Through the summit and yearlong curriculum, we strive to give our delegates and staff two things, to quote Co-Director Sarah Freeman:

1. The skill sets necessary to implement their projects
2. The mindset to do it responsibly.

It may be technically feasible to design a new well for a rural village, for example, but may not be what the community needs. Imagine that several villages in the area currently share a well in the middle of their land. Creating a new water source closer to one village could unfairly shift the resource balance, causing conflict between the villages or tribes. While we may view this as making water more accessible, it could ultimately cause more harm than good. I dealt with this example during an internship the summer after my freshman year with MADRE, an international human rights non-profit. Because of the negative consequences of building a well, our partner in Kenya instead decided to provide load-carrying bicycles to female villagers, to minimize the time spent fetching water and avoid upsetting the balance between villages. GES, like Urban Prep, strives to build the character in our staff and delegates to ask similar tough questions – the ones that, perhaps, will destroy the very projects they’ve worked so hard to create.

I’ve had these conversation about “how to do good well” countless times during the months since I joined GES. I’ve worked on human rights projects both from the non-profit and government levels, and have yet to find a model without significant flaws. As we plan to move forward in this field, that reality can be quite daunting.

Tim King spoke to this struggle in his speech, once more channeling Dr. King’s words: We may not make the big changes, the ones that redefine our world, but we can implement the small changes that build up over time. Just as Dr. King passed on the benefits of his work to many he would never meet, we can pave the way for change-makers to come. We can, as Tim King said, change the minds that change the minds.

To me, the implications of this are terrifying. This means that social change is not a club you sign up for, or a cause you donate to, but a way of living each day. It is inherent in how you treat and give to every person you meet – and many you will never know. It is a lifestyle, a mantra, an impossible task.

What GES has taught me is that we try anyway. We embrace failure, and move forward. Right now, for example, I am working with a GES staffer Naomi Rosen and a team of GESers and non-staff students to create a short theatre piece for the summit. We’re basing our work on interviews with staff members, delegates, alumni, and Northwestern students who don’t know our GES acronym even exists. We’ve never attempted anything like this project and have yet to write/create a word, but it’s going to be performed in less than three months. I couldn’t be more excited to give the delegates another way to think about their work – and can’t wait to jump off this cliff, with the full knowledge that we may not reach the other side.

MLK day, as Professor Betsy Quinn told me last year, is a day on, not a day off. My goal for this quarter is to carry that mantra through every day, and make social change a livable, challenging lifestyle. I’d love for you to join me – or at least the conversation – in this effort.

-Alli Finn

After spending time studying abroad in Bolivia and making a documentary film, I decided at the end of last year that I would like to get more involved with a group on campus that could help me utilize what I learned during the most educational and best time of my college experience. I spent 15 weeks in an incredible foreign country, learning about a different culture, a new way of life. I was forced to push myself to my limits, to begin to see the world in a new way. You can’t come back from an experience like that, forget all about it, and go on with your life as it was before. You become more aware of the world, of the different cultures, and of the problems that plague humanity. Wow. As you can imagine, I was searching for a new outlet. GES seemed like the answer. So when I was approached over the summer about interviewing to be a part of GES, it was really a no-brainer.

That’s how I got here. A film major in her final year at Northwestern getting involved in something completely different and yet feeling that she has finally found a student group to be passionate about.

At this point you are probably wondering, “What exactly is GES?” Well. On the GES website (www.theges.org) it says:

The Global Engagement Summit (GES) is an empowerment platform for students to make the change they wish to see in the world. The mission of GES is to build the capacity of the next generation of global change leaders. By providing tangible skills training and connecting driven students with innovative thought leaders, GES strives to empower students to make the change they wish to see in the world, and produce responsible solutions to shared global problems.

Alright. That’s a description. But I have found it to be so much more than that. GES is a place where students who care come together to help other students who care do something about the problems they see in the world. It is not a bunch of people who sit back and watch the world go by; it is a group of students who want to make change and go out and do it. It is a network that spans the globe. The accomplishment of some of the GES alumni are incredible and the success that some of their projects have garnered is unparalleled. See? Pretty amazing.

