Thinking About Shiz - SSIR. Inspiration, Water Writes.

(Pic from Estria Foundation Water Writes project mural in L.A. They're in Honolulu now! Read more at end of article.)

Sometimes I need to get out of the "pretty things" black hole of blogs and really think about the socially conscious movement. When I get that urge, one of the first places I go is Stanford Social Innovation Review. This publication/website has great research and articles that cover socially conscious business, philanthropy, nonprofits, marketing, the whole shebang. I mentioned its piece on the only B Corporation in Kentucky earlier. Anyway, here are two more great articles to read:

Rediscovering Social Innovation and Romanticizing the Poor. Both cover key conversations to be had within, and outside of, the field.

And more look/Water Writes:

Pics from Estria Foundation's Water Writes mural in L.A (gallery here). This awesome mural project, which involves 10 international cities (including Honolulu -- hint, check out the upcoming FLUX Hawaii issue for more!) is not only awesome visually, but incredibly inspiring. Learn more here!

Hodgepodge of Look, and Good

First, the good. Panera Bread opened up Panera Cafe a few years ago, a place where people come and pay what they can for meals. After a year, Panera Bread Co. has opened two more similar cafes, which make enough money to cover costs and use the several thousand leftover to provide job training for at risk youth.

Read more in this article from The Washington Post (where the image is from as well).

Now, the look. One of my blog inspirations, LLOSO, posted today about visiting the Sonia Delaunay exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt, and shared these images, which are gorgeous and inspiring:

Hulu Hosts Nonprofit Ads During NVW

National Volunteer Week ended April 25, but while it was going on, I noticed that every commercial during an episode of House (guilty pleasure) was for a nonprofit. Here are a couple of such (similar) ads:

This PSA (Public Service Announcement) for the NYC Food Bank was produced by award-winning director Stefan Forbes and features celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Alec Baldwin, and the actress from Crossing Jordan. Not a fan of the opening music, but the silence later makes up for it.

OK, this one isn't exact. The video I saw on Hulu for Charity : Water was comprised of parts of the organization's September 2010 campaign to bring water to the Bakaya people in the Central African Republic, as seen here. To me, Charity : Water is on the forefront of using multimedia and social media for fundraising and spreading the word. You can watch more of its videos here.

I like that Charity : Water's campaign deviates from the more traditional "what celebrities think" PSA which, while perhaps effective, can also be alienating. Bonus good news is that Hulu offers ad revenue for PSAs (in March, they posted a blog about what they would be doing to help after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan).