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Thursday, June 20, 2013
$50,000 Technology Grant Now Open for Texas Nonprofits to Share their Digital Dreams
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
InterAction Forum 2013 - Drivers of Social Innovation
Drivers of Social Innovation
Contributed by Kyle Chang for InterAction
People often equate innovation solely with technological breakthroughs, but in reality, innovation goes far beyond that. Lisa Nitze of Mission Measurement, Scott McCallum of AidMatrix, Mirza Jahani of Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A., Daniel Brutto of UPS International and Gregory Wangerin of USA for UNHCR shared their thoughts with Forum 2013 attendees about innovation and the difficulties in achieving it.
Jahani argued that innovation includes any change in the status quo of how things are done. “Innovation is taking place all the time. It’s just not labeled [as such].” Wangerin took a similar stance, saying that innovation comes from everyone, not just managers and directors. He argued that field workers and those in need of aid are the ones “with their backs against the wall,” and that necessity is the mother of invention.
For Brutto, innovation means bettering supply chain efficiencies and sharing resources between the private and NGO sectors, despite their apparent differences in aim. Jahani added that both nonprofit and private sectors will have to tweak their mindsets in order to work together.
Nitze stressed the importance of NGO data to create a culture that supports innovation. “Telling a great story will no longer do” for inducing investment. NGOs need to measure their social impact so they can sell it to investors. With the right data, innovation is inevitable because of continuously smarter investment decisions, she contended.
Despite the consensus that innovation is important, people are still scared of being the first ones to change because of the risk of failure, McCallum said. Addressing this issue later, Nitze said that NGOs need to celebrate failure because it’s an “active part of moving forward.” Wangerin agreed that it is important for organizations to create a space to fail, learn and improve.
Read the full story here
People often equate innovation solely with technological breakthroughs, but in reality, innovation goes far beyond that. Lisa Nitze of Mission Measurement, Scott McCallum of AidMatrix, Mirza Jahani of Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A., Daniel Brutto of UPS International and Gregory Wangerin of USA for UNHCR shared their thoughts with Forum 2013 attendees about innovation and the difficulties in achieving it.
Jahani argued that innovation includes any change in the status quo of how things are done. “Innovation is taking place all the time. It’s just not labeled [as such].” Wangerin took a similar stance, saying that innovation comes from everyone, not just managers and directors. He argued that field workers and those in need of aid are the ones “with their backs against the wall,” and that necessity is the mother of invention.
For Brutto, innovation means bettering supply chain efficiencies and sharing resources between the private and NGO sectors, despite their apparent differences in aim. Jahani added that both nonprofit and private sectors will have to tweak their mindsets in order to work together.
Nitze stressed the importance of NGO data to create a culture that supports innovation. “Telling a great story will no longer do” for inducing investment. NGOs need to measure their social impact so they can sell it to investors. With the right data, innovation is inevitable because of continuously smarter investment decisions, she contended.
Despite the consensus that innovation is important, people are still scared of being the first ones to change because of the risk of failure, McCallum said. Addressing this issue later, Nitze said that NGOs need to celebrate failure because it’s an “active part of moving forward.” Wangerin agreed that it is important for organizations to create a space to fail, learn and improve.
Read the full story here
Promoting Food Security in Disaster Relief Situations - DomPrep Journal
Read the full story authored by Aidmatrix President and CEO Gov. Scott McCallum in DomPrep Journal
In
2011, 14.9 percent of U.S. households (17.9 million households) were
“food insecure,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
study, Household Food Security in the United States in 2011.
Those numbers equate to slightly more than 50 million Americans living
in food-insecure households: 33.5 million adults and almost 17 million
children. Many of the families queried in the study rely on food
provided by various charities to feed themselves. Unfortunately, the
nation’s charitable food supply chain itself is one of the most complex
nutrition delivery systems in the entire world.
These “supply chains of giving” are often the primary source of sustenance in the United States for more than 1 in 10 Americans and almost 1 in 4 children. This crucial food delivery supply chain, to many of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, receives little financial investment, and today relies primarily on a combination of corporate philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, and dwindling government resources to ensure secure food delivery to those in need.
A Public-Private Effort – New Opportunities Available?
The U.S. network of food banks and their end-relief agency partners, such as soup kitchens and homeless shelters, receive food from many of the same sources – for example, corporate factories, distribution centers, etc. – patronized by large grocery stores. They also deal, though, with much more diverse supply sources; the U.S. Department of Agriculture is the prime example, but individual citizens also make some generous donations, and local food collection drives and store closeouts also help significantly. These charitable food banks and their partners do not, however, receive the same financial investments that their corporate counterparts do in terms of supply chain systems designed primarily to promote efficiency, security, and resiliency in their operations.
Experts from industry, government, and various charitable groups joined forces in 2001 to assess the supply chain network design. From these discussions, fortunately, a number of opportunities for improvement through the quick deployment and use of information systems were developed. As part of this effort, supply chain technologies are now reaching the populations in the last stages of the charitable supply chain. The impact of these changes and the corresponding data developed as a result has had a favorable effect on efficiency, resiliency, ability to sample, rapid-response capabilities, and ability to meet the immediate and continuing needs of the nation’s most vulnerable populations.
Earlier, though, in response to the issues threatening the safety of the food chain, a team of for-profit and nonprofit players – led by Feeding America®, a longtime domestic hunger-relief charity, and The Aidmatrix Foundation – joined forces in 2002 to create a set of online hunger relief solutions: DonorExpress™, AgencyExpress™, the Choice™ System, and Virtual Aid Drive™. This public-private partnership took highly sophisticated state-of-the-art technologies and applied them, in a modified form, to help humanitarian efforts throughout the country. Since their inception, these hunger relief solutions have helped facilitate the distribution of an estimated five billion pounds of food to humanitarian organizations throughout the United States.
Read the full article
by
Wed, June 19, 2013In
2011, 14.9 percent of U.S. households (17.9 million households) were
“food insecure,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
study, Household Food Security in the United States in 2011.
Those numbers equate to slightly more than 50 million Americans living
in food-insecure households: 33.5 million adults and almost 17 million
children. Many of the families queried in the study rely on food
provided by various charities to feed themselves. Unfortunately, the
nation’s charitable food supply chain itself is one of the most complex
nutrition delivery systems in the entire world.These “supply chains of giving” are often the primary source of sustenance in the United States for more than 1 in 10 Americans and almost 1 in 4 children. This crucial food delivery supply chain, to many of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, receives little financial investment, and today relies primarily on a combination of corporate philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, and dwindling government resources to ensure secure food delivery to those in need.
A Public-Private Effort – New Opportunities Available?
The U.S. network of food banks and their end-relief agency partners, such as soup kitchens and homeless shelters, receive food from many of the same sources – for example, corporate factories, distribution centers, etc. – patronized by large grocery stores. They also deal, though, with much more diverse supply sources; the U.S. Department of Agriculture is the prime example, but individual citizens also make some generous donations, and local food collection drives and store closeouts also help significantly. These charitable food banks and their partners do not, however, receive the same financial investments that their corporate counterparts do in terms of supply chain systems designed primarily to promote efficiency, security, and resiliency in their operations.
Experts from industry, government, and various charitable groups joined forces in 2001 to assess the supply chain network design. From these discussions, fortunately, a number of opportunities for improvement through the quick deployment and use of information systems were developed. As part of this effort, supply chain technologies are now reaching the populations in the last stages of the charitable supply chain. The impact of these changes and the corresponding data developed as a result has had a favorable effect on efficiency, resiliency, ability to sample, rapid-response capabilities, and ability to meet the immediate and continuing needs of the nation’s most vulnerable populations.
Earlier, though, in response to the issues threatening the safety of the food chain, a team of for-profit and nonprofit players – led by Feeding America®, a longtime domestic hunger-relief charity, and The Aidmatrix Foundation – joined forces in 2002 to create a set of online hunger relief solutions: DonorExpress™, AgencyExpress™, the Choice™ System, and Virtual Aid Drive™. This public-private partnership took highly sophisticated state-of-the-art technologies and applied them, in a modified form, to help humanitarian efforts throughout the country. Since their inception, these hunger relief solutions have helped facilitate the distribution of an estimated five billion pounds of food to humanitarian organizations throughout the United States.