I would like to welcome everyone to the new year of GES. It’s new for me as well. I’m still learning but so far the experience has been incredible. My co-chairs, Alli, Rose, and I, are striving to make this year as great as possible. We are all so excited to be a part of GES and look forward to the coming year.

-Rebecca

Let me start this post by saying that, as a soon-to-be-graduate and journalism student enamored with social innovation, I sat in the audience of David Bornstein’s lecture with my ears open and my mind cluttered with questions and curiosities. How do you forge a career in covering social innovation? How do you help re-frame media coverage away from disaster porn to a healthy conversation about global initiatives that work, inspire and truly enact change? What is the future of social innovation, and what does the life of an innovator practically look like? What can we expect of this field in the next 5, 10, 15 years?

Thankfully, David Bornstein’s keynote address provided some answers.

Bornstein, author of “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas,” found himself chasing stories of innovation after becoming dissatisfied with status quo journalism. “Ninety percent of the stuff I wrote about was negative information,” Bornstein said of his early career. “[I covered the fact] that the world is lousy – all things that people already knew.”

Soon after, Bornstein stumbled upon the Grameen Bank, a microfinance organization and community development bank that, in the past few decades, has come to symbolize the new movement to finance innovation among the disenfranchised. “It completely changed not only the trajectory of my life, but it gave me a feeling that I’d never had before,” Bornstein said of his time in India covering the Grameen Bank, under the guidance of Mohammad Yunus. “It was amazing to talk to these villagers and spend a year interviewing these people and develop a deep sense of gratitude about my own life.” The premise of the bank, Bornstein explained, is simple: “A poor person can have their confidence completely changed by something as simple as a loan.”

Throughout his keynote address, Bornstein emphasized that we are now experiencing an extraordinary historical moment. “We are living through a kind of enlightenment,” he said. “During the enlightenment, there was a move from fantastical thinking to the rational thinking of the scientific method. Today, there’s an amazing notion that we can actually solve these intractable world problems… The graveyard of failed development projects that we’ve accummulated for the past 40 years will [soon] be replaced by structures that actually work.”

Bornstein sees incredible promise in the fact that, today, social change agents spend their efforts on metrics and analysis, and then orient their resources towards what works. “This is such a radical departure from where we were in the field of social change 20 years ago,” he said. In his keynote address, he called for us to go one step further — to “sew up society” in a new way that will allow us to truly solve problems. All doctors, he explained, need to understand the social determinants of health. Financial institutions urgently need to re-think how they fund social entrepreneurship. And entrepreneurs need to shift their focus from founding new organizations to pursuing “intra-preneurship,” or promoting highly socially responsible, effective practices within existing organizations.

Bornstein ended his address with advice for his audience, an audience of young, pragmatic idealists abuzz with ideas. Allow yourself to be guided by new information and insights gained on the ground, he said. The alternative – meticulously crafting a three-year plan in advance and trying to stick to it – will inevitably fall flat. “As soon as the ink dries on that plan and you apply it to the world, things will change,” Bornstein said.

Bornstein also encouraged young people to unabashedly pitch their ideas to people in power. “Once you’ve crossed that insecurity threshold, the discomfort of thinking you’re imposing on something, you can do that 100 more times in your life,” he said. “If you have a good idea, you’re giving them a gift.”

As innovators, Bornstein argued, we have to redefine our idea of risk. Risk is not about terrorism attacks, cancer, volcanoes and othe apocalyptic visions. The real risk in this life? Doing something you don’t love for 40 years. “That’s the risk that will gut your soul,” he said.

Helpful Resources from Bornstein’s Keynote
The Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Acuman Fund
Made To Stick (book)
The Happiness Hypothesis (book)
Common Ground: An organization that creates vulnerability indexes of impoverished people living on the streets and then advises cross-sector organizations on how to help
Roots of Empathy: An organization that is using social technology to create more peaceful school environments (i.e. why not bring a baby into a classroom to instill deep-rooted empathy in children?)
Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World: This book chronicles how we can use social pressures to change norms and behaviors around the world (i.e. how positive, strategic peer pressure can improve sexual health practices in South Africa and reduce the prevalence of HIV)

First, some perspective. Today’s business landscape looks fundamentally different than it did only two decades age. These days, practically all businesses have some kind of community outreach programs, blurring the line between the work and responsibilities of the non-profit and for-profit worlds. The strict dichotomy between these modes of thinking is dissipating before our eyes. (Take Global Engagement Summit, for instance. Until approximately two years ago, we presented ourselves as a force in “non-profit capacity building conference” — today, we gravitate much more towards the loose terms of “social entrepreneurship,” “international development,” and “social change.”)

This panel examined the new concept of the “social business,” a category conceptualized by microfinance expert Mohammad Yunus to encapsulated this new, and wildly popular, hybrid business model. As the panelists explained, the spectrum of organizational models now stretches as follows:

Traditional Non-Profit →
Non-Profit with Income Generating Activities →
Social Business →
For-Profit Socially Responsible Business →
Traditional For-Profit

The panelists explained how to apply a healthy knowledge of the for-profit sector towards a social good project, and thus achieve an extraordinary level of impact. A for-profit approach, for instance, may free do-gooders from the maddeningly inconsistent funding cycle of the non-profit world. For-profit thinking can also ease the process of scaling up (i.e. this business model can more easily transition from a partnership with 1,000 villagers to 10 million people, across languages and borders).

At the same time, the panel tackled myths in the field of social business. Scaling to a national level, for instance, is not only unnecessary in some cases, but can occasionally be deeply detrimental to an organization’s objectives. Work within cultures and communities you can wrap your mind around, the panelists advised, rather than insisting on taking on whole nations and regions of the world. Try to continually focus on “low-hanging fruit” – small-scale, simple ideas in which you can completely immerse yourself over the course of your career.

In wrapping up, the panelists looked towards the future. We’ll see success, panelist Jamie Jones said, when social responsibility is not just a program but an integrated part of all companies. Only when CEOs start to see social responsibility as a business opportunity – as Pepsi Co. recently did in its large-scale, historic investment in Mexican sunflower farmers – will we finally see true scale and social impact.

Resources for This Panel
Helping Hands Rewards
Greyston Bakery
Inspiration Corporation

Through Stacy Monk’s travels, she befriended a woman named Mama Lousacantoni which became a resonant reminder for Ms. Monk that there is a lot of value in people’s personal stories. Mama Lousacantoni’s story inspired Stacy Monk to quit her job at a consulting firm and start a website called “To Mama With Love” which through Twitter allows members to dedicate a page to a mother while donating to sustainable projects such as building schools.

As young people in a world that is becoming more competitive, Stacy Monk reflected about her determination not to appear weak or vulnerable in her 20′s. Yet Stacy Monk pointed out that seeming invulnerable is not the answer to success, instead she stated, ” Vulnerability is the root of human connection.” In addition, Stacy Monk showed a youtube clip about how easy movements can start if one person does something and convinces others around them that it is safe to join in. One of Stacy Monk’s final points was that it is important that people cultivate connections that are powerful enough to exist without the leader. To learn more about Stacy Monk’s website visit: http://www.tomamawithlove.org/

Be human

Human beings don’t connect with robots, emotionless things. So, have a personality and multiply it by 10. Think of Dogs! Dogs do this. They’re good at showing their expressions. If they’re excited, they’re so excited.  Be Unreasonable. Reach out to crazy people like Bill Gates. Be transparent. Be willing to communicate the deppest, darkest secrets about you and your venture.

Often, we’re protective of our ideas, worried that if we give them away for free, we’ll be left with little value. The idea of our thoughts being stolen is not as powerful as the idea of empowering other people to take part. Share things that you’re not proud of, that make you uncomfortable, etc. Be vulnerable.
Build (on) Relationships
Use the internet to develop deep and meaningful relationships.  Make yourself of service by offering the world what you can with the resources you have.  Twitter is an incredible way to be of service to people—retweeting is one of the best favors that you can do for others. You’re not the only person out there. Stand on the shoulders of giants. Go to organizations, do them favors, then ask them to do favors for you.
Attempt the Impossible
There is very little competition in going after the impossible. Do not be afraid to attempt. The world is out there, and they are waiting for us to make progress.

Teju Ravilochan is the Co-Founder of the Unreasonable Institute, a mentor-driven accelerator for high-impact entrepreneurs.

