Simply SaraJoy

Jan 14

Jan 14 Getting on the Bus

I've often wondered how I would have reacted had I been alive during the Civil Rights Movement. Sometimes, I'm sure I would I have hopped on a bus to Alabama. Other times I wonder if I would have had the courage to argue over Thanksgiving Dinner.

Feb 10

Feb 10 Is the Girl Effect going off the rails?

SaraJoy Pond

The brown-skinned pre-teen girl has literally become the new poster child for social change over the past few years, and a wave of “girlwashing” seems to be following predictably close behind.

Apr 14

Apr 14 Indigogo's going global, but at what cost?

SaraJoy Pond

If vetting and review simply doesn’t fit in the business model, then so be it. But to claim that the same model that works beautifully for pop albums and tech gadgets applies just as well to community development projects is disingenuous at best, if not downright detrimental.

Jun 10

Jun 10 Dirty Development?

SaraJoy Pond

In most of the countries with the greatest need in our world, social conditions are--shall we say--less than ideal. By giving anything--money, resources, volunteers, even attention--to these countries, are we not somehow complicit in their corruption, their repression, their cruelty?

Jun 8

Jun 8 Ghandi vs. Robin Hood

SaraJoy Pond

Or: a Realist, a Cynic, an Optimist, and a Pragmatist debate whether to accept grant funding through a Congressional earmark…

May 5

May 5 Social Entrepreneurship: Economics of a Generation

SaraJoy Pond

Last I checked, huge demand and limited supply was the perfect recipe for opportunity, not failure. So, no, we don't need a new conceptual framework. We need to dig in and get our hands dirty.

Apr 20

Apr 20 The Social Change Drive-Thru

SaraJoy Pond

"Hi. I'd like a global micro-credit initiative, a large order of AIDS education a-a-a-nd...a maternal health clinic" "Would you like to eradicate malaria with that?"

Feb 26

Feb 26 Sustainability Outside the Box

SaraJoy Pond

We hear “sustainability” and think of "going green" and carrying cute canvas bags to the supermarket. But succession planning and resource utilization strategy are just as much part of sustainability as those cute canvas bags.

Feb 23

Feb 23 "Seeing" Female Social Entrepreneurs

SaraJoy Pond

Women simply don't fit most people's schema of the entrepreneur--so when they look around for entrepreneurs, they see men.

Feb 22

Feb 22 Social Entrepreneur Search

SaraJoy Pond

...an open-source database designed to encourage "finders" and "funders" to support the efforts of successful social entrepreneurs.

Feb 18

Feb 18 Puppets and Puppeteers

SaraJoy Pond

A case for participatory development if I ever heard one:

Jan 23

Jan 23 The Thing about Revolutions

SaraJoy Pond

Apparently, the consensus among the “adults” at the school is that I am a revolutionary, inciting the proletariat to various acts of sedition and generally upsetting the delicate balance of their system. Oops.