Going global one share at a time.

In a world full of billions of people, how does an organization reach out to just one person, or just one hundred people, or a million people? The answer is simple. Share. According to Clay Shirky’s video, How cognitive Surplus will change the world, he states “people like to create and people like to share.” There is so much truth behind this statement and it is highly visible on any social media network. Let’s look at YouTube as an example. Anyone has the power to post a video about pretty much anything they want and upload it to YouTube. Or as another example, take a look at Facebook. This site even designates a button that says “share” to share your pictures with your friends. Sharing is a powerful tool and there are also many different methods to sharing information. Something even more powerful is when a large group of people come together and share within the community, to the community, for the community. http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cognitive_surplus_will_change_the_world.html

Impact Foundation is an excellent example of sharing. The organization’s foundation is built on sharing knowledge to nonprofits throughout the community that want to better help other people in the community through their organization. Impact Foundation would also fall into the phrase of cognitive surplus, or as Clay Shirky puts it, “the ability of world’s population to volunteer and contribute and collaborate in large, sometimes global projects.” Impact Foundation fits into this phrase but on a smaller scale of community as opposed to worldwide. Although, they have the capability to be worldwide with the power of social media.

Click to access shirky.pdf

To talk a little bit more about sharing, “Sharing has typically required a high degree of communication through donor and recipient” (173). This is one opportunity that Impact foundation has yet to apply to their social media network which will highly benefit both the donor and the recipient. One goal Impact foundation hopes to accomplish is that the bond between donor and recipient is created and strengthened. This can be accomplished by simply sharing information with them. As an example, Impact Foundation shared photos on their web site of Giving Hearts Day (a hugely successful event in fundraising for non-profits) this creates a stream of visible proof that is shared from Impact (recipient) to the donor whom of which donated the funding to help the organization. http://www.impactgiveback.org/About?p=Giving_Hearts_Day

This type of sharing is called “public sharing.” The groups of collaborators actively want to create public resources to better help their community. Although this type of sharing is great, the ultimate form of sharing is called “civic sharing” (175). This type of sharing means actively trying to transform society and is designated to create real change in society. Civic sharing has Impact Foundation written all over it because the statement alone is one of Impact Foundations main goals as an organization.

Impact Foundations cognitive surplus is their social media networking, in particular, the non-profit organizations they have helped. In helping nonprofits become better at what they do, Impact Foundation is also bettering the community in which Impact Foundation and the organizations they help are all a part of, therefore, Impact Foundation is benefiting the community. In order for Impact Foundation to continue helping non-profit organizations they many need to expand and reach out to other organizations outside of their community to better help other communities. This will eventually create a chain effect and before you know it, Impact Foundation will be global.

In conclusion, Impact Foundation has the capability to become global because what they do, helps people do what they do, only better. They have a purpose, they have a drive to help people and they have the tools literally at their fingertips. They just have to share, which is something they are already great at achieving.

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