Conexus - Community Grassroots Networking 2.0
Imagine yourself as chair of a volunteer energy committee, or new community garden coordinator: go to Google to find resources and information overload ensues. NEGEF’s Conexus project seeks to connect community volunteers, old and new, to relevant peer groups, resources and events by using a ‘Netflix-inspired’ content management system.
About You
Section 1: You
First Name
Bart
Last Name
Westdijk
Website URL
Organization
New England Grassroots Environment Fund
Country
United States
Section 2: Your Organization
Organization Name
New England Grassroots Environment Fund
Organization Website
Organization Phone
802 223 4622
Organization Address
52 State Street/PO Box 1057, Montpelier VT 05601
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Organization Country
United States, VT
Your idea
Name Your Project
Conexus - Community Grassroots Networking 2.0
Country and state your work focuses on
United States, XX
Describe Your Idea
Imagine yourself as chair of a volunteer energy committee, or new community garden coordinator: go to Google to find resources and information overload ensues. NEGEF’s Conexus project seeks to connect community volunteers, old and new, to relevant peer groups, resources and events by using a ‘Netflix-inspired’ content management system.
Website URL
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
NEGEF’s smart Content Management System (sCMS) seeks to pioneer an interactive Knowledge Management System via the NEGEF website. This system will serve as a premier nexus of tested and vetted information for and by on-the-ground activists, non-profit colleagues and funding partners working to make New England more healthy, just, and environmentally sustainable.
This system takes advantage of the wealth of information contained within each application and uses it two-fold:
1. By asking questions on what resources and connections have proven useful, NEGEF can continuously update its already expansive database of vetted community resources and help emerging volunteer leaders make appropriate connections.
2. By taking application information and turning into a user specific profile, the system can filter for the most relevant content. For example, an applicant will inform NEGEF on its geographic location and the overall issue the group is working on as part of the proposal. Just these two data elements are enough to hone down the large database of community groups, tools and events. Add characteristics like size of the community, tax status of the group and number of volunteers and the system can further filter to find peer groups, etc.
Several research projects have shown that community volunteers are energized and motivated when finding others who have implemented similar initiatives. NEGEF’s sCMS project seeks to spark this motivation to accelerate on-the-ground action. The use of Knowledge Management Systems is fairly commonplace in the for-profit world, but to date we have not found a successful non-profit equivalent.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
NEGEF uses the tactics of grantmaking, connecting and skills-building to fuel civic engagement, local activism and social change. NEGEF’s programming has several strategic components. It 1) invests direct dollars in the grassroots through small, urban and special grant programs; 2) provides coaching, networking and opportunities for volunteers to strengthen their technical issue, community organizing and civic leadership skills; and 3) advocates for the importance of grassroots volunteerism in environmental and sustainable community work within the larger environmental movement.
Since 1996 NEGEF has provided over $3 milllion in grants through its small, urban and special grants program. Over 1,700 grants have reached close to 1,300 unique groups across New England.
While grantmaking is NEGEF’s core programming and continues to be an effective way to make a direct impact on grassroots initiatives in New England, NEGEF is driven to enhance and evolve the connecting and skills-building pieces of its program. Currently, the main component of this program work is the annual grassroots retreat, where grantees come together to network, share stories, and enhance organizing and leadership skills. Staff also consistently provides key coaching, networking and resource sharing between grassroots groups through the grant application and review process.
In order to enhance these networking/sharing opportunities and sustain the energy and excitement reported by retreat participants, NEGEF is implementing the sCMS project to integrate different program components and proactively offers resources, contacts and stories to activists in the region, all of which are generated from peers and various non-profit support organizations.
Problem
Typing the words “climate action plan” into Google® search, a resource request for which any new energy activist in any small town might search, offers over 5 million returns. Too many options! Look for ‘food system’ or ‘sustainable agriculture’ and you will find a plethora of high-level research and analysis, none of which offer a road map or a ‘start here’ for community volunteers looking to contribute. If you really want to get your head spinning: try finding a uniform answer to the impacts of cell towers, power lines or pesticides on public health.
NEGEF divides the over 350 applications it receives each year into 6 overarching issue categories. Within each category there is an overwhelming amount of information that supports an equally overwhelming amount of viewpoints. As emergent community volunteers, we quickly get bogged down with information overload and have a hard time taking the next step to action.
Actions
The proposed solution to information overload is not so much to pick and choose a few and create a limited list. Rather, NEGEF is proposing to link different resources to on-the-ground activists who have actually used and implemented them. By helping emerging leaders find peer groups, working on the same issue in the same area, we will spur conversation on what works (and what doesn’t). Groups are encouraged to share these evolving best practices both through ongoing conversations with NEGEF and through grant reports and return applications.
This approach steps away from philanthropy’s current transactional model (with the process ending with a grant check) towards one where program officers operate as information brokers and become active stakeholders in on-the-ground activity. As we implement this approach we will have to give attention to the idea that foundations traditionally are not seen as information resources. This will require a proactive campaign and appropriate language to ensure users realize the amount of information available as a result of philanthropic activity.
Results
As Clay Shirky, author of the thought-provoking book Here Comes Everybody, states: "the problem is not info overload, it is filter failure". NEGEF's sCMS blueprint seeks to follow the principle of 'publish then filter', allowing community volunteers to share their own story and through that process find other stories that help reinforce, energize and evolve their projects. The result of this work is a stronger on-the-ground movement where groups see interconnections between peer volunteer groups and find their place within larger statewide, regional and national movements. The barrier for participation for emerging volunteer leaders will be lowered as appropriate resources are made available. In addition, these resources will be linked to groups and individuals who have applied them in the past. From a NEGEF perspective this will help get to core conversations around collaboration and best practices at an earlier stage.
On a larger level we hope to model an approach to philanthropy that is starting to gain ground: using our "spot in the center to make connections and set the stage for new possibilities" (as Grassroots Grantmakers stated in a recent blog post).
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
Year One:
NEGEF staff has done extensive work to fundraise for the initial development of the system, to hire a developer and work with this team to create the blueprint for the system. We are currently working towards a basic operational system that will be beta-tested over the summer. This basic system will be able to take in information through an online application. What sets the system apart from other online applications is its focus on 'external functionality'. Most grantmaking software supports internal functioning and makes it easier for the grantmaker to conduct its program. Often there is little benefit to the grantseeker (some would even argue it complicates matters to apply online). NEGEF's blueprint keeps the grantseeker in mind and seeks to use the very act of applying for a grant as an opportunity to share information and build relationships. Once the system is functional, we will populate it with the 1,300 unique grassroots volunteer groups currently in NEGEF's database.
Year two:
With a populated database, NEGEF will work to build interactivity into the system. This will require additional fundraising to create the backend system. Parallel to this we will implement an outreach strategy to change perceptions around NEGEF as a source for money towards NEGEF as a source of information for community volunteers. Furthermore we will continue to engage colleague non-profits in the work of building up the resource database. In addition to what we hear from grassroots groups, we seek to partner with those support groups working with on-the-ground projects to share their resources.
Year three:
Evaluate the system and implement changes as needed. Fully integrate the system into our 'offline activities' by sharing the resource at regional conferences, statewide events and NEGEF's own workshops. A fully functional system will sustain its own information as groups re-apply for a grant and update their data. NEGEF will seek to further develop different components of its existing program and align our due diligence process with the new system. We will also integrate our individual fundraising campaign, root$hare, with our new online capacity to maximize its potential.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
NEGEF staff has been working to raise awareness around the role of community volunteer efforts in the larger arena of sustainability work. With activities happening at many different levels, community efforts tend to be misunderstood or get overlooked as a real catalyst for change.
NEGEF is addressing this by initiating funder briefings where we create communities of practice to stimulate conversation around how community volunteer efforts fit into larger strategies. Finding a balance between relational grantmaking and outcome-focused grantmaking is a challenge, especially when working with community volunteer efforts. NEGEF is also launching several issue white papers that document what activities are currently happening on-the-ground in different issue areas. These papers will summarize 14 years of grantmaking and will highlight successful strategies and inventory available resources to help get to the next level of understanding around grassroots activism.
As a foundation, NEGEF is aware of the power dynamic that is created through the grantor-grantee relationship. It can be a barrier for a potential applicant to fully share struggles and challenges with a potential funder. Staff is working hard to evaluate the language we use both in outreach materials and in phone conversations (through due diligence NEGEF staff reaches out to all applicants). Owning the idea of acting as information broker rather than pure grant-giver, staff is exploring strategies to engage applicants in honest conversations around what is and isn't working.
Where NEGEF is by no means the only organization that is following these principles, these ideas are relatively new to the world of philanthropy and it will take time for people to get accustomed to these views and roles.
How many people will your project serve annually?
More than 10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
$1000 - 4000
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Idea phase
In what country?
United States, XX
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
If yes, provide organization name.
New England Grassroots Environment Fund
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
No
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
No
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
NEGEF offers financial, technical and organizational resources. Our core program revolves around the financial resources through our small grants program. NEGEF staff is exploring some technical and organizational resources (for example, we are seeking to create workshops and webinars around grassroots budgetting, grassroots use of social media and grassroots fundraising), but we work with non-profit partners for many of the technical and organizational resources.
Following the model of a Production Network, NEGEF's Boston Grants Initiative (the urban grant program) works very closely with Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), the Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN) and Urban Ecology Institute (UEI) as our on-the-ground partners. These partners offer technical support in their specific issue area and help applicants with grant applications where needed. Learning from this experience, NEGEF is exploring how to replicate this for our regional small grants initiative, working with partners like Clean Air, Cool Planet, VT Community Garden Network, Rockwood and Interactive Institute for Social Change, to offer a robust service and support emerging volunteers.
