Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 24, 2018

That was how the organization we now know of as Benetech was created and how I became a social entrepreneur (this was more than a decade before we had heard the term). I was always coming up with new, crazy ideas of social ventures, and Gerry was a great sounding board. Third, there would be no Bookshare if it had not been for Gerry.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

He was also the principal author of a recent report you may have heard of: “ Advancing Global Food Security in the Face of a Changing Climate ,” which was released by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in May 2014, calling on the United States government to integrate climate change adaptation into its global food security strategy.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 13, 2010

The social sector is having to evolve in this changing world. Social services that were innovative thirty years ago now need to be rebuilt to better meet the needs of today. Social services that were innovative thirty years ago now need to be rebuilt to better meet the needs of today.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 22, 2013

Jim Fruchterman receiving the Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award from Caltech President Jean Lou Chameau, May 18, 2013 More than anything else, that pleasure in finding things out has been Caltech’s gift to me in my work as an entrepreneur and a social entrepreneur. I want to advocate for “giving the sleeves off your vest” strategy!

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 13, 2014

Yet, when humanitarian and social justice workers venture into the developing world to gather sensitive information, elementary privacy protections are often neglected. They are based in a country where the LGBT community faces a hostile social climate and state-sanctioned harassment.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 10, 2013

In this two-part series I explore the concept of “Technology for All” and Benetech’s commitment to both ensuring that the technology required to meet a social need is developed and that it reaches far beyond the 10 percent of people who can afford it. Gandhi, Technology and Economic Justice I often travel to Washington, D.C.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 19, 2013

From then on she’s been on a roll, developing initiatives that leverage the direct link between environmental restoration, economic revitalization and social progress. SB] 2 is but part of Majora’s multi-pronged strategy for urban renewal.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 26, 2008

I recently took on the role of chairing the Social Enterprise Alliance, the main grassroots group representing social enterprises in the U.S. One of our new strategies to respond to the increasing demand for social enterprise knowledge is to encourage chapters to form. and Canada. Our first chapter was in St.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 9, 2013

These relationships generate countless ideas for using technology for social good. Together with our partners in the nonprofit, technology, government, academic and publishing sectors, we participate in new cultural and technological movements, deriving new knowledge that we apply for social gain.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 11, 2013

Creating the World’s Largest Collection of Accessible Arabic eBooks Access to knowledge is the critical first step on the path to economic, educational, and social development. In the first installment of this series, I described the Bookshare International library and where we hope to take it next.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 1, 2012

Gather a group of social entrepreneurs to brainstorm ideas to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities, and you will harvest an array of innovative solutions. Recently, I had the pleasure to host Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) for exactly such a meeting of minds with ten fellow social entrepreneurs.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Our team has been thinking hard about scaling positive social impact of technology work. Led by Benetech’s VP of Engineering Gerardo Capiel, we will create an online space, SocialCoding4Good, where people in the tech community interested in social causes can volunteer ideas, connections, time and skills.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 20, 2011

Elaina Todd, an environmental planner who develops social marketing campaigns with the nonprofit conservation group Rare, is profiled in our most recent case study for Benetech’s Miradi software. Given the time pressure, Elaina uses Miradi to develop strategies that can be monitored for effectiveness.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 5, 2015

And what are some of the social benefits and impact that may result from such a relationship? The Lavelle Fund exemplifies the tremendous social return that bold philanthropy can create. It is Benetech’s largest social enterprise and is making excellent strides towards solving the “accessible book famine” in the United States.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 8, 2010

I also don't think the X Prize approach is applicable to most of the social challenges I see, although I loved the Ansari X Prize as driving space flight through Burt Rutan's winning entry. There aren't many philanthropists that explicitly endorse a strategy where the majority of their grants are likely to not be successful.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 19, 2007

Our opening keynoter at the 8th Gathering of the Social Enterprise Alliance was Tony Deifell, who has been working as the senior strategy person at Kaboom!, the rapidly expanding social enterprise that builds playgrounds for kids. Tony Deifell rocks! Tony recalled talking to Merlett about her best friend, Reba.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 14, 2009

As the chair of the Social Enterprise Alliance, I have the opportunity to address the annual Summit. I had a blast in New Orleans revving up the crowd about this exciting time for the Social Enterprise Alliance and the movement. Here's the text of my speech: [long post alert] Social Enterprise: Not Business as Usual!

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 12, 2011

I think social entrepreneurship is all about looking at root causes and addressing them: elimination of a disease is a pretty good approach to addressing the root cause instead of just treating symptoms. At Benetech, we apply innovative technology to create new realities for people with blindness and other print disabilities.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Our breakthrough in the conception of Martus came in 2000, when I was looking to expand Benetech to new frontiers of social good beyond our origins—helping disabled people access books in what is now our Global Literacy program. Here, we realized, was an opportunity to create real, lasting social impact.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 5, 2010

But, most climate adaptation strategies are going to by necessity be less expensive than that. It seemed like a larger scale version of what we are already doing for the conservation movement with Miradi, and what we've been kicking around as the "Carbon P&L" concept for a possible new social enterprise.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 28, 2012

I've been working closely with Kevin Lynch, the CEO of the Social Enterprise Alliance, on countering the efforts of Salesforce.com to attempt to trademark the name of our entire field, Social Enterprise. Social enterprise is descriptive. Social enterprise is generic.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Many other human rights and social issues were added in the following decades: ending the death penalty, advancing women’s and children’s rights, holding the rights of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, and protecting LGBT rights.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 25, 2007

SEEING BEYOND SALON: An evening of social-networking, creativity & big-picture thinking Thurs, May 17, 111 Minna Gallery | $10 | for tickets go to: www.seeingbeyondsight.org/salon Only $5 in advance with special coupon for Lighthouse for the Blind friends (use coupon: “lighthouse” AFTER entering credit card info) [5:30pm] Social networking with (..)

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 18, 2012

What we do: Benetech's Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) develops database software, data collection strategies, and statistical techniques to measure human rights atrocities. We're Benetech's Human Rights Data Analysis Group, and we're hiring right now ! Perform a little bit of GNU/Linux system administration.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 13, 2009

There are two hot issue right now on Craig's social action radar, the new launch of the All For Good website and next weekend's Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp in Berkeley. On Craig and Craigslist Q: Do you consider yourself a social entrepreneur? A: No, I don't think of myself that way. I think of myself as a nerd.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 5, 2016

I just read the new book from Sally Osberg, President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation, and strategy guru Roger Martin, Getting Beyond Better: How Social Entrepreneurship Works. I always refer aspiring social entrepreneurs to the article when they ask me how they can win a Skoll Award. The authors present a two-by-two matrix.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

Data is a bigger and bigger topic in social change. We need to do a better job of understanding social needs, both to improve our programs and measure their ultimate impact. I spend more and more of my time talking to leaders in the sector, helping advance the use of data for action and impact.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 8, 2010

As a technology company where social benefit—not profit—is the bottom line, we believe the knowledge is readily available to solve many of humanity’s most vexing problems. In this time of social conflict, environmental destruction and economic uncertainty, the need for such a strategy has never been greater.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 13, 2011

Our volunteers, together with these socially responsible publishers, are making sure that our members have the content they need. I know that funders aren’t used to hearing that from the social sector! For years, our extraordinary cohort of dedicated volunteer scanners has provided Bookshare with most of its new content.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 9, 2008

I think we also agree that: we should certainly increase funding for work that addresses the root causes of social injustice, strengthen foundation learning and accountability, give “beneficiaries” a greater stake in governance and strategy, and have more humility in the way we approach our work. So far, so good.

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