Seattle International Foundation seeks social media/research intern

Here is a great internship opportunity from the Seattle International Foundation:

Seattle International Foundation (SIF) was founded as a supporting organization to The Seattle Foundation for the purpose of increasing and enhancing international philanthropy and development efforts from the Pacific Northwest and to serve as a resource to our community.

SIF is looking to bring on a Social Media Strategy and Program Support Intern. Ideal candidates have experience with social media, are able to write and conduct research in Spanish. A stipend may be available, depending on the candidate's experience.

A full description of the position can be found on Idealist.org. Please email a resume and cover letter to Michele Frix at mfrix@seaif.org. You can reach Michele by phone at 206.547.9335.

For more on the Seattle International Foundation, their grantees, and news, check out SIF's website, blog, and follow them on Twitter!

Reflections on Philanthropy from Today's Leaders: Diana Scearce on Social Change with a Network Mindset

Here is an upcoming (free) opportunity through Philanthropy NW:

Date: 8/4/2010

Time: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Location: Seattle, Washington

Registration: Register for this event

Cost: There is no cost for this program.

Location: The 2100 Building, 2100 24th Avenue South, Seattle WA 98144

Who Should Attend: This program is open to both Philanthropy Northwest Members and Nonmembers.

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Social media is transforming the way we build, access and work with networks – with the potential for powerful results. Networks help strengthen community ties, spur collective action, coordinate services, and foster breakthrough innovation. However, using networks to effect social change requires new ways of working, like distributing leadership, increasing transparency and experimenting with new funding models.

This session will address questions grantmakers and community leaders are asking themselves as they experiment with social change networks, such as:

• What does it mean to lead with 'a network mindset' ?
• How can organizations and foundations activate and support networks?
• How do you assess the impact of networks?

Speaker Diana Scearce will draw on insights captured in her article, Working Wikily (Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer 2010) and the learning gained from The Monitor Institute’s ongoing work with a community of practice for network funders.

Presenter: Diana Scearce is a senior consultant with the Monitor Institute, where she works primarily with networks and multi-stakeholder groups. Her work combines experience with strategy, scenario thinking, experiential learning design and facilitation. Prior to joining the Institute, she was a scenario practitioner with Global Business Network.

Co-sponsored by: Social Venture Partners, The UW Evans School's Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits & Philanthropy and Washington Women's Foundation. Special thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

HH Recap: Tutta Bella Edition!

Many thanks to everyone who came out to our happy hour event at Tutta Bella last Thursday night. We convened to discuss social media once again - answering questions about Twitter, why a foundation might use social media, etc.

Among the questions we tried to tackle:

Q: Why would a foundation want to use social media?
A: To connect grantees with one another? To share information with other foundations? For transparency reasons? To make the foundation more accessible?

We were joined by several new faces, and we spent a lot of time discussing inter-generational issues in the workplace and at conferences. A couple people had recently observed that they were among the only young attendees at a recent conference and they felt slightly out of place - wondering what questions were appropriate to ask, looking up different field-lingo acronyms. Their solution? Post a flyer and host an impromptu EPIP gathering:

Have you had a similar conference experience? We'd love to hear about it!

Jelly Bar Happy Hour

Thanks to everyone who joined us for happy hour at the Jelly Bar last night. We had a rousing discussion about how we use social media - both personally and professionally, and also discussed how we measure our success in doing so!

Here are some photos from the evening- and yes, that's a real jellyfish!



Mike from Social Venture Partners talks about how SVP Seattle's summer intern is helping them to develop a social media strategy, which will improve their communications with both their partners and grantees.

Do you Tweet?

Social media guru, Beth Kanter of Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media, recently told EPIP chapter leaders that not using social media tools was no longer an option- that groups, both nonprofits and foundations will be left behind.

With that said, here is a list of 90 foundations that Tweet. Seattle foundations include:

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Seattle, WA) @gatesfoundation
• Jolkona Foundation (Seattle, WA) @jolkona
• The Moyer Foundation (Seattle, WA) @MoyerFoundation
• Pride Foundation (Seattle, WA) @PrideFdn
• Social Venture Partners Seattle (Seattle, WA) @paulshoeSVP

Is your foundation on this list? Why or why not? Is your foundation resistant to using these mediums to communicate, or are you embracing it? Which tools have been useful/not so useful?

These are the questions we'd like to answer at our next happy hour event on August 13th at the Jelly Bar. Hope you can join us and share your own stories!