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
1. Fully develop our smart Content Management System. NEGEF has the blueprint for a system and has gone through research & discovery phases. The basic system is currently being developed and will allow for an online application that gathers data and stores it in one central, accessible place. From there, we will develop interactivity and advanced functionality to allow for 'smart filtering'. This involves further fundraising to get the necessary resources to continue to hire our system software developer.
2. Develop and implement a production network around technical and organizing resources. Replicating our experience in Boston, NEGEF seeks to partner with key non-profit colleagues providing on-the-ground resources to community volunteer groups. Leveraging financial, technical and organizational resources will ensure community efforts reach their full potential and assume an appropriate role within larger initiatives. Aligning different resource offerings/strategies and ensuring they reach appropriate participants at the right time will aid in the development of a strong community support system.
3. Internal integration of program elements. NEGEF has always had several different core program elements like grantmaking and the grassroots retreat. Since November of 2009 NEGEF has an individual fundraising campaign (root$hare) and we continue to advocate for grassroots with non-profit colleagues and funding partners. Where each of these activities naturally feed of each other, NEGEF is exploring how to maximize internal efficiency. This work is forcing us to dig deeper and ask how different pieces complement each other: how we can use our grantmaking program to identify retreat participants, how root$hare can be used as an awareness raising tool for the grantmaking program and how our advocacy work can help solidify partnerships that feed back to the communities we serve. Strengthening the NEGEF model, we are working towards a collective vision of supporting innovative on-the ground solutions by grasroots changemakers!
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
With a small staff and five grant rounds per year, NEGEF originally took a keen interest in the potential of online applications simply to make data entry more efficient. As our staff contemplated converting from a paper to an electronic system, we fully appreciated the vast amount of information contained in our database of over 3,500 application files received to date. In a traditional grant-centric model, this type of information would have little relevance outside of the grant program itself; grant dollars allocated are often the main measure for success. However, NEGEF’s programming reaches beyond basic grantmaking to provide real support to local initiatives, whether it be connecting a group with similar nearby groups or providing additional materials and resources developed by peer activists or non-profit colleagues
Several surveys have shown that grassroots groups most often turn to peers for information, tools and advice. An accidental activist fighting a giant box store feels most encouraged and supported by input from somebody a few towns over who has gone through the same challenge. However, it proves difficult to find community volunteer colleagues in an age of information overload and ‘google fatigue’.
Recent developments in social networking and knowledge management tools (like Netflix) further spurred ideas on how to connect the wealth of information and use it to assist community volunteer leaders in their search for peer-vetted tools. Rather than a single defining moment, the NEGEF Conexus project is a culmination of lessons learned throughout 14 years of grassroots grantmaking, combined with input from grantees and partners and catalyzed by developments in technology.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
In early 1995, the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, the Island Foundation, the Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust and the John Merck Fund hosted a consultative process, New England Environmental Futures, to elicit views from various interests within the region’s environmental community about the future of New England’s environmental movement. The process reinforced the need for greater attention to community-based environmental activism and illustrated that, at that time, grassroots groups were only marginally integrated into the mainstream environmental movement. While the scale of these local groups most often made them invisible to the environmental funding community, all agreed that the energy, creativity and commitment of grassroots activists formed the basis for an environmentally responsible democracy. To extend and fine tune their philanthropic reach, these regional funders created the New England Grassroots Environment Fund (NEGEF) and gave it a structure designed specifically to support community-based initiatives, informal or formal. Financial, developmental and moral support delivered through the NEGEF model both recognizes and validates the crucial connection between local activism and real social change.
The New England Grassroots Environment Fund’s mission is: To energize and nurture long-term civic engagement in local initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe and environmentally sustainable communities. Its goals are to:
• help community leaders move single issue, backyard debates to more systemic and long lasting solutions;
• provide skills-building opportunities for volunteers and volunteer leaders;
• link community based projects with statewide and national efforts.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Email from Changemakers
If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company
50 words or fewer
 | 102 weeks agoBart Westdijk said: Alexis, Thanks for your comment and for the opportunity to share many months of staring at best practices. We have definitely taken ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 104 weeks agoAlexis Ditkowsky said: Hi Bart, Thanks so much for sharing your idea for a "Netflix-inspired" approach to grassroots organizing/grant-making and for being ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 108 weeks agoBart Westdijk updated this Competition Entry. |
| 108 weeks agoBart Westdijk updated this Competition Entry. |
| 108 weeks agoBart Westdijk updated this Competition Entry. |
| 108 weeks agoBart Westdijk submitted this idea. |
