Featured Editorial Review
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
Clay Shirky (Penguin Press, 2008)
Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody is a thoughtful study of social media and its impact on how we live. Shirky begins with a story about a girl, Ivanna, who loses her cell phone in a New York City taxi. Her friend Evan agrees to help her recover it. Evan tracks down and contacts Sasha, who found and has been using the phone and refuses to return it. In response, Evan builds a website describing these events, sends the link to friends, updates it continuously, and adds a message board. A few days later, the story is picked up by media outlets including the New York Times, CNN, and dozens of newspapers, television stations, and websites. Within a couple of weeks, Ivanna’s phone is recovered and Sasha is arrested.
Ivanna’s tale is hardly newsworthy. Losing a cell phone is a regular occurrence in NYC taxis. According to Shirky, the story is less about the mechanics of the recovery—Evan’s website and the message board—and more about the how the story tapped into humanity’s visceral sense of injustice. The website and media serve merely as tools to amplify a powerful message that resonates on a deep level and stimulates individual and collective action. Without the message, the tools are irrelevant.
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Additional articles, books and resources
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Topic: Family Philanthropy
Funding as a FamilyCredit Suisse, 2010
Explores the opportunity and challenges inherent in engaging the next generation in charitable giving. Through case studies, the report details recommendations for how families can work together to build thoughtful and effective family philanthropies.
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Topic: Generational Change
Millennials: 'Bathed in Bits'Aliah D. Wright, Society for Human Resource Management, July 2010
An interview with Don Tapscott, author of Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World, debunking some common misconceptions about Millennials.
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Topic: Raising Charitable Children
'Daddy, Are We Rich?' and Other Tough QuestionsRon Lieber, The New York Times, July 2010
Rich with love? Responding to your children's tough questions about money.
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Topic: Strategic Philanthropy
The Nonprofit Marketplace: Bridging the Information Gap in PhilanthropyMcKinsey and Company
Defining and measuring nonprofit performance and impact is key to creating effective philanthropy.
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Topic: Women and Philanthropy
Understanding the Increasing Affluence of WomenJudith E. Nichols, The Canadian Fund Raiser
Understanding the increasing affluence of women and its impact on philanthropy, as baby boomers retire and Gen Xers take center stage.
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Nina Cohen, Glenmede
Philanthropic Advisory Services Group