I'll toss in a first thought for soup starter.

To me <Ned> is the open source brand for making the world a better place.

If people see <Ned> on a shirt, <Ned> on a community center sign, <Ned> on a bag of coffee, <Ned> on a jar or bar of soap...they will know many good things happened. Hopefully each will also have a compelling tag/label/story with it to get people to ned.com too.

my time is up

Interesting.

<ned> is a marque that leaves a mark.

Mark said:

I'll toss in a first thought for soup starter.

To me <Ned> is the open source brand for making the world a better place.

If people see <Ned> on a shirt, <Ned> on a community center sign, <Ned> on a bag of coffee, <Ned> on a jar or bar of soap...they will know many good things happened. Hopefully each will also have a compelling tag/label/story with it to get people to ned.com too.

my time is up

Mark Grimes said: (over on the Razoo thread)

• Alex Steffen (World Changing)
• Paul Hawken (Wiser Earth)
• Ray King (About Us)
• Sebastian Traeger (Razoo)

Mark, I think these leaders, (and others like them,) are a good example of people who the <ned> elevator pitch needs to speak to. The question on my mind is: What can ned.com offer (what role could ned.com play) that would make ned a part of their daily business?

The elevator pitch needs to leave these particular individuals excited about how the resources that ned offers are going to help them to their goals. (more than just a logo/brand.)

>>that would make ned a part of their daily business?<<

That's a great question, and for them and others like them, will take a little time to answer. How can a busy founder and CEO use ned.com in 15-30 minutes a day and get the most out of it? That has always been the question. Maximizing use of time for those that are not going to use this as their online home base. Speaking with each of them (easy to do) would be a great start.

Jim,

I'm not sure I agree ... if the list reflects "change agents with tangible credentials in the techno-socio cohort" then the elevator pitch is of one type.

However, which elevator pitch is it? The pitch to use? The pitch to finance/exploit? Or the pitch to join the board to advise?

I'd refine the question:

What can ned.com offer (what role could ned.com play) that would make ned a part of their daily business?

to

What can ned.com offer (what role could ned.com play) that would make ned a part of my daily business? My social mission?

[Aside]

It's interesting to see requests to tie <ned> to specifics i.e., business plan. There are plenty of examples of product/service ubiquity - in fact Virgin is a worthwhile reference - if one attempted to describe the product/service as it exists today, relative to the point of conception one's head would pop.

UPS was a couple of kids delivering packages on bikes.

The thing is to hit success and fuel it with every ounce of enthusiasm while staying congruent to beliefs.

Jim said:

Mark said: (over on the Razoo thread)

• Alex Steffen (World Changing)
• Paul Hawken (Wiser Earth)
• Ray King (About Us)
• Sebastian Traeger (Razoo)

Mark, I think these leaders, (and others like them,) are a good example of people who the <ned> elevator pitch needs to speak to. The question on my mind is: What can ned.com offer (what role could ned.com play) that would make ned a part of their daily business?

The elevator pitch needs to leave these particular individuals excited about how the resources that ned offers are going to help them to their goals. (more than just a logo/brand.)

Mark, I am also thinking about the ned conversation we had a while back - my intro to <ned>. It seems like you might have several pitches (as it has been suggested) and particularly distinguish ned.com from the physical <ned> locations. What really stuck in my mind following our discussion - and I keep dreaming of ned spaces - was your vision of the better world retail/coffeshop/workspace/social enterprise hangout. I really dig that.

In fact, I've totally been fantasizing about a Ned-Morristown. Before the conference I did, I had some late-nights at my FedEx/Kinkos...I'm in there a fair amount for printing output stuff so many of the staff know me there. I found myself thinking about how much I love working (especially in the wee hours) with other people around and how I wished I wasn't paying ridiculous prices to be doing so...

Back in the old days, we said an organization needed a MISSION STATEMENT. This is a SHORT statement that, in just a few words, states the primary purpose of an organization. Many people use this formula:

"Because a condition exists + we exist to address it."

However, often, mission statements don't include that "because a condition exists" part, and, instead, concentrate on the latter.

Here are some sample mission statements:

-- xxxx Hospital: "Our mission is to delivery quality compassionate health care services through continuous quality improvement."

-- Business Partnership, Tukwila School District: "Our mission is to support, enhance and provide positive experiences for our students, staff and community through the recruitment, training and education of volunteers."

-- Rural Health Community Systems: "Our mission is to facilitate access to quality emergency health care through innovative partnerships."

