Will Byrne, co-founder and CEO of Groundswell, gave the Closing Keynote of the Global Engagement Summit today in Harris Hall at Northwestern University. Founded in 2009, Groundswell is now a successful organization working on developing the clean energy economy at a local level. He began his talk with a discussion of where the organization started--a few field organizers from Obama's first presidential campaign looking to work off of the idea that structural change can be catalyzed by community ...

Consulting Based Approaches to Community and International Development Matthew Frazier, Associate Partner of Dalberg, spoke on how consulting works and how it can be harnessed in development work. He started with asking what people think that consulting is, and showed that answers to that question are widespread, even amongst consultants. The definition that Matt uses for consulting is the art of asking the right question and bringing the right skills to bear. He introduced the idea of working with frameworks in ...

At the second Short Talk of GES 2013, delegates watched presentations by two artists working for social change, Gina Pollack from the Inside Out project and Grace Aneiza Ali from Of Note online magazine. Gina Pollack came to GES to talk about the Inside Out project, a global collaboration art project started by photography for social change artist, JR, that she is a part of. JR started out as a street artist in Paris scaling rooftops and tagging with graffiti art, ...

Another successful set of workshops with great facilitators. The learning continues! Power of the Press: How to Effectively Talk to Journalists A changemaker’s most important skill may be the ability to talk about his or her project. But how do project leaders get that opportunity? Media strategist Joanna Klonsky had the answer. In a Friday morning workshop, Klonsky used her experience in public relations to teach the delegates how they can connect with the press. Delegates learned the basics of writing media ...

Michael Pajonk, the Senior Director of Organization Partnerships for the United Nations Foundation, and Greg Thomas, the campaign manager for the DoSomething.org spoke at the short talk about campaigning for your cause.  Their experience in campaigning provided them with valuable lessons to share with the Global Engagement Summit community. Pajonk spoke first about seven themes for successful campaigning. He identified the seven themes as: 1)   Finding agreement by those running the campaign on what the campaign plans to do. 2)   Identifying the audience ...

The workshops of the 2013 Summit kicked off this afternoon. The workshops were a great success! The learning begins.... Best of Both Worlds: Blending Non-Profit and For-Profit Business Models Olivia Khalili, founder of Cause Capitalism, discussed how projects can be financially sustainable while still creating a strong social impact. Traditionally nonprofits have derived funding from donors and grants, but these sources are not finite. Khalili described six methods by which organizations can generate revenue that will cycle back to continue funding their ...

And we're live! The 8th Annual Global Engagement Summit at Northwestern University kicked off last night, April 17, 2013. Delegates from all over the United States and the world arrived for the Opening Banquet at the Hilton Orrington. The changemakers mingled with each other, began learning about each other's projects and then sat down for keynote address from Spark Co-Founder Chris Balme and a special performance from Northwestern Bhangra. The delegates were joined by the Northwestern GES staff, Northwestern professors and ...

The only people who can change the future are the ones willing to get their hands dirty. You have the option of living a clean, pristine life, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, you can also invest, challenge yourself, and live a life that's committed - and messy. Cord Jefferson, the senior editor of GOOD magazine, shared this and more during the closing keynote for GES 2012. Based on his experiences a writer, editor, ethical consumer, son, and citizen, ...

Saturday afternoon, after months of interviews with Northwestern students, a team of writer-interviewers and actors presented a theatre piece to delegates and staff that asked questions essential to GES. Where do we come from? How do we make change? What is a community? Can art institute social change? How do we do good well? Do we have a responsibility to do good? Led by GES staff member Naomi Rosen, the team combined interviews with Northwestern students - GES staffers, other social ...

The final Short Talk set out to address how to lead an engaged life. Drawing comparisons to love and citing personal stories, the speakers entertained their audience, but also challenged delegates and staff to always strive for more. Teju Ravilochan of Unreasonable Institute opened the presentation by drawing a metaphor to love.  He encouraged audience members to find a project or job that they feel as much passion towards as they do when they are in love. After asking audience members to ...