Blogs | Changemakers

Changewatch: Outsourcing leads to opportunity at BOP; More social impact from foundations; Life without lights

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Posted Oct 29, 2010 5:38pm
cmblog

Today, our Changewatchers are buzzing about ...

How the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry leads to opportunities at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP).

BPO opportunities as part of the poverty alleviation toolkit? [Beyond Profit]

A largely untapped source of capital that can play a critical role in devleoping the social finance marketplace.

Foundations Need To Step Up [SocialFinance.ca]

Peter DiCampo's photo essay: A glimpse of life in rural Africa without electricity.

Full Frame: Life without lights [GlobalPost]

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Proudly Presenting: The Winners of the G-20 SME Finance Challenge

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Posted Oct 28, 2010 5:37pm
cmblog

Our judges have selected the winners of the G-20 SME Finance Challenge from a pool of 345 entries worldwide. These are 14 of the world's brighest and most innovative solutions to unlocking financing for small- and medium-size enterprises:

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Shifting consumption with the “rapidity of thought”

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Posted Oct 28, 2010 5:35pm
John Converse Townsend

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Winners of G20 SME Finance Challenge TBA tomorrow: Will you influence the global economy?

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Posted Oct 28, 2010 5:33pm
cmblog

The social entrepreneurs' winning entries in this global competition -- held by Ashoka Changemakers, the Group of 20, and the Rockefeller Foundation -- will have best demonstrated leverage, scalability, social and economic impact, and sustainability. Their selected proposals will continue to tackle a wide range of pressing social issues with innovative finance structures and transformative, system changing missions. With funding from the G-20, international development banks, and interested bilateral donors, winners will not only address challenges in various markets, but across multiple regions.

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Snag-free hybrid model: Do well, do good

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Posted Oct 28, 2010 5:29pm
cmblog

By John Converse Townsend, Media Mobilizer at Ashoka Changemakers

One of this week’s most-shared stories was Stephanie Strom’s “Hybrid Model for Nonprofits Hits Snags”. The New York Times article described several prominent examples of the hybrid model of social enterprise: the marriage between for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Making the hybrid model work is tougher than one might think, as Strom explains:

"[T]he hybrid model for nonprofits is proving problematic. On occasion, the need to generate returns for investors overwhelms the social mission. In other cases, business falters altogether and cannot support the nonprofit."

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Fight Digital with Digital to Help End Cyberbullying

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Posted Oct 27, 2010 5:27pm
cmblog

By Katie Leavitt, Tonic.com

Unless you've been living in a blissful state of medialessness, you've probably heard quite a bit about suicide, bullying and digital abuse lately. Sadly, many of the great assets of the cyberworld –– like quick and easy mass communication –– can turn ugly when used with malicious intent. That's why various campaigns are developing across the Internet, to help affected youth understand that they are not alone and that life doesn't have to be this way.

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