Gaia Community: John's Bookmarks

Stanford Social Innovation Review

John — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:16:51 GMT

A publication of the Stanford Center for Social Innovation and their Graduate School of Business, the Review publishes articles and focus peer review onto strategies, tools, and ideas for nonprofits, foundations, and socially responsible businesses. They also host and sponsor conferences and events, many related to social computing.

Tags: social enterprise, strategies, sustainability, economy, environment, management, venture philanthropy, philanthropy, innovation, best practices, journal

Publication 557: Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization

John — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:28:20 GMT

Publication 557: Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization

This lengthy guide introduces tax-exemption status for non-profit organizations and discusses the rules and procedures for organizations seeking recognition of exemption from federal income tax under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. It explains procedures you must follow to obtain an appropriate ruling or determination recognizing your organization's exemption, as well as certain other information that applies generally to all exempt organizations. To qualify for exemption under the Code, your organization must be organized for one or more of the purposes specifically designated in the Code. Organizations exempt under section 501(a) include those organizations described in section 501(c).

Tags: social enterprise, non-profit, not for profit, income tax, incorporation, corporation, internal revenue code, internal revenue service, united states

organization and governance guidelines for boards of directors

John — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:59:24 GMT

organization and governance guidelines for boards of directors

Laws require corporations, as legal entities owning property, entering contracts, and assuming debt, have a governing board of directors, accountable as a fiduciary to its shareholders, members, or the public. These governing boards organize and operate according to articles of incorporation, bylaws, resolutions, and policies, oversee corporate purpose and plans, select and supervise management, ensure sufficient resources for the organization, and ensure compliance with laws and regulations. This linked page outlines and links many more pages covering governance and policy; roles and responsibilities; operations and systems; accountability and ethics; staffing, compensation, communications and the issues of running an organization. It also covers director training as a comprehensive overview and exemplar of how boards should work. The scope and volume of information make it suitable for a weekend workshop with additional homework in addition to a checklist and toolkit enroute to introducing best practices.

Tags: governance, fiduciary, director, board, policy, social enterprise, corporation, leadership, executive, officer, management

Google.org: the philanthropic arm of Google

John — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 07:25:01 GMT

Google.org: the philanthropic arm of Google

"We are not really a foundation [like the Gates Foundation]. It's a bit of a 501(c)3, a bit of a C corp, and a bit of an academic environment. I can play more of the keys on the keyboard. A 501(c)3 can't lobby

Tags: social enterprise, venture philanthropy, technology, challenges, future, creativity, genius, google

Cooperative Ownership Models

John — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:03:39 GMT

Cooperative Ownership Models

PolicyLink, a non-profit dedicated to fostering best practices and cultivating resources for buillding social capital and social enterprise, surveys financing and ownership models for cooperatives. This guide links many other organizations and programs for specific help.

Tags: cooperative, governance, financing, social enterprise, entrepreneurship, development, best practices, corporation

Meeting Facilitation: The No-Magic Method

John — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 01:16:58 GMT

Meeting Facilitation: The No-Magic Method

I first learned of this via the Burning Man Webteam. Hosted at Reclaiming, a site devoted to modern witchcraft and paganism, yet subtitled No-Magic,

Tags: facilitation, civics, consensus, meetings, agendas, social capital, nash equilibrium, lifehacking, quaker

agendas & meeting procedures

John — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 22:54:50 GMT

agendas & meeting procedures

Meeting facilitation, especially when parties find difficulty in coming to agreement, can be an art. Use this checklist after understanding the approach guided in the companion document

Tags: facilitation, civics, consensus, meetings, agendas, nonviolence

Forming a Not-for-Profit Corporation in New York State

John — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:14:05 GMT

Forming a Not-for-Profit Corporation in New York State

Incorporating a not-for-profit in New York isn't all that difficult. It doesn't require a lawyer, though ability to understand thick layers of instructions and experience help. This guide answers frequently asked questions, and provides instructions for a sample Certificate of Incorporation, and information about fees.

