Jam With GOOD, SF Goodwill, ImproveSF and Adaptive Path

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If there are two things that San Francisco does better than any other city, it’s advocacy and technology. The City of San Francisco knows what its citizens care about and is combining the power of advocacy and technology with its online community platform, ImproveSF.

Residents of the city are encouraged to engage and participate on ImproveSF, from crowdsourcing the design of the public library card to addressing issues of homelessness. This Friday, ImproveSF, in partnership with GOOD, Adaptive Path and the SF Goodwill, is launching the “Improve SF Design Jam: Rags to Riches” where active citizens will collaborate to address the challenge question: What local jobs and start-ups could we create from textiles now going to waste?

On Friday, Sept. 6 from 5:30-8pm, SF Goodwill will host a reception at their headquarters on 86 11th Street (cross street Mission) to kick off the Design Jam. Representatives from ImproveSF, GOOD, Adaptive Path, Goodwill and ImproveSF, including San Francisco’s Chief Innovation Officer Jay Nath, will be in attendance. Register to attend.

On Saturday, Sept. 7 from 9am-3:30pm, Adaptive Path‘s offices (Pier One, Bay 2) will host the many minds who will collaborate to come up with the best solutions to this Challenge.

Think you’re up for the Challenge? Sign up at EventBrite and get your mind grapes going.

GOOD + Purina ONE Ask: How do Pets Make the World a Better Place?

GOOD + Purina ONE® are using the power of photography to change perceptions around shelter pets and to celebrate how pets–of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds–have inspired and changed lives across the globe, making the world a better place.

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The Picturing Pets challenge, launching Wednesday, July 31, 2013 at 12 p.m. PDT, calls all pet owners to celebrate pets by submitting a photo of your dog or cat along with a short description that shows how they make the world a better place. This is a step toward shifting negative perceptions about pets by picturing them in a new, positive light.

The pet owner of the winning photo will receive:

  • A feature on good.is with the winning photo and story
  • A year’s supply of Purina ONE® dog food
  • A pet photoshoot and photography training session with award-winning photographer Nanette Martin at an animal shelter of her choosing. Through her nonprofit organization, Shelter Me Photography, Martin has dedicated herself to teaching photography techniques so that photos of shelter pets reveal their true beauty and personality, greatly increasing their chances of finding a home.
  • $1,500 donation made on the winner’s behalf to one of the following recipient pet organizations of the winner’s choice: HALO Animal Rescue Uno por Uno, Animal Human Society Bound for Home, Cat Adoption Team Kitten Foster Program or Nebraska Humane Society Camp Kindness

Be a part of this positive movement: click here to enter your photo into the challenge!

The Challenge ends Wednesday, August 14 at 12pm PT so get those photos up!

All the GOOD Things

If you’ve got a great idea to solve one of the world’s many many many problems but don’t know what to do with that idea, turn your browser to http://startsomethingthatmatters.maker.good.is and enter for a chance to win a $50,000 prize from GOOD and TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie.

Mycoskie perfectly embodies starting something that matters. The social entrepreneur has built quite the charitable shoe empire with his popular “one for one” business model that values philanthropy over profits. Mycoskie is proof that you don’t have to be ruthless to be successful, and that giving really is good business. He’s taking all of the profits from the sales of his best-selling book and throwing it back into the good karma universe.

GOOD and its CEO and founder, Ben Goldhirsh, is cut from the same social entrepreneurial cloth as Mycoskie. The online community platform for “people who give a damn” has provided countless opportunities for others who share the same values. While GOOD has been a sounding board and resource for people who simply wish to do their part in making the world a better place, it’s also been an excellent source of opportunities for people who want to be the next Blake Mycoskie or Ben Goldhirsh.

With the launch of the Start Something That Matters Challenge, any U.S. resident with a business idea that benefits the world can win $50,000 to help jump-start that business. The Challenge is open until May 17 so start thinking with your heart and your dollars.

In addition to the Start Something That Matters Challenge, GOOD also recently launched the Global Neighborhood Challenge, an excellent opportunity for five global recipients to win a “pop-up fellowship” at GOOD’s Los Angeles headquarters. That includes the all-expenses paid trip (especially enticing if you live in, say, Brazil) and the opportunity to learn from the do-gooders at GOOD, who can help you expand your community idea into a scalable one that will work just as well in Nigeria as it would in Denver.

Now you have no excuse not to do some good.

Calling All Youth Focused Non-Profits To Enter In The Give For Youth Challenge!

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Organizations that prepare young men and women for the future with interview workshops, SAT practice tests, mentorship, entrepreneurship programs, and college prep courses are doing their part to make the world a little better by nurturing better people, but it’s not easy (or cheap). These nonprofits that help America’s young have an uphill battle raising funds and awareness. Where do they go when they need both? Enter Microsoft and GOOD.

Microsoft and GOOD are calling all U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profits to enter the Give For Youth Challenge. If you know an inspiring non-profit with micro projects that empowers young people to realize their potential, you can nominate them from January 7th to February 1st(noon PST) or encourage them to submit themselves directly.

After the nomination period, 20 non-profits will be chosen by community votes to move onto the voting round. These 20 will have the opportunity to participate on the Give For Youth micro-giving portal, where they can raise funds and matching grants from Microsoft, up to $100,000 across all non-profits.

Change Communications is excited to be working with GOOD and hoping to see some amazing entries on the Give For Youth site. Additional information about the challenge can be found here: http://www.good.is/posts/good-maker-challenge-support-the-dreams-of-young-people-with-crowd-funding-opportunities