Read the full article
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Reaching out to Moore, OK
May, 21st, 2013 – Moore once again found itself in the path
of an EF-5 tornado, 14 years after the 1999 tornado. Twenty-one deaths were
confirmed including 9 children. These are just some of the facts, but little
can prepare one for the destruction left by such a powerful act of nature.
Numerous organizations launched their relief efforts to
assist the survivors including our partners, Save the Children, Adventist
Community Services and The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Aidmatrix deployed
me after connecting with some of our partners and a new organization, Mercy
Chefs, which ‘vetted’ me to work in Moore on Memorial Day and the following
Tuesday.
Memorial Day, 6:45a – driving north on Interstate 35,
everything looked normal as I passed Exit 116 heading to Exit 117 – 4th
Street. As I approached, a dramatic line etched itself across the highway from
west to east. South of the line - normalcy; north of the line -
devastation. Six weeks after Katrina, I traveled to Biloxi and Gulfport, MS to
assist in clean-up efforts; the graphic aftermath of natural disasters never
jades one.
Turning west onto 4th Street, the remains of the
Moore Medical Center with its exposed steel girders and destroyed vehicles caught
my eye. West of the hospital, I located Southgate Baptist Church with Tyson
Foods trailers in front and Mercy Chefs mobile kitchens in the back lot. Southgate
hosted us and converted its gym into a warehouse providing donations to the
community. On its front lawn, Mercy Hospital/OKC provided tetanus shots and
minor wound care.
For the next 1.5 days, 9 chefs – from Detroit and Virginia
to Myrtle Beach and Texas - and approximately 20 volunteers from Kentucky,
Texas and beyond prepped, served and delivered hot meals to survivors, volunteers
and utilities workers. Chefs Debbie Lowe
and Kristin Macan facilitated meal planning with the other chefs and ordered
the food supplies for three hot meals daily.
After preparing and serving Monday’s breakfast from our base,
we drove into neighborhoods searching for hungry people cleaning up their
property, some still living in their homes. Meanwhile volunteers prepped lunch
and by mid-afternoon dinner prep began.
Day 2/2nd shift – prepping lunch and dinner
included learning some knife skills from Chef Peter of Myrtle Beach and mixing
two large tubs of sweet potatoes for dinner. I was also ‘biscuit lady’ in the
serving line and assumed the role of teaching new volunteers the ropes.
After the lunch shift, I headed up I-35 to Hope 7-th Day
Adventist Fellowship/Moore, connecting with warehouse facilitator, Julie Pullie.
ACS (Adventist Community Services) has gained significant expertise in setting
up warehouses after disasters and providing volunteers; they are a valued
partner in our disaster response. I was provided a tour of their warehouse
facilities and worked with Iba, a retired nurse, managing baby items for
donation. Before leaving, a box of canned goods was loaded into my car for
donation to the OKC food bank.
Heading north again, my last stop of the day was at The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City to connect with Steve Moran,
Gina Ward and their team. The food bank
serves 53 counties in central and western Oklahoma including 1,000 community
pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and schools. A day spent with this food bank in January 2012
included early morning deliveries to Regency Park Baptist Church, Moore Community
Center and a food & clothing pantry; with this previous introduction to
Moore, the 2013 tornado compelled me to return.
Steve warmly greeted me and spoke about their distribution efforts
in Moore. From their website, “The Regional Food Bank
has opened a Disaster Relief Distribution Center at 2635 North Shields in
Moore, OK. The Distribution Center's phone number is 405-600-3182”. Recently Southgate Baptist Church contacted me
preparing to close their warehouse and wanted to donate non-perishable food to
the food bank. With a call to Steve, he graciously agreed to reach out to them
and assist.Natural disasters devastate communities and change lives forever. However, such events also provide opportunities for much-needed outreach. Over two days, I was privileged to ‘love on’ members of the Moore community and partner with local volunteers as well as those who’d traveled a great distance. I was thanked continuously by those we served, but I was the beneficiary of my time spent there. Memorial Day 2013 will not be forgotten, and look forward to returning to Moore as it rebuilds again.
Charlotte Medley
Aidmatrix Program Specialist
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