The toe bone’s connected to the foot bone The foot bone’s connected to the heel bone The heel bone’s connected to the ankle bone The ankle bone’s connected to the shin bone… —Dem Bones By Tom Peterson All social issues are connected. And […]
Archive | Nonprofit Innovation
Ask Supporters to Help
Every so often some nonprofit hits the news because of a breakthrough supporter-driven campaign. With the Kony 2012 campaign-turned-phenomenon the organization Invisible Children asked its supporters to bring attention to war criminal Joseph Kony and thus aid in his capture. In 2014 the ALS ice bucket challenge became a viral social media […]
Ask for Help to Grow your Cause
By Tom Peterson In the acknowledgements section of her best-selling book Quiet, Susan Cain thanks more than 200 people by name. Along the way, she had asked those people to help her: share contacts, read some pages, be a sounding board, do an interview. That’s a lot of reaching out for a […]
The AIDS Quilt Spotlights Crisis
By Tom Peterson How do you bring your cause to light when it’s invisible? When no one seems to care? These question is asked hundreds of time each day. How is it that these refugees are suffering, that these children are hungry, that this forest is disappearing, that people are dying from […]
Blue Zones and World Change
By Tom Peterson A recent piece in the Los Angeles Times asks why residents of Loma Linda, California, live longer than the rest of us. I like where this article led me for a couple of reasons. First, it was for me a reminder that words and phrases (like Blue Zone) are powerful and […]
You Can Do the Impossible!
By Tom Peterson “Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” —Shel Silverstein Does it matter what we try to accomplish? Whether we strive toward something […]
Ask the Right Question
By Tom Peterson Have you ever been in this meeting? A group has struggled over some issue for hours. Then someone says, “Maybe we’re not asking the right question.” While it’s not often welcome, it’s a comment to listen for. It’s like someone opened the windows so fresh air can come in. Sometimes […]
Use Inspiring Statistics to Move us to Action
What could be more boring, less likely to move us to action than a fact? There’s no such thing as an inspiring statistic. Right? Well, not always. In her book Resonate, the best book out there on presentations, Nancy Duarte tells us to create S.T.A.R. moments. That is Something They’ll Always Remember. One STAR […]
Repurposed for Good: Rails to Trails
By Tom Peterson Every day fleets of trucks wend their way through our towns and cities. Their giant claws reach out to grab the heavy waste bins. They are denizens of our throwaway world. Almost half of our harvested food, millions of tons of plastic, entire neighborhoods. It’s sad to see so […]
World Building for a Cause
“If this world does not have a place for us then another world must be made.” —Zapatista saying By Tom Peterson George R.R. Martin’s world, Game of Thrones, has captivated many of us, with its wonderful geography, seasons, languages, cities, ships, attire, customs and strange creatures. Most novelists tell their stories in familiar settings. But some—particularly […]