-- "The mission of Twangfest is to preserve and promote the unique tradition and culture of Americana music. "

-- xxxx volunteer center mission: "to promote personal involvement in the community as the most effective and rewarding means of creating a better environment in which our families can grow and prosper."

-- Oakland/Alameda Volunteer Center: "Our mission is to mobilize individuals and resources, to deliver creative solutions to community problems."

Any time an organization wants to engage in an activity, be it a new program, a partnership, whatever, it looks at how the activity is directly supportive of the mission statement. It keeps an organization on track.

There are also VISION statements - the "perfect" circumstance that an organization is striving for:

-- Vision: that every child will be healthy, housed and education

-- Vision: that all water will be free of toxins

-- Vision: that anyone who wants to provide volunteer services will quickly and easily find an opportunity to match their skills, values, passion and goals.

-- Vision: that organizations can and will involve volunteers in a range of activities that will contribute to the organizations' goals.

I like mission (what we are about) and vision (where we see our world going) statements. I think two additional parts of an elevator pitch are next steps (the part of our plan we are currently focused on) and differentiation (how we are significantly different than all the others with our same mission).

I'd love to hear someone take a stab at those four.

I'd love to hear someone take a stab at those four.

Sounds like you're the one, Dave!

From my particular perspective of devolving Life in Africa "control" over the communities we've established to a member-chosen identity as ned-uganda, the 30 second explanation of ned that I typically spew has evolved to look something like this:

<ned> is a global better world building community that a number of really dynamic social entrepreneurs I know have been working together to develop for several years now. This year, ned is emerging with physical community locations in Thailand, Lesotho, Portland, and in Uganda with 2 local community run branches (in Kampala and war-affected Gulu). All of these are connected through a larger global grassroots community of people at ned.com, who are working together to develop new kinds of grassroots-to-grassroots relationships that can enhance and support local community development.

here's a reframe... a stab at the 4 points David F mentioned:

Mission:

Build a global grassroots community brand that represents the best of grassroots driven approaches to "better world building" in action around the world.

Vision:

x years from now, ned is a household name with quality products that serve community objectives, physical community locations around the world connecting to each other in mutually supportive partnerships, and an online interface that attracts and engages a global array of people committed to global grassroots change who are willing to share their time, experience and even money with better world building initiatives.

Next steps:

This year, ned.com is launching the online community interface and is emerging with physical community locations in Thailand, Lesotho, Portland, and in Uganda with 2 local community run branches (in Kampala and war-affected Gulu).

Differentiation:

By connecting a global community of local community stakeholders in mutually supportive relationships, ned doesn't just change the system - it becomes a new integrated system for grassroots driven global development support. Watch out world bank - ned is here!

Christina,

sounds a lot like what I mean when I say "local organizing and the planetary mind". Thank you for sharing that - I'm on board.

Christina, that was a great "stab"! Thanks!

I'd like to hear more about the differentiation part. I get that ned wants to connect local community stakeholders into a global community, but something like the Communist party or the SETI Institute might also have that goal.

Maybe the different part is focusing this global grassroots community on delivering "development support"? If so, what is development support?

Lars has always been great at nailing me down with, "but what do you want <Ned> to get done in the first year?" question. Big vision is great...but let's see the todo and goals kinda thing.

Regarding tangible deliverables for <Ned> and ned.com, I'd like to see the following accomplished by 12/31/08

• Over 1,000 registered members on the site
• Over one million web site page views monthly
• <Ned> on Better World Island generating over $500 USD monthly for Ned related projects
• 2 Ned events where 5 or more Ned members meet face to face
• 6 (or more) videos made by others distributed on the neddotcom YouTube channel
• 4 (or more) products/services built in collaboration within <Ned> locations and ned.com members online, each generating over $250 USD in monthly revenue
• 2 <Ned> licensed real world locations (one in Portland, Oregon) both breaking even and thriving
• 3 <Ned> partner community owned co-ops in developing countries each breaking even and thriving
• 10 ongoing monthly sponsors at ned.com
• 6 (or more) <Ned> related projects anywhere in the world
• Article on <Ned> (not me) in one big national magazine (readership over 50,000)
• 25 (or more) inbound links from good quality outside web sites
• 3 (or more) Ned microfinance introduction/training sessions in Portland, Oregon
• 3 (or more) more invited great guests participating like George B.N. Ayittey, that are treated with the respect and dignity all Ned members deserve.
• 2 (or more) fun and interesting online collaborations with ned.com and other web sites
• 2 (or more) other brands building the <Ned> brand into theirs
• Ned.com migrated to a secure hosting environment with a nightly backup
• Written outline that gets <Ned> to 50,000 licensed and 200,000 co-op partner locations by the year 2033
• 3 (or more) totally unexpected spectacular things

3 (or more) totally unexpected spectacular things

Wow! :)

David Frayne said:

3 (or more) totally unexpected spectacular things

Wow! :)

I am nominating the "George Ayittey : TED Talk: Cheetahs vs Hippos" discussion for the first of those 3!