Tags: incorporation, not for profit, corporation, law, new york, social enterprise

Ant Hill in the Rochester Business Journal

John — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:41:25 GMT

Ant Hill in the Rochester Business Journal

Throughout my life i've read in newspapers stories i also know from the inside. Mostly they get the gist right, but in many instances they get details wrong. Having written for the Black Rock Beacon for six years and served as News Editor for three, i keep my eyes out for getting things right and even go back after publication to check. Happily, this article gets things right, but also, much has changed in the past year. Perhaps time is due for another article. Only City News has yet to visit and write an article. You'd think, given their scope, audience, and political leanings, they'd have been first.

Tags: ant hill, cooperative, housing, rochester, friends, intentional community, press

Consensus: a working principle

John — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 22:01:05 GMT

Consensus: a working principle

Sure, Larry Harvey espouses 10 principles for Burning Man. They appear in each summer issue of the Burning Man newsletter. Organizations adopting them, however, do not automatically work. They are not the true principles deep at work underlying functioning communities. Instead, i find other deeper ones. Here is an honest and earnest description of one of them.

Tags: consensus, civics, authority, hierarchy, leadership, annual report, community, burning man

Respect, rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, and restore: 6 R of Burning Man

John — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 22:05:56 GMT

Respect, rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, and restore: 6 R of Burning Man

“Recycle” has been such simplistic inside-the-box dogma, fashionable discussion hardly broaches two other, less energy intensive, less expensive, and less sexy “reduce” and “reuse”. But to think 3 Rs suffice may be itself thinking inside-the-box. To break outside and live sustainably requires changing not just practices, but also mindsets, and this calls for more Rs: “respect”—understanding what it means to be part of the solution; “rethink”—if you think outside the box, think again; and “restore”—pay it forward.

Tags: sustainability, burning man, recycling, environment, energy

New York Cooperative Corporations Law

John — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 04:18:42 GMT

New York Cooperative Corporations Law

An index and sections

Tags: cooperative, corporation, incorporation, law, new york, intentional community, social enterprise

Employment Opportunities and Residency Programs

John — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 01:11:29 GMT

Employment Opportunities and Residency Programs

Interesting jobs in the arts with decent pay and benefits seldom come easily. I suppose these will have plenty of candidates.

Tags: jobs, rochester, arts, social enterprise, grantseeking

PeaceWeavers (Finger Lakes)

John — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:04:41 GMT

PeaceWeavers (Finger Lakes)

An extended community of people from different cultures and spiritual practices, the core community was founded at the start of the 1991 Persian Gulf War by people who wanted to activate greater peace in their lives and the world. Since 1994 they operate as a non-profit educational corporation offering a variety of service-oriented activities to the public, instructing and hosting talking stick circles, retreats, and seasonal gatherings at their Sanctuary in the Finger Lakes of western New York. They claim 501(c)3 not-for-profit status.

Tags: community, intentional community, sustainability, rochester, wellness, alternative, calendar, peace

Rochester Lifeways: A bi-monthly resource for sustainable living

John — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 19:32:30 GMT

Rochester Lifeways: A bi-monthly resource for sustainable living

Staple-bound in 8x11 black & white in 8 issues annually, Rochester Lifeways features stories about our community and sustainability.

Tags: magazine, calendar, civic, sustainability, lifehacking, housing, architecture, transportation, food, farming, argiculture, organic

a partial directory to my linkmarks and folksonomies

John — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 18:47:46 GMT

a partial directory to my linkmarks and folksonomies

Many sites support linkmarks, linkrolls, tagrolls, and folksonomies. Some support only minimal features, while others support comments, invitation-based replies, OpenID, tag rolls, tag clouds and badges, groups, discussions, ratings, friends, private sharing, rich media, clipping and caching. The ones i use i mark, annotate, and tag here.

Tags: linkmarks, linkmarking, folksonomies, tagging, identity, vitae