Brooke, who works for Keeva, a company that provides loans for good causes, gave a useful practical workshop along with inspiring facts and videos on social media as a tool to promote a social cause. The audience, engaged and satisfied and frequently threw comments such as “wow” and “that is so true”

Through personal stories and other stories of success Brooke stressed the necessities for success in marketing a social cause.
The story of the notable entrepreneur, Scott Harrison of Charity Water, who managed to use his connections and social networks to raise 1 million dollars for clean water in Africa stressed the importance of the individual and of having a compelling story. Other stories stressed the importance of engaging corporate support, and learning how to use social media from successful organizations who have similar goals.

She gave us 8 practical steps on how to use the power of the social media to promote a cause.
–The most important GIVE AWAY of the workshop, according to Brook, was to understand that there is never a general audience. One must gear his cause toward a specific audience and know each and every donor personally in order to enhance collaboration and ensure future donations.

–Other important steps were to energize and motivate your supporters: because especially today people feel they are insignificant in a world with huge, increasing problems.
–create a strong theme with clear goals because people have extremely short attention spans online.
Pay attention to timing. Don’t post at 11 PM on a Friday night when everybody is out. Find out what audience you want and when are they likely to see the content.
Also, a campaign should have a time lapse. People want to see the result of their donations and do not want to donate to something indefinitely (like the monthly installments Red Cross wants)

Q&A
In Q&A, she answered questions about how to move beyond “slactivism” (when people click” like” or join a group but do not actually get involved physically or significantly).

She said people should connect API to FB. Meaning when someone donates or takes action give him recognition by submitting an official post on behalf of your org. on his wall or on twitter.

She also answered a question asking how to create brand recognition by saying one should use SWOT (strength, weaknesses, oppoortunities and threats) analysis within one’s organization but more imortantly with your audience!

**She also recommended using websites/programs such as Hootsuite and Boomerang when using social networks.

Thoughts about building partnerships and challenges of partnerships:
-Finding other organizations that working in the same way you are and doing it in an way that isn’t competitive
-Have to build trust and work with each other finding the right balance of mutual benefit between the two organizations
-Mutual understanding about the issue
-Developing a chain of command when you combine two organizations
-Understanding which side of each organization is going to allocate each task and resources

Successful partnerships that you have seen – the health movement in South Africa working for eradication of HIV/
AIDS:

o started as very small in Johannesburg
o now they are working with a lot of different organizations across South Africa
o they work with Partner in Health, OxFam
o started small and partnered across country

AmeriCorps program
o government funds people to work for non-profits across the country
o Why is it successful?
the political will behind it
broke off PeaceCorps so there was a president for it
o will is the key word there

What happens when you have a for-profit company that is interested in the bottom line?
o understand what there goals are and that we can supply you certain things
o they care about education but they still want a profit – how do you find that balance
o should a corporation care more about people?
for-profits goal is to make money so they don’t really care about people
o the reason they act like they care is because the public responds positively to that – like putting a pink ribbon on your water bottle label

3 things that made me go Woah!
- According to research, the most important aspect of managing and leading
others is being a good coach. This means that helping people succeed has
more value than empowering your team, being a good communicator, or
having a clear vision for your team. Having technical skills and proving
oneself as an expert is actually the least important according to research.
- Professor Goodman recommended that we use texting and e-mails only to set
up a meeting and distribute material for that same meeting.
- The single-biggest mistake people make is assuming that going to a meeting
is enough to get the job done. Communicating what needs to be prepared and
actually preparing are essential for getting what’s done on the agenda.

3 memorable quotes
- “If I join a team, I need to be ready to set aside my ego for the greater good of
the team”
- Discussing what’s key to overcoming failure: “The two most important
qualities are brutal honesty and relentless optimism. It’s about the ability to
learn from failure and string together a small series of wins.”
- “If you have a biological system too diverse, it dies; if you have a biological
system too alike, it also dies. Healthy communities balance ties that bind and
diversity to thrive.”

We also discussed the differences between team, community, and group.
- Teams are usually goal-oriented, self-appointed, common good> individual
needs
- Communities consist of people who often have a commitment to each other;
you can end up together via circumstance (inevitable, geographical); can
share common values
- Groups are often used temporary problem solving, can be the balance
between community and teams
- Important!: There is no one correct definition for these terms; one key point
to understand is that we overuse the word team, which should refer to goal-
oriented collection of people working together