Mark said:

# Written outline that gets <Ned> to 50,000 licensed and 200,000 co-op partner locations by the year 2033

Can you expand on what you see as a licensed location and what is the difference in being a co-op partner? Could we combine the local organizing effort with Ned's goals?

Michele said >>Those are great goals, Mark. We will tag and remind you of them frequently ;-) Looking forward to helping you attain some of them as well. -m<<

Excellent, because it will take a bit of work. And to be candid, I already see them as our goals, not mine, so we'll all need reminding ;-). And I hope others can build their efforts into <Ned> and do their own thing, and get additional momentum from the Ned connection. IE. If a Ned Peace Tiles event were to occur in Portland or wherever, great for Peace Tiles, but also that could be used as a vehicle to bring more of the right people into ned.com itself too. Collaboration. We're all going to need to work together to make this happen. Hard work, skill, new ideas and even a bit of luck.

>>I am nominating the "George Ayittey : TED Talk: Cheetahs vs Hippos" discussion for the first of those 3!<<

When you look at the tone and such of discussions and interactions that overwhelmed o/net the past few months...I'd have to very much agree. We'll put that on a list somewhere and maybe December of 2008 we can have a member vote for the Top Three most totally unexpected spectacular things that happened the previous 15 months. Lets all keep our fingers crossed for a long list.

David said >>Can you expand on what you see as a licensed location and what is the difference in being a co-op partner?<<

Sure. Ned licensee is more like a franchise, owned and operated by an individual or group. Probably more likely to be located in developed countries, an each tied to four co-ops in developing countries. They will pay a licensing fee and percentage of gross sales back to Ned HQ. The co-op is entirely owned by community members in developing countries. And ned.com is the thing that encircles everything.

David said >>Could we combine the local organizing effort with Ned's goals?<<

There seems to be a lot of very compatible things and ideas there. David, can you draft one (or more) measurable deliverable(s) with the local organizing effort (in Uganda, Portland or Thailand) that could be accomplished (within reason) by 12/31/08?

There are a number of aspects where we could make measurable progress by 12/31/07 - if we focus on more and more people seeing how what they want to do can be enhanced by what others want to do - how our programs "fit" in a better world.

One of those is to fund development of community portals which I describe in this comment. I was thinking I needed to talk to Jim about that - what parts of Ned would benefit from further open source development - can we link a local version of the Ned software to a local directory - calendar - events - news "portal" that people use like they use their local newspaper?

The other one - and one that feed energy back into the first - is to identify more and more local organizers who can see the benefit of networking across interest and expertise for the purpose of implementing sustainable systems in their locality. Network Weavers has the MESE vs. LOPM discussion, the Tutor/Mentor discussion and my own efforts here in Denver in the REDI discussion. I would love to include Uganda, Portland and Thailand in building that type of local organization - sharing what works/best practices - finding local sponsors for community portal development and deployment . . .

edit: had to go get the clothes out of the dryer

Can I ask a question on this topic?

Is NED exclusively restricted to a "grassroots-linked" vision?

>>exclusively restricted to a "grassroots-linked" vision<<

No. Grassroots is where many here prefer to work, and mass grassroots momvement is often when real substantial change occurs. If Nike, Mercy Corps, Yahoo, Google wants to jump on board...more power to them, and they'd be greeted with open Ned-dish arms.

In addition to much of what has been written in previous posts here...

Ned is a variety of personal and business online & real world local and global collaborations to help make the world a better place.

I think this:

Ned is a variety of personal and business online & real world local and global collaborations to help make the world a better place.

I usually use:

Ned is a platform for social entrepreneurs to share ideas, collaborate and network on a wide variety of social issues to make the world a better place.

That is why I am bringing the Atlas Corps Fellows to the party, and that is how Atlas Corps developed out of the omidyar network.

Scott

http://www.atlascorps.org