happy birthday bucky

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

youth culture

an interesting contemporary history of youth culture from the 60's to the millennials...

We All Want to Be Young from box1824 on Vimeo.

hub oaxaca - an introduction in english

obama proposal gets legs

After 2 years of spreading the message on the ground in Washington DC finally a breakthrough. The SBA announces the creation of a $1 billion "Impact Investing Fund." Although not equity and although the details have not yet been released, it is a strong indication that the different parts of the Obama administration are starting to incorporate the work we and others are doing to support the development of the "impact investing" marketplace. Here is a link to the Enterprise Innovation Fund proposal we have been promoting and here's a link to an article written on this development and others from an interview I did.

Certainly at the core of what is happening NOW is the belief that social entrepreneurship is proving to be a key driver addressing the problems we find in underserved communities and environmental issues and in creating the efficiencies and innovations necessary to tackle the problems that we face.

Mark

sikanda - a hub oaxaca project

Sikanda empowers the poorest people in Latin America unleashing their integrity and personal power. It is one of the great projects emanating out of Hub Oaxaca. I hope you can support their ability to attend the Unreasonable Institute by donating here or offering in kind resources!!



Thanks
Mark

this makes my heart beat faster....



thanks to everyone who made this possible
our next event october 2011
more on hub oaxaca
www.huboaxaca.net

mark

collaborative consumption

One of the best compilations of crowdsourcing for good captured in a simple video...

Collaborative Consumption Groundswell Video from rachel botsman on Vimeo.

A groundbreaking, original book that explores the rise of “Collaborative Consumption” — a cultural and economic force transforming business, consumerism, and the way we live.

The recent changes in our economic landscape have only exposed and intensified a phenomenon: an explosion in sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping. From enormous marketplaces such as eBay and Craigslist, to emerging sectors such as peer-to-peer lending (Zopa), ‘swap trading’ (Swaptree) and car sharing (Zipcar), Collaborative Consumption is disrupting outdated modes of business and reinventing not only what we consume but how we consume.

While ranging enormously in scale and purpose, these companies and organizations are redefining how goods and services are exchanged, valued, and created — in areas as diverse as finance and travel, agriculture and technology, education and retail. Traveling among global entrepreneurs and revolutionaries, and exploring rising ventures as well as established companies adapting to these opportunities, the authors outline in bold and imaginative ways how Collaborative Consumption may very well change the world.


www.collaborativeconsumption.com

battle cry by christen lien

My friend christen lien and her debut music video "backed" by Diego Rivera



Half Vietnamese, quarter Celtic and quarter Slovenian, using a bow, a viola, and an effects processor, Christen Lien’s unique fusion of East and West, classical and postmodern, acoustic and electronic, has created an entirely new sound that is both uncannily ancient and reassuringly contemporary. Not since Sigur Ros’s Jon Thor Birgisson have we seen an original musical genius of this nature. Christen Lien exudes an exalted vibration meant to lead us home in an historical moment that marks the end of empire and the beginning of a new dream of consciousness. Everywhere you listen, you hear suffering and surrender, rage and redemption, and ultimately, unity. Her name translates historically, and to us, as Christ Lotus. Her music is both beautiful to the ear and healing to the soul.

~ Camilla Griggers

www.itsnotaviolin.com

sustainable social media and stakeholder engagement

I believe the sustainable social media and stakeholder engagement field is beginning to take off providing great investment opportunities over the next few years. This covers a range of niche markets ranging from micro-investment sites like Kiva, Microplace and Social Vibe to to corporate CSR, employee engagement and volunteer sites like Angel Points and Network for Good. (See landscape map below).

While social media tools like Facebook and YouTube have exploded onto the broader landscape, technologies and networks specifically aimed at integrating more meaning into our lives - engaging our communities, organizations and the companies we are part of - have yet to take center stage. I think this emerging field will have a significant impact on how we engage with each other at home and in the workplace leading to widespread behavioral shifts as these tools are incorporated into broader culture.

This is why I am so heavily involved in BeDo...

A single market in which good can happen doesn’t exist. Corporations, individuals, and NPO reside in a fragmented market, which results in wasted resources, unexploited opportunities, and a lack of cohesion.

BeDo.com creates a marketplace in which corporations, individuals, and NPOs benefit from a cohesive platform. The marketplace will have tools that democratize corporate philanthropy, allowing everyone to participate in the process of giving. Individuals can discover opportunities, build communities, and donate or volunteer around causes important to them. NPOs benefit from unrestricted funding sources and energized volunteer communities.

BeDo is initially targeting decision makers at Fortune 500 and 1000 companies and their employees. The CSR budget of these companies is estimated to be over $15.6 billion with significant growth expected. Additionally, in future iterations, BeDo will target corporate philanthropy, cause marketing, and employee engagement budgets, as well as individual giving. An estimated 200 million individuals donate $1,800/year, creating a $360 billion market.

The ecosystem of organizations arising is heavily weighted on the non-profit side now but expect to see more and more for profits ventures arising that engage mainstream business and culture.



Here's an event in London organized by Just Means that typifies this movement and some of the hot issues being discussed...


Mark

the back door for obama on climate change

Tzeporah Berman, PowerUp Canada and a friend from the Hollyhock Gathering, talks to Paul Jay from Real News about Obama, Copenhagen and the bilateral deals being made between the US and China and other governments. While I am deeply disappointed in Obama's policies on the Economy and the Wars in Iraq and Afghanastan, this is bright news coming from two tough and thoughful Canadians.

tribes 3.0

The formation of tribes dates back over 3 million years. I think their modern equivalent may be one of the key structural missing pieces that link intention and behavior across our most basic modern organisms - individuals, families, corporations and NGO's - to generate human and ecosystem well-being.

In particular I am interested in these structures as embodied in social networks. Marshal McLuhan the infamous media philosopher predicted tribes would surface in electronic media as the distance between us evaporated:

"The electronically induced technological extensions of our central nervous systems, which I spoke of earlier, are immersing us in a world-pool of information movement and are thus enabling man to incorporate within himself the whole of mankind. The aloof and dissociated role of the literate man of the Western world is succumbing to the new, intense depth participation engendered by the electronic media and bringing us back in touch with ourselves as well as with one another. But the instant nature of electric-information movement is decentralizing--rather than enlarging--the family of man into a new state of multitudinous tribal existences. Particularly in countries where literate values are deeply institutionalized, this is a highly traumatic process, since the clash of the old segmented visual culture and the new integral electronic culture creates a crisis of identity, a vacuum of the self, which generates tremendous violence--violence that is simply an identity quest, private or corporate, social or commercial." (http://www.digitallantern.net/mcluhan/mcluhanplayboy.htm)

Sound familiar?

Commentary by Samuel Rose: "So, McLuhan also used the metaphor of "tribal" to describe what he saw emerging in our time. He was really accurate on his prediction of the direction of technology. But he saw new types of tribes. his tribes were "electronic culture" tribes. McLuhan knew, even before there was anything like the internet, that the direction of technology as an "extension of man" was going towards what he called a "global village". What he meant by a global village was that people in our time were going to become highly connected to the point that distance between us would eventually be largely erased. We are now headed towards that direction. So, McLuhan guessed that people connected in this global village would start to "retribalize" into new groups.

But these new types of "tribes" will not be like the tribes of pre-history.

They will instead be "Global-local" tribes. Some of them will organize around a place, or around concepts or ideas or technology. Some people will be part of many of these groups."

Compare this to Buckminster Fuller's thinking on the great migration of peoples across the Bering Strait and throughout the world which, he said, has resulted in millions of years of disperse, isolated experiments in how to survive, how to process information and how to get along. Because these experiments were isolated, they were preserved in diverse cultures around the globe. The construction of our advanced transportation and communication systems, he thought, were now acting to integrate this disperse knowledge.

"Ever evolutionary universe, has contrived first to conserve by isolation all the lessons learned regarding humanity's artifact inventing ingenuity in coping with the most extreme conditions experienced around our planet and secondly to synergetically integrate all knowledge for the mutual advantage of all humanity."

