anonymously ranges between 3 - 5 % of "big gifts." This doesn't capture any of the anonymity motivation that drives people to donor advised funds, nor does it capture smaller gifts (under $1 million).

As for the impact of the charitable tax deduction, well, the waves are awash with opinion and a little bit of data:

• Here's a rundown of three studies done last year (with links to the studies. Mostly academic research)
• Here's the report posted by the White House a week ago. (Part of a campaign for a particular policy proposal)
• Here's the Bank of America/Indiana University survey of high net worth donors.  (Research funded by a vendor serving the market)

Global #philanthropy #buzzwords

A reader from Berlin (@Steph_Reuter) noted that my buzzword list from 2009 had some entries on it that were just peaking in Germany this year. Similarly, several ideas that have peaked elsewhere are just making their way to me now. What's buzzy in one place at one time may be old hat elsewhere or not yet on the radar screen.

Why don't we figure out a way to globalize the buzzword watching? Wouldn't it be fun if we could see where a phrase or an idea first becomes "hot," and where it moves to (as well as how fast or slow it travels?)

I have an announcement coming in January that will help make this happen (the announcement will come in regard to Blueprint 2013) but I will need to be part of a crowd to make this happen.

I'd love your ideas, your help, your insights to think through how we do it and then make it happen.

• What would be the best storage and visualization technology tools for us to track and display the buzz phrases over time? 
• Can we pull it together for the Buzzword 2013 list?
• Can I get some volunteer "buzz ambassadors?" A "buzz posse?"

Speaking of your wisdom, thanks to those who've suggested nominees for the Beautiful and Brilliant Awards for philanthropic/nonprofit  data visualization and communications - that is another curation project for which I'd welcome your help.

The latest suggestion was for the Landesa Global Annual Report - 100 million families served with goals to serve 20 million more by 2016 - I'd call that beautiful and brilliant! Thanks to @EhrenReed for pointing me to it.

A year in #socialmedia #datavis

Yesterday I posted my "prediction scorecard" reflecting on the #Ten for the Next Ten predictions I had made back in 2010. In the upcoming Blueprint 2013 you will find my scorecard for the predictions I had made in Blueprint 2012.

Today, in honor of the new Pew Global Attitudes Report on social media - here are a few snapshots of my year in social media.

A wordle of this blog, courtesy of Kyle Reis, a friend and attentive reader:

My year on Twitter, courtesy of Vizify. You can do this too at 2012.twitter.com

For some context, here's the new Google Zeitgeist reports on what the world searched for in 2012.

And here is the "Pulse of the Planet" according to Twitter.

And, because I love cartoons, here's the year in cartoons from The Washington Post.