Craigslist Foundation Non-Profit Boot Camp = saweet
In: Uncategorized
23 Jun 2009This weekend, I ventured west with fellow CommuniFounder Ben to San Francisco for the Craigslist Foundation Non-Profit Boot Camp.
It was pretty rockin’, to say the least. Around 1000 people were there to listen to attended to listen to the keynote speakers like Arianna Huffington and Craig Newark, attend breakout sessions, and just generally network and chat excitably about their ideas.
One cool thing about it, at least for social entrepreneurship nerds like me, was the number of prominent social change agents that were there. Listening to them speak on stage was cool, but far more interesting was watching them walk around pretending to be real people instead of the social entrepreneurship rockstars I used to read about when I was an intern at Ashoka. The helpful fellow who piped up during one of the Q&A sections to tell me about some resources for social enterprises? Jim Fruchterman, founder and CEO of Benetech (!!). The friendly guy I chatted with briefly about CommuniTeach who said he really liked the idea? Ami Dar, creater of Idealist.org (!!!).
They are posting podcasts from a lot of the sessions, which I will post once available for your viewing and listening pleasure. Until then, just trust me…it was good stuff.
3 Responses to Craigslist Foundation Non-Profit Boot Camp = saweet
Barry Paul
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:31 am
Without giving away proprietary ideas, can you share a few things that you learned at the conference that you expect will advance CommuniTeach?
Sarah
July 5th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Great question!
I think the most important thing I learned from the conference is that no social venture idea is as innovative and unique as you think it is, and there are going to be other organizations doing similar things. It’s important to be flexible and recognize that there is room for several organizations in the same community learning sphere, and a collaborative attitude is key.
Barry Paul
July 9th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Thanks. I didn’t know that you had responded because I didn’t receive an email notification that a response had been posted. You might consider that as a system enhancement.
Loved the Ode to Ben!!