Deadline: April 17, 2009

The Gleitsman Program in Leadership for Social Change encourages individual commitment and leadership by recognizing the exceptional achievement of those who have initiated positive social change. We seek those individuals whose vision and courage inspire others to join with them in confronting and challenging injustice.

As we begin our search for nominees for the 2009 International Activist Award, we invite you to advise us of those individuals whose efforts you feel should be recognized.

The 2009 International Activist Award will honor those who have struggled to correct social injustice in the world (US activists are the focus of our award in alternate years). The honorees will receive $125,000 and will receive a specially commissioned sculpture designed by Maya Lin, creator of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC. The award is not presented posthumously, nor is it granted to groups or organizations.

Please complete this nomination form and forward it with supporting materials to us postmarked not later than APRIL 17, 2009. The honoree for the 2009 International Activist Award will be announced in the summer of 2009 and must be available to travel to Cambridge, MA for the award presentation in early fall.

A guest post from Ann Logue, author of Socially Responsible Investing for Dummies.

Social Investing and the Modern Market

By Ann Logue

Social investing is a fine idea: investors get to flex their capitalist muscles to help fund companies that are changing the world while pressing companies that are a little less than perfect to improve their policies. As I write this, though, it’s early 2009 and capitalism is a mess. Businesses with great ideas are having a hard time attracting shareholders and lenders because everyone is so darn scared!

Of course, the name of the game is buying low and selling high, so a beat-up stock market can be a great opportunity to buy into companies that meet your social objectives and that also are likely to do fine once the economy settles back into its groove. How do you find these? Start by knowing what your social goals are: is your interest the environment? Human rights? Religion strictures? That will affect the universe of companies that you will want to look at.

Then, you want to go to the financial statements and news reports to see how the company is responding. Is it cutting back its work on green technologies in order to save money? Or is it expanding its efforts because it has some cash, sees where the markets are going, and knows that its competitors are a bit weak?

As a general rule, the companies that will get through this recession best are those that have little debt and a lot of cash and equivalents on their balance sheets, as those companies will be able to do the best. Likewise, families that have little debt and good savings will also fare better than their profligate neighbors!

If you aren’t up to doing the research on specific companies, the many socially responsible mutual funds and exchange traded funds are available at bargain prices because the securities in them have been beaten up. (There are exceptions, mainly funds that target Muslim investors and thus have no exposure to bank stocks. Alas, social investment is no protection against market forces.)

Finally, the low prices on so many stocks are going to force changes in transparency. The federal government, which has become a de facto shareholder in many banks, is raising questions about executive compensation. (Hint to CEOs: if your company needed a federal bailout, you did not do a good job.) Those hedge funds, private equity, and investment firms with money to invest may look at troubled companies and press for changes that lead to a more sustainable business for decades to come.

If you don’t have money to invest right now, at least pay attention: this bargain-basement market will create interesting events for socially minded investors who want to watch and learn.

The Invent Your World Challenge, sponsored by the Lemelson Foundation, is a competition in which we are calling for ideas and project
proposals from young innovators, 12-20 in the North America and Europe, and 12-24 in all other regions, using a new or adapted technology to improve the lives of others. There will be several prizes, including a $20,000 scholarship, the competition closes on March 15th, for more details please visit: http://genvcampaigns.org/campaigns/invent/

The Invent Your World Challenge, sponsored by The Lemelson Foundation, which seeks the most innovative and creative youths that use technology to create positive change: http://www.inventyourworld.org

UpStart Bay Area is new organization that is helping Jewish social entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Area. It launched last summer and aims to cultivate new ideas and support entrepreneurs in opening their non-profit social enterprises.

Check out their new website here. They are currently taking applications for the next round of UpStarters:

Are you the next ‘UpStarter’?

The staff of UpStart Bay Area wants to incubate leaders who exhibit a variety of qualities, including those who:

• Articulate a clear vision for their organization.

• Demonstrate creativity, curiosity and interest in learning.

• Are unafraid of taking risks.

• Have innovative ideas to engage more Jews in Jewish learning, ritual, community and service.

• Can secure human and/or capital resources to get started.

For more information or to apply, contact UpStart Bay Area at (415) 536-5918 or via e-mail at info@upstartbayarea.org. Applications are due Feb. 13.

The Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI) fellowship program has commenced its second annual rigorous recruitment process to match the most talented ten undergraduate students from fifteen elite Indian engineering schools with partner social enterprises that focus on development by means of sustainable for-profit entrepreneurship. E4SI fellowships promise to be highly entrepreneurial in a way that combines the best of consulting, technology, and social innovation. Fellows will gain unprecedented access to the development sector as they work with leading social entrepreneurs, attend leadership workshops at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, and pitch their ideas to thought leaders as they join an outstanding cohort of exceptional young leaders.

For more info, refer to this pdf.

William Easterly: Today, I foist a new blog called Aid Watch on the blogosphere. The objective is to be brutally honest when aid is not helping the poor, but also praising it when it is.

Link to blog

Joshua Venture, a Jewish social entrepreneur fellowship program, seeks an Executive Director to be responsible for leading Joshua Venture as it builds upon its assets, strong brand, and past successes.  This is a unique and innovative professional opportunity for an experienced, creative and talented leader to have a major impact on the North American Jewish community through helping to launch and establish new organizations and entrepreneurial ventures and by advancing the concept and role of social entrepreneurship in the Jewish community.

The mission of Joshua Venture is to reinvigorate and expand the Jewish community by cultivating the leadership and management capability of young Jewish social entrepreneurs and investing in their visions and the growth of healthy and sustainable organizations.  The fellowship provides seed funding, organizational and professional development support and communities of practice.  It also confers legitmacy upon the fellows and their ventures, and expands their networks within the Jewish world.

The Executive Director will develop strategy, set goals, redesign and implement the program, including the recruitment and mentorship of the fellows, and manage performance.  S/he will create and maintain sound business and organizational models that promote and support the organization’s mission and vision, a positive and supportive atmosphere, and financial accountability and will serve as the organization’s representative in a wide variety of settings.  Joshua Venture seeks a candidate who can be both a strategic thinker and hands-on leader and manager.  Knowledge of, and experience in, nonprofit management, adult learning, the Jewish community and Jewish organizations and the ability to move comfortably between traditional and non-traditional organizational and community circles is critical.

Please see our website for the full position description- http://www.drgnyc.com/current_searches/index.cfm

Please send recommendations, referrals, and resumes to Susan Sapiro at ssapiro@drgnyc.com or Daniel Ripps at dripps@drgnyc.com.

If readers want to donate for nets, one good organization I have supported in the past is here. TamTam provides nets free at clinics. Personally I think this approach makes sense because charging dramatically reduces use, free distribution can help encourage mothers to come to antenatal clinics, and, like vaccines, insecticide treated nets can help interfere with disease transmission creating positive externalities. For some evidence on the first issue, see this paper.

One of the best buys out there is treating kids for worms. Two billion people have intestinal worms worldwide, including 400 million school-children. The medicine costs pennies per dose. Because the medicine is cheap and safe, but diagnosis is expensive, the World Health Organization recommends mass treatment in schools in areas of high prevalence, which can keep total costs per treated child to $0.25

Based on the evidence, several economists, including Esther Duflo, Kristin Forbes,and me, are involved in, and have donated to, a new group called Deworm the World. Information is available here. There is a donate button which explains how people can give.

Link to Mankiw Blog.