Bucky thought the natural purpose and pursuit of man was to be information harvestors and local problem solvers for the benefit of all. If indeed as McLuhan suggested our technologies are extensions of man, in a global-local village, then perhaps we should more consciously build for the use of tribe-like structures in our social networks. Such structures may indeed be for humanity what the nest is to a bird, or hive to a bee - the optimal structure for aligning with purpose.

I can think of many tribes I belong to: Halloran Tribe, BeDo Tribe, Hub Oaxaca Tribe, Bucky Fuller Tribe, Social Capital Tribe (These are project related with lots of crossover between them); Art-Tech Tribe, San Francisco Tribe, Oaxaca Tribe, Hollyhock Tribe (Geography & Interest based). Within these tribes there are people from every different disciplines, geographies, interests etc. Through them I am my own local information harvestor, while being able to compare notes with others. Like bees pollinating, from tribe to tribe rather than hive to hive. Perhaps that is one of the great functions of these structures. They blend the edges - or are the core at the edges. They are sources of verification, validation, and new unstructured information/innovation.

Tribes straddle all major categories of social structure - from individuals and families to corporations and NGO's. Because they are self-organizing they potentially provide great analytic demographic/sociographic data around who and why people connect.

In the same way that Google search inquiries are generating early flu epidemic warnings - (triggered by sudden outburst of searches around flu topics in defined geographic areas, BeDo may generate early warnings (market feedback) on shifts in cultural behavior. Autonomous group formation (tribes) could provide great information about the cohesion of local problem solvers related to goal sharing and resource sharing for example. This could be correlated with news media and important local events like tsunamis and hurricanes (and much more) to understand the correlation and perhaps the healing function of these structures.

Here is more recommend reading from the P2P Foundation on Neo-Tribalism.

I think this is rich material for the digital platform BeDo.com is now building

How can we facilitate this natural inclination to form tribes? How does our autonomous "group-forming" nature get expressed in today's social networks? Where can the semantic analysis of tribes take us? These are some of the questions I am currently asking myself,

Just thinking out loud...
Mark

hopi...the anti-war religion

A Hopi Elder Speaks:

"You have been telling people that this is the eleventh hour. Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the hour, and there are things to be considered. Where are you living? What are you doing? What are your relationships? Are you in right relationship? Where is your water? Know your garden.

It is time to speak your truth, to create your communities, to be good to each other and to not look outside of yourself for a leader."

Then he clasps his hands together and laughs and says,

"This could actually be a good time. There is a river flowing now, very fast. It is good and great and swift and there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. Know that the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep your eyes open and our heads above the water, see who is with us and celebrate.

At this time in our history we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment we do so, our spiritual growth comes to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves. Banish the word "struggle" from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred way and in celebration.

We are the ones we have been waiting for."

Note:

The name Hopi is a shortened form of what these Native American people call themselves, Hopituh Shi-nu-mu, "The Peaceful People" or "Peaceful Little Ones" ^[6]. The Catholic Encyclopedia lists the name Hopi as having been derived from "Hopita", meaning those who are "peaceful ones". Hopi is a concept deeply rooted in the culture's religion, spirituality, and its view of morality and ethics. The Hopi religion is anti-war. To be Hopi is to strive toward this concept, which involves a state of total reverence and respect for all things, to be at peace with these things, and to live in accordance with the instructions of Maasaw, the Creator or Caretaker of Earth. The Hopi observe their traditional ceremonies for the benefit of the entire world.
See historic hopi images.

happy birthday gandhi....

our ability to reach unity and diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.
gandhi




peoples movement
oaxaca 2006

BeDo Intrapraneur Event Aug. 31

I am co-organizing "BeDo Intrapraneurs," the first event of its kind on August 31-September 1, just before the Social Capital Markets Conference begins September 1-3.

I think it is a crucial time to begin paying great attention to those social entrepreneurs within corporations and government who are creating big impact within their organizations from the ground up as well as from the top down. We aim to create a very personal, interactive working dialogue and experience with real impact well beyond the event. We will discuss themes like:

+ Best in Class Social Intrapreneurship: A Discussion and Case Study of Danone and Grameen
+ Making Social Intrapreneurship Work: Successes and Challenges Addressed by Experts and Veterans
+ The Future of Corporate Capitalism: Connecting Money with Meaning and the Leadership Imperative of Corporations
+ Rising to the Top: A Panel Discussion on the Changing Requirements of the Millennial Workforce and Its Demand For Connected Capitalism

Also, at the conference we will introduce a new Social Intrapreneurship Prize.


I would love to have you join us. You can see all the details, registration information and sponsorship opportunities at: www.mybedo.com/intrapreneurs


This is one of the most important things I am working on and I don't want you to miss it.

Thanks,
Mark

h1n1 pandemic

It's interesting that throughout the social revolution here in Oaxaca in 2006-2007 I never contemplated returning to the United States, yet with the H1N1 flu outbreak I nearly did so. Why? I think the invisibility of this threat, the fact that you could acquire it from anyone and the intense media frenzy made it different. During the movement there were isolated areas of danger you stayed away from, with H1N1 it could be anywhere.

After a few days the panic peaked in the press. My decision not to return taught me a great deal - it allowed me to feel the edges of danger for the second time in three years. It showed me again how that for most people here life goes on regardless. If I remained in the virtual world I could easily project how my life was in danger. If I looked out the window of my house, not a thing had changed. 

For me the net take away from this experience on a world scale is 1) the need for a trusted source of information away from traditional media and government that can respond rapidly at a local level - perhaps World Health Organization designated officials in local areas that post information, 2) a widespresd understanding that these epidemics can start anywhere but their cause is globally linked. Hong Kong did not start SARS and Mexico did not start H1N1. These places should not carry the legacy of these diseases. A better understanding of the complicity and connectedness all regions of the world have with each other is demanded. In North America this is exemplified in the Real News story on H1N1  below:

mark

photo by megan martin

don’t waste a crisis...

We live in extraordinary times. We live at a time when one global paradigm is giving way to a new one. The industrial atomic age is present but giving way to an information and knowledge based paradigm. We are now accustomed to the explosion of new technologies arising in every discipline while at the same time instant, always on communications and interactive media are making the world a much smaller place. Yet these tools have been mostly aimed at producing more goods and services, not directly aimed at improving our lives. We know its time to directly connect our ideas and technologies to a singular end - improving our well-being. But what kind of meta-infrastructure can support the development of real solutions to real needs, simpler lifestyles and local, community based relationships that benefit from global decision-making structures? What structure embraces the empowering nature of these new technologies?

After spending eleven years on Wall Street and another ten or so in technology I was led to social enterprise, also known as social capital or impact investing. Now that social capital is rising as a thriving, emerging market it is important to find the intersection with the new age described above. In fact, I think its high time for an intelligent and lively debate around the economics and ecology behind the social capital markets and how they relate to the existing capital market system now under siege. A rigorous framework to analyze the inherent contradictions arising from the two models is called for as we move toward a long term model of sustainability - suitable to the age ahead. Issues to be discussed include the dynamics of big corporations and what they can learn from small, nimble, transparent social enterprises; philosophies of scarcity versus abundance; the implications of openness and transparency on private property systems and clear definition around the kind of meta-institutional framework to be put in place.

I think its helpful to begin by looking closely at the work of Paul Romer and Joseph Stiglitz, arguably the most respected economists out there thinking about the economy beyond the old paradigms. Both address the potential for new institutional frameworks in the age ahead.

See interview with Paul Romer

See background on Joseph Stiglitz

economy |iˈkänəmē|noun ( pl. -mies)1 the wealth and resources of a country or region, esp. in terms of theproduction and consumption of goods and services.• a particular system or stage of an economy : a free-market economy | the less-developed economies.2 careful management of available resources : even heat distribution and fuel economy.
ORIGIN late 15th cent. (in the sense [management of material resources] ): from French économie, or via Latin from Greekoikonomia ‘household management,’ based on oikos ‘house’ +nemein ‘manage.’ Current senses date from the 17th cent.

According to an interview with Reason Magazine Romer's innovation, expressed in technical articles with titles such as "Increasing Returns and Long-Run Growth" and "Endogenous Technological Change," has been to find ways to describe rigorously and exactly how technological progress brings about economic growth.

In particular he articulates the need to distinguish but link basic research and market innovation and to re-examine the institutional forms most appropriate in encouraging the flow of new ideas - when for example they should flow through market systems and when they should flow freely unencumbered by patent and intellectual property laws. How do you incentivize research and experimentation to develop effective AIDs medications while sharing the public benefit of those breakthroughs with those most unable to afford them?

"If you're going to be giving things away for free, you're going to have to find some system to finance them, and that's where government support typically comes in," Romer says..."In the next century we're going to be moving back and forth, experimenting with where to draw the line between institutions of science and institutions of the market. People used to assign different types of problems to each institution. "Basic research" got government support; for "applied product development," we'd rely on the market. Over time, people have recognized that that's a pretty artificial distinction. What's becoming more clear is that it's actually the combined energies of those two sets of institutions, often working on the same problem, that lead to the best outcomes."

Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize winning ex World Bank Director also known for his public and derisive view of the International Monetary Fund, laid the foundations for the theory of markets with asymmetric information (i.e. markets are not so efficient) which lead to his conclusion there is no "invisible hand."

"The theories that I (and others) helped develop explained why unfettered markets often not only do not lead to social justice, but do not even produce efficient outcomes. Interestingly, there has been no intellectual challenge to the refutation of Adam Smith’s invisible hand: individuals and firms, in the pursuit of their self-interest, are not necessarily, or in general, led as if by an invisible hand, to economic efficiency". (More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stiglitz )

This was finally acknowledged by former head of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan in his testimony before Congress - an amazing admission by the former chairman. See http://www.linktv.org/socap08

Stiglitz new book Stability with Growth: Macroeconomics, Liberalization and Development offers a variety of non-standard ways to stabilize the economy and promote growth, and accepts that market imperfections necessitate government interventions.

But looking at things purely in economic terms leaves me wanting more. Certainly we can’t just rely on a more interventionist government to prevent or redress market failures? On the other end of the spectrum is Douglas Rushkoff who as an independent thinker and writer, articulates the incongruity between the technologies that drive our economy today and the financial structures currently in place. Rushkoff’s background is in media, technology and culture but he is well versed in economic history. His controversial but provocative new book: "Life Inc... how the world turned into a corporation and how to turn it back" is set to arrive soon... for a preview I highly recommendlistening to him speak about these issues.

Rushkoff suggests we approach the new age not just from an economic perspective but from an ecological perspective, one that takes into account the interaction of people with their environment. The speculative economy doesnt just need a fix. It needs to be replaced by a "real economy."

ecology |iˈkäləjē|noun1 the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.• (also human ecology) the study of the interaction of people with their environment.

ORIGIN late 19th cent. (originally as oecology): from Greek oikos ‘house’+ -logy .

According to Rushkoff "The real economy need not suffer in the downfall of the speculative economy. If anything, the real economy has been repressed by the speculative economy. Real farmers have been crushed by Big Agra, real druggists have been crushed by Wal-Mart and real transportation alternatives have been crushed by Big Oil and Big Auto.

The opportunity here, while the big boys are down, is to rebuild the genuine, local commercial infrastructure. To make shoes, clothes, food, education, healthcare and everything else we can in a bottom-up fashion. While speculators enjoy the economy of scale, we inhabit an ecology scaled to the human being that was lost in the corporatist equation."

The economic structures now in place were developed for an older industrial model based on scarcity, the extraction of value from planet and people, a disconnect between management and the stakeholders served, and an underlying value system centered on self-interest. At the heart of this was the corporate structure.

Corporations and the economic system behind it are based on debt instruments marketed as brands to identify with consumers isolated from their communities who rely on mass media and mass markets instead. Money is not earned into existence it is lent into existence, Rushkoff notes, creating an insatiable need to work harder and longer to feed the hand that lends.

Rushkoff argues that the decentralizing technologies fueling the digital age put the power of creation back in the hands of the individual and the community in direct opposition to the very nature of a centralized corporate structure. The digital age allows individuals to be creators of ideas and knowledge, to compare notes and collaborate with communities near and far, to create social capital and currency that may be exchanged for real needs.

But just how exactly do you create enterprises from the bottom up that are locally responsive and responsible and financially sustainable, while at the same time able to take advantage of scale where appropriate, but not forcing it? This is precisely where social enterprises figure greatly into the overall equation. Social entrepreneurs have been experimenting with just such approaches and with greater and greater success. Stonyfield Farms, Body Shop, Calvert Funds, Smith & Hawken, Honest Tea, and Ethos Water are some of the more well-known social enterprises but a very deep pool of these kinds of enterprises can be found around the world in industries like microfinance, fair trade and renewable energy.

Social entrepreneurs and the investors behind them have also been great innovators in the kind of institutional issues Romer suggests are crucial - that is finding a spectrum of approaches on where to draw the line between research and development and market based efficiency, between for-profit and non-profit structures and between local and global strategies.

What we are talking about here is harnessing our countries culture of entrepreneurship and innovation but now directed toward social and environmental ends, or "social innovation." In combination with technological innovation we have the basis for building a real economy at local and global levels that can replace the speculative economy. But it will require us to rebalance our incentive structures through public private partnerships that supports risk taking entrepreneurs set on improving our lives and communities. It will require smart regulation that reinforces new behavior. And it will require new corporate models that makes explicit the bargain of a balanced set of returns - social, environmental and financial. There is real, practical knowledge arising from social enterprise that can be transferred directly at the governmental level potentially through the new Office of Social Innovation, and through the corporate ranks through "social intrapraneurship "- (social entrepreneurs working within large organizations). All of the above needs to be translated into concrete terms and structures.

But let us also take this opportunity to be clear about why we are doing this. Its not because the financial system has collapsed. That is a symptom of our singular focus on economic self interest - increasing individual income levels through more and more consumption. I would suggest our rediscovered purpose in the new age means increasing individual and collective well-being by sharing new ideas and technologies sustainably.

Well being - An understanding or valuation of “human” that takes the whole human being as the basis of valuation not just economic well being.

In my work with Halloran Philanthropies and Hardin Tibbs on well-being we have asked ourselves "How have human needs been met in the past." The industrial-era answer to this question is “by expropriation” – we take what we need from nature and from other human beings. This answer sees the human being as having mastery over nature and as being able through technology to be independent of environment and society. A wiser answer is that we depend on our environment and on other humans. Thus the need to think about ecology - the relation of organisms (people) to one and other and to their environment. Social entrepreneurs are demonstrating how to do this every day.

A shift from focusing on income to well being does not mean accepting less. On the contrary, it means doing more with less through better design and technology. A new paradigm that acknowledges this as our shared American Dream is what will really change the world.

mark

why do you do what you do?

now there is one outstandingly important fact about spaceship earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it. i think its very significant that there is not an instruction book for successfully operating our ship. in view of the infinite attention to all other details displayed by our ship, it must be taken as deliberate and purposeful that an instruction book was omitted. ... so we were forced, because of a lack of an instruction book, to use our intellect, which is our supreme faculty...thus... we are learning how we safely can anticipate the consequences of an increasing number of alternative ways of extending our satisfactory survival and growth - both physical and metaphysical.
r.buckminster fuller

submitted for the wdydwyd project today march 5, 2009

obama office of social innovation

On January 14 Wayne Silby, Founder of Calvert Funds, and I attended a meeting of the Obama Transition Team in Washington DC after being asked to present a proposal for a new Enterprise Impact Investment Vehicle that would create a public - private partnership between private investment managers and the Government to generate more capital investment into social enterprises.

The meeting was hosted by Cheryl Dorsey, President of Echoing Green, Jonathan Greenblat, Founder of Ethos Water, Greg Nelson and Sonal Shaw, Director of Global Development for Google.org, all of whom were volunteering their time for the Transition team.

The administration is looking to develop an office of social innovation that would support social entrepreneurs, social capital and impact investing. The transition team stated their intention not to lead but to support the field and welcomed ideas and knowledge that could help them do just that. The discussion included the need for infrastructure like B-Corp's Global Impact Investing Standard for ranking companies and funds and the need for a common language that can be used throughout all levels of government and that allows the field to be more accessible to a broader audience.

Wayne and I stressed the need for a sustainable, long term vision for jobs with impact and the role new equity capital can have as a catalyst for the field - particularly the opportunity the Government has to provide incentives for private capital to form and that serves as a forcing function for the field. This proposal may or may not make it into the current stimulus package but we hope it will catalyze a dialogue among investors and entrepreneurs that leads to legislation. Another potential avenue includes working with the SBA (Small Business Association).

In his most recent visit to China just befor the meeting Wayne also received interest in the proposal from senior Chinese leaders in partnering with the United States in developing the fund.

Mark

money & meaning

Its always interesting when an idea you had a long time ago finally starts to take shape and then becomes reality. A sense the timing is finally right, an investor (Halloran Philanthropies) willing to take a risk, and a team of people that could carry the whole thing off... 

Social Capital Markets 2008 is an intervention intended to increase the flow of money and attention toward microfinance, fair trade, renewable energy, base of the pyramid, and much more. Just as importantly it is a place where market participants and new players can reflect on the overall field's successes and challenges and construct the future through personal people to people connections. It is the latter that will ultimately be the difference.

The rise in power of corporations with a mandate to maximize financial return for their shareholders in the shortest possible time, often at the expense of human and environmental conditions, has lead to greater acknowledgement of the limits of capitalism in its current form. The recent collapse of Wall Street now makes that clear.

Amidst the market turmoil enthusiastic investors and entrepreneurs are increasingly turning toward a new form of capitalism and philanthropy that recognizes both the power and efficiency of market systems and the opportunity to direct them toward the sustainable exchange of human, social and natural resources and a balanced set of social and financial “returns.” Early efforts by social entrepreneurs and enlightened investors over the past 30 years has given rise to what can be called the “Social Capital Markets” that include affordable housing, renewable energy, microfinance, fair trade, base of the pyramid and others. Particularly in the last few years these markets and the philosophies embedded in them are being accepted by a growing and diverse set of market participants and just may transform our existing system in a way that addresses the massive demographic, social, environmental, technological and cultural changes unfolding around the globe.

This is not just an emerging market, it is a model for reforming our capital market system. All the component parts that make up a financial system are being re-imagined - from the way entrepreneurs approach an opportunity to the way investors choose where to put their money. It is grass-roots and mainstream. It is the woman in Latin America borrowing money to buy a sewing machine and it is the Wall Street firm creating a local currency product to offset volatility in international exchange rates that makes the loan doable. It is the MBA building technology to allow online "face to face transactions" so individuals around the world can work together and it is the long-time energy entrepreneur who now sets his sights on bringing electricity to a rural village in northern India.

Its all occurring on a global sphere, the center of which is everywhere, the circumference nowhere.

paz

mark

Buckminster Fuller Challenge & Whitney Exhibition

Next week I head to New York where the Buckminster Fuller Challenge will award John Todd $100k for his Comprehensive Design for a Carbon Neutral World: The Challenge of Appalachia based on a new theory of ecological design and The Whitney Museum will open its retrospective exhibition on Fuller's life entitled "Starting With The Universe." I joined the Board of Directors last January whose members include Bucky's daughter Allegra and grandson Jaime, contemporaries and new members who are taking Fuller's legacy and vision to new heights. To get a sense take a look at the new video:


The Buckminster Fuller Challenge from Buckminster Fuller Institute on Vimeo.


Let me know if you are in NY next week.

Paz